Sweet Berta

The huge '80s ballad snare: a fat noise-and-body hit squashed by a compressor into a bright, long plate. One hit on two and four fills the room; play it at C3 and leave space. Macros: Size, Squash, Tone. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A hand clap from noise alone: a band of white noise around 1.3 kHz, smeared into a flam of hands by a very short echo, in a small room. Play it at C3 with the snare, or alone on the backbeat. Macros: Hands, Room, Tone. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A short, woody rimshot: a square and a triangle a tritone apart, pinged through a resonant ladder for a few milliseconds. Play it on the off-beats around C3 to C5; higher keys tune it up toward a clave. Macros: Wood, Ring, Room. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

+ENV OUT into both oscillators' PITCH IN drops the pitch 15 semitones as the envelope decays, with a little noise: a synth tom. Play it low. Macros: Decay, Noise, Bright. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A closed hi-hat: white noise and two clashing pulse waves, one frequency-modulating the other, through the high-pass filter and a bright ladder, a tick of a few milliseconds. Play sixteenths at C3; the Decay macro opens it toward a half-open hat. Macros: Decay, Tone. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

An open hi-hat that sizzles out over a third of a second: noise and a little metal through the high-pass filter, bright and thin, in a small room. Play it on the off-beat at C3, a closed hat around it. Macros: Length, Tone, Room. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A metallic, ringing hat: two pulse waves at a clashing interval, the first frequency-modulating the second into a cloud of inharmonic partials, high-passed to a shimmer with a little noise. Play it at C3 to C4; each key tunes the metal. Macros: Clang, Length, Tone. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A shaker: high-passed noise that swells in over 25 ms and falls away just as quickly, so it shuffles instead of ticking. Play steady sixteenths at C3, holding none of them; a quick roll of two keys sounds like a shake back and forth. Macros: Swell, Tone. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A set of tuned toms down the keyboard: the ladder ringing as a sine, its pitch dipping into the note on each hit, with a stick of noise in a small room. Play fills from C2 to C4; every key is a tom in tune. Macros: Dip, Length, Room. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

The disco electronic tom: a triangle with a hint of square that swoops down two octaves on every hit, through a spring and a short echo. Play it in rolls and fills down the keyboard from C4 to C2. Macros: Swoop, Echo, Spring. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A hand drum: a triangle with a slap of noise, its pitch dipping into the note, through a resonant ladder that tracks the keys, pitched for congas around C3 and bongos an octave up. Play two or three keys a few semitones apart as the open and muted heads. Macros: Slap, Length. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A drum-machine cowbell: two squares a sharp fifth apart, band-passed between a high pass and a resonant 12 dB ladder, with a fast clank and a short ring. Play it around C4 to C5 on the off-beats. Macros: Ring, Tone. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A laser blast: a saw that dives three octaves in a fifth of a second, through a resonant ladder that closes behind it, bouncing between the speakers. Play it anywhere; higher keys are thinner shots, and fast repeats are a firefight. Macros: Dive, Bite, Echo. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

The ladder's own zap: ringing on its own, its cutoff flung six octaves up by the envelope and dropping back in a tenth of a second, a bright 'pew' into a spring. Short presses on high keys are blips; low ones are a deep 'thoom'. Macros: Zap, Spring. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Classic acid: play overlapping notes to slide, hit harder to accent; ride the cutoff and resonance. Macros: Cutoff, Squelch, Decay, Drive, Slide, Space and Master.

A build-up for the bar before the drop: two saws and white noise climb an octave together over about ten seconds while the ladder opens, the echoes and the hall growing behind them. Hold one note through the build and let go on the downbeat; a higher note starts higher. Macros: Rise, Noise, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

The way down after a peak: one tap and a wash of noise and low saws falls an octave and a half over five seconds, the ladder closing and the level fading as it goes, into a long hall. Tap a single note on the bar's last beat. Macros: Fall, Length, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A tearing build: osc 2 is hard-synced and the envelope drags its pitch up three octaves over five seconds, so a held note rips from a growl to a scream, saturated and thrown into echoes. Hold through the build; play it an octave lower for a darker tear. Macros: Rise, Bite, Echo. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A jet passing overhead: pink noise and a low saw through a resonant ladder swell in over a second and a half, a flanger's jets rushing through them and opening up as it passes, the pitch sagging and the sound sweeping across the speakers as it goes, then fade into the distance. Tap a low note and let it ring. Macros: Speed, Roar, Space, Rush. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A wind-up air-raid siren: a saw and a square an octave up rise from a growl to a wail as the level winds up over two seconds, then sweep slowly up and down while the key is held, and wind down when it is let go, into a wide hall. Hold one note for as long as the siren should sound. Macros: Sweep, Wind Up, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A two-note emergency siren: two squares hop between a note and the fourth below it about once a second, through a narrow, horn-like band and a touch of saturation. Hold a note; each new note starts on the high tone. Macros: Rate, Horn, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

The fast yelp of a patrol car: a triangle and a saw whoop half an octave up and down five times a second, a short echo behind them. Hold a note; a higher note yelps higher. Macros: Speed, Depth, Echo. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A small robot talking to itself: the sample and hold throws both oscillators and a resonant ladder to a new random place eleven times a second, so a held note babbles in blips and vowels, scattered into ping-pong echoes. Hold a note to make it talk; a higher key raises its voice. Macros: Speed, Range, Echo. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A ship's tractor beam locking on: osc 1 frequency-modulates osc 2 for a hollow, metallic hum that fades in, the pitch and the ladder swaying slowly while a harmonic tremolo throbs through it, chorused wide. Hold low notes; two notes a fifth apart make a bigger beam. Macros: Throb, Metal, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.