Steinberg Studio Case VST Instruments Operation Manual

VST Instruments
Groove Agent SE 4 – 71
ENGLISH
The LCD window
The information given in this window is 
mostly self explanatory, but let us give 
you a useful tip:
When navigating the Style and Com-
plexity sliders, the big LCD window al-
ways tells you where the sliders are.
There are 13 styles available for 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...

VST Instruments
4 – 72 Groove Agent SE
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 typical drum kit assigned to it.
When first selecting a style, the VSTi will take a few seconds to load 
the samples. 
When you move to another style, there are a few seconds of...

VST Instruments
Groove Agent SE 4 – 73
ENGLISH
Styles in Groove Agent SE
Here's a short description of each style:
1952 Jazz Trio
Brush Kit groove inspired by brush greats such as Buddy Rich, Louie 
Bellson, Jo Jones.
1956 Rumba
Afro-Cuban version of the Rumba, not to be confused with the Rhumba 
(with an “h”) that can often be heard in older drum machines.
1966 Pop
High energy pop drumming, fave tempo is 146 BPM.
1971 Cajun
“Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans” kind of Cajun style.
1973 Dark...

VST Instruments
4 – 74 Groove Agent SE
1996 Drum’n’Bass
Combination of high speed beats with a natural half tempo feel, result-
ing in a playful rhythmic ballet.
2002 Nu RnB
Modern RnB/Hiphop style with a compressed sound.
The Complexity slider
Getting acquainted with this slider shouldn't be too problematic, since 
its behavior is very predictable.
If you move this slider to the left, you'll reach the simpler levels of com-
plexity. As a matter of fact, the first levels are usually not even...

VST Instruments
Groove Agent SE 4 – 75
ENGLISH
Accent
This button triggers a kick + crash cymbal hit. You 
may use it as an accent in your song. When hit at an 
off-beat, the accent hit becomes a syncope. The cur-
rent drum pattern stops for as long as you keep the 
button pressed. Holding down the Accent button for 
approximately one quarter note after you hit it on an 
off-beat creates a very realistic syncope.
Fill
Hit the button when you feel it's time for a fill. If you hit 
the button early in...

VST Instruments
4 – 76 Groove Agent SE
Half Tempo Feel
One trick many live drummers use, is to change their 
playing to “half tempo feel”. It usually involves slowing 
down the kick and snare pattern to half tempo while 
keeping the hihat/ride pattern going.
In practice, the Half Tempo Feel function doubles the 
amount of available styles! You can think of the half 
tempo feel as the basic rhythm of your song. And 
then, near the end, perhaps disengage the button for an uptempo, 
gospel style ending!
Try...

VST Instruments
Groove Agent SE 4 – 77
ENGLISH
Random Fill
This is another little tool to make life easier. If you stay 
within one complexity level and trigger a fill every now 
and then, this button will make sure that every time 
there's a fill, it'll be a slightly different one.
As with the Random button, the randomly chosen fill always lies within 
±2 steps from the slider's current location.
Ambience
This knob is one of the highlights of Groove Agent 
SE! All the acoustic drums and...

VST Instruments
4 – 78 Groove Agent SE
Mute, grouping and instrument selection
The sounds in Groove Agent SE are organized in 8 logical groups:
1. Kick (bass) drum
2. Snare drum
3. Toms or effects
4. Hihat
5. Ride and Chinese cymbals
6. Crash and splash cymbals
7. Percussion group 1 (usually “high and
quick” instruments)
8. Percussion group 2 (usually “low and
slow” instruments)
You can use the corresponding Mute button at any time to kill the 
sound output from any of these groups. Mute activated = no...

VST Instruments
Groove Agent SE 4 – 79
ENGLISH
Stop/Run
These buttons start and stop Groove Agent SE. While 
this instrument can be used with your host sequencer 
stopped, it always plays at the BPM rate (tempo) of your 
host program. When your sequencer is running, Groove 
Agent SE follows the tempo and synchronizes to the 
beat position of the host.
You can make Groove Agent SE start simultaneously 
with your sequencer by using this method:
1.Start Cubase SE.
2.Start Groove Agent SE.
3.Click the...

VST Instruments
4 – 80 Groove Agent SE
Groove Agent SE keyboard mapping
Here’s an image that describes how the Groove Agent SE sounds are 
laid out on a MIDI keyboard.