User guide — MD + MM Editor

User guide

Everything a first-time user needs for the Machinedrum Editor and the Monomachine Editor, version 0.3.0. macOS only.

Getting started
Add your ROM
Emulator or real machine
In a DAW
Workspaces
Keyboard shortcuts
Uninstall

Getting started

Download the installer for your machine. Each installer holds the standalone app, the VST3 and the AU.
Double-click the .pkg. It is not notarised by Apple, so macOS 15 and later blocks it. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to the message about the installer, click Open Anyway and confirm with your password or Touch ID. Right-click → Open no longer works for installers.
At Destination Select choose Install for all users (needs an administrator) or Install for me only. The app goes to /Applications or ~/Applications. The plug-ins go to /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins or ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins.
Open Machinedrum Editor or Monomachine Editor from Applications. Next, add your ROM.

Add your ROM

The editors run the machine's real firmware. You bring your own: Machinedrum OS 1.63 or Monomachine SFX-60 OS 1.32B, an 8 MiB image. No firmware is included and we cannot supply it.

Open the editor. With no ROM there is no error pop-up. A start-up card says Machinedrum firmware needed (or Monomachine).
Click Choose your ROM. The file chooser opens. Pick the .bin, or a .zip that holds it. Drag and drop is not supported.
The editor checks the file and copies it into its ROM folder, ~/Documents/Gearmulator Preview/Machinedrum/roms/ (or .../Monomachine/roms/). The firmware stays on your computer and is sent nowhere. The machine then starts, which takes 10–15 seconds.

You can also copy the image into that folder yourself. On the card, Show the ROM folder opens it and Check again looks again. A file that is the wrong OS or a damaged dump is refused, with the reason on the card.

To replace or remove the firmware later, use LOAD ROM in the engine menu. Your project stays. A session that starts without a ROM keeps your saved project, and in a DAW it keeps the automation and the editor setup until the ROM arrives.

Emulator or real machine

The engine menu in the editor's header chooses what the editor drives.

Emulator (the default). The real firmware runs inside the editor. It needs the ROM above. Nothing else is needed.
HW MIDI (beta). The editor drives your own machine over MIDI. Choose its MIDI in and out in AUDIO / MIDI (also the , key). Until the machine answers, the editor dims and a card offers AUDIO / MIDI or a return to the emulator. It has so far only been tested against the emulator, not a real machine.

Over HW MIDI, some controls are disabled because the machine has no MIDI message for them. The editor says why. Use the standalone app for HW MIDI: in a DAW it is off, because the plug-in has no MIDI output to the machine.

In a DAW

After the installer, rescan plug-ins in your DAW. The plug-ins are called Gearmulator MD and Gearmulator MM, as VST3 and AU instruments. They follow the DAW's tempo and transport. The plug-in window shows the same editor, and the same start-up card if the ROM is missing.

If a DAW will not load the AU, macOS may have quarantined it. In Terminal run:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/Gearmulator MD.component"

Use Gearmulator MM.component for the Monomachine, and ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components if you installed for yourself only. Then rescan plug-ins.

Workspaces

Each editor has five workspaces. Switch with the tabs, or with the keys 1 to 5.

Machinedrum Editor

`1` Sequence	The step grid for all 16 tracks, with trigs, accents, slides and drawn parameter locks.
`2` Sound	One track: its machine, effects, routing and LFO, grouped by function.
`3` Mix	A strip per track (level, pan, drive, sends, output, mute and solo) and the master effects.
`4` Sampler	Sample slots as waveform tiles, loading and auditioning WAV or AIFF files, and a RAM view of steps.
`5` Song	The arrangement: add patterns to the song, chain them and edit rows.

Monomachine Editor

`1` Sequence	A piano roll with slide and swing rows, and a lock lane. Paint notes by dragging.
`2` Sound	One track's sound, grouped by function.
`3` Mix	Channel strips with pan, amp volume, distortion and delay send, one level fader, and the routing into the buses.
`4` Perform	Keyboard modes, multi trig, multi map, multi envelope, assign and mutes.
`5` Song	The arrangement: pick a song, add and edit rows.

Keyboard shortcuts

Press ? in an editor for its own list, which is built from the same key map. ⌘ is Command, ⌥ is Option, ⇧ is Shift. A plain letter acts on the selected track. ⌥ means all tracks. MD means the Machinedrum Editor only, MM the Monomachine Editor only.

Playing

`A` `S` `D` `F` `G` `H` `J` `K` `L`	Play the selected track on the white keys C D E F G A B C D, from any workspace. On the Machinedrum, ROM and RAM-P machines are pitched and others play at their own pitch. On the Monomachine they send real notes on the track's MIDI channel. While recording, the keys record.
`W` `E` `T` `Y` `U` `O` `P`	MM: the black keys above them, C♯ D♯ F♯ G♯ A♯ C♯ D♯.
`Z` `X`	Octave down and up. MD: −2 to +2. MM: −3 to +3.
`C` `V`	Velocity down and up: 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 127.

Transport

`Space`	Play or stop.
`⌥` `Space`	Live recording (RECORD and PLAY). MM: press again to stop recording.
`T` or `B`	Tap tempo, from the average of the last taps. MD: both keys. MM: `B` only, because `T` plays F♯.

Selected track

`↑` `↓`	Select the previous or next track. A focused value keeps the arrows for itself.
`M`	Mute or unmute it.
`R`	Randomise it. On Sound, a fresh random sound (mutate). Elsewhere, a new rhythm-generator variation: a new seed, or random hits and rotation.
`⌥` `←` `→`	Sequence: rotate the track one step earlier or later, wrapping at its length. One undo step while `⌥` stays down.

All tracks

`⌥` `M`	Mute every track. When none is audible, unmute every track.
`0`	Unmute and unsolo every track.
`⌥` `R`	Randomise every track. On Sound, the whole kit (MM: every synth track).
`⌥` `Delete`	Sequence: clear the whole pattern.

Workspaces, sequence and song

`1` to `5`	Switch workspace, in the order of the tables above.
`[` `]`	Previous or next page of 16 steps (MD: also on Sampler).
`Delete` or `Backspace`	Sequence: clear the selected steps (MM: the page shown of the selected track). Song: delete the row.
`Esc`	Sequence: unmark the tracks marked for paste.
`←` `→`	Song: previous or next row.

Values

`↑` `↓` `←` `→`	On a focused value, tempo or bar: one step. Hold `⇧` for ten, or a fine step on tempo.

Anywhere

`⌘` `Z`	Undo.
`⌘` `⇧` `Z` or `⌘` `Y`	Redo.
`⌘` `C` and `⌘` `V`	Copy and paste: a track page, a sound, a song row. On the Monomachine, also a Perform assign.
`,`	AUDIO / MIDI settings.
`?`	The editor's own list of keys. `?` or `Esc` closes it.
`Esc`	Close the open dialog or panel.

Kit library and pattern chooser

`Enter` or `Space`	On the KIT or pattern field: open the library or chooser.
Arrow keys	Move. Kits are not loaded while you move.
`Enter`	Kits: load (a click loads too). Patterns: queue.
`A` to `H`	Patterns: jump to a bank.
`F2`	Kits: rename (or double-click).
`Delete`	Clear the slot.
`⌘` `C`, `⌘` `V`, `⌘` `Z`	Copy, paste, and undo a paste, clear or rename.
`Esc`	Close.

Mouse with a key held

`⇧` click a step	MD: accent. MM: a chord note on the step.
`⌥` click a step	MD: slide. MM: delete a note, or a NOTE OFF on an empty step.
`⌘` click a step	MD: every second step from there to the end on (off, from a trig). With `⇧`, every fourth step. One undo step. MM: the same in the piano roll.
Drag in the MM piano roll	Press an empty cell and drag to paint that note across the empty steps. `⌥` drag erases. One drag is one undo step.
`⇧` drag a lock lane	A straight ramp from the press to the release.
`⌥` drag a lock lane	Erase locks. `⌥` click the lane's clear key to clear every lock of the track.
Wheel on a step	Move its lock in the lane's parameter, 4 a notch (`⇧`: 1).
`⇧` click a track header	Mark the track for paste. `⌘` `V` then pastes into every marked track.
`⌥` drag a value	Control All: move that value on every track.
`⌥` click CLR or R	Clear the whole pattern, or randomise every track.
`⇧` click an M key	Prepare that track's mute. It applies when you let go of `⇧`.
Drag across M or S keys	Mute (or solo) many tracks at once, as the first key became.

Uninstall

Delete the three bundles of each editor. Your ROM and your settings are not touched.

App	`Machinedrum Editor.app` and `Monomachine Editor.app` in `/Applications` (or `~/Applications`)
VST3	`Gearmulator MD.vst3` and `Gearmulator MM.vst3` in `/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3` (or `~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3`)
AU	`Gearmulator MD.component` and `Gearmulator MM.component` in `/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components` (or `~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components`)

Questions or bugs: contact. Release notes: 0.3.0.