Methods and Tips

Playing the Alligator live

The three gates in the Alligator can be triggered by the MIDI notes F#1, G#1 and A#1, with the lowest note controlling the low pass filter channel and so on. This can be very useful when playing live:

1.	Create and connect an Alligator as an insert effect for the audio material you want to process.

This could be a recorded pad, a loop or even the full mix.

2.	Make sure the Alligator is selected and select “Create Track for Alligator” from the Edit menu.

This creates a track with a note lane for the Alligator.

If you like, turn off the Pattern section on the Alligator.

3.	Start playback and use the keys F#1, G#1 and A#1 to play the gates.

Remember that the gates are velocity sensitive and that the Amp Envelope settings affect the gated sound.

Playing the gates from Matrix patterns

While the 64 built-in patterns are rather versatile, sometimes you might want to create your very own patterns. The easiest way to achieve this is to connect Matrix Pattern Sequencers:

1.	Select the Alligator device.

2.	Create a Matrix from the Create menu or Device palette.

It is automatically connected to one of the Gate inputs on the backside. The Curve CV output on the Matrix is automatically connected to the corresponding CV Freq input on the Alligator.

3.	Repeat these two steps twice, to create two more Matrix devices.

Note that you need to select the Alligator for the Matrix to be auto-routed to the Gate and CV Freq inputs. Now you have three Matrix devices, one for each gate/channel.

4.	Turn off the Pattern player in the Alligator.

5.	Use the Gate section in the Matrix display to program custom gate patterns.

The Curve can be used for controlling the Filter Frequency of the corresponding frequency band in the Alligator.

Another interesting trick is to load a rhythmic loop into a Dr Octo Rex device and connect its Slice Gate Output to a Gate input on an Alligator. This makes the slices in the REX loop trigger the gate.

Controlling other sounds and effects

The gate outputs on the Alligator back panel allow you to control other stuff with the built-in Alligator patterns. Here’s an example:

1.	Create an instrument with a sustaining sound, such as a pad.

2.	Turn on loop mode in the main sequencer and record some chords.

3.	Create an Alligator and select a suitable pattern.

You might want to tweak the sound as well, change the filter settings, adjust fx and pan, etc.

With some tweaking, the filtered pattern can sound a bit like a drum beat or percussion loop. Then it can be nice to add some punch and bottom to the Low Pass channel, making it feel more like a kick drum or bass line:

4.	Create a Kong Drum Designer.

5.	Load a punchy bass drum sound into Pad 1.

6.	Flip the rack around and route a CV cable from Gate 3 Out on the Alligator to the Gate input for Kong’s pad 1.

Now the bass drum sound is triggered along with Gate 3, played by the Alligator’s pattern player.

7.	Adjust the Kong level to taste.

8.	If you like, add other sounds for Gate 1 and 2 in the same way.