The XY pads¶
Four square XY pads run across the bottom of the screen. They are the performance surface: each pad maps its horizontal and vertical axes to two grain settings, so one thumb moves two things at once. You can play up to four pads at the same time, one thumb per pad.
How a pad works¶
Touch anywhere in a pad and the puck jumps to your finger. Drag it around and both axes update continuously as you move. The horizontal position sets the X value, from the left edge (minimum) to the right edge (maximum). The vertical position sets the Y value, from the bottom edge (minimum) to the top edge (maximum).
When you lift your finger the puck stays where you left it. Nothing springs back, so a pad holds its last position until you touch it again.
A crosshair marks the center of each pad. When the puck crosses the center line on either axis you feel a small haptic tick, so you can find the middle without looking. While you are touching a pad, a bubble shows both axis values, for example Density 22.6 Hz Size 137 ms.
Each pad drives the same settings as the dials above. Move the Grains pad and the Density and Size dials move with it; turn those dials and the pad's puck moves. They are two views of the same values.
The four pads¶
Grains¶
Density and Size, the two controls that set the texture of the cloud.
| Axis | Control | What it does | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| X | Density | Grains spawned per second. | 1 Hz – 512 Hz |
| Y | Size | Length of each grain. | 5 ms – 1500 ms |
Move up and to the right for a dense wash of long grains; down and to the left for sparse, short ticks.
Scatter¶
How loosely the grains sit in time and space.
| Axis | Control | What it does | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| X | Jitter | Random timing offset added to each grain. | 0 – 500 ms |
| Y | Spread | Random stereo placement per grain, from mono to a wide cloud. | 0 – 100% |
At the bottom-left the grains are tight and centered. Push up and right and they scatter across time and the stereo field.
Texture¶
Two probability controls. Each one sets a chance, applied per grain.
| Axis | Control | What it does | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| X | Pitch | Chance that a grain is transposed away from the set pitch. | 0 – 100% |
| Y | Reverse | Chance that a grain plays backward. | 0 – 100% |
The Pitch axis sets only the chance of transposition. How far a transposed grain moves, and whether it snaps to a scale, is set in the Pitch section of the gear menu (mode, range, direction, and scale). With the defaults, a transposed grain moves up or down within one octave. Turn the X axis up and more grains get transposed; leave it at the far left and every grain plays at the set pitch.
The Reverse axis works the same way: at the far left every grain plays forward, at the far right every grain plays backward, and in between you get a mix.
Tone¶
The filter.
| Axis | Control | What it does | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| X | Cutoff | Filter cutoff frequency. | 0 – 100% |
| Y | Resonance | Filter resonance. | 0 – 100% |
In an AUv3 host¶
Field is also an AUv3 plugin. When a host automates one of a pad's two settings, a dimmed cyan puck appears at the value the host is sending, next to your own puck, so you can see where the automation is driving the pad. It fades out about a second after the host stops. Your own puck is unaffected, so you can still play the pad by hand while automation runs.