Steinberg Groove Agent 3 Operation Manual

							Groove Agent 3
60 English
Volume – You can adjust the total volume for each instrument group 
here. 
Output – Any channel can go to any stereo output. You may want to 
use Groove Agent 3’s EQ and Compressor for a specific channel or 
perhaps add some external treatment in your host. The total amount of 
stereo outputs is determined by the settings on the Setup page.
Groove Offset
As you can see, a full bar of 8th notes illustrates eight pos-
sible starting points for a Groove. The yellow colored note 
indicates where each Groove starts, where it has its 
“rhythmical home”. So, what happens if you change that 
starting point? Let’s see…
Once you’ve got a few channels of percussion Grooves 
rolling, you can add a kind of “modulation” or “inner effect” 
with the Groove Offset department. Now, click on the sec-
ond or third 8th note in a channel while Percussion Agent is playing. 
As you can hear, that channel has moved and the overall accents in 
the total rhythm have changed. The overall rhythm pattern is different 
– sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. 
When arranging the percussion part(s) for a song, try adding some in-
ner dynamics by moving the Groove Offset for one or several percus-
sion channels around. The results can be very rewarding!
Random 
Just like in Groove Agent and Percussion Agent, this button 
makes the groove change randomly between different levels. 
Starting from the level you’ve selected, this function allows a 
channel in Percussion Agent to change ±1 step adjacent com-
plexity levels.
The Random function plays levels within a range of ±1 levels 
from the button you’ve pressed. 
						

							Groove Agent 3
English 61
ENGLISH
Memory locations
The Memory locations represent an alternative method of working 
with Percussion Agent. Think of each memory slot as a snapshot of 
the entire Percussion Agent panel. When you first open Percussion 
Agent, the first memory button is lit. This means that it’s active, it’s lis-
tening, it registers every change you make. You don’t have to activate 
this memory slot – it’s always live. The Copy button copies whatever 
is on Percussion Agent’s panel into any of the 10 memory locations. 
Click Copy and then a memory button, and the procedure has been 
completed. 
•A dark button means that this location is empty.
•A green-ish color indicates that something has been saved here.
•A bright light shows the currently active memory.
Each of the 10 memory slots can be regarded as a snapshot of all set-
tings in the entire module. After some tweaking, you may have found a 
mix of percussion grooves and tweaks that is absolutely right for, say, 
the verses of your song. By clicking the Copy button and then memory 
slot number 2, all the current settings are stored in Memory 1 but also 
moved into the new memory slot. You are now free to go further and 
find the right mix for, say, the chorus. With slot 2 active, you may fiddle 
around the panel to your heart’s desire. That perfect verse setting is 
safely stored at memory position 1, so you’re free to experiment. 
Setup
The Setup button takes you to the Setup page, where you 
can define general preferences and settings. Clicking the 
Close button closes the Setup page.
Please note that Percussion Agent does NOT react to Accent, Fill and 
Half Tempo Feel commands. Why? Because accents, fills and half 
tempo feel playing are typical things drummers do. 
If Percussion Agent is running and you click “To Classic”, playback will 
stop. This is normal behavior. To start playback, press Run again.  
						

							Groove Agent 3
62 English
Ideas on using Dual Mode creatively
Here are some thoughts on how to make clever use of Dual Mode and 
its modules.
•Find two different Groove Agent styles that both suit the song. Try to 
find the most effective combination by using the mute buttons to mute 
groups in both agents. Maybe the kick and hihat from the first agent 
sound great together with snare and percussion from the second.
•Let Percussion Agent perform the rhythmic backbone of your song 
and use one of the drumming modules for fills only.
•Search for a Groove Agent style that suits the verse and a Special 
Agent style that sounds good with the chorus of your song. Start with 
the Groove Agent style only. When you approach the chorus, you can 
either (1) switch over instantly to the Special Agent drumming or per-
haps (2) fade from one to the other by using the Balance knob.
•Use the dry sound from one drumming module and the wet sound 
from another drumming module by turning the main Ambience knobs 
to dry and wet respectively. This will create a totally unnatural ambi-
ence. If that’s too much for you, try using this effect only in the fills.
•In Percussion Agent, load the same groove into the first and second 
channel. Pan them hard left and right. Delay one of the grooves by half 
a bar (by clicking the 5th offset note). Now you have a very authentic 
and wide stereo perspective of two musicians playing together!
•Try to imagine having two drummers in your band. They could play 
similar, but not identical, styles. They could be panned slightly to the 
left and right respectively. They could use identical Complexity and Fill 
commands; the fact that they’re using different styles will still make 
them sound as two individuals. 
						

							Groove Agent 3
English 63
ENGLISH
Import & FX page
This page is brand new! It holds the new Sample Import utility and the 
Effects section. You can access it by pressing any of the Import & FX 
buttons on the other pages. You leave this page by pressing Close in 
the upper left corner.
Sample Import section
Many users have asked for a sample import utility, so that you can use 
your own samples inside Groove Agent. Well, now that’s possible! 
Here’s how you do it.
Start by deciding what drum sound you intend to load. If it’s a kick 
drum, then you’ll find the kick drum slot in the lower right corner, right 
beside the C1 key. Load a dry sample by clicking in the first box and 
selecting a kick drum sample from your hard disk. If you have a wet 
(ambient, reverbant) sample for that kick drum, load it by clicking in 
the second box.
Please make notes of where your samples are located on your hard 
disk. Otherwise, if you load a song that uses imported samples and 
some samples have been moved or deleted, Groove Agent won’t be 
able to locate and play those samples.  
						

							Groove Agent 3
64 English
For every dry and wet sample pair there’s a set of knobs: Volume, Pan 
and Balance. 
Volume – You can adjust the overall volume for this sample pair by 
turning this knob.
Pan – You can pan the dry sample with this knob. You may want to 
follow the overall Groove Agent panning laws where hihats are slightly 
to the right etc.
Balance – If the relative balance between the dry and wet samples 
doesn’t sound right, you can adjust it here.
As a sensible starting point, use stereo samples for the wet slots. The 
dry samples can be either mono or stereo.
You can fill every slot with samples of your choice. Imported samples 
can be used in the Groove Agent classic view or in the upper Groove 
Agent module in dual mode. The user entry will appear at the bottom 
of every group where a sample has been imported. You can now se-
lect your own sample and compare it to any built-in sample, in the 
usual Groove Agent manner.
Please note that in Dual mode, imported samples can only be used in 
the upper view. 
If you decide to unload a sample, just click on the small button with an 
X on it next to the slot in question. You can also unload all samples in 
one go by pressing the “Unload all” button in the lower left corner.
If you decide to save your work for future use in another song, use the 
button called “User kit preset” to save this information to disk. You 
can also load previously saved kits this way. Please note that no user 
kit samples are included in the Groove Agent 3 package (but on the 
other hand, we’ve provided thousands of built-in samples already, 
haven’t we?!).
The keyboard illustration in the Import section actually reflects how the 
drum sounds are allocated to the MIDI keyboard. 
						

							Groove Agent 3
English 65
ENGLISH
Please note that the grouping rules that apply to Groove Agent’s internal 
structure (e.g. a closed hihat always kills the sound of an open hihat) 
also apply to samples imported by the user. 
Most Groove Agent groups – e.g. hihat, toms etc. – have several slots. 
To fully replace a group, all slots in that group must be filled. An exam-
ple: If Groove Agent plays a tom fill on all white keys between F1 and D2, 
any hits assigned to a slot that’s been left empty will produce silence. 
Another example: If an Ambience slot has been left empty, the Ambi-
ence knob for that note/drum will not work properly.
The Setup button takes you to the Setup page, as in other pages. 
						

							Groove Agent 3
66 English
FX section
At last, multiple built-in effects! It’s rather convenient to have custom 
made effects right where you need them, wouldn’t you say?
Please notice the twelve tabs at the top of this section. They represent 
the twelve possible outputs in Groove Agent 3. The color coding is 
very important here, because it informs you about the following.
Grey with grey text – This output is not active/selectable, because it 
lies outside the number of outputs specified on the Setup page. 
Grey with black text – This output is active/selectable. It has no ef-
fect running.
Red – This output is active/selectable. It HAS an effect running! All 
computer effects consume CPU power, and having effects running 
with no sound passing through them is a waste. If a sound is routed 
through this output, fine. If not, perhaps you should turn off this effect.
Green – This output is active/selectable. In fact, it’s the output you’re 
looking at right now!
Under the tabs you'll find the effects. On the right side there's an 
equalizer – or EQ. Nine bands that cover the entire audio spectrum al-
low you to make minor adjustments or go wild in the name of creativ-
ity.
You'll also find a classic-style compressor. Use this to make subtle 
changes to the dynamics, or add bags of compression for a loud, 
pumping sound.
Use compression with care – too much compression can be very fatigu-
ing on the ears, as it can kill all the interesting dynamic content. 
The Compress knob controls how hard the compressor works. At the 
minimum setting, the compressor has no effect on the sound, and at 
the maximum setting the drums sound highly compressed. 
						

							Groove Agent 3
English 67
ENGLISH
The Release knob controls how quickly the compressor recovers 
when the volume of the drums drops. Short times increase the com-
pressed sound, and longer times give a more natural sound.
The Out Level knob allows you to compensate for the level changes 
the Compress and EQ settings may induce.
A word of warning! Although it is fully possible use effects on every sin-
gle Groove Agent 3 output (all 12 of them), your computer may not be 
able to handle the load. 
Gain reduction meter
The meter next to the Compressor section shows you how much the 
sound is squeezed by the Compressor. 
FX Preset handling
We’ve made life a lot easier for you by providing preset effects. These 
are suitable for individual instruments (such as kick, snare, hihat, etc.) 
as well as entire drum kits. These presets can be used as-is or as a 
starting point for further tweaking.
Effect presets are available in the FX Preset box. You can also save 
and load your own presets by clicking the diskette symbol next to the 
box.
You can easily copy the entire FX settings from one output to another 
by using the Copy and Paste buttons.
The Total Bypass button is for comparing the sound of an output 
channel with and without effects.
Any time you move a knob or a slider, the exact value can be moni-
tored if you keep an eye on the small value box next to the Total By-
pass button. 
						

							Groove Agent 3
68 English
The Setup page
You can reach the Setup page by pressing any of the buttons labeled 
Setup in Classic Mode, the Dual Mode modules and the Import & FX 
page. The settings on the Setup page affect the functionality of the 
entire Groove Agent 3 instrument. 
						

							Groove Agent 3
English 69
ENGLISH
Groove Agent GM Output 
When GM Output is active, this status is shown by a GM symbol in 
the LCD window. Click the symbol to turn this function on/off.
For Groove Agent we used the keyboard mapping as displayed on the 
Import & FX page. It starts off like an ordinary GM map with kick drum 
on C1, sidestick on C#1 etc., but after Tom 1 you’ll notice differ-
ences. There are two groups of percussion instruments and, finally, a 
series of ride and crash cymbals above C3.
When you set the GM Output to its ON position, Groove Agent will 
redirect output notes so that it follows the General MIDI protocol. 
Groove Agent Ambience Split
When Ambience Split is active, this status is shown by a split sound 
chain in the LCD window. Click the symbol to turn this function on/off.
You can make Groove Agent output its ambient or reverberated 
sounds to a separate mixer channel output. This is handy if you want to 
process that part of the sound separately. With this button activated, 
the wet signal will only be heard on the highest numbered mixer output. 
So what can you do with the ambience on a separate output? Well, 
EQ or dynamics processing can create interesting effects. Or, if you 
export Groove Agent’s drumming to an audio file, you can experiment 
with the isolated ambience file. What does it sound like with the ambi-
ent sound a bit late – or a bit early? Or with the dry sound from a 
techno snare combined with the ambience from a piccolo snare…? 
Experiment!