MANUAL · v1.0
Underground Engine, start to finish
First 60 seconds
- Drop the plug-in on a MIDI track and play one key — a full chord sounds.
- Click DICE (top right) — a random preset loads and the die shows the roll.
- Grab SPACE and turn: the room opens. DUB for echo, TONE for dark / bright.
- R = dice, ← → = presets, Esc = panic (drops a latched arp).
Panel 01 — chord & scale engine
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Root / Scale | Key and scale (Natural / Harmonic Minor, Dorian, Phrygian, Pentatonic Minor). |
| Type + chips | Chord shape: m7 · m9 · m11 · sus2 · sus4 · add9 · inverted dub. A chip is one click for the same parameter as the menu. |
| Scale Lock | ON = played notes snap into the key. OFF = every key is its own chord root. |
| Octave | Shifts the whole voicing −2 … +2 octaves. |
| Spread | Fans the upper voices over octaves (0 = close, 3 = wide). |
| Strum | Staggers the chord in time (0 = together). |
| Inversion | The lowest voice climbs an octave per step — inversions. |
| Voices | Upper limit of chord tones, keeping the lowest ones (m9 uses five, a triad three). |
| Drop 2 | The second highest tone drops an octave — the open voicing. |
| MIDI pill | Drag into the DAW to export a clip; click for length / content. |
Panel 02 — arpeggiator
ARP turns the chord into an arpeggio; LATCH keeps it running after the keys are released. Mode (Up / Down / Up-Down / Random / As Played), Rate (1/4 … 1/32), Oct (1–4), Gate, Swing, Accent, Ratchet (1–3 repeats), Voices (how many chord tones join the arp).
Panel 03 — dub synth voice
Osc Mix (saw ↔ pulse), Noise, Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release, Cutoff, Reso, Env Amt, LFO 1 Rate / Depth, LFO 2 Rate / Depth. The SYNC switches lock each LFO to the host grid; the LED next to the division pulses with it.
Panel 04 — dub FX & master output
Delay Time (musical division), Delay FB, HPF / LPF inside the feedback loop, Rev Size, Rev Damp, Rev Mix, Master Cut, Master Rel, Drive, Width. DUB DLY / DUB VRB are throw buttons for dub-mixer gestures. Master gain, PEAK / RMS / CPU meter and the MIDI Out mode live here too.
Performance strip
DICE jumps to a random preset. DUB, SPACE and TONE are −1 … +1 offsets on top of whatever preset is loaded (delay wet + feedback / reverb mix + size / filter cutoff ±2 octaves). They are normal parameters, so automate them — and they survive preset changes, so DICE never yanks a macro you are riding.
Keyboard
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Esc | Panic — all notes off, clears the arp latch |
| R / Shift+→ | DICE |
| ← / → | Previous / next preset |
| C / V | Copy / paste the whole sound |
| Shift+A | A/B compare |
| Cmd/Ctrl+Z | Undo (Shift adds redo) |
| double-click a knob | Back to default |
| right-click a control | MIDI Learn |
| click the scope | Freeze the trace |
Presets & licence
62 factory presets, favourites, free-form tags, a morph bar and A/B. Your own presets live in
~/Library/Application Support/EarsDeep Underground Engine/Presets (macOS) or
%APPDATA%\EarsDeep Underground Engine\Presets (Windows); the About window opens
that folder.
The trial runs 14 days with everything unlocked. Afterwards the engine still makes sound, but saving your own presets needs a licence: click UNDERGROUND ENGINE in the top bar, paste the key from your order e-mail and press ACTIVATE. Verification is offline — nothing is sent anywhere.