ABL3 Updated! An overview of the new features

Audiorealism’s award winning ABL3 has received an exciting Rack Extension update! We’ll take a look at what’s new and how you can take advantage of these new features.

In case you missed it, ABL3 was awarded “Virtual Emulation of the year” for 2016 by Computer Music. And it also holds the highest score over at acidvoice.com for being the most authentic sounding software emulation of the 303 (the previous leader was ABL2). And the Rack Extension version just got even better!

What’s new in version 3.1?

ABL3 made it’s debut as a Rack Extension in May of 2015. The AU/VST version followed some months later with additional edit modes. The Rack Extension has now received the new modes plus a few other additions.

Included with this Rack Extension update:

• Audio engine update with improved sound quality (less noise and aliasing, improved clarity)
• Reason users can now edit and create patterns using the new Grid and Random edit modes, in addition to the Classic edit mode.
• Parameters that were once only on the back panel, Hipass and Gate Trim have been added to the front panel and can now be automated.
• Built-in distortion is back!
• 23 additional patches 🙂

New Pattern Edit Modes

Let’s start by taking a look at the new edit modes! You’ll notice a new switch to the left of the display. Here you can select from Classic, Grid, and Random edit modes. Changes made in Classic Mode can be viewed and edited in Grid Mode and vice versa. Likewise, patterns generated in Random Mode can be viewed and edited in both Classic and Grid modes. We won’t cover in detail Classic Mode today (part of the initial release) and will only be touching on the new features introduced in 3.1. Please refer to the operation manual for anything not covered here.

  Grid Mode

The Grid Mode displays 16 steps of the pattern at once, making it easy to overview and edit the pattern. The buttons on the left are Run, Clear and Number of Steps.

The Grid Mode is divided into several lanes: Step, Note, Gate, Down, Up, Accent and Slide. Each lane is divided into a number of cells. For Note, these can be clicked and dragged up and down to change the pitch of a step. For the other lanes such as Gate, a simple click will turn that cell on or off. You can make quick entries in multiple cells by clicking and dragging across the display.

TIP: A quick way to enter notes using Step Record

If you're looking for a quick way to enter specific notes manually before entering Grid Mode, you can first use the Step Record function found in Classic Mode to record your desired notes via MIDI. Then, you can switch to Grid Mode to edit/fine tune. Note that the Step Record function records everything from Accents (velocity of 100 or greater) and Slides (tied notes). So do this first as using it will overwrite everything in the pattern. Read more about Step Record on page 8 of the operation manual.

 Random Mode

The Random Mode offers an easy way to create interesting patterns. This is a bit different than the Random button found in Classic Mode. You can think of that as a blind random and this as more of an ‘Advanced Random.’ You have great control over what the randomizer will output.

Simply set the parameters such as the Scale and the Note, Gate, Slide, Accent density, and a pattern will be generated in the selected Root when Apply is activated. When Apply is activated, the parameters can be adjusted in realtime to immediately hear the changes!

• Scale – The user custom scale can be set here, along with which octaves (­-1, +1) relative to the Root the pitches should be generated.
• Note – Sets the amount of diversity the pattern should have, when this is at 0% pitches at the Root will be generated, and at 100% all notes from the Scale are equally likely to be selected for each step.
• Gate – The density of the number of gates in the generated pattern.

  When Apply is activated, the parameters can be adjusted in realtime to immediately hear the changes!

• Slide – The density of the number of slides in the generated pattern.
• Accent – The density of the number of accents in the generated pattern.
• Root – Set the root note of the scale to be generated.
• Apply – Activates the pattern generator. When switching to a mode other than the Random Mode, the Apply button will be deactivated. This is because editing the pattern in another view would be overwritten constantly if the Apply was still activated.
• Fix Scale – When this button is activated the pitches will be selected from the scale in order instead of randomly, this can be useful for generating arpeggios or debugging a scale.
• Next Seed – Generate a new pattern based on the same settings.

TIP: Create four, random 16-step patterns in one fell swoop

Let's say you want to quickly create four individual 16-step patterns using the same Random settings. To do this in one fell swoop, first set the number of steps to 64 and then click Apply (make any adjustments you’d like). You now have one random pattern of 64 steps. Now set the pattern length to 16 steps. Your 64-step pattern is now broken into four separate 16-step patterns that you can trigger individually using the Pattern knob (Patterns 1-4). Read more about the Pattern section on page 5 of the operation manual.

Automate Hipass and Gate Trim

Parameters which were previously only accessible via the back panel (Hipass and Gate Trim) can now be accessed via the front panel. Not only does this make them closer at hand, they can also now be automated. These controls are tied together (front and back panel), so when you automate the parameter, you’ll see the knobs spinning on the back panel! Whoa! That’s different, right? And while you can’t right-mouse-click to choose ‘edit automation’ from the back panel, you can however option+click on Hipass or Gate Trim on the back panel to assign automation.

Built-in Distortion is back!

By popular demand, Audiorealism has brought back the Drive/Distortion found on ABL2. So now you can get those classic sounds right out of the box.

When beginning his work on ABL3, Mike Janney of Audiorealism put all of the focus on the sound engine and making it as accurate as possible. The code had been rewritten from the ground up. And in the initial release, the distortion was left off of the unit. After all, there are so many options for distortion out there! But the distortion which was included with ABL2 seemed to be a favorite for many users and they have continued to request it. So, it’s back! It’s a quick and dirty way to get some nice distorted sounds and you can always experiment with other distortion/effect plugins for a more personalized sound.

• Drive – The knob controls the drive of the signal being fed into the distortion circuit. This only has any effect if the distortion knob is activated (not fully counter clockwise).
  
• Distortion – The distortion circuit is activated when the knob is not positioned fully counterclockwise (in its minimum position). Increasing the distortion will make the sound harsher. The most 303-like setting is approximately 20% distortion.

Summary

Making incredible sounding and catchy 303 lines has never been easier! There are numerous ways now to create great patterns manually or randomly. Instant inspiration and endless fun. And the realtime updating in Random mode is awesome!

A good way to look at the ABL3 is that the top portion is the heart of this silverbox beast. This is what makes up the faithful and incredibly accurate emulation. What you find in the bottom section (aside from Classic edit mode) are additional features to what you would find on the analog original. The ABL3 delivers very well on both extremely accurate emulation and incredibly useful and purposeful additional features that don’t stray from the classic feel.

TIP: Copy pattern to track



With the new Player devices in Reason 9, you can now send your patterns to track. If you’ve got a pattern you like and you want to export it to Reason’s sequencer, you can get the pattern to track using this handy trick outlined by the fine folks at Robotic Bean: Sending Notes to Track in Reason 9

Everybody needs a 303. Go get yours!

You can Try or Buy Audiorealism’s ABL3 Computer Bassline from the Propellerhead Shop.
It is €/$69 for new customers and version 3.1 is available as a $9 update for existing customers of ABL3.

Check out some famous patterns at acidvoice.com that you can easily translate to ABL3’s Grid Mode.
There’s also a popular pattern featured in the Grid Mode image above 😉

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