Audio Damage Tattoo - Manual (Page 29)

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Swing
What is generally referred to as "Swing" in drum machines is something of a misnomer, but we'll set aside the
semantics of the word for now, and just say that our swing slider does the same thing as the swing control in
a TR-909. It moves every even-numbered 16th note to the right, or "behind the beat," resulting in a
rhythmically pleasing groove that will theoretically set heads to bobbing, toes to tapping, and asses to
shaking.
The swing control in Tattoo is derived directly from the swing of the TR-909. If you have experience with a
909, you'll know that there are 7 distinct swing settings in that storied machine. We've taken all of them and
interpolated between them, resulting in a continuous controller. The left-most position is no swing at all, or
setting 1 on the TR-909, and the right-most position is full swing, or setting 7 on the TR-909.
This control, since it is intrinsically tied to the movement of 16th notes, only works as advertised when the
STEP SIZE is set to 1x16 or 2x16. It has an effect in the other settings, but you'll need to experiment to see if
it suits your needs.
Finally, note that every DAW has a somewhat different idea of what constitutes "swing." Since it is something
of an amorphous concept in the first place, this is an acceptable situation. However, the swing in Tattoo might
not "sit" exactly with the swing in your host. If this turns out to be the case, you can either make a groove
template from an audio recording of Tattoo doing 16th note high-hats and sequence everything else against
that, or drive Tattoo with MIDI Note Sync, so that it is swinging/grooving the same as your host.
Compressor
Tattoo possesses a stereo compressor on its main output buss (buss A). This compressor is optimized for
drum sounds, appropriately enough, and has just two simple controls for making your drums louder and your
beats fatter.
The knob labeled Compressor sets the overall amount of compression applied to Tattoo’s output, changing
several internal parameters at once. If you leave the knob turned fully anti-clockwise the compressor has no
perceptible effect on the sound. As you rotate the knob clockwise Tattoo’s sounds will become louder and
fuller.
The Attack slider changes how quickly the compressor responds to the signals passing through it. Like most
digital compressors, Tattoo’s compressor can respond nearly instantaneously to the sharp transients of
synthesized drum sounds. At high compression settings (i.e. when you crank up the Compressor knob) this