Steinberg Groove Agent 3 Operation Manual

Groove Agent 3
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The Control Strip
You load a module by pressing the appropriate buttons on the left 
side of the Control Strip: GA for Groove Agent, SA for Special Agent 
and PA for Percussion Agent. Any Agent can be selected for the up-
per and/or lower halves.
The Volume knob to the very left sets the overall output level. The Bal-
ance knob controls the balance between the two modules. Use it to 
set the ideal mix or use automation to create a dramatic fade from one 
kind of rhythm to...

Groove Agent 3
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A world of possibilities!
Imagine what Dual Mode can do for your music! You can combine old 
style Groove Agent drumming with a live drummer module, the Special 
Agent. Or you can base your drum track on Rasmus’ drum tracks and 
add a Percussion Agent. Or you can decide to only work with percus-
sion, building up exciting, slowly evolving sonic landscapes (with help 
from the Random button) and add Groove Agent kick and snare at a 
later stage. Or make two Groove Agent...

Groove Agent 3
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Special Agent
We’re very proud to present Special Agent Rasmus Kihlberg! He has 
recorded a total of 15 new styles, each with their own 25 levels plus 
25 fills and 25 unique half tempo feel renditions. All of them made ac-
cessible in a module inside Groove Agent 3.
The best thing about having recordings of a live drummer inside a 
drum machine is the FEEL. The Groove Agent approach of using 
MIDI-controlled samples is great, because you can compose and edit 
patterns any way...

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Using a higher tempo, outside of the recommend range, can make our 
drummer sound a little pushed, but there’s nothing wrong with it from 
a technical point of view. However, since the Special Agent styles 
were recorded live and then edited into slices (one slice for each 
beat), using a tempo lower than the recommended range may result in 
glitches during playback. Silent gaps between the hits, so to speak. 
This sounds a bit nasty and not very realistic. Shorter...

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As in Groove Agent, you can use the Link button (found on the top 
right) to split the Complexity slider in two halves. This gives you the 
option to use a particular complexity level with a particular fill. Press-
ing the Link button again re-establishes the connection between 
these two settings.
Import & FX and Ambience
The following two controls are identical to the ones found in Groove 
Agent.
Import & FX – This button takes you to the page where you 
can import Groove...

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Please note! The total number of available outputs is determined/lim-
ited by the number of outputs chosen on the Setup page.
Setup
The Setup button takes you to the Setup page, where you can define 
general preferences and settings. The Close button cunningly closes 
the Setup page.
Random, Auto Fill and Random Fill
These three controls are identical to the ones found in 
Groove Agent.
Random – Pressing this button will instruct the Complexity slider to 
make random...

Groove Agent 3
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Percussion Agent
The second great innovation in Groove Agent 3 is the all new Percus-
sion Agent. As with the live drumming in Special Agent, there’s a spe-
cial “something” about instruments recorded live (as opposed to 
samples triggered by MIDI). So we asked Rasmus Kihlberg to record 
percussion grooves for this new module.
Percussion Agent can be seen an ensemble consisting of up to eight 
percussionists (one per channel) playing together. Each player has an 
instrument...

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Ambience
The Ambience knob sets the overall mix between dry 
(close) sound and the wet (ambience) sound. The most 
natural sound is found in the 9-1 o’clock area.
Please note that there is no facility to route the wet signal from Percus-
sion Agent to a separate output. However, there’s an easy workaround: 
If you want to treat the wet signal from a channel individually, make a 
copy of that channel by loading the same groove into an unused chan-
nel. Make sure the copy...

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As a general hint (not a rule), when the groove subdivision is 8ths, this 
groove suits higher tempi. Grooves based on 16th notes are often used 
at lower tempi.
The third button is called Solo, and that’s just what it does. It plays 
that channel in solo, temporarily muting the other channels. That’s 
perfect for those occasions when you want to monitor one specific in-
strument.
The Complexity buttons
There are six buttons in a row here. The first one is 
called Off. When that...

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Shuffle, Tune, Ambience, Pan, Volume and Output
Next are five knobs plus a selector that help shape the feel and sound 
of each Groove channel. 
Shuffle – When turned clockwise from it’s top position, this knob 
gradually adds a triplet or swing feeling to a straight (even 8ths/even 
16ths) Groove. When turned from 12 o’clock and backwards, it can 
straighten out a triplet based Groove.
You can create an interesting effect by adding or subtracting small 
amounts of...