00:00Tree Tone is an incredibly unique device that generates
tones based on the simulation of growing trees.
00:06This device is perfect for creating lush, ambient
soundscapes or mallet-like percussion.
00:13To hear it, let's start Live's Transport.
00:18In the central graphic, you'll see the simulation of the tree.
00:22Each branch of the tree corresponds to a resonator.
00:25A resonator is a device that reinforces sound.
00:28So think of the body of an acoustic guitar
or the throat of an opera singer.
00:34The length and thickness of each branch determines its
resonator's Loudness, Decay Time and Relative Tuning.
00:41Branches on the left side of the graphic
create resonators that are panned to the left,
00:46whereas branches on the right side of the graphic create
resonators that are panned to the right.
00:51I can create a new tree just by clicking.
00:58Each tree is unique, so they all sound slightly different.
01:02I can select a preset tree type down below.
01:08Or choose a random one over here.
01:18Sweet. Over on the left side, I have different exciters that I
can route into the resonators of the tree to generate noise.
01:27Over here I have a filtered White Noise Oscillator.
Let's turn it down and see what happens.
01:33Notice that the branches stop moving
and the sound is muted.
01:36If I turn up Thru, the noise oscillator bypasses the
resonators in the tree and goes straight to the output.
01:44The Noise is filtered and I can change
the Filter's center frequency here.
01:50I can also widen or narrow the Filter Bandwidth.
01:54So if I turn this up, a wider range of the Noise is let through.
02:03Wind randomizes the center frequency, bandwidth and
volume of the Noise to create a lifelike wind effect.
02:12Speed controls the rate of modulation of the wind.
02:18So to hear how this affects the tree, let's turn Thru
all the way down and turn Noise back up.
02:27You can hear the Wind creates
a really unique, evolving sound.
02:32Let's turn Wind down for now.
02:35Over at the top of the central graphic, I have the option
of routing either Pink Noise or White Noise.
02:41You can hear that Pink Noise
creates a muted, warmer tone.
02:47On the upper-left, I have the option to mix between different
algorithms for the resonators.
02:52If I turn this value all the way down,
a warmer, softer algorithm is used.
02:57If I turn it all the way up,
it sounds slightly harsher and brighter.
03:05Below the Noise, I have a different exciter: Rain.
03:10Instead of exciting all the different resonators at once like
Noise did, Rain plucks the different resonators one by one
03:17to create a percussive mallet-like effect.
03:22Speed controls the rate of the raindrops.
03:25Keep in mind that the Rate of the mallets is random
to simulate real raindrops.
03:34Spread controls the range of the resonators that can be hit.
03:37So if I turn Spread all the way down,
only the same resonator will receive a raindrop.
03:44Center controls the central resonator
that is dictated by the Spread.
03:48So if I turn Center down, primarily
lower resonators will be affected.
03:53If I turn Center up, only the higher ones will.
03:58Lo and Hi Cut affect the EQ
of the mallet used to trigger the different resonators.
04:05So if I turn up Lo Cut, the raindrops
will sound a little less spacey.
04:11If I turn down Hi Cut, they'll sound a bit more muted.
04:19Let's turn Rain back down and turn the Noise back up.
04:26Over on the upper-right is the Tuning section.
04:29I can tune all the different resonators up or down here.
04:37Spread controls the range of frequencies
that the resonators are tuned to.
04:42So if I turn Spread down, all the resonators
will be tuned to a similar frequency.
04:47If I turn it up, the range between the different resonators'
frequencies is increased.
04:55Scale quantizes all the different frequencies
of the resonators to a particular key,
05:01so you can hear it sounds
much more tonal and musical now.
05:04I can change the root note
of the Scale here by dragging up or down.
05:11Or shift the resonators up different scale degrees.
05:14This simulates different chord progressions
or voicings within the scale.
05:20In Harmonic, if I turn this up, it slowly puts the frequencies
of the resonators back to their unquantized state.
05:31I have many different scales to choose from,
including Pentatonic, Pole and Diminished scales.
05:38Or I can bring in my own Scaler files to use, say,
for example, if I wanted a microtonal tuning.
05:45In the case of Scaler files,Tonic becomes Offset.
05:49So instead of using semitones here,
it's actually a ratio value.
05:53So if I turn Offset to 2:1,
that means the root note is an octave higher.
06:00Let's change the Scale back to Minor Pentatonic for now.
06:05Down below, I have different global parameters.
06:08So to hear these, I'm going to turn Noise
all the way down and turn the Rain up.
06:15Decay controls how long the resonators ring out for.
So if I turn this up,
06:21resonators ring out for longer.
06:25Panning controls the panning
of all the different resonators here.
06:30And Gain controls their volume.
06:35Above Gain, we have the Lock parameter,
06:38so by default Lock is on, which means that
when I stop Live's Transport, the device stops.
06:43If I turn this off, it runs regardless
of what Live's Transport is doing.
06:49So let's turn this back on and press Play at the top.
06:53I'll turn Rain all the way down.
06:56Now, in addition to using the built-in exciters, I can also
route audio into Tree Tone to trigger the resonators.
07:03To do this I'll click the Mic icon
and over here I have a cool drum loop,
07:08and what I'd like to do is route it into Tree Tone.
07:13So to do this, I'll change No Input to Drums here.
07:17And you can now hear that the resonators are being
triggered by the kick and snare.
07:23I can change the insertion point here,
07:26so since I'm using a Drum Rack, I can
have just the clap trigger the Tree Tone.
07:33And I can change the volume of the input signal here.
07:40Let's change this back to Post Mixer and I'll close this tab.
07:45Down below, I have different modulation
and routing parameters for Tree Tone,
07:50so built in we have two LFOs and two Envelopes
that I can route to any number of parameters.
07:57What I'd like to do is for the Pitch
of Tree Tone to go up and down over time.
08:02So to do this, I'll go to the Routing parameter,
I'll select LFO 1, and I'll have the destination be Shift.
08:10And I'll turn up the Amount here.
08:16So you can hear the pitch of Tree Tone going up or down.
08:20I can increase the Rate of the LFO here,
08:24and change the shape over on the left side.
Let's do Sample and Hold.
08:31In addition to using a hertz value,
I can also sync the Rate of the LFO to the clock.
08:37Let's do that right here.
08:39Right now, the LFO is changing every bar.
08:43I can change this to quarter notes, if I like.
08:48And maybe offset it a bit to make it come in a bit later.
08:57I can also retrigger the LFO
every time a MIDI note is inputted.
09:02This is useful for making the LFO a bit more rhythmic
and in time with the rest of my project.
09:07So to do this, I'm going to create
a new Clip here and put in any note.
09:13This will just be used to trigger the LFO,
and whenever I need it, I'll just press Play.
09:24Now it sounds much more rhythmic
and in time with the drums.
09:28I'll turn the drums off for now.
09:35Now, you might notice that this note that I put in
in my MIDI Clip is actually triggering the resonators.
09:41To prevent this from happening, I could go back over
into Routing and turn off Key To Mallet.
09:46Now, MIDI note messages won't trigger
the resonators in Tree Tone.
09:51Let's turn the drums back on.
09:56In addition to using the LFOs I can also route Envelopes
to different parameters.
10:01I'd like the amount of Noise to increase
at the beginning of each bar.
10:05So I'll go over to Routing here and select Envelope 1.
10:10I'll change the input to Noise and turn up the value.
10:16So you can really hear in the beginning
when the note is playing that there's a bunch of noise.
10:20If I go back, I can increase the Release time
to make this effect go on for longer.
10:25Let's turn down the Gain.
10:32Finally, I'd like to use LFO 2 to effect the Pitch further,
so I'll go over to Routing and I'll have LFO 2 go to Tuning,
10:41and let's turn up the Amount.
10:46I'd like the effect to be a bit sharper,
so I'll change LFO 2 to a square,
10:51turn on Sync so that it'll be one bar here
and turn on Retrigger
10:56so it's in time with the rest of the groove.
11:02That's sounding great. Let's hear it with the rest of my beat.
