Whether it's crisp electronic beats, heavy dancefloor riddims or simulated acoustic drums you're after, Ultrabeat can do it all. It's a fully capable rhythm workstation, with the ability to create, manage and mash up patterns of synthesized or sampled drums.
Yet while many people use its presets or load up the occasional sample, few use it to its full potential. With Ultrabeat you can create your own sounds from scratch, or emulate classic drum machines, before morphing them dynamically across complex patterns.
In Ultrabeat: Drum Sounds & Beat Creation we delve deep to show you how every feature works, then we'll use that knowledge to show you how to build your own awesome percussion sounds in 2.5 hours of HD video.
The tutorials are split into two parts, which can be bought separately:
Part 1 explains Ultrabeat's layout and how all its features work, from pattern creation to synthesis. Although Ultrabeat can seem intimidating, these videos break it down into simple chunks, and you'll find it quick, easy and fun to edit and create your own sounds.
Part 2 delves into the exciting world of synthesising your own drum and percussion sounds. You'll learn everything from how to recreate classic 808 sounds to making far out and unusual electronic percussion. We'll also be exploring Ultrabeat's rarely used sound morphing capabilities.
You can see a list of the included videos and buy the pack or individual modules here.
Why is synthesizing your own drums worth the effort, when there are so many good sample packs out there? Firstly, it's fun and very satisfying to know that you created your own original drum sounds that nobody else has access to.
Secondly, synthesis gives you a huge range of options that samples don't — you can build your drums to fit your track perfectly, and once you've done that, you can morph parameters of the sound in realtime, something that's impossible with samples.
To find out more, check out the Intro to Part 2 video to the right.
Ultrabeat ships with Logic and Logic Express as a native synth. What's more, it's an extremely powerful tool. Not only does it offer a huge array of options for creating all manner of percussion hits, it sounds fantastic too, and is capable of making sounds to rival the old-school analogue drum machines that are so well known in electronic music.
Because it's a native Logic synth, it integrates into your workflow seamlessly, with the ability to quickly program killer beats, then perform them in real time — this is perfect both for live performance and for giving your recorded tracks that "seat of the pants" edge that only performance can deliver.
In short, Ultrabeat is your one-stop shop for creation of customised, flexible and complex rhythm tracks.
These tutorials are brand new, so we've yet to collect customer feedback on them. In the meantime, however, you can see some of the things our customers have said about our other tutorials:
Your tutorials are awesome, they're some of the best Logic – no, actually some of the best production tutorials in general, I have encountered so far.
ThierryThe tutorials are presented in an easy to follow and logical fashion. They go into just enough depth without being confusing or too verbose.
The information provided helped me get a better understanding of how to get in and start making my own custom sounds.
I'd also like to mention that the support you offered me as an end-user was stellar!
Brett GraceHey, great tutorials, seriously! The quality is good, the content is good, and I really appreciated your professional yet casual presentation.
Christopher OrthJust like to say the tutorials are great and easily worth the money. I love the fact they are HD and you are so clear and concise which makes for being a great teacher.
Paul WilsonPlease note: You can buy the modules individually, but each module builds on the knowledge presented in the previous modules. So if you purchase a later module without a good grasp on the basics, you may not get the most out of the tutorials.
This module takes a look at the overall layout of Ultrabeat, and then looks at all of the features on its faceplate, including pattern creation and editing, live performance, the synthesiser section, and sampling sounds.
Here we learn how to make a multitude of electronic drum & percussion sounds. As well as learning about specific sounds, we'll also explore the fundamentals of drum synthesis, allowing you to make your own weird and wonderful sounds however you like. Finally, we'll look at Ultrabeat's ability to morph percussion sounds and its use as a normal (i.e. tuned) synth.
