Beat creation using ChordWalk Virtual Keyboard
Drum and percussion instrument sounds are triggered by playing the individual notes that are mapped to each sound. To complement Arpeggios and Full chords generating your beats, you may also trigger, in real time, any drum or percussive sound, or combination of sounds, by selecting a key or keys on the virtual piano keyboard as shown below.
As an example, set your keyboard view to display the notes in Octave “C1” and “C2” showing the keys in large profile. With the “C” chord selected in the chord selection matrix and inversions selected, the notes C1, E1, G1 C2 and E2 will be highlighted to provide a positional guide for note selection.
With drum instrument selected in your DAW, you can activate any key on the piano keyboard image and that note will trigger the associated drum or percussion sound in your DAW. Manual keyboard intervention can add stunning random variety sounds to your beat patterns and generate some amazing pattern fillers. Try playing keyboard notes with the Arpeggios and have real fun and fulfilment. The results will be worth it. Keep your interventions on the beat if possible.
Use the keyboard input to trigger cymbals, high-hats, effect and one-shots as they will most complement strong thumping drum, synth and bass beats. To identify the diverse range of sounds mapped to your DAW just play different key selections on the piano keyboard image, in ascending order, starting at C1. You will quickly identify the note positions that are mapped to drum and percussion sounds. You should also be aware that some interesting one-shot sounds are mapped to higher octave ranges, so experiment with these higher note values in your beat creations.
Remember: Each Piano key on the keyboard image below has a graduated velocity range from the bottom to the top of the key, varying in intensity from loud to silent along the length of each Key. Activating the “Simulate MIDI Velocity” will enable this facility. Varying the triggering velocity adds another level of dynamics to beat creation.
Simulate MIDI Velocity