MODALICS Beat Scholar Divisible Drum Machine Plug User Manual

Beat Scholar Divisible Drum Machine Plug
User Manual

Beat Scholar Divisible Drum Machine Plug

A New Way to Compose Rhythm.
Beat Scholar is a rhythmic composition tool, designed to deliver a uniquely intuitive & creative experience for composing drum patterns and beats.
Beat Scholar makes exploring the most interesting, deep concepts in rhythm as easy as slicing a pizza pie… and as fun as eating one. You’ll see in a sec!

Tech Specification

Min Supported System Specs
Intel Core i5 or equivalent AMD CPU, 4 GB RAM (6 GB recommended) Apple ARM64 (M1, M2, etc..) on Apple Systems Windows 10 / macOS 10.11
Supported Formats:
Windows (64-bit only) – Standalone, VST, VST3, AAX macOS (64-bit only) – Standalone, VST, VST3, AAX, AU
Tested DAWs
Cubase, Ableton Live, Logic, Pro-Tools, FL Studio, Reaper, Studio One

Beat Scholar should run on any DAW that supports the formats above. If you run into any issues let us know at info@Modalics.com

Quick Start Guide

Quick Start Guide – Key Commands

Mastering Beat Scholar’s key commands is a great way to accelerate your beat making. Make more beats. FASTER. DO IT.

General Key Commands

1. Alt + Click – Reset all controls & parameters to their default value.
2. Double Click – Manually insert value to knobs & sliders.

Pattern Area Key Commands

1. Press & Hold Number (1-9) + Click – Apply subdivision to beat.
2. Press & Hold CMDB/Ctrl + Drag up/down – Add/remove subdivisions (1-42).
3. Press & Hold Alt + Click & Drag – Adjust note velocity.
4. Right Click – Open Context Menus.
5. Shift + Click – Fill/Delete contents of bars & beats.
6. Press & Hold “C” + Click – Copy beat/bar/pattern.
7. Press & Hold “V” + Click – Paste Beat/bar/pattern.
8. CMD/CTRL + Mouse Wheel Up/Down – Zoom in vertically.
9. CMD/CTRL + Track Pad Left/Right – Zoom in Horizontally.

Kit Key Commands

1. A,S,D,F,G,H,J,K – Select drum pad from bottom row of kit module.
2. Q,W,E,R,T,Y,U,I – Select drum pad from upper row of kit module.

Arrangement Module Key Commands

1.  Shift + Drag Pattern Pad – Export midi file to DAW.
2. Shift + Click Bar Pad / Bar Header – Reset bar contents.
3. Hold “C” and click bar pad / bar header -Copy bar contents.
4. Hold “V” and click bar pad / bar header – paste copied contents
5. Hold “C” and click Pattern Pad – Copy pattern.
6. Hold “V” and click Pattern Pad – Paste pattern.

Quick Start – Install & Activate

Congrats on purchasing your copy of Beat Scholar!
Installing it is as easy as installing anything else that installs easily. Let’s begin!

1. Download your copy of Beat Scholar – Either from the email sent to you following your purchase titled “Your Beat Scholar License is Ready” or from our trial version link  on the Modalism Website: www.Modalics.com/product- page/BeatScholar 
2. Start Beat Scholar in standalone or inside your DAW of choice.
3. Upon Starting the app, the license activation prompt will appear.
4. To start a 14-day trial of Beat-Scholar simply click “Start Trial” with an active internet connection.
5. If you’ve purchased Beat Scholar, simply drag and drop your license file onto the activation prompt (active internet connection required) and you’re good to go!
6. You can also click the folder icon to load your license file through a file system prompt.
7. Click anywhere to close the activation window and make sick, sick beats.

The Basics – Intro

Beat Scholar’s Interface is comprised of 5 main modules:

• Top Toolbar – Global Functions and Editing Tools.
• Pattern Module – Main Rhythm Composition Area.
• Arrangement Module – Manage patterns and bar structures to prepare rhythmic arrangements.
• Kit & Sounds – Select and manipulate the drums that will be applied to the pattern module.
• Master Module – Master FX, playback volume and output modes.

Top Toolbar

Clicking the Beat Scholar logo will bring up the activation window

Aside from navigating the awesome selection of presets we’ve assembled, the preset menu allows you to manage your own presets under the “User” category.
Show Preset Dir will open the preset folder on your file system.
*The presets menu will reflect your file structure, so you can create subdirectories under the user directory to represent categories or subcategories, and they will be reflected  in the preset menu. You can also turn the sequencer off in case you would like to use the sampler with midi input from your DAW.
Turning the sampler off is useful in cases where you want to use an external sampler.

Swing Slider – Select between positive and negative swing values, with 100% being your standard triplet-feel swing.
Pro Tip : The swing slider is a great way to make any beat groove harder. Low values on both the positive and negative sides are a great way to spice up any mundane beat…  or go crazy and set the slider to 200% negative swing to create a black hole and end all of existence.
Swing Ref – Right click the swing slider to select between 3 swing settings. This setting determines which beat value will remain unaffected by the timing shift caused by the  swing slider.
Example: in 1/4 note swing, the 1/4 notes will always play in their exact quantized positions while the swing slider will affect the time feel inside the beat.
1/8 and  1/4 will feel familiar while 1/2 can result in some interesting and wacky beats.

Play, Pause, Stop & BPM – These transport controls are operational only in standalone mode. When Beat Scholar is used in a DAW it completely syncs with your DAW’s timeline.
Drum Brush – The default brush. The Best Brush.
Use the drum brush to place and replace drums on the pattern area. The brush color changes according to the drum selected in the kit module.

Slicer Brush – This brush can be used to quickly and easily divide beats into subdivisions, the drop-down arrow will open a selection of subdivisions. Click any beat pizza to  slice it to the selected number of pieces.
Slicer Context Menu – Right click a beat to reveal the full list of available subdivisions.
Important Tips:

• Pressing and holding a number key on your keyboard (1-9) and clicking on any beat is the fastest and easiest way to divide your beats.
• Click-dragging the slicer brush up or down on a beat is a the fastest way to add or remove subdivisions.
• When selecting the slicer brush, the lane box (where the solo/mute controls are located) will show an arrow, allowing you to quickly slice an entire lane of beats.

Velocity Brush – This brush lets you change note velocities across the pattern area. By clicking a beat/slice and dragging up or down, you can adjust velocities of individual  notes.
Important Tips:

• Press and hold the Alt/Option key to momentarily select the velocity brush for a quick way to include velocity adjustment in your workflow.
• Click and drag / double click the number next to the velocity brush to adjust the default note velocity.

Pattern Module – Intro

The Pattern Module
A rhythmic playground designed to free your mind and present seam   jess ways to create outer-worldly grooves and spasm-inducing space funk. Or just good owl’ regular beats. We’re just weirdos.

This is the heart and soul of Beat Scholar, each circle (Beat Pizza as we call it) represents a beat, 1/4 note by default, and can be interacted with in several ways –

Placing a drum – it’s as easy as clicking an empty beat anywhere on the pattern area. Use the QWERTYUI & ASDFGHJK keys to prime a drum for placement and edit it  in the Sounds Module. You can also click and drag across multiple slices and beats to add drums quickly.
Replacing a drum – if a beat is already “equipped” with a certain drum, clicking said beat with a different drum will replace it with the currently selected drum.
Creating Subdivisions – Splitting a beat into subdivisions is easy as holding a number key and clicking any beat. You can also hold cud/ctrl and drag up or down on any pizza to increase/decrease the amount of slices! Diversifying your beat pizzas – You can place any drum, anywhere! No lane limitations here. Each beat can hold different drum selections in order to create intricate fills or interesting linear rhythms.
Changing Velocity – Using the velocity brush or the alt/option key command, hold any beat/slice and drag up or down to change the note velocity. Each note “remembers”  your velocity selection and will maintain its velocity even if it’s turned off and on again.

Pattern Module – Lane & Headers

Lane Operations
The pattern module can include up to 16 Lanes, each lane box contains controls that solo, mute, remove or add lanes.

Bar Headers
You can change a bar’s measure by clicking and dragging the number values up or down. You can also duplicate, add, or remove bars using the buttons on the right side of the  header.![MODALICS Beat Scholar Divisible Drum Machine Plug

• fig10](https://manuals.plus/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/MODALICS-Beat- Scholar-Divisible-Drum-Machine-Plug-fig10.png)

Important Tips:

• Shift + Click – Reset bar contents
• Hold “C” + Click – Copy bar contents
• Hold “V” + Click – Paste bar contents (overwrites existing contents)

Arrangement Module – Bars

Arrangement Module – Bars Mode

| Clicking the “Bars” toggle switches the arrangement module between bar and pattern modes.
Bars mode is used to create and edit a specific pattern. Pattern mode is used to create, trigger and manage an entire arrangement of patterns. (More on this on the next page)
The name of the pattern you are currently editing appears below the toggle.
---|---
| The bar pad holds several important functions, it allows you to add, remove & duplicate bars as well as changing bar measures.
The beat (number on the left) and note value (number on the right) are sliders, that can be adjusted by clicking the number and dragging your mouse up or down.
| This nifty lil’ button adds a new empty bar or Pattern. That’s all it does, I swear.

Pro Tips:

1. Experimenting with varied bar measures is really easy in Beat Scholar and can result in some creative beat making! Try composing a basic beat and adjusting the beat value (number on the left of the divider) to see how different measures feel.
2. Duplicate & variate – Create your first bar, duplicate it several times and create small variations to enrich your arrangement.
3. Right Click a bar pad to open the bar menu.

Arrangement Module – Patterns

Pattern Mode
The Pattern Mode allows you to create a wide variety of patterns, each with its own arrangement of bars, measures, lanes, and drum selections.

The pattern mode header has 3 functions:

1. Patterns/Bars toggle switches between the 2 arrangement module modes
2. Quantize Value – sets a beat value interval between triggered patterns. Meaning that the triggered pattern will start playing only after the selected time value passes.

• The Pattern Pad allows adding, removing, duplicating, and renaming patterns.
• On the lower right, each pattern is assigned with its own midi note indicated on the lower right of the pad. This allows you to trigger patterns using midi input from your DAW or from a controller.
• Right click a pattern name to rename it.
• Drag a Pattern Pad to your DAW timeline in order to export that pattern as a midi event.
• Right Click a pattern pad to open the pattern menu.

Kit Module
The Kit Module includes 16 drum pads, each with its own assigned factory sound library. It is used for selecting drums to be placed on the pattern module as well as to  present processing options. You can also load your own samples!

Important Functions:
Auditioning – Click any drum pad to audition its current sound.
Drum selection – Selecting a drum pad also primes the drum brush with the selected pad.
Loading Custom Samples – Drag and drop your own sample files (WAV, MP3, FLAC, AIFF) to a drum pad and it will play and set in place the loaded file.
Adjusting Midi Output Mapping – For easy integration with ext. samplers.

Kit Header Functions:

| Trigger During Playback On/Off
---|---
Edit Midi Output Map
Open kit preset menu
Lock Kit Selection
Save Kit
Kit Preset Navigation

Sounds Module
The Sounds Module allows for editing the sample selection and sound design elements of the selected drum pad.

Sample Section
Folder Icon – Load your own
sample file to the selected
drum pad
Sample Knobs – Select from a
list of factory samples
Mix slider – Mix between 2
layers (only available on Kick
and Snare drum pads)
One Shot – Choose if sample
length follows beat length or
is triggered in its entirety| Sample Character
Attack – Lengthen the sample attack time, resulting in a softer sample impact
Damp – Shorten sample length
Pitch – Adjust sample pitch in semi-tones (+-12)
Damp – Adjust sample pitch in cents (+-100)| Sample Sound
HPF – Controls hi-pass filter cutoff.
Cutoff – Controls filter cutoff frequency (20k-20hz)
Redo – Adjust filter resonance (works well in conjunction with lowering the cutoff freq.)
Drive – Parallel drum distortion
Comp – Compression amount
Crush – Bit Crusher amount| Sample Sound
HPF – Controls hi-pass filter cutoff.
Cutoff – Controls filter cutoff frequency (20k-20hz)
Redo – Adjust filter resonance (works well in conjunction
with lowering the cutoff freq.)
Drive – Parallel drum distortion
Comp – Compression amount
Crush – Bit Crusher amount
---|---|---|---

Sounds Module – Custom Samples

You can load your own samples to any of Beat Scholar’s 16 drum pads by either using the folder icon, or dragging and dropping your files on a drum pad. You can even drop  your files directly on the Sounds Module sample area.
If your sample loaded correctly, you should see your sample file name appear with a snazzy waveform under it. Like so:

Good to know:

• Clicking the X button will remove your custom sample and revert the drum pad to its original function.
• Custom samples are saved with your Beat Scholars presets, both in standalone mode or within your DAW projects, meaning you don’t have to worry about where you  placed that one kick that you always use after browsing 300 others.
• All processing features are available for use with your custom samples, just as with the factory presets.

Master Module
The master module contains controls that affect your beats’ tonal character and overall volume
The effects here are applied on the master stereo output of the plugin

Cutoff &  Redo  – Filter frequency and resonance
Pro Tip: Rolling off the master cutoff is a great way to smoothen out your beat and give it a mellower vibe in the context of a mix.
Crush – Master bit crusher effect amount
Comp – A compressor tuned to accentuate transients and even out beat dynamics at extreme settings.
Master – Master volume level. (AKA immediate sound improver)

Differences Between Standalone and DAW
When Beat Scholar is running in standalone mode, the master header will show a cogwheel icon, clicking this icon will open sound and midi settings.

If used as a virtual instrument in a DAW, the Stereo/Multi toggle will appear:
Stereo Mode: All sampler tracks are routed to the master module FX and out through the plugins stereo output.
Multi Mode: Beat Scholar will output 16 stereo tracks; each sampler track will have its own output. This mode is useful in case you want to apply processing in your DAW to  the sampler sounds. In this mode, the master FX section will not affect the sampler.

Activation Modes

Product Installed
After successfully installing Beat Scholar you will be presented with this window, prompting you to either start a 14-day trial or quickly hop on to our website and purchase a copy of Beat Scholar.
Our trial version is fully featured, after the trial period is Product Activated
After successfully activating Beat Scholar you will be presented with this window (which can be closed by

Max Activations Reached:
When purchasing Beat Scholar, your license file will allow for a certain number of activations, upon reaching the maximum number you will be presented with several options:
Deactivate All Machines – All licenses you’ve activated will be de-activated, allowing you to immediately run Beat Scholar on the current machine.
Purchase Activations – This button will open the BS product page on our website, where you can purchase additional activations. So no computer will be left without an  awesome way to compose genre-bending rhythms and Thunder casque grooves.

On a personal note…
Thank you so much for trying out and/or purchasing Beat Scholar.
Behind the menacing image of the mega-corporate “MODALICS” there are 2 music- tech nerds with an undying passion for music, musicians and the tightly knit relationship between instruments and creativity.
Forming this company is an idealistic endeavor for us. We truly feel we want to give something to our fellow musicians and form a strong connection with the wonderful,  curious (and often peculiar) people that occupy the pro-audio and production space.
You can feel free to email us with anything from feature requests, awesome music you’ve made with our plugins, or even questions about us… and everything in between!

Yours truly,
Or Lubianiker & Edal Amir
or@Modalics.com
eyal@Modalics.com

References

• Beat Scholar | Modalics
• Products | Modalics

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