PolyBrute - Tips and Tricks

Set up a Morph where the pitch-bend range is a semitone or two in position A and an octave or two in position B.

This lets you quickly go from using the pitch wheel for subtle bends in synth soloing to massive octave sweeps and guitar-style “dive bombs”.

This is easily done in PolyBrute Connect, as shown here:

Two actions can navigate directly to a menu you would otherwise find by pressing Settings and then using the numeric Assign buttons to find submenus.

• Hold Settings and move a knob or slider. Sometimes, this will bring up a menu of settings relevant to the section that control is in.

• Similarly, long-pressing a button (the Voice Control and Mode buttons, for example) will navigate directly to deeper settings relevant to those buttons.

When the Matrix panel is in Mods mode, hold the Left Arrow button and press the numeric Assign button (1-8) for that destination.

When the Matrix panel is in Mods mode and with a modulation cell selected (lit purple), hold the Left Arrow button and press the numeric Assign button (1-8) for that destination.

Press the Stop button in the sequencer/arpeggiator section quickly three times.

When the Sequencer/Arpeggiator is in Sequencer mode and running, keys in the lower part of a split transpose the musical key of the sequence.

This lets you play along in the upper part with the sequence following your bass note or chord changes.

The Motion Recorder lets you record any single control movement, which then plays back as you play the keyboard.

The Morphée is an eligible control and the Motion Recorder captures all three axes, letting you record three sonic changes “for the price of one”!

The main menu in PolyBrute Connect lets you quickly resize the window to make working with controls easier or fit it alongside other plug-ins in a crowded DAW workspace.

Keyboard shortcuts are Command+/- (macOS) or Control +/- (Windows).

With PolyBrute Connect open you can trigger the first 15 notes on the synth from a QWERTY keyboard, per the under diagram.

This is useful if you’re designing a sound using the software but the PolyBrute is just out of reach on a keyboard rack.

Z and X octave shift down and up, respectively.

Want to know exactly what notes are played in a Preset that has an active sequence?

Play it, slow down the tempo, and look at the onscreen keyboard in PolyBrute Connect.

The PolyBrute includes 25 Presets that are Templates. These include staple sound categories such as basses, leads, pads, and so on.

They also include popular synth sound design techniques such as VCO sync, assigning aftertouch to the filter, and more. Some Templates take advantage of unique PolyBrute features including Morphing, the Morphée controller, and the Motion Recorder.

Beginning with a Template is a shortcut to creating your own sounds without starting from the total scratch of an Init Preset. Studying how the parameters are set is likewise a fantastic way to learn about synthesis.