Steinberg Groove Agent 2 Operation Manual

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A 60s pop kit. Very 
damped drums from 
the era when they put 
towels on the toms!
A 70s rock kit. Loud, 
deep and ringing. 
This kit is big!
An 80s studio kit. Fresh 
and modern, like on 
most of today’s CDs.    

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On top of that, we added stuff that adds color and realism to the dif-
ferent eras and attitudes we wanted to cover. 50s drums played with 
brushes and mallets, 80s kit with rods and additional snares like pic-
colo and deep models.
To make the archive complete, we had a long session with only per-
cussion instruments, both those included in the GM protocol plus an 
array of other, interesting sounds: African fur drum, rainstick, tambou-
rine, cascabelles, mouthplopp etc....

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Jens Bogren came up with the suggestion that we’d run everything 
through an analogue 24 track tape recorder for “that warm sound”. 
Great idea! Coupled with our original intention to produce a very com-
plete archive, this is what we actually recorded:
•Tracks 1-2: closely miked drum.
•Tracks 3-4: overhead microphones.
•Tracks 5-6: ambient mics 2 meters away.
•Tracks 7-8: distant mics 7 meters away.
After the recording sessions, Per Larsson spent several months edit-
ing...

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The new sounds for Groove Agent 2
The Groove Agent 2 sessions sported Mats-Erik behind the drums 
and as the main sound designer. Engineer for this second round was 
Rickard Bengtsson. Mats-Erik took the opportunity to record some 
useful kits to make the sonic palette even more complete:
The Studio kit – A top of the 
line set with some of the best 
drums and cymbals around. 
We wanted to achieve a 
sound that would fit in a lot of 
styles that demand a good, 
clean and modern...

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The Noisy kit – We wanted to cre-
ate a modern drum sound using tra-
ditional drums. These instruments 
are very small but along with the 
boom-box effect they sound much 
bigger than they really are. We ex-
perimented a lot with different digi-
tal effects and came up with a 
sound that we think will last. The 
snares are a thin, high pitched pic-
colo and a small 10 mini-snare. 
Some of the cymbals are rare vin-
tage instruments that are almost 
impossible to find...

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In addition to the three acoustic kits, 
a handful of vintage drum machines 
from Sven Bornemark’s private col-
lection were added. Some of these 
beauties are over thirty years old, so 
sampling them was not without 
complications. Old analogue gear 
has a tendency to sound a bit differ-
ent from day to day, and even from 
beat to beat, so when comparing 
the original, built in rhythms with our 
MIDI renditions, there are some dif-
ferences. However, we think we’ve 
managed to...

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Using Groove Agent
Here’s the extremely compact version for the impatient amongst you:
Choose what style you want to use with the upper slider. Make sure 
the lower slider is somewhere in the middle third of its total range and 
that the tempo is inside the tempo range of the chosen style. Start your 
sequencer, and when you want the drums to start playing, hit Run in 
Groove Agent.
For really easy living, activate Auto Fill. Move the Complexity slider to 
the left for...

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The LCD window
The information given in this window 
is mostly self explanatory, but let us 
give you the most useful tip of all:
When navigating the Style and Com-
plexity sliders, the big LCD window 
always tells you where the sliders are.
We’ve crammed 54 styles into the 
top slider, and some users may find 
the style names difficult to read. Please, have a look in the LCD win-
dow. It makes it much easier for you to place the sliders exactly where 
you want them.
You have...

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Range
Each style has its own favorite tempo range. If you play a hectic House 
style at 40 BPM, it probably won’t sound very impressive. We won’t try 
to stop you from trying any style in any tempo, but we remind you of 
each style’s home BPM range in the LCD window.
The recommended tempo range should be regarded as a helpful hint 
if realism is what you’re after. If not, break this rule!
❐For a tempo map overview, see page 71.
The right-click menu
Several new features can...

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Sliders and buttons
The style slider/timeline
The top slider is perhaps the most important gadget in the entire instru-
ment. It is a timeline with various musical styles written above it. When 
dragging the slider along this timeline, you select what style to use.
Every style has its own carefully crafted drum kit assigned to it. Many of 
the early styles sound a bit old by today’s standards – both musically 
and soundwise – and that’s exactly the point!
When first selecting a...