The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of UJAM Music Technology GmbH. The software described herein is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to any other media except as specifically allowed in the License Agreement. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by UJAM Music Technology GmbH.

©2024 UJAM Music Technology GmbH. All specifications are subject to change without notice. All other commercial symbols are the protected trademarks and trade names of their respective holders. All rights reserved.

 

Table of Contents

Welcome to Subcraft You and Us Why So Few Controls? Installing Subcraft Trial and Authorization Trying, Buying, Authorizing Controller Hardware for Subcraft Walkthrough Make a Sound and Learn About Keys Try the Presets The Bass Terrain Terrain Visuals Terrain Marker Sound Generation Shuffle Amount Terrain State Controls The Default Terrain Terrain Shuffle Kick Module Kick Trigger Effect Module Bass Details Phrase Player Loops Styles Menu Pitches Microtiming Menu Swing Speed Player Sync Latch MIDI Export MIDI Drag-and-Drop Direct MIDI Out Menu Bar Volume Resizable Interface Loading Presets Save & Save As… Moving, Renaming and Deleting Presets Notifications About Page MIDI Learn Automation Ask Us Please Tell Us Please

 

Welcome to Subcraft

Subcraft

Subcraft is optimized for one clear, powerful purpose: to unlock the secrets of powerful sub-bass in your productions.

Chances are that as much as you love sub-bass, you also hate it because of how high maintenance it is. Put it in a mix in your studio where it sits perfectly, only to play it on your phone or laptop and find that it’s gone. Play a sub-bass melodic riff and a few notes that almost kill your speakers while others have gone hiding. The art of getting it to sound right in the mix has thus far not been mastered by many. And those who have mastered it belong to a small exclusive circle with almost arcane knowledge. This means, if you wanted to play, you needed to pay. Or spend a ridiculous amount of time understanding the intricacies and honing your skill. Worst case, you spend your time chasing consistent low end with tedious edits instead of writing great music.

And that is exactly the key problem we set out to solve when we decided to create Subcraft, because we have all been there. We’ve spent 2 years inventing the engine behind Subcraft, and in doing so, we unlocked the secrets of the perfect sub-bass. What that means: every kick and bass tone that comes out of Subcraft is perfectly phase-aligned and processed for maximum bass power and clarity on every note of the playable range.  

It may just be a plug-in, but you’ll suddenly feel like you’ve got a million dollar studio and a grammy-winning engineer at your side.

You and Us

Subcraft was built by musicians for musicians. We at UJAM are a pretty diverse bunch – from DJ to Drummer, weekend producer to Oscar-awarded Hollywood composer. We build every product for ourselves, and, like you, we’re all users of our Virtual Instruments - from Guitarists to Bassists to Drummers and Beatmakers.

This means that before we even start developing, a lot of thought and discussion goes into finding out what you, the user, will expect from the product, what problem it solves, which controls we can remove to make the product more inviting and simpler, which hurdles we can move out of the way.

We hope that Subcraft transpires that philosophy in everything you do with it.

Why So Few Controls?

We are all musicians, and we know that the time for learning a user interface is time better spent making music. Also, unlike many sub/808 bass instruments, we don’t expect our users to have in-depth knowledge about sub tone synthesis, processing, or sound engineering – because let’s admit it: We can’t possibly know everything.

Therefore, the concept and user interface of Subcraft is designed for maximum ease-of-use and minimum distraction. There is a lot of intelligence going on under the hood so you can focus on your music.

The user interface is also fail-proof in that no matter how you set up the controls of Subcraft, the result will never be musically or technically wrong – and this is true without sacrificing any creative freedom.

You can trust in the fact that tracks produced with Subcraft are powerful, consistent and professionally programmed bass tracks.

Installing Subcraft

Subcraft can be installed hassle-free via the UJAM App.

Installing from the UJAM App

You will find Subcraft available for download in the UJAM App - it doesn’t matter if you’ve purchased it or are just looking to start the free trial. The UJAM App will also notify you of and allow you to download any updates in the future in the very same way (you will notice a button that says ‘Update’ instead of ‘Download’).

By clicking the three dots above the ‘Download’ button, you’ll also see other helpful options such as ‘Uninstall’, in case you need to remove the plug-in or troubleshoot an issue, as well as a link to this manual.

Trial and Authorization

We have designed the entire process of downloading, activating and authorizing Subcraft with a strong focus on simplicity. It’s important to us to make it as easy as possible for you to get your hands on Subcraft - and make it your own if you like it. If you have the product license in your UJAM account and you sign into the UJAM App, the plugin will get authorized automatically.

Trying, Buying, Authorizing

We only want you to spend money if you’re absolutely happy with Subcraft. Therefore, we grant you a 7-day free trial period, during which the plug-in will run without any limitation.

When you first download Subcraft, the plug-in will detect whether or not you have a license. It will start your free trial automatically if no license is detected. 

When opening Subcraft during the trial period or when clicking the ‘Authorize’ button in the menu bar (shown below), you will see the following overlay which:

• Displays information about your trial status
• Provides a link to the Subcraft website where you can purchase a permanent Subcraft license, after or during the trial period
• Redirects you to open the UJAM app and sign in to validate your purchased license and authorize the plug-in fully
  
  

Trial & Authorization Overlay

Trial Status and Authorize Button in Top Menu Bar

Controller Hardware for Subcraft

Subcraft requires MIDI note input for playing and recording bassline performances.

If you have a MIDI controller (keyboard or pad controller), this will be the easiest and most straightforward MIDI input method and it’s the most fun as you can control Subcraft in real-time.

Of course, you can also control Subcraft by using MIDI step sequencers or by entering MIDI notes manually into MIDI tracks.

For testing purposes while you’re getting to know Subcraft, you can always use the Interactive On-Screen Keyboard in the lower section of the Subcraft interface. This works best with the included Loops on the left side of the key range, as they will continue to play phrases without requiring you to constantly input notes.

Walkthrough

In this walkthrough guide, we will take a quick tour across all the controls and features of Subcraft. After this you will have a good understanding of how you can use Subcraft to take your modern bass production to the next level!

Now, open Subcraft in your DAW and let’s begin. Ideally, you also have a MIDI controller connected, but otherwise you can use the Interactive Keyboard on the plug-in interface.

Make a Sound and Learn About Keys

• Open your DAW and load Subcraft - it will load a default Preset and that’s all you need for now. 

Start by playing MIDI notes on your keyboard, or by triggering MIDI notes using the right side on-screen keyboard at the bottom of the user interface:

You will hear powerful bass as you play.

Try the Presets

• At the top of the Subcraft window you can load presets. A preset is always a complete setting of Subcraft, i.e. it will change the active bass sound, kick drum, effects and bass detail controls.

• Keep a groove playing, and go through the various presets and categories to get an impression of the musical and sonic palette of Subcraft. It might help to select a Loop on the left side of the on-screen keyboard so the instrument will continue to play while you change Presets (more on this later).

The Bass Terrain

The largest and most central control on the GUI is what we call the ‘Bass Terrain’ - the large hexagonal area which functions like an XY pad control. This area controls the sound of the bass.

The sounds are entirely unique at every single position of the terrain. Some are rough, some are soft, some distorted, some noisy, etc… Under the hood, the Bass Terrain combines a very large quantity of sub tones (the low frequency, subby part) with a very large quantity of overtones (the higher, harmonic part).

Terrain Visuals

As previously mentioned, the sounds within the terrain are made up of various sub tones and various overtones (or harmonic layers). The visuals of the tiles on the terrain pad represent a relative indication of this.

Drag the handle around the terrain to parts of the terrain that look different - both by color and by texture, and you may start to recognize a pattern to what you’re hearing associated with what you are seeing on the tiles.

The tiles that look more ‘full’ in terms of shape and texture will sound as such - fuller, maybe more aggressive, and overall more present.

   

A more ‘full’ tile texture (left) versus a less ‘full’ texture (right)

The same sort of theme applies to the coloring of the tiles - you’ll notice a general trend of grittiness or intensity increasing as the colors shift from blue to purple.

     

A more aggressive tile color (left, purple) versus a less aggressive color (right, blue)

Note: The visual associations are rather subjective. The terrain visuals are only meant to help you navigate the terrain with a degree of intention, as opposed to dragging around aimlessly with no visual indication of what might be happening to the sound as you explore. 

Terrain Marker

By selecting the ‘2nd Terrain Marker’ icon:

You will notice that a second drag handle becomes visible on the terrain, as well as an ‘A/B’ switch below it:

This feature allows you to switch between two different positions on the terrain as a means of A/B testing two different bass sounds. 

This is perfect for the exploration phase when you are on the hunt for the best possible bass tone for your production. Just loop a section of your song and use this feature to find the perfect bass aesthetic!

Simply click the A/B switch to toggle between the active position that you’re hearing, and click and drag on the handles to make adjustments. 

Once you’ve made your decision, you can click the ‘X’ icon to finalize your decision with whichever sound is currently active and remove the extra handle from the terrain.

Sound Generation

Below the Bass Terrain pad, you’ll see a few controls that relate to the unique sound generation features of Subcraft.

In short, this feature unlocks the infinite creative potential of randomization and new Bass Terrain generation. By clicking the hexagonal button that has stars on it, everything about Subcraft’s current state will randomly change, leading you to new inspiring sounds.

This Sound Generation feature does two things:

1. Randomly scrambles all of Subcraft’s control parameters (kick module, effect module, phrase style, bass details settings, terrain position, etc)
   
   
2. Generates a brand new Bass Terrain - loading in random new samples and completely rearranging the terrain with overlaid FX and new crosspoints (no two terrains will ever be the same!)

Shuffle Amount

The slider to the left of the generation button controls the ‘Shuffle Amount’. At higher values, the results will become increasingly more randomized and different with each generation - changing every single thing about the instrument’s configuration.

At lower values, Subcraft’s randomization is more tame, while at the minimum value, only the Bass Terrain will change. In other words, if you want to keep all of your settings but hear some new bass sounds in the terrain, turn this slider all the way down and then randomize!

Terrain State Controls

The arrows to the right of the generation button and below it will allow you to navigate through the various generations that you create.

On the right, you can step through generations using the ‘Undo Shuffle’ and ‘Redo Shuffle’ buttons.

Using the arrow below the button, you can remove all generations and reset Subcraft to a default terrain.

The Default Terrain

When you use the reset button below the Sound Generation button, as mentioned above, Subcraft will recall a Bass Terrain that we call the ‘Default’ terrain. 

The Default terrain - a terrain arrangement you might become familiar with over time.

When you randomize the terrain section of Subcraft, samples are shuffled and sometimes minor aesthetic FX are also applied on top of certain regions of the new terrain. 

The Default terrain has no overlaid FX, just the cleanest and fattest bass tones we could possibly find. You will familiarize yourself with this Default terrain overtime the more you use Subcraft, and it might help you to have this terrain as a frame of reference.

Terrain Shuffle

There might also be a scenario where you like the root sound that you’ve found within the Bass Terrain, and only want to randomize the rest of the plug-ins settings for some more topical inspiration.

To achieve this, you can toggle the ‘Allow Terrain Generation’ button to the left of the generation feature. When the feature is disabled (grayed out), no changes will be made to the loaded terrain, while everything else is still subject to randomization.

In short, you can think of this feature as a ‘lock’ for the Bass Terrain! When locked, Subcraft won’t change the terrain.

Kick Module

On the left hand side, you’ll see a large knob control called ‘Kick’: 

This controls the amount of kick sample that is applied to the start of the bass hits. Turn this all the way down if you want no kick - maybe you already have a separate kick sample or kick track elsewhere in your session.

Turn it up to hear more kick, and at higher values above 50%, Subcraft will automatically duck out the bass to create space for the kick to be heard - an automatic sidechaining that you yourself don’t have to wrestle with!

From the dropdown selector below the Kick knob, you can step through or select from a number of effective kick samples.

Kick Trigger 

In addition to setting the amount of Kick drum that gets applied to the start of each note hit, you can also trigger the Kick sample independently from the bass by using the Kick one-shot key switch on the interactive keyboard, right next to the Pitch key switches:

You can trigger this switch via MIDI input as well - meaning you can draw MIDI notes into your arrangement to trigger the Kick drum wherever you need it.

Effect Module

On the right hand side, you’ll see a large knob control called ‘Effect’:

This control dials in the selected effect mode - whichever effect is actively selected from the drop down/step-through arrows below the knob. Each effect mode is a complex multi-effect signal chain that was custom engineered for the various sub sounds in the instrument. 

These FX are applied at the end of the signal chain, meaning that both the kick and bass sounds will be affected.

All of these Effect Modes range from the subtle to the extreme. We consider the Effect module to be a wonderful playground in which to search for a magical sweet spot. In many scenarios, just a subtle movement to the left or the right of that knob can make a world of a difference, or add exactly that little bit of extra mojo that you’ve been looking for. 

Also note that all of these Effect Modes tend to make sounds darker or brighter, depending on the mode. Very often, you can get the most interesting “how did they do that?” type sounds by using a bright sound as a starting point and then turning it dark with one of these Effects, or using a dark starting point and then brightening it up in one of the many ways these Effects offer. 

Bottom line: consider this an invitation to mentally zoom in, experiment and have as much fun with this feature as we did.

Here is an overview of each included Effect Mode:

Bass Details

By clicking on the ‘Bass Details’ icon:

You can access a small page of additional controls to fine-tune the behavior and sound of the bass playback:

The functionality of the controls is as follows:

Phrase Player

At the bottom of the GUI, you’ll see that the left hand side of the on-screen keyboard looks a bit different:

All of these key switches and buttons relate to Subcraft’s Phrase Player engine. In short, it’s a way to play pre-programmed MIDI loops using the sounds of the instrument. 

Loops

Start by pressing one of the four ‘Loop’ key switches, and you’ll hear a phrase start to play:

Each of the 3 loop keys on the bottom are slightly different, and increase in intensity or busyness as you go up the keyboard (the rightmost is the most busy, and vice versa). The 4th key switch located at the top behaves more like a fill, where it is usually silent at the start of the phrase, but has a pickup or run towards the end.

While a Loop is playing, you’ll notice an animation showing you the progress of the Loop, as well as some gray highlighting on the keys of the right-hand on-screen keyboard to indicate the notes that are being triggered by the MIDI phrase. Pressing the ‘Stop’ key will stop the loop playback.

Styles Menu

In this menu, you can select between 31 Styles by either clicking the name and opening the dropdown menu, or by using the arrows to step through the list.

Styles are organized by recommended tempo (bpm). Each Style contains 4 Loops, as previously described (3 Loop phrases, and 1 Loop Fill).

In short, when you change the Style, all of the MIDI loops will change in response. Think of the Style as a song - when you change songs, the parts change entirely, while still offering you different variations to choose from.

Note: Styles are not editable directly within Subcraft, but you can modify Styles and Loops outside of Subcraft by using the MIDI Drag-and-Drop feature (see ‘MIDI Export’ section for more info).

Pitches

You’ll notice a few other key switches on the keyboard range:

Each of the three hollow circular buttons represents a ‘Pitch Automation’. 

Pitch Automations are one-shot key switches that trigger meticulously defined pitch automations and apply them to the notes that are being played. You’ll see an intuitive animation during playback to help you understand what kind of modulations are happening to the pitch.

When playing notes manually via the right-hand side of the on-screen keyboard, or via MIDI input, you can trigger these Pitch Automations in the same way and hear what they do to the note input.

Some Loops/Styles actually trigger these Pitch Automations, which you’ll see on the key range as they animate whenever they are being used. 

Microtiming Menu

By selecting the clock icon button:

You’ll access a Microtiming menu where you can customize some elements of the Phrase Player’s timing.

Swing

Namely, you can use the Swing control to apply a shuffled feel to the Phrase Player, offsetting note rhythms.

Speed

To further customize a Loop to your production, you can double or halve the Loop’s playback speed using the Speed selector and selecting from the options: Normal, Half and Double.

Player Sync

You can quantize the Subcraft player to match the playback of your DAW in different ways. Quantize to the current grid (Song Position), 1/4, 1/8, or 1/16 notes. The ‘Note On’ setting will sync the Player to the moment a note is triggered.

This feature keeps Subcraft in sync with the DAW timing position to make sure you have the phrase in time and on the right beat. Give it a try!

Latch

The Latch button to the left of the keyboard will allow the Loop phrases to repeat infinitely. This feature is particularly useful while designing your bass sound and navigating through the bass tones, FX and sound detail settings.

By default, this feature is turned ON so you can hear the Loops play in full when you select them. Turn this control OFF if you only want the Loops to play when they are triggered.

MIDI Export

In Subcraft, there are a couple of different methods you can use to access the MIDI data of the Phrase Player so you can further customize it to suit your needs!

MIDI Drag-and-Drop

Subcraft lets you drag Loops from the Interactive Keyboard into any track of your DAW, where it will be converted to MIDI notes:

A MIDI clip created by dragging one of Subcraft’s Loop phrases into Live 12.

To drag a Loop from Subcraft into your session, click and hold in the dotted drag area of any Loop key on the on-screen keyboard and drag the mouse pointer over to the target track in your DAW.

With MIDI Drag-and-Drop, you can:

• Edit a Subcraft Loop just like any other MIDI sequence - e.g. change note positions, velocities, or add new notes
• Combine Loops from various Styles into one song - just switch Styles and drag away!

Note: When you drag Fill Loops, some of them start mid-bar, so you may have to adjust the start of the resulting MIDI region after dropping it into your DAW. 

Direct MIDI Out

The Direct MIDI Out feature allows Subcraft as a software instrument plug-in to send MIDI data to other plug-in tracks or external devices. 

Setting Subcraft as the MIDI input source for other instrument tracks will allow you to hear how the phrase engine Loops will sound on some of your other favorite bass or synth plug-in libraries.

The exact workflow is a bit different in each DAW, so please refer to your DAW’s user manual to learn more about MIDI routing between tracks.

Here is an example of how the Direct MIDI Out setup looks within Ableton Live:

Menu Bar 

The top bar of the Subcraft interface lets you load and save presets. It also contains important management functions, from checking your trial status to contacting support.

Top Menu Bar 

Volume

Use the small knob control next to the real-time level meter to adjust the audio output volume of Subcraft for maintaining an optimal input level into the mixer or subsequent audio processors.

Volume Control & Level Meter

The Level Meter helps you avoid internal clipping by turning red at the end when clipping is detected. This is quite important as it’s easy to overdrive the Master output which can lead to ugly digital distortion.

Resizable Interface 

The user interface is resizable to fit on all screen sizes. To resize, either click the “window” icon next to the information icon in the top right corner, or simply drag the striped handle in the bottom right corner of the user interface.

Loading Presets 

Preset Browser of Subcraft

A preset in Subcraft is a complete setting of the entire plug-in, including Style selection, Bass Terrain and all control settings. Here’s how you can switch presets: 

• Advance to the next preset by clicking one of the arrows left and right of the Preset name 

• Click on the name of the current preset in the Preset menu to open the Preset Browser (see image above). 

As you can see, the Preset Browser is a clean, organized list of presets, categorized by simple aesthetic terms.  

Take your time exploring the Presets, as this is the quickest way of getting an overview of what Subcraft can do! 

If you have freshly installed Subcraft, there will only be Factory Presets. User Presets will appear once you have saved your first custom preset.
 

Save & Save As … 

You can of course save your own Subcraft presets. You can name them anything you’d like.

The difference between the Save and Save As… buttons is as follows: 

• Save overwrites the preset with the changes you just made.  

• Save As… lets you assign a name and therefore does not replace the current preset. 

Note: Factory Presets can only be saved using Save As… they cannot be overwritten via ‘Save’.

Moving, Renaming and Deleting Presets 

You can move, rename or delete Presets directly in your operating system. You will find Subcraft Presets in these folders: 

 

Notifications 

When you launch Subcraft, it will automatically check for updates. If an update is available, the bell icon will be highlighted.  

Clicking it will open a dialog that lets you choose whether you want to download the update now or later. 

About Page

Clicking on the circled “i” in the top right banner of the user interface of Subcraft opens the About Dialog page where you can find detailed information about your plug-in’s build as well as links to the Acknowledgments, Product Page, Support, this User Manual and the License Agreement.

About Page of Subcraft

• Visit Product Site – takes you to ujam.com with regularly updated news, videos, tutorials, and other helpful stuff. 
• Contact Support –  lets you report problems and ask questions.
• Read User Manual –  opens this document. 
• Acknowledgments – the people behind Subcraft.
• License Agreement – legalese stuff for gourmets. 

MIDI Learn

Using Learn MIDI CC, you can assign many of Subcraft’s controls to hardware controls of MIDI keyboards or other controllers. 

To assign a control, you usually right-click or ctrl-click a control in Subcraft to open the MIDI Learn context menu of your DAW.

Automation

Many controls in Subcraft can be automated. In combination with the Phrase select keys this is actually a very powerful way of creating more dynamic performances. For example, automate the Effect and Kick types to drastically change the energy of your bassline as it develops in different parts of your song. 

For instructions on how to activate Subcraft parameters for automation, please refer to your DAW’s user guide (in most cases, using the shortcut “a” will open the automation menu).

Ask Us Please

If you have questions about Subcraft or any UJAM products, our support team is there for you – please send us a message: www.ujam.com/contact-us/

Tell Us Please

Your opinions are not only very important to us – they have influenced, inspired and often initiated entire product series, individual products and features. 

Any feedback you’d like to give is extremely welcome – here are a few links for you:

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ujaminstruments
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/ujaminstruments 
• X or Twitter: www.twitter.com/ujaminstruments
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ujaminstruments
  

 

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