NAUPLY

Trill tutorial: sequenced trill bass, from pattern to held note

3 min read · Updated

Trill is a ladder-filter bass / lead synth with a step sequencer: hold a key and a pattern (trill, arpeggio, groove) loops, transposed to the note you play. The MOTIONAL PAD moves up to 6 settings at once. The numbers match the markers on the screenshot.

Step by step

NAUPLY Trill tutorial: sequenced trill bass, from pattern to held note interface, with numbered markers for each step

  1. Load Trill as an instrument

    Create Trill as a virtual instrument in your DAW and open its window.

  2. Hold a key

    Hold a key on your MIDI keyboard: the default sound (Init - Ladder Trill Bass) plays slot A's trill at the project tempo.

  3. Pick a preset

    In the preset menu: Bass, Lead, rhythmic arpeggios, fast trills, evolving pads. Presets marked "(pattern -> H)" write their pattern into slot H.

  4. Play with the MOTIONAL PAD

    Move the pad's dot: X and Y change several settings at once. Double-click = back to the knobs' sound.

  5. Edit the pattern

    On the grid: click = step on / off, drag up / down = note, sideways = length. RAND creates a new pattern in the chosen scale (SCALE).

  6. Change the play mode

    Try MODE +CHORD (hold a chord) or WALK (random melody, same seed = same melody), OCT 1-4, SWING and MORPH. DRAG MIDI drops the pattern onto a track.

The MOTIONAL PAD

Each corner of the pad (A top-left, B top-right, C bottom-left, D bottom-right) changes up to 6 settings; in the centre you hear the knobs' sound. By default, X drives the filter and Y the trill speed. The PAD tab defines what each row changes at each corner, and DEPTH the overall strength.

The 8 snapshots under the pad store positions (SNAP GLIDE sets the travel time). X and Y can be automated; right-clicking the pad (or LEARN X / LEARN Y) maps them to a MIDI controller.

Writing and transforming a pattern

Eight slots (A to H) hold as many patterns. LENGTH sets the length, SCALE and KEY lock the scale; COPY, PASTE, RAND, CLEAR and UNDO / REDO (Cmd+Z / Cmd+Shift+Z) complete editing.

On the grid, the wheel sets a step's probability, Shift + wheel its note, Alt + wheel its length, and a right-click or double-click adds an accent.

Play modes and MORPH

PATTERN plays the grid; +CHORD plays the pattern on every held key; WALK keeps the grid's rhythm but wanders among the pattern's notes, always in scale. OCT 1-4 goes up an octave on each pass.

Playback can be MONO, POLY, CHORD or CHORD MEM (a learned chord replayed from a single key), synced to tempo (SYNC, from 1/4 to 1/32T) or free (FREE), with SWING, NOTE LEN, ACCENT, LATCH, RETRIG and LEGATO.

MORPH gradually melts the pattern into a single held note without losing the tempo; RUSH speeds up the sequencer as MORPH rises, and WHEEL hands MORPH to the mod wheel.

The sound: oscillators, ladder filter, effects

Two oscillators (OCTAVE, GLIDE), unison from 1 to 7 voices, an oversampled 24 dB ladder filter with PRE-SAT, DRIVE and KEY TRACK, three envelopes, two LFOs and a modulation matrix (8 routings). The FX tab adds tempo-synced chorus and delay, with ping-pong.

Frequently asked questions

Do presets erase my patterns?
No: they only write their pattern into slot H (Cmd+Z brings the old one back), and slots A to G are never touched.
How do I get the pattern as MIDI?
Drag the DRAG MIDI button onto a track in your DAW.
Does Trill follow the project tempo?
Yes in SYNC mode (from 1/4 to 1/32T). In FREE mode, the rate is free.

NAUPLY news

Plugin releases, updates and offers. A few emails a year, one-click unsubscribe.

More guides