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Behringer TD-3 Quick Reference

WRITING A PATTERN

As an example, we will program pattern 1A of pattern group I. All writing (pitch and timing) is done in PATTERN WRITE Mode.

Writing the notes in PITCH MODE

  1. Turn the MODE switch to PATTERN WRITE.
  2. Turn the PATTERN GROUP switch to Group I, position 1 or 2 (it does not matter which).
  3. Press FUNCTION, and the nearby NORMAL MODE LED will turn on, and one of the PATTERN switch LEDs will be flashing.
  4. Press the PATTERN 1 switch (note C) and its LED will flash, showing that we are getting ready to program it. (Press it anyway, even if it is already flashing.)
  5. Press the PATTERN A switch (100) and its LED will turn on (it may even be on already).
  6. If PATTERN 1A already exists, press and hold the PATTERN 1 switch and then press CLEAR. If you now press START/STOP, you should not hear a pattern. (Remember to press START/STOP once more to get out of play mode.)
  7. Enter the number of steps in your pattern, by holding down FUNCTION and pressing the STEP switch by the number of steps required. For example, you can press it 8 times. If you skip this step, then the pattern will be 16 steps.
  8. Press PITCH MODE and its LED will turn on. Now you can enter the notes required for your pattern by pressing any of the 13 notes in the keyboard.
  9. To change the octave for a note, press and hold either of the TRANSPOSE up or down switches and then press the required note.

Checking and editing notes

  1. To listen to the pattern of notes, press PITCH MODE to return to the start of the pattern, and press WRITE/NEXT to play the notes one at a time. (Press PITCH MODE at any time to return to the start.)
  2. To change a note that has just played, press BACK to go back to that step. Then press the new note (or to change octave, press and hold either of the TRANSPOSE up or down switches and then press the desired note).
  3. Continue to press WRITE/NEXT until all notes have been played, or press PITCH MODE to return to the start, or FUNCTION to exit PITCH MODE.
  4. To redo the whole pattern, repeat step 3 onwards.

Writing the timing in TIME MODE

After all notes have been entered, you need to enter the timing of each note in TIME MODE.

Note: While in TIME MODE, no sounds will be heard.

  1. Press the TIME MODE switch and its LED will turn on.
  2. In TIME MODE, you can play the NOTE as it is, or add a TIE, or a REST using three switches as shown above. For example, for 16 notes, you could press these three switches as follows: Note, Rest, Rest, Note, Tie, Note, Note, Tie, Note, Note, Tie, Note, Note, Note, Tie, Note. Whenever you reach the required number of notes (which you set in procedure 7 above), it will automatically exit TIME MODE.

Note: To play all the notes just as they are, repeatedly press the NOTE switch until you exit TIME MODE. This will create a simple Arpeggio.

Checking and editing timing

  1. To check the timing is OK, press TIME MODE, and press WRITE/NEXT to cycle through the pattern steps, one at a time. Look at the LEDs to see which step is a note, tie, or rest.
  2. To change the timing of the pattern, repeat steps 14 and 15 to re-enter the new timing. (Press TIME MODE at any time to return to the start of the pattern.)
  3. Now that the notes and timing have been added, you can play the pattern by pressing FUNCTION to return to normal mode, and then press START/STOP. As the pattern repeats, you can change the TEMPO and adjust the synthesizer controls as required.

Alternative timing method

  1. Press FUNCTION and then START/STOP to play the existing pattern.
  2. Press the CLEAR switch and you will hear a metronome, with a downbeat at the beginning of the pattern.
  3. Tap on the TAP switch, in the timing you would like. Turn down the TEMPO if this will help. To add Sustain, press and hold down TAP.
  4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until the timing sounds good (or repeat TIME MODE if you prefer this method).

Adding or deleting ACCENT and SLIDE

  1. While still in PATTERN WRITE MODE, press PITCH MODE and its LED will turn on. Press WRITE/NEXT repeatedly to play each note of the current pattern.
  2. When you reach a note that you would like to add an accent or a slide to, keep holding the WRITE/NEXT (don’t release it). If you go past a note you want to change, press BACK first, then press and hold WRITE/NEXT.
  3. Press ACCENT and/or SLIDE as required, to add it to the note. (If these are already added to this note, they will be deleted.) Then release WRITE/NEXT.
  4. The ACCENT control knob will only affect those notes that have ACCENT applied.
  5. If the last note of a pattern is a slide, then:
  6. In TRACK PLAY mode, this will slide to the next pattern in a track (when the pattern is added to a track).
  7. In PATTERN WRITE/PLAY mode, if there is only one pattern, it will slide to the beginning of itself. If there are two or more patterns, it will slide to next pattern.

PLAYING A PATTERN

Although you can play the patterns while the MODE switch is in the PATTERN WRITE position, use the PATTERN PLAY position during normal pattern playing. This will prevent you from accidentally erasing the patterns with the CLEAR switch.

The patterns are recalled by setting the PATTERN GROUP switch to position I, II, III, or IV and then using the PATTERN switches 1 to 8, and the A and B switches

  1. Turn the MODE switch to the PATTERN PLAY position.
  2. Turn the PATTERN GROUP switch to the group where your desired pattern was stored, either I, II, III, or IV.
  3. Press the FUNCTION switch, and the NORMAL MODE LED will turn on.
  4. Press the desired PATTERN switch 1 to 8, and its LED will flash.
  5. Press the desired A or B switch and its LED will light.
  6. Press the START/STOP switch to play the pattern.
  7. Adjust the synthesizer controls, the TEMPO, and the distortion, and have fun.
  8. If you press and hold PITCH MODE, and then press one of the 13 keys of the keyboard, the current pattern will be transposed to that key when the pattern restarts.
  9. While the pattern is playing, you can press another PATTERN switch 1 to 8, or A or B and it will play that as soon as the current pattern is finished.
  10. If you press and hold a PATTERN switch and then press another one at the same time, this will select both patterns and all the patterns in between, and play them in order. This is a good way of hearing multiple patterns before you make a track.

TRACKS

After you have created a few patterns, you can add them together to form a TRACK.

  1. Rotate the MODE switch to the TRACK WRITE position.
  2. Rotate the TRACK switch to one of the available positions 1 to 7. This also selects the pattern group to be used. For example, TRACK 1 and 2 can only select from patterns saved in PATTERN GROUP I. TRACK 3 and 4 can only select patterns from PATTERN GROUP II.
  3. Press CLEAR to reset the track to the beginning.
  4. Press START/STOP, and the TD-3 will play the current pattern of the selected track. (Tracks are only written while the unit is playing, and not stopped.)
  5. Select the first pattern to add to track. For example, if you wanted to play a previously recorded pattern 2A, press 2 (note D) then press A (labled 100), even if it is already selected, and pattern 2A should play.
  6. Press WRITE/NEXT to add this to the track
  7. Select the next pattern in the same way. To add a transpose, hold PITCH MODE and choose a key, and the pattern playing will change pitch to the new key.
  8. Press WRITE/NEXT to enter this pattern.
  9. Continue adding patterns in the same way.
  10. When you reach the last pattern, press CLEAR to let the TD-3 know this is the last pattern in the track.
  11. Press WRITE/NEXT.
  12. Press START/STOP to finish.

Playing Tracks

  1. Rotate the MODE switch to the TRACK PLAY position.
  2. Rotate the TRACK switch to the desired track.
  3. Press CLEAR to reset the track to the beginning.
  4. Press START/STOP to play the track.

Deleting Patterns from a Track

To remove one pattern from the track, just select that Pattern number. For example, to delete the third pattern in a track:

  1. Rotate the MODE switch to the TRACK WRITE position.
  2. Rotate the TRACK switch to the track to be edited.
  3. Select the third pattern in the track by holding FUNCTION down and pressing PATTERN 3.
  4. Delete by holding FUNCTION down and then pressing DEL (C sharp).
  5. Rotate the MODE switch to the TRACK PLAY position.
  6. Press CLEAR to reset the track to the start.
  7. Press START/STOP to play the track and listen to the changes.

Inserting Patterns into a Track

For example, to add a pattern before the 5th pattern in a track:

  1. Rotate the MODE switch to the TRACK WRITE position.
  2. Rotate the TRACK switch to the track to be edited.
  3. Select the fifth pattern in the track by holding FUNCTION down and pressing PATTERN 5.
  4. Add by holding FUNCTION down and pressing INS (D sharp). The new pattern will be added to the track.
  5. Press the START/STOP switch and the current pattern added will play.
  6. Select the pattern you want to play by pressing its selector 1 to 8 and the A and B switches. The selected pattern will play.
  7. Press TAP to store the change.
  8. Press START/STOP to stop play.
  9. Rotate the MODE switch to the TRACK PLAY position.
  10. Press CLEAR to reset the track to the start.
  11. Press START/STOP to play the track and listen to the changes.

Overwriting a Track

Existing tracks can be overwritten with a new track. It is not necessary to delete all patterns in a track when writing over an existing track with a shorter track. This is because when the new track plays its last pattern, it will automatically return to the beginning.

CONFIGURATION (CLOCK SOURCE, CLOCK RATE)

  1. Press Function.
  2. Make sure no sequence is playing.
  3. Press BACK and WRITE/NEXT at the same time to enter Sync setting mode.
  4. Selector 1 to 8 LEDs will turn on, and the current clock source (1 to 4) and clock rate (5 to 8) will flash, you have about 3 seconds to make any changes.
  5. Press Selector 1, 2, 3, or 4 to change the clock source to INT, MIDI, USB, or TRIG respectively
  6. Press Selector 5, 6, 7, or 8 to change the clock rate to 1PPs, 2PPQ, 24PPQ, or 48PPQ respectively.
  7. Press any other buttons or after no changes for a 3 seconds, the changes are saved.

EXAMPLE: "Squeeze The Trigger" BY Ice T (1987)

Tutorial from DUCKTRONIC.

Notation Key: Note (_ means rest), Down/Up (⬇️/⬆️), Accent/Slide (A/S), Note/Tie/Rest (🎵/O/-).

Follow steps in "Writing the notes in PITCH MODE" to clear 3 patterns.

Four patterns, each consisting of 2 bars (16 beats).

Pattern 1

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
C#⬇️ C#⬇️ A#⬇️ B ⬇️ G#⬇️ A ⬇️ F#⬇️ G ⬇️
🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵
09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
E ⬇️ F ⬇️ E ⬇️ A ⬇️ G ⬇️ F#⬇️ F ⬇️ D ⬇️
🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵

Pattern 2

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
C#⬇️ C#⬇️ C#⬇️ C B ⬇️ A#⬇️ A ⬇️
🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 O 🎵 🎵
09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
G#⬇️ G ⬇️ F#⬇️ F ⬇️ D#⬇️ E ⬇️ F#⬇️
🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 O 🎵 🎵 🎵

Play pattern 1 and 2 together (see "PLAYING A PATTERN").

Pattern 3

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
C#⬇️ G#⬇️ E ⬇️
🎵 O 🎵 O O 🎵 O O
09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
F ⬇️ G ⬇️ E ⬇️
🎵 O O 🎵 O O 🎵 O

Pattern 4

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
C#⬇️ G#⬇️ F ⬇️
🎵 O 🎵 O O 🎵 O O
09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
G ⬇️ E ⬇️ F ⬇️
🎵 O O 🎵 O O 🎵 O

Play pattern 3 and 4 together.

End of song has all 4 patterns together.

Tempo

Set tempo to about 168.

YOUTUBE CHANNELS

Mark DB

DUCKTRONIC

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