Ground Rules; A The Pattern/Song Recording Method - ION Electronic Drum Kit Owner's Manual

7. Backup: Now that you've come up with some great Songs and rhythm Patterns, it's time to
save them to a cassette recorder or MIDI system exclusive storage device.
8. Applications: This additional information will help you get the most out of the IDM01.
9. MIDI Supplement: This brief, entry-level explanation of MIDI explains the basic theory
behind the MIDI protocol.
Feel free to cover topics in a different order. For example, if creating a whacked-out Drum Set
is important to you, read the Drum Set section before you start recording. If you come up with
a great tune, skip ahead to the Backup section so that you don't accidentally erase the tune or
otherwise lose it. If you only want to use the IDM01 as a MIDI expander module, then the MIDI
Setup section might be a priority.
Experts as well as beginners should read the following "ground rules" (definitions, concepts,
and how to communicate with the IDM01) very carefully. The IDM01 is easy to use, but only if
you read and understand these basic principles.
Certain subjects, such as quantization and output assignments, will be familiar to experienced
drum machine users but new concepts to others. As a result, some sections contain
background material tailored specifically for beginners. These sections are identified as
"background" and set in a smaller type size.

1.2 GROUND RULES

The IDM01 drum machine consists of two main elements:
• The drum sounds themselves, recorded using16-bit resolution (the same resolution as CDs).
For additional realism, many sounds use advanced "dynamic articulation" techniques so that
these sounds, when hit loudly, have a different timbre than when they're hit softly.
• An internal computer to control and trigger the sounds. This computer simulates an
advanced, easily editable tape recorder.
The IDM01 offers two main modes, Perform (for playback) and Compose (for recording). You
can switch between these while the IDM01 is playing, making it easy to test out different
sounds without recording them and then drop back into record mode.

1.2A The Pattern/Song Recording Method

When recording with a drum machine, it's often easier to divide a song into shorter individual
Patterns and work on these rather than record an entire song. A typical Pattern might be 8,16,
or 32 beats long, and correspond to a verse, chorus, bridge, instrumental, intro, etc. While
recording these Patterns, the IDM01 will be in Pattern mode. The IDM01 holds 50 Preset (i.e.,
can't be edited) Patterns and 50 user-programmable Patterns, each of which can be from 1 to
128 beats long.
After perfecting these Patterns, Song mode offers two ways to create a song:
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