Beatmaker’s sketchbook
Open Source Sample Beat Composer
Beatmaker’s sketchbook
Beatmaker’s sketchbook is an alternative to commercial sample based sequencers/grooveboxes with a big difference – it is 100% Open-Source.
Its core is a Teensy 4.1 microcontroller with 16 MB additional Sample RAM (~3 minutes of samples in memory) and uses a Micro SD-card as permanent storage.
Beatmaker’s sketchbook houses a microphone, a fader, four rotary encoders, 24 keys for two octaves, 12 functional buttons, a display and a via USB rechargeable battery. It can sample through a line-in or the built in microphone, playback via headphones or the line-out connector and communicates with external devices via MIDI.
Features
Straight forward: Sample, sketch your ideas, arrange a song and perform it live.
1. Sample
- Sample via line-in, the built in microphone, re-sample or combine re-sampling with line-in or microphone.
- Load samples from the sample library on the SD card. We converted the whole SampleSwap library with more than 19.000 samples into a compatible format.
- Samples can be cut and sliced into multiple parts.
- Each song/project can use up to 72 samples.
2. Sketch
- Matrix Sequencer – called sketchbook – 8 channels with almost endless steps.
- Matrix cells can be filled with a sample (volume, panning, pitch, probability playback direction), parameter change (volume, panning, pitch adjustments, playback direction, Note Off) or MIDI messages.
- Divide the sketchbook into sheets (pattern).
- Select parts (overarching multiple sheets) and store them as snippets.
- Zoom levels for fine grained compositions (same resolution as the MPC).
- Individual swing for each sample or assign to one of 8 swing groups.
3. Arrange
- Chain sheets (pattern) to a complete song.
- Repeat sheets
- Can be used as background track for play mode.
4. Play
- Assign samples, snippets or midi messages to up to 72 configurable slots.
- Control via external MIDI gear. Slots can be “trained” to listen to a midi note.
- Play via MIDI with velocity and polyphonic aftertouch.
- External MIDI equipment not needed for live performances.
- Piano mode for one sample to play it chromatically pitched via internal piano keyboard or a separate MIDI channel.
- Scratch samples as if you were scratching a tape – as funky effect.
- Synced launch of Snippets of your sequence.
- Record your performance to SD card.
Beatmaker’s sketchbooks firmware – SUCOFUNKey – is continuous evolving, Open-Source and based on the Teensy Audio library. Check these links for more information: