Chapter 9. Pattern Editor
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Chapter 9. Pattern Editor

Table of Contents

9.1. General
9.1.1. Controls
9.1.2. Sidebar
9.2. Drum Pattern Editor
9.3. Note Properties Editor
9.4. Piano Roll Editor

Figure 9.1. Pattern Editor in Drum Mode

Pattern Editor in Drum Mode

This is where it all happens, this is where you can make music :-)

The Pattern Editor allows you to create and modify the pattern selected in the Sidebar of the Song Editor by adding/removing notes and tuning a number of per-note properties, like velocity and pan. The Pattern Editor can be used in two modes: as Drumkit Editor or as Piano Roll Editor. You can switch between these two by clicking the Grey button containing a small piano illustration with three white and two black keys. button (located on the top-right of the Pattern Editor).

[Note]Note

If you are editing a pattern in Single Pattern mode you will always hear the pattern you are editing when you playback is rolling.

If you are working in Stacked Pattern mode you will hear the active pattern(s), not necessarily the pattern you are currently editing. The active patterns have a small triangle next to the pattern name in the Song Editor. (see Single Pattern and Stacked mode for details).

9.1. General

9.1.1. Controls

Figure 9.2. Pattern Editor Controls

Pattern Editor Controls

The top part of the Pattern Editor contains a number of controls applying to both the Drumkit Editor and the Piano Roll Editor:

  • Blue LCD showing "4/4" and titled "SIZE". : lets you choose the length of the pattern (in note values).

    It will open a dialog to enter the new size as text, in the standard music fractional notation:

    Dialog for entering the "New Pattern length (beats/note value)" via a Text input in the middle. At the bottom there are "Cancel" (right) and "OK" (left) buttons.

    Type / to separate numerator and denominator.

    If you enter just the numerator (e.g. 4), the current denominator will be assumed. You can enter a decimal numerator (e.g. 4.5/4) but since Hydrogen resolution is limited, some values are not supported and will be approximated.

    [Note]Note

    Hydrogen supports (only) the following denominators: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 96, and 192 because these are the factors of the maximum resolution (192 ticks per whole note). You can use unsupported denominators, but the size will be approximated almost all the times, hence a warning icon will appear:

    A yellow upright triangle containing a exclamation mark is shown to the right of the "SIZE" LCD.

  • Blue LCD showing "1/16" and titled "RES". : this is the current grid resolution (1/4 through 1/64 with triplet-based resolutions marked as 1/8T).

    [Note]Note

    If you are working with a resolution of 1/16 you can't go back to 8 and remove an upbeat 16th note. On the other hand if you are working with a resolution of 8 and you try to insert a note in the middle of two bars (looking for a 16 bars precision), notes will be placed in the previous or in the following 8th bar. This constraint can be removed if you disable the whole grid resolution (choose off from the grid resolution LCD control). Now you'll be able to place notes wherever you prefer.

  • Blue button containing a black speaker symbol. : when enabled Hydrogen will play back samples as they are being added to the pattern (even if transport is not rolling).

    [Note]Note

    When disabled you will still hear the preview sound when clicking on the instrument name in the Sidebar. Be sure to click at the left-most position - where the preview is silent - in case you don't want to get disturbed.

  • Blue button showing a black 2 by 3 grid. : enables/disables quantization. When enabled, beats recorded from MIDI or from the virtual keyboard will automatically respect the grid resolution currently applied, just like notes inserted by clicking.

  • Grey button containing a small piano illustration with three white and two black keys. / Blue button with a quasi-3D display a a cylinder with black outlines, blue sides, and a white top. : switches between Drumkit Editor and Piano Roll Editor.

9.1.2. Sidebar

Figure 9.3. The Sidebar of the Pattern Editor

The Sidebar of the Pattern Editor

The section on the left shows you what drumkit is currently selected (GMRockKit by default) and below that you can see the instruments that are part of this kit.

Left-clicking the box containing the instrument name will play back a sample of the instrument. Which layer will be select depends on the horizontal position of the mouse click representing zero velocity to the left and maximum velocity to the right. In addition, each instrument has its own set of features that are accessible by right-clicking the instrument. From the context menu that pops up you can select.

  • Delete notes: removes all notes for this instrument in this pattern.

  • Fill notes: this allows you to fill up the pattern with notes for the selected instrument.

    [Note]Note

    Depending on the choice you make (fill all, fill 1/2, fill 1/4 ...) notes will be placed at all, 1/2, 1/4, etc of the note positions that are allowed by the grid setting. So be careful not to mix up the 'musical' 1/2-note and the 'fill 1/2' note.

  • Randomize velocity: automatically apply a pseudo-random velocity to each note of that instrument in the pattern.

    [Note]Note

    The more velocity you set on the instrument, the more Hydrogen will hit “hard” on that instrument when played.

  • Select notes: will select all the notes played on this instrument in the current pattern. They can then be copied, moved etc. in the Pattern Editor main area.

  • Edit all patterns: this section of the menu has actions which operate on notes played by the instrument in all the patterns of the song.

    • Cut notes: remove all notes played on this instrument, in all patterns, and keep them in the clipboard.

    • Copy notes: copy all notes played on this instrument, in all patterns, to the clipboard.

    • Paste notes : paste a multi-pattern selection from the clipboard to this instrument.

    • Delete notes: delete all the notes associated with this instrument, without affecting the clipboard.

    [Tip]Tip

    These can be used together to change the instrumentation of a song, entirely replacing one instrument with another by just copy and pasting the notes to a new instrument.

  • Instrument: this section of the menu has actions which operate on the instrument as a whole:

    • Rename instrument: change the name of the instrument.

    • Delete Instrument: well, deletes the instrument ;-)

The Grey button containing a black "M". button mutes the instrument and Grey button containing a black "S". solos it.

The order of the instruments can be rearranged by simply dragging an instrument up/down in the list and dropping it on a new position within the drumkit. Doing so will not change the sequence of notes you have created for that instrument, nor will it change anything about the song or pattern you are working on.

[Warning]Warning

It will however, have an impact on the MIDI note mapping.

[Warning]Warning

Rearranging the instruments will also mess up the per-instrument JACK output ports. Be sure to have your drumkit set up before starting wiring.

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