> Step by step

1. Creating funky disco chords with Monoplugs B-Step CM

1 B-Step CM can be installed on Windows, OS X, or Linux – launch the relevant installer or script for your OS. A standalone version is supplied too, although we’ll be focusing on the plugin version here. To follow this tutorial, load the WAVs beginning “DiscoFunk…” onto a new audio track in a 100bpm project in your DAW, and put a D16 Group Frontier limiter on the master bus. 2 Now create a new instrument track with Dune CM, and load our tutorial patch, DiscoFunk.fxp (right-click Patch and select Load Patch…). On this channel, add these plugins: Reverberate CM with preset 6: Metallic whispers; Satson CM with High Pass at 1 o’clock; Frontier with Output at -23dB. Load up B-Step CM on a new MIDI instrument channel – we’re going to use it to control Dune CM. 3 Use your DAW’s MIDI routing to send B-Step CM’s output to Dune CM on the other channel. In Ableton Live, we accomplish this by selecting the B-Step channel as the input for the Dune CM channel, then choosing B-Step CM in the secondary input selector, and enabling the In monitoring mode. You can resize B-Step CM’s interface by dragging the lower-right corner. 4 The built-in manual covers all the features in detail – click the ? button down the right-hand side to access it, or drag the ? onto a control to go straight to its section in the manual. All you need to know for now, though, is that the upper panel of controls is for editing a selected sequence’s steps, while the lower panel contains controls for each of the 16 sequences you can define in B-Step CM. The other controls are global. 5 Loop bar 1 in your DAW, and mute the Bass and Guitar tracks for now. Hit play and see B-Step CM’s runlight ticking along the top of the display, telling you which column in the sequence is being triggered. Click the matrix of buttons with rows named C3, B2, G3 and E2 to program those notes – you can enter multiple notes on each column, too, creating chords. When you’re done experimenting, enter the pattern shown here. 6 Unlike a normal step sequencer, the notes can sustain longer than a step’s duration (a 16th-note), which sounds a bit messy here, so set the dials in the Step Duration row to 1/16. To accomplish this more quickly, drag with the right mouse button from any button or dial to its neighbours to instantly copy the settings. Now increase step 9’s Step Duration to 5/16, to make the full chord sustain while keeping the other notes tight and punchy. 7 The other controls in the step-editing panel are the far-left octave up/down knobs, and Step Velocity. Our synth responds to velocity, so add variation as we’ve done here. Next, let’s add a groovy swing feel to the timing. In the lower-right, set Shfl to 1/16, the >> sign (shuffle amount) to 1/48, Velocity to -50 (to reduce MIDI velocity on shuffled notes), and Duration to -1/16 (this shortens shuffled notes). 8 Now unmute the Bass and Guitar, which are in A minor. We’re going to create a custom chord for our synth sequence, so set the far-left Bar Chord dial to 1, then click Chord Set’s pencil tool to define a set of six chords (you can have up to five sets). Tick Preset Target for Chord 1, then A minor. You can adjust notes with the knobs – turn E down to D, and the top A down to E, for a funkier Am add4 chord. 9 Loop bars 1-4 in your DAW and let’s set a new chord for each bar. Right-drag the first Select/Copy slot to copy our riff to the next three slots – bars containing notes will play one after the other. Set Bar Chord for the four bars to 1, 2, 3 and 4, then click the pencil tool again and use the dials to program chords 2-4 as shown. Click a Select/Copy slot to select it for editing. The patterns will always follow your chords.