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Arturia BeatStep Pro layout

Posted in Arturia, and Gear Panel Layouts

BeatStep Pro

Controls

Text within [] indicates the control function when pressed whilst the Shift button is held down.

Left Panel

Sync button Internal LED USB LED MIDI LED External LED
Tempo/Encoder display Tempo [Fine] knob Tap [Toggle metronome]button
Swing knob Swing Current Track button Randomness knob Randomness/Probability Current Track button Probability knob
Roller/Looper
Transpose Link button 16 steps LED, 32 steps LED, 48 steps LED, 64 steps LED Channel button (+Step button=MIDI output channel) [(+Step button=MIDI input channel]
Preset Link button << button >> button [Extend sequence] Last Step button
Shift button Record button Stop button (3 quick presses = all notes off) Play/Pause button

Middle Panel

Project button (+Step button=load project) Knobs button (CC/MCU/HUI)
Control Mode button Save button (+Step button = save pattern. +Project button+Step button=save project)
< button > button Knobs button (Pitch/Velocity/Gate Time)
Seq1 button (+Step button = select pattern) Mute button
< button > button Knobs button (Pitch/Velocity/Gate Time)
Seq2 button (+Step button = select pattern) Mute button
< button > button Knobs button (Shift/Velocity/Gate Time)
Drum button (+Step button = select pattern, +Pad=Silent drum selection) Mute button (+Drum button+Pad mutes a single drum)

Step knobs

Knob1 Knob2 Knob3 Knob4 Knob5 Knob6 Knob7 Knob8
Knob9 Knob10 Knob11 Knob12 Knob13 Knob14 Knob15 Knob16

Step buttons

The MIDI Control Center has an option that affects what the Step buttons do in Control Mode. There are two options:

  1. The Step buttons will transmit MIDI data as specified in the Controller Map.
  2. The Step buttons allow you to save and recall one of 16 Scenes
  • Step1 [Clear Pattern]
  • Step2
  • Step3
  • Step4
  • Step5
  • Step6
  • Step7
  • Step8
  • Step9
  • Step10
  • Step11
  • Step12
  • Step13
  • Step14
  • Step15
  • Step16 [Toggle Polyrhythm]
  1. Hold a step button then press a pad or attached MIDI keyboard to set a step to that note (playback must be stopped).
  2. Press 2 step buttons together to tie the steps to the initial note.

Pads

Pad1 [Chromatic] Pad2 = C# [Minor] Pad3 = D# [Major] Pad4 = G# [Mixolydian] Pad5 [Dorian] Pad6 = A# [Blues] Pad7 = Octave Down [Harmonic Minor] Pad8 = Octave Up [User Scale]
Pad9 = C [Forward] Pad10 = D [Reverse] Pad11 = E [Alternate] Pad12 = F [Triplets] Pad13 = G [Quarters] Pad14 = A [Eights] Pad15 = B [Sixteenths] Pad16 = C [32nd]

Connections

    • Power switch
    • USB
    • MIDI out
    • MIDI in
    • Clock out
    • Clock in
    • Drum gate 8 out
    • Drum gate 7 out
    • Drum gate 6 out
    • Drum gate 5 out
    • Drum gate 4 out
    • Drum gate 3 out
    • Drum gate 2 out
    • Drum gate 1 out
    • Seq2 gate out
    • Seq2 velocity CV out
    • Seq2 pitch CV out
    • Seq1 gate out
    • Seq1 velocity CV out
    • Seq1 pitch CV out

Notes

Changing pattern length without duplication

    • Above the transport buttons in the bottom left you’ll feel 6 wide rectangular buttons in a U shape. The middle two are the arrow buttons for navigating left and right of the bars of the sequence (steps 1 to 16, 17 to 32, 32 to 48, 48 to 64) – They do not wrap around as you keep tapping them, which is key.

To create longer blank sequences, you need to use the Last Step function, which is the button directly to the right of the two middle left and right buttons. Method as follows:

      1. Press the left arrow button three times to move to steps 1-16.
      2. Hold down the Last Step button AND press the left and right arrows to extend the number of bars – don not let the Last Step button go.
      3. When you are on the bar you want, you push the corresponding one of the 16 step edit buttons which makes the last step of the sequence THAT step.
    • If you set the last step to be beyond the current last step, then you increase the sequence length without duplicating existing data.

Pattern chains – saving a chain

    • Pattern chains can only be saved if Scene Mode is enabled in the MIDI Control Center.

If you change the sequencer(s) that you’ve chained following the instructions below to a new pattern before performing a scene save operation, then its current chain will be lost. If you would like to save the pattern chain you have made, it must be saved as part of a Scene:

      1. If Scene mode has not been enabled, you must do so using the MIDI Control Center.
      2. Enter Control Mode.
      3. Hold the Save button.
      4. Press one of the Step buttons. It will flash a few times to indicate that the Scene has been stored.

Pattern chains – loading a scene

    • If Scene mode has not been enabled, you must do so using the MIDI Control Center.
    • Enter Control Mode.
    • Press the Step button that corresponds to the Scene you wish to recall.
    • If a Scene has never been stored to a particular Step button then a default pattern number will be loaded when that Scene is recalled. In other words, if you recall Scene 10 and it is “empty”, all three sequencers will load pattern 10.

Note: . The Wait to Load Pattern setting also determines when the next Scene will load.

Single sequencer chain

    • For example, let’s say you would like SEQ1 to play patterns 1, 2, and 3 without having to select those patterns manually.

      1. Hold SHIFT + SEQUENCER 1 to activate pattern chain mode for SEQ1.
      2. SHIFT can be released but the SEQUENCER 1 button must remain pressed.
      3. Press the Step buttons in the order you want the patterns to play: Step button 1, then 2, then 3.
      4. Release the SEQUENCER 1 button.
      5. Press the Play button. SEQ1 will play patterns 1, 2, and 3 in that order while the other sequencers play the patterns that were already selected for them.
      6. A faster way to confirm the contents of a pattern chain is to hold down the SEQUENCER 1 button. The Step buttons will flash one after the other in the order you entered them into the chain.

SEQ1 and SEQ2 chaining

    • Let’s say you would like SEQ1 to play patterns 1, 2, and 3 while SEQ2 plays patterns 3, 2, and 1.

      1. Follow steps 1-4 in Example 1 above.
      2. Hold SHIFT + SEQUENCER 2 to activate pattern chain mode for SEQ2.
      3. SHIFT can be released but the SEQUENCER 2 button must remain pressed.
      4. Press the Step buttons in the order you want the patterns to play: Step button 3, then 2, then 1.
      5. Release the SEQUENCER 2 button.
      6. Press the Play button. SEQ2 will play patterns 3, 2, and 1 in that order while SEQ1 plays patterns 1, 2, and 3 and the Drum sequencer plays the drum pattern that had already been selected.
      7. A faster way to confirm the contents of the pattern chains is to hold down one of the SEQUENCER buttons. The Step buttons will flash one after the other in the order you entered them into the chain.

Chaining all the sequencers

    Let’s say you would like DRUM to play pattern 4 twice and then play pattern 5, while SEQ1 and SEQ2 play the pattern chains constructed in Examples 1 and 2.

    1. Follow steps 1-4 in Examples 1 and 2 above.
    2. Hold SHIFT + DRUM to activate pattern chain mode for the Drum sequencer.
    3. SHIFT can be released but the DRUM button must remain pressed.
    4. Press the Step buttons in the order you want the patterns to play, only this time press Step button 4 twice and then press Step button 5.
    5. Release the DRUM button.
    6. Press the Play button. The Drum sequencer will play pattern 4, repeat pattern 4, and then play pattern 5. SEQ1 and SEQ2 will play the pattern chains from Examples 1 and 2.
    7. A faster way to confirm the contents of the pattern chains is to hold down one of the SEQUENCER buttons. The Step buttons will flash one after the other in the order you entered them into the chain.
  • You can press any combination of the SEQUENCER , SEQUENCER 2 and DRUM buttons while holding SHIFT to create identical chains on the selected sequencers. .: The Preset Link function has no effect on pattern chains.

 

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