In this mode, you can select one pattern and play it repeatedly. Useful for first laying down a few tracks but will could get a bit monotonous for the listen. Also the mode is the easiest way to cycle through the pre-made patterns and find the ones you like.
| A Pattern usually consists of a Drum beat and an accompanying Bass line of varying length. By default, the bassline is muted. |
- Press the [PATTERN/SONG] button (the top left button of the rhythm controls) until it is lit (note: the button may be lit already but you will need to press it anyway to bring up the rhythm menu on screen)
- The name and some info about the pattern will shown on screen.
- The first three numbers indicate length of the pattern. normally '001' or '002' but when you start making your own they can be any length.
- next will be a '#' followed by a three digit number. This is the pattern reference number. Useful for quickly finding the pattern.
- The bottom half of the display will be the Pattern name. The names are sometimes obvious, some times a little cryptic. We'll cover this later....
- Press play to hear the pattern repeatedly.
- To swap to another pattern, turn the main dial. You will notice that the pattern does not change straight away. The system waits for the current pattern to end then starts the new pattern seamlessly.
- You can change the drum volume by using the Rhythm Channel fader. You can also mute the channel by using the [STATUS KEY] in the usual way.
- A full list of the patterns can be found in the manual on page 140-142. Dial around to hear a few patterns. but don't press stop just yet....
Tempo
- When you are comfortable with the above, press the [TEMPO] button.
- The display will show "BPM=" then a number. BPM stands for Beats Per Minute.
- Turn the main dial to change the tempo. You can go from 40 (very slow) up to 250 (very fast)
- Alternatively you can enter the Tempo manually by tapping the button to the beat you want.
- Press [EXIT] when you have the speed you want.
A note about the tempo control.
The tempo can be changed at any time throughout the recording process but will only affect the rhythm section, not anything you have recorded. Get the tempo right at the start or find your self needing to rerecord everything!
Why stop now?
A lot of people stop at this point. They record their tracks then transfer to PC and add a new drum track in. But the MRS-8 has a lot to offer....
Bass
Most of the Patterns have a Bass line included. By default the Bass channel is muted, but it is simple to unmute.
- Press the [BASS/DRUM] button of the rhythm controls until it is unlit.
- The Rhythm Channel now controls the Bass. Press the [STATUS KEY] to unmute the bass and use the fader to change the volume.
- You will now here a bass line that goes with the drum pattern you chose earlier.
- You may or may not like this bass line. It can be changed later by editing the pattern, but for now lets stick with what we have.
- At any point you can use the Main Dial to swap patterns.
- This will change the complete pattern, not just the Bassline.
- Play around again until you have something you like.
Note:
Patterns 509 & 510 are metronomes and do not have a Bassline.
Pattern 472 is silent. This will become useful later when creating progressions |
So that is the basic Pattern Mode. Fine for starters but next we will look at creating a Rhythm "Song"
next section: Song Mode
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