Steinberg Groove Agent 3 Operation Manual

							 
Groove Agent 3
10 English 
Installing Groove Agent 3 (PC version)
 
Proceed as follows to install Groove Agent 3 on a Windows PC: 
1. 
Switch on your computer and insert the Groove Agent 3 DVD. 
2. 
If the DVD window doesn't open automatically, locate the Groove 
Agent 3 DVD with Windows Explorer. 
3. 
Double-click on the Groove Agent 3 Installer icon to run the installa-
tion program, and follow the on-screen instructions.  
Removing Groove Agent 3
 
To remove the Groove Agent 3 software from your PC: 
1. 
Locate your installation directory of Groove Agent 3. 
2. 
Run the application “Uninstall.exe” for Groove Agent 3 from your hard 
disk. 
System requirements (Mac version)
 
To run Groove Agent you’ll need: 
•Mac OS X 10.4 
•Power Mac G5 2 GHz minimum/Intel core Solo 1.5 GHz
•1 GB RAM.
•4 GB free hard disk space.
•DVD drive required for installation.
•Core Audio compatible audio hardware. 
•Steinberg Key (copy protection device) and USB port required.
•Internet connection required for license activation.
•For using as a plug-in or Rewire slave-device, a VST 2, AU (tested in Logic 
7.2.3, Garageband and Digital Performer 5.1) or Rewire compatible host is 
required. 
•The Steinberg Key (USB copy protection device) required to run this product 
is not included. Customers who do not own a Steinberg Key must purchase 
one separately. The same Steinberg Key copy protection device is then used 
for all Steinberg products that require it.
 
See the Steinberg website for recommendations on how to set up your 
 
audio work station. 
						

							 
Groove Agent 3
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Installing Groove Agent 3 (Mac version)
 
Proceed as follows to install Groove Agent 3 on a Macintosh: 
1. 
Switch on your computer and insert the Groove Agent 3 DVD. 
2. 
If the DVD window doesn't open automatically, double-click on the 
Groove Agent icon on your desktop. 
3. 
Double-click on the Groove Agent 3 Installer icon to run the installa-
tion program, and follow the on-screen instructions. 
4. 
The Groove Agent 3 Content will be automatically installed to the fol-
lowing location on your hard disk: “Hard Disk/Library/Application 
Support/Steinberg/Groove Agent 3”. 
5. 
If you want to move the musical content to another place on your hard 
disk, run the “Move Content.pkg” utility after installation has finished. 
						

							 
Groove Agent 3
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Activating the Steinberg Key 
 
Whether you bought a new key when you bought Groove Agent 3, or if 
you want to use one you previously bought with a different Steinberg 
product: Your Steinberg Key does not yet contain the license required 
for Groove Agent 3. You must download this license before you can 
 
launch Groove Agent 3!
 
Use the activation code supplied with the program in order to down-
load the license for Groove Agent 3 to your Steinberg Key. This pro-
cess is the same both for existing and new keys. Proceed as follows:  
1. 
After installation of the dongle drivers and the program software (and, 
on a Windows PC, after restarting your computer), plug the Steinberg 
Key into the USB port. 
If you are unsure of which port this is, consult the documentation of your computer. 
 
2. 
If this is the first time a copy protection device is plugged in, it will be 
registered as a new hardware device. On a Mac, drivers are found au-
tomatically without further user interaction. Windows will display a di-
alog box asking you whether you would like to find drivers for the 
device manually or automatically.  
Under Windows, choose to find drivers automatically. The dialog box closes, and you 
may have to reboot your computer. 
 
3. 
Make sure that your computer has a working internet connection. Li-
cense download is done “online”. 
If the computer on which you installed Groove Agent 3 is not connected to the inter-
net, it is possible to use another computer for the online connection – proceed with 
the steps below and see the help for the License Control Center application. 
 
4. 
Launch the “License Control Center” application (found in the Win-
dows Start menu under “Syncrosoft” or in the Macintosh Applications 
folder). 
This application allows you to view your Steinberg Keys and load or transfer licenses. 
 
5. 
Use the License Control Center “Wizard” function and the activation 
code supplied with Groove Agent 3 to download the license for 
Groove Agent 3 to your Key. Simply follow the on-screen instructions. 
If you are uncertain about how to proceed, consult the help for License Control Center.
 
When the activation process is completed, you are ready to launch 
Groove Agent 3! 
						

							 
Groove Agent 3
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Setting up the instrument
 
Groove Agent 3 as a VST Instrument in Cubase
 
This section describes how to set up Groove Agent 3 with Cubase as 
your host application. However, the same procedure applies to most 
host applications, and you should consult your host’s documentation 
if you need further help.
Make sure the host program has been correctly installed and set up to 
work with your MIDI and audio hardware (e.g. MIDI keyboard and an 
audio card).
To set up Groove Agent 3:
1.Open the VST Instruments window.
2.Click the “No Instruments” label and select Groove Agent 3 from the 
pop-up menu.
3.Wait for a few seconds while Groove Agent 3 loads its default style 
samples. The Groove Agent window opens automatically.
4.In the VST host application, select Groove Agent 3 as the output for a 
MIDI track.
Groove Agent 3 as a DXi2 Instrument in Sonar
In SONAR you load Groove Agent 3 into the Synth Rack.
1.Open the Synth Rack and choose “Insert soft synth”. You will then 
need to scroll through the list and find Groove Agent 3.
2.You are provided with the option of inserting the default MIDI control 
track as well as one or all of the audio outputs of Groove Agent 3.
MIDI Output in SONAR 5.2 or higher
Note that the DXi version of Groove Agent 3 does not support MIDI 
output. If you desire this functionality, you will need to install the VST 
version of Groove Agent 3. Having done so, you will need to run SO-
NAR's VST configuration wizard in order to locate and configure 
Groove Agent 3.  
						

							Groove Agent 3
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Now locate the Groove Agent 3 VSTi in the Synth Rack and select 
“Enable the MIDI output” when inserting Groove Agent 3 into your 
project. You will then see Groove Agent appear in your MIDI input 
port drop-down selection. This will allow you to route the MIDI output 
from Groove Agent 3 to any other MIDI track in a SONAR project.
Using Groove Agent 3 in an AU compatible application
For Logic Pro 7 proceed as follows:
1.Open the Track Mixer and choose the desired Instrument channel.
2.Click the I/O field and, in the pop-up menu that appears, choose ei-
ther “Multi-Channel” or “Stereo”.
3.In the sub-menu the appears. select All Instruments and then Groove 
Agent 3.
4.Groove Agent 3 is now loaded as an AU instrument.
Groove Agent 3 stand-alone and ReWire
Groove Agent 3 can be used as a stand-alone application, indepen-
dently of any host application. This makes it possible to use Groove 
Agent in sequencer applications that do not support one of the pro-
vided plug-in formats of Groove Agent (i.e. VST, DXi, AU), but allow 
for data exchange using ReWire.
ReWire2 is a special protocol for streaming audio and MIDI data be-
tween two computer applications. When using ReWire, the order in 
which you launch and quit the two programs is very important, as the 
first audio application launched will capture the sound card re-
sources. 
Proceed as follows:
1.First, launch the sequencer application you wish to use (e. g. Ableton 
Live, ProTools).
If your sequencer supports ReWire, it will provide a way to assign audio and MIDI 
channels for the exchange of data. See the documentation of your sequencer applica-
tion for details. 
						

							Groove Agent 3
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2.Now, launch Groove Agent as a stand-alone application.
If you chose to create desktop and Start menu items during installation of Groove 
Agent 3, you can launch the program just like any other application on your computer. 
You can also double-click the Groove Agent program file in the installation folder.
When you now play a style with Groove Agent 3, the sound is 
streamed via ReWire to the assigned mixer channels in your host. You 
can route the separate instrument outputs to individual mixer channels 
(up to 8).
Note that you are now running two completely separate applications. 
When you save your sequencer project, this will include the overall 
channel and bus configuration, but none of the settings in Groove 
Agent 3! To retain your Groove Agent settings, choose the Save Bank 
command from the Groove Agent File menu. You may want to choose 
a file name that indicates that the file contains settings created for a 
particular sequencer project.
Similarly, when you re-open a project in your sequencer application 
and have launched Groove Agent 3, use the Load Bank command in 
Groove Agent to reload the Groove Agent settings pertaining to this 
particular project. 
						

							Groove Agent 3
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First test
Let’s make sure Groove Agent 3 is properly set up and ready to play:
1.If you load Groove Agent as a VST instrument, make sure Groove 
Agent is selected as the output for a MIDI track. If required, make sure 
your MIDI controller is routed to this track.
2.Open the Groove Agent panel. Move the Style slider to a style of your 
choice. Be prepared to wait for a second or two while Groove Agent 
loads its samples for this style. The green LCD window is helpful here 
with its Loading and Ready messages.
3.Adjust the tempo of your host application to suit each style’s favorite 
tempo range as displayed in the “range” field in the green LCD win-
dow.
4.Click Run in the Groove Agent window. Now you should see the red 
LCD meters on the Groove Agent interface flash and the beat light in-
dicate 1-2-3-4. You should also hear cool rhythms streaming from 
your speakers!
Groove Agent terminology
Accent – The kind of Accent we refer to in this manual is the tradi-
tional marked hit, typically played on the crash cymbal and kick drum. 
When played off beat, like e.g. on the 8th note preceding a bar line, it 
becomes a syncope.
Ambience – Groove Agent 3 comes with a complete set of ambience 
recordings for all drums and percussion instruments. The acoustic 
sounds have been recorded with distant microphones and the elec-
tronic sounds have been processed through various reverb and ef-
fects units. 
Channel – A Channel in Percussion Agent can be seen as a single 
musician playing his/her instrument. Each Channel can have its own 
settings for volume, pan, shuffle, tuning, ambience and even start 
point offset. 
						

							Groove Agent 3
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Complexity – The level of advancement in a style. In Groove Agent 3, 
the complexity levels go from left (simple) to right (advanced). Music 
generally benefits from variations in a song, and in Groove Agent 
they’re always easy to reach. 
Compressor – This is probably the first device a recording engineer 
reaches out for when recording drums. Limiting (or compression, the 
difference is not always easily defined) controls the overall output 
level and can also be used as an effect. 
Control Strip – The central panel in Dual Mode view that holds gen-
eral functions like the module selector, Stop, Run, Fill buttons, Speed 
control etc.
Dry/Wet – These are terms that describe the two extremes of a 
sound. Either you listen to an instrument very closely in a damped en-
vironment, or you take many steps back and listen to it from a distance 
or bathed in reverb. In the studio we refer to these extremes as dry 
(close) and wet (distant).
Dual Mode – The all new page that lets you access any two modules 
at once, Groove Agent, Special Agent, Percussion Agent.
Fill – A live drummer usually plays a fill every eight bars or so, empha-
sizing the song’s structure and movement. A fill may be regarded as 
“an improvised exclamation mark”. Are you going from the verse into 
the chorus? Time for a fill! 
Half tempo feel – Typically, slowing down the kick and snare pattern 
to half speed, while keeping the rest of the pattern going in the other 
instruments. This creates a dramatic effect and is a very typical live 
drummer behavior! Real drummers do this all the time, if you don’t 
stop them. 
Kit – A special set of drums and percussion associated with each 
style. In Groove Agent, style and kit can be chosen separately. 
LCD meters – These are the cool, red level meters that start flashing 
when Groove Agent is playing. They indicate that sound is being out-
put from Groove Agent, but for more detailed control you should use 
the level meters in your host sequencer.  
						

							Groove Agent 3
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LCD window – The big, yellow window tells you, at all times, what’s 
going on inside Groove Agent 3. This is your main source for informa-
tion. 
Module – This is new in Groove Agent 3, the possibility to fill the two 
slots in Dual Mode with Groove Agent and/or Special Agent and/or 
Percussion Agent. Each such agent is referred to as a module. 
Shuffle – Also referred to as “swing factor”. These terms indicate the 
relationship between the 8th notes (sometimes 16th notes), as these 
can either be perfect 8ths (“straight 8ths”) or swung (“triplet 8ths”).
Style – A certain musical style, normally linked to a unique drum and 
percussion kit. 
T – If there’s the letter T after a style or groove name, that’s an indica-
tion that this style is triplet based.
About the sounds in Groove Agent
Groove Agent was one of the first virtual instruments to include multi-
ple velocity layers and separate ambience recordings. The more ve-
locity layers you include, the closer you’ll be able to get to the sound, 
impact, musicality and realism of a drum kit recorded live. The same 
goes for the acoustic properties of the room where the drums were 
recorded. By including separate samples of the echoing room, the 
user is able to adjust the amount of space surrounding the drum kit.
Apart from velocity layer and ambience, a third feature is also very im-
portant for realism: Alternating, new in Groove Agent 3. First seen in 
an early Yamaha sampler (and then strangely forgotten until recent 
years), Alternating calls up a different sample every time a drum sound 
is played. With alternating, you can record two or more (nearly) iden-
tical hits, load them into your playback device, and hear the samples 
alternate. Our ears are extremely good at recognizing exact repetition, 
so treating them with similar but yet different, unique samples is gen-
erally a good idea.
Groove Agent 3 now sports Alternating for the most important acous-
tic instruments in the new kits, namely: snare, hihat, toms, kick and 
cymbals. 
						

							Groove Agent 3
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Groove Agent 1
The drums for the original edition of Groove Agent were recorded 
during the summer of 2002 in Studio Kuling north of Örebro, Sweden. 
The large studio room has the most dramatic acoustic properties 
we’ve ever heard! The room itself is large and mostly covered with 
wood panels, and engineer Jens Bogren certainly knows his way 
around the equipment. With Mats-Erik Björklund playing all instru-
ments, sound designers Per “Worra” Larsson/SampleTekk and Sven 
Bornemark started recording multiple velocity levels of each sound. 
There was an initial agreement that this archive should cover most 
grounds – as many musical landscapes as possible. Therefore we de-
cided upon recording all these instruments:
A 50s jazz kit. Not very damped, 
sounds a bit loose, sloppy.
A 60s pop kit. Very damped drums 
from the era when they put towels on 
the toms!