The Lil Drum Machine user manual

Welcome to the Lil Drum Machine or LDM Help documenation.

All Teoti Graphix, LLC Android applications use the Single Cell Software Caustic Core sound engine, synthesizers and sequencers for audio playback.

The Lil Drum Machine is aimed at users that want to experiment with rhythms in isolation and then have the ability to export their beats to wav, ogg or midi loops.

Important - There is a 2MB file size restriction on loading .wav files, this is Caustic's internal size constraint due to sample length.

Main App

Application Regions

Regions

Main Features

Create new projects.
Load existing projects.
Application settings for performance, UI scale and application defaults.
Export individual patterns as wav, ogg or midi loops.
Export all pattern loops to a Caustic App .pcmsynth Preset format. All loops are exported as wav files and mapped for loading into a Caustic PCMSynth.
Master mix volume.
Display for current project, pattern and pattern time.
Play/Stop the pattern sequencer.
Tempo beats per minute 20bpm to 200bpm.

Pattern/Sequencer

Select pattern lengths of 1, 2, 4 and 8 measures.
Select pattern Swing, 1/8th and 16ths grid types.
Select pattern Follow through each measure during play.
Select between 16 unique patterns with varying measure length.
Select current pattern view/edit position when not in pattern follow mode.
Copy/Paste all channel content.
Copy/Paste all selected channel content.
Double selected pattern content.
Clear selected pattern content.
Sequence 16th notes in a classic step sequencer.
Adjust each note velocity with sliders.
Show/hide Position, Pattern, Velocity and StepSequencer with right drawer toggle buttons.

Channel Features

Load an external wav sample.
Adjust Amp Level, Tune, Decay.
Adjust Efx Pan, Delay, Reverb sends.
Adjust EQ High, Mid Bass range frequencies.
Adjust Filter to None, LowPass, BandPass, HighPass
Adjust Filter Cutoff and Resonance.
Add 2 Effect inserts per channel. Choose from Distortion, Bitcrusher, Flanger, Chorus, Phaser effects.

When exporting wav or ogg audio loops, the options exist to wrap the loop tail to beginning, cut the loop tail or detect full loop silence that contains all release effect tails. Exported audio exports to /root/LilDrumMachine/Exports on the device.

User Interface Overview

The application consists of 4 major regions, the Header, Channel Controls, Sequencer Tools and Step Sequencer.

The Sequencer Tools contain actions and sub regions that can be hidden.

Header

The Header region contains global application acions and information.

Menu button display application level actions.
Main Display shows Project Name, Pattern Name and Current Pattern time.
Play / Stop button controls the sequencer.
Save Project button, saves the current state of the project for reload at a later time.
Logo icon shows the Abotu popup and other information.

App Menu

User Interface Help - Adds an overlay to the user interface that allows touch to help documentation about the item.
New Project - Creates a new project from an existing sample kit.
Load Project - Loads a previously saved project.
Load Multiple Samples - Shows a File Browser that allows multiple sample channel assignment with wav file preview.
Export Selected Pattern as wav, ogg, mid - Shows the Export Pattern dialog, allowing export of wav, ogg and mid loop files.
Export All Patterns as .pcmsynth loops - Exports all exsting patterns with note data to wav loops and creates a Caustic App PCMSynth preset file (.pcmsynth).
Settings - Displays the application Settings screen.
Help - Opens a browser and loads this help documentation.

Channel Controls

The Channel Controls region contain controls that adjust individual track channel properties.

LDM contains 12 tracks for playing samples and these are called channels. Each channel in LDM has the following editable properties;

Load sample - Long Press Channel button.
VU display.
Mute/Solo buttons.

Sequencer Tools

The Sequencer Tools region contain controls that act on the sequencer's patterns.

Tempo popup button, Adjust the BPM of the project 20..200.
Channel Control State button group, selects the current channel control state for the application. The channel control states are AMP, EFX, EQ and FLTR. Selecting these buttons will change what Channel Value Controls are visible in the Channel Controls region.
Pattern Follow toggle button, toggles the pattern follow on/off for the selected pattern. Say you have a 4 measure pattern, with Pattern Follow on, the step sequencer's notes will follow the currently playing measure through the 4 measures.
Sequencer Tools PopUp button, gives access to more tools for working with the sequencer.
Pattern Length button group, selects the pattern length of the currently selected pattern.
Right Extras button, opens the application's right drawer for more global actions.

Pattern Selectors

Pattern Select button group, selects the current pattern playing for all 12 channels. The Yellow indicator square shows the pattern contains note data on at least one channel.

Pattern Position Selector

Pattern Position button group, selects the currently edited measure within the selected pattern.

Step Velocity

Adjust velocities for notes in the step sequecner.

Step Sequencer

Sequencer Trigger button group, adds or removes note triggers from the selected channel's pattern.