TranceTools Build user guide

Install

TranceTools Build needs macOS 11 (Big Sur) or later, on Apple silicon or Intel.

1. Download TranceTools Build and open the .dmg file.
2. Drag TranceTools Build.vst3 onto the VST3 folder shortcut beside it.
3. Drag TranceTools Build.component onto the Components (AU) folder shortcut.
4. Restart your DAW, or rescan its plug-ins. TranceTools Build is an instrument.

You only need the format your DAW uses, but installing both does no harm. The shortcuts install it for everyone on the Mac. To install it just for you, copy the files into ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3 and ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components instead. The .dmg also has a How to install file with these steps.

To uninstall, delete the two files from those folders.

Play your first build

1. Put TranceTools Build on its own MIDI track, as an instrument.
2. Hold a long note in the bars before your drop: 16 bars for the default length. The note you hold sets the drop's key. Or press ▶ at the top right to preview a build without playing a note, even with your DAW stopped. The preview plays in the key you've picked in Drop key, or in A when Drop key is set to Note.
3. Let it run into the drop. The crash and impact land on the first beat after the build, and the downlifter falls away after them.

By default (Start: On bar) the build starts at the beginning of a bar: right away if your note lands on the bar line (a touch late is fine), otherwise on the next bar. So a note drawn from the start of a bar plays the build from there, the same way every time.

The status bar at the bottom says what to do when nothing is playing, for example Hold a note for 16 bars, or press ▶ to preview. While a build plays, it shows the key and where you are, for example Playing · locked to Ableton, bar 3.3 · Build in C · bar 3 of 16, then silent beat, then DROP.

If you let go early, before the silent beat, the build fades out quickly and there's no drop. Let go during the silent beat or later, and the drop still plays, with the crash, impact and downlifter. Holding the note past the drop does the same.

The window

• The top bar: the preset menu, previous and next, Save; Drop key; Bars (4, 8 or 16); Audio or MIDI out; and ▶ to preview.
• The timeline: a lane for each layer across the bars, with the DROP marker. Each lane shows the layer's shape, and its switch turns the layer on or off.
• Sample slots: Snare, Crash and Impact (in Audio mode).
• Build, Roll and Drop: the controls, below.
• The status bar: your DAW (for example Playing · locked to Ableton, bar 9.2), the build, the window size (100%, 125% or 150%) and the Made by TranceTools link.

Double-click any knob to reset it.

Presets

Click the preset name to choose from 19 presets in six styles:

The number in some names is the length in bars. A preset sets the length, every knob and switch, and which starter-kit snare it uses.

Click Save to keep your own, including your sample slots. Your presets are under User in the menu, and Show presets folder opens Music/TranceTools Build/Presets in your home folder.

The layers

Switch any of them off on its lane.

Build: the risers

• Intensity: how hard the build climbs, from a gentle lift to a steep rush.
• Balance: more noise riser or more tonal riser.
• Tonal riser: climbs 1 oct or 2 oct, or Shepard: a tone that seems to rise for ever.

Roll: the snare

• Snare: how loud the roll is.
• Pitch: how far the snare rises over the build, up to 12 semitones.
• Stepped: quarters, 8ths, 16ths, then 32nds in the last bar. Fast: the same steps, sooner. Smooth: speeds up gradually.

Drop: the silence and the hits

• Silent beats: half a beat, one beat or two beats of silence before the drop. Switch on Tail to let the reverb ring on into the silence while the hits stop.
• Impact: how loud the crash and impact hit.
• Downlifter bars: 1, 2 or 4.

Start and output

• Start: On bar starts the build at the beginning of a bar (this one if your note is right on the bar line, otherwise the next). On note starts it the moment you play.
• Output: −12 to +12 dB. A limiter keeps the peaks below −1 dB, so the drop never clips.

Your own sounds

Each slot (Snare, Crash, Impact) starts with a sound from the starter kit. To use your own:

• Drag a file from Finder or your DAW onto the slot: WAV, AIFF, FLAC or MP3, up to 20 seconds.
• Or click the slot's … menu and choose Choose a file…. The same menu has the starter-kit sounds, and Show the file in Finder.
• Click a slot to hear its sound.

TranceTools Build trims the silence at the start and matches the level to the starter kit. If your impact has a clear pitch, it's tuned to the drop's key. To turn that off, use the Tune Impact To Key parameter in your DAW's list of plugin parameters (it isn't in the window). Your sound is saved inside the project, so it still opens on another Mac.

MIDI out

Switch to MIDI out and TranceTools Build makes no sound of its own. It sends the build as MIDI for your own synths and drums:

Set Synth's bend range (2, 12, 24 or 48 semitones) to match your synth, so the riser lands on the key.

Drag MIDI clip drags the whole build into your DAW as a MIDI clip, at your project's tempo. Drop it on a MIDI track with your synth or drum rack. In Ableton Live, this is the way to do it: Live can't split a plugin's MIDI by channel, so routing it live would send the riser, roll, crash and downlifter to one instrument.

Playing it live in Ableton Live 12 (tested): if you'd rather hear the build on your own synth as it plays,

1. Put TranceTools Build on a MIDI track and click MIDI out at the top of its window.
2. On a second MIDI track, the one with your synth, set MIDI From to the Build track. Live lists it by name, for example 1-TranceTools Build.
3. In the box under it, choose TranceTools Build. Live shows Post FX there to start with, and that passes nothing on.
4. Set the track's Monitor to In.
5. Hold a note on the Build track, or play a clip with a held note. The synth track's MIDI meter lights up, and the Build track stays silent, as it should in MIDI out.

The synth gets all four channels (riser, snare, crash and downlifter), so this suits one synth playing the riser. For the snare and crash on a drum rack, drag the clip instead.

Updates

Once a day at most, TranceTools Build asks trancetools.com whether there's a newer version. It sends no ID or personal details. If there is one, the status bar says so (for example Build 1.0.1 is available) with a Download link to this site; close it with × and that version won't be offered again. TranceTools Build never updates itself.

When the DAW is stopped

TranceTools Build follows your DAW's tempo even while it's stopped, so ▶ and a held note still play a build in time.

Tips for trance

• Classic uplifting: Uplifting › Euphoric 16 over the 16 bars before your main drop.
• A short lift into a second drop: Uplifting › Classic 8, or a 4-bar build like Tech › Noise Wall.
• Psy: Psy › Full-On Rush uses a Shepard riser and a smooth roll.
• Your own snare: drop the snare from your track's drums on the Snare slot, so the roll matches.

Need the track to build into? TranceTools writes trance chords, leads, basslines and arps you can drag into your DAW.

More on build-ups: How to make a trance build-up.

Licence

TranceTools Build is free for personal and commercial use, so you can use it on tracks you release and sell. Please don't share the plugin files or sell them; send people to trancetools.com/apps/build/ instead. It's provided as is, with no warranty. The starter kit sounds are ours, and free to use in your tracks.