HOW TO PROGRAM TD-3 PATTERNS
Programming the TD-3 on the device itself means pitch mode, then time mode, counting steps, and starting over when a slide lands on the wrong note. TD3 Studio puts the whole pattern on one screen laid out like the instrument, and gets it into the TD-3 over USB with one press of WRITE.
Way 1 — from any MIDI file
Open or drop a MIDI file on the plate. A timeline shows the whole clip; drag the amber window over the sixteen steps you want and they are cut for you: notes, octaves, accents (from velocity), slides (from overlapping notes), ties and rests. Step by bar with the arrow keys, or Ctrl + scroll to zoom in and land the window to the step. More on MIDI files →
Way 2 — play it in from the on-screen keys
Press REC. Now every key you click on the three-octave keyboard under the plate fills the next step, from step one — TIE holds the previous note, REST leaves the step silent. Recording stops itself after the last active step. That is 303-style step entry, without the two-mode dance of the hardware.
Way 3 — play it in from your MIDI keyboard
Pick your keyboard under MIDI IN and play the same way. Velocity above the accent threshold gives an accent, playing legato sets a slide on the previous step, and KBD OCTAVE folds a small keyboard into the TD-3's three octaves.
Accents and slides: one modifier, everywhere
Three ways in, one set of keys. Drop a MIDI file and the sixteen steps are cut for you — or start from an empty plate. Or play the pattern in yourself, 303-style, from the on-screen keys or your own MIDI keyboard. Either way, an accent or a slide is one modifier away — hold Shift or Ctrl (⌘ on a Mac) while you play a key or click a step, and the same combination sets a tie or a rest. Fix any note later by scrolling over its cell.
So an accent on step 6 is Shift + click on cell 6, or Shift + a key while recording. A slide is Ctrl the same way, a tie Alt, a rest Ctrl+Alt. You can change these under Keys…; on a Mac read Cmd and Option.
Hear it, then write it
Set OUTPUT to the built-in 303 simulator and press START: saw or square, cutoff, resonance, envelope, accent and slides, driven by the knobs on the plate. Happy? Pick group, pattern and bank and press WRITE. The pattern is on the TD-3; press start on the device and it plays from its own sequencer.