The Pattern Browser
The Pattern Browser lets you find the right patterns for your song. You can filter by attributes or tap in a rhythm that fits your style.
Since a preset Song might not meet your exact needs, you might wish to change a slot's pattern, or load additional patterns into specific slots.
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Clicking the magnifying glass icon will open the Pattern Browser
The top area of the Pattern Browser holds a series of buttons that you can use to refine your search, including a Rhythm Search strip, which is a very powerful tool for finding patterns that match your custom rhythm. The body of the Pattern Browser contains a list of all patterns matching the current search criteria. If the list is too long to fit the screen, you can scroll through the list by dragging the scroll handle on the right up or down.
Note
To avoid misconceptions: The Rhythm Search strip is merely a tool to find pre-recorded patterns in the pattern library. It is technically impossible to create your own patterns by entering a certain rhythm, so, despite its look, the Rhythm Search strip should not be confused with a step sequencer.
To search a pattern by attributes (and not by rhythm), make sure the Rhythm Search strip is cleared. If it is not, click the Clear button next to the strip. Then refine your search by selecting any of the attributes, such as Strum, Picked, 4/4, etc. If you want to bypass a category (such as Open/Muted/Mixed), deselect all attributes of that category. Consequently, you would need to deselect all attributes to display all recorded patterns.
To search a pattern by attributes and rhythm, first, select/deselect the desired attributes as described above. Then, enter a rhythm on a 16ths note basis into the Rhythm Search strip. With each new rhythm snippet that you enter, the pattern list will be refreshed in real-time, sorted by the similarity of the desired rhythm to the rhythm of all patterns available in the library, in descending order.
Tip
There is a powerful shortcut feature to quickly enter a repeating pattern into the Rhythm Search strip: enter the beginning of the pattern and then [Alt] + click on the position of the first repetition. Furthermore, if you [Alt] + click on the first snippet, all other snippets will be activated/deactivated.
To 'tap in' a rhythm: first press the Record button and hear the metronome count-in. Then start playing a rhythm on your MIDI keyboard or click on the 'Tap' button. You can start at any time, so you can also start with a pickup beat. After 2 bars the recording will automatically stop, and the search results will be listed.
The rhythm search algorithm is very powerful. It will compare the rhythm defined in the Rhythm Search strip not only to the rhythm of the other patterns from start but also from any possible shifted starting position. This way, patterns with specific start shift offsets might be revealed as musically matching-patterns which otherwise would simply be overlooked. If the perfect start shift offset is different from 0, the value is appended to the pattern name. Upon loading a pattern, that offset will automatically be applied and entered into the Inspector Panel (refer to The Inspector Panel). Also, the Rhythm Search algorithm will rate accents higher than non-accentuated snippets. So, if you're searching for accents following a certain rhythm, try entering the accents only.
Tip
If you cannot find the desired rhythm straight away, chances are that you can create that particular rhythm by separately searching for the first and second half of the rhythm of a desired pattern, loading the two halves into two different slots, and combining them during playback. Alternatively, you can load the same pattern into two different slots and adjust the Start Shift of one of them, in order to shift accents to the desired positions.
To search for patterns similar to the selected one, you would need to search for patterns with a rhythm similar to the selected pattern's rhythm. Instead of entering and copying the rhythm manually, you can simply transfer the rhythm of the selected pattern into the Rhythm Search strip by clicking on the Similar button.
This will start a search and put the selected pattern at the very top of the listed results, since that pattern matches its own rhythm a 100 percent, of course. Rhythmically similar patterns will be listed subsequently.
To play a preview of a pattern, click on any of the listed patterns. This will also display the pattern's rhythm structure in the second strip. The preview playback will sync to the host tempo and transport position if the transport is running. However, only one selectable chord and pitch can be previewed; incoming MIDI chords will be ignored.
To stop the preview playback, simply click on the playing pattern again or, if the host transport is running, stop it.
To change the preview chord, select a pitch and a chord type in the top drop-down menus or value dragger.
To load a pattern, simply double-click the pattern or click the tick button. (If you want to cancel the process, click the X button instead.)
To load a pattern to a different slot than the currently selected one, choose one of the eight available pattern slots from the drop-down menu in the upper right corner. Confirm by clicking the tick button, or double-click the respective pattern.
The selected pattern will now be loaded into the selected slot; a previous pattern of that slot will be replaced. The pattern browser will be closed.