1BITDRAGON USER GUIDE

1BITDRAGON Version 4.2

The content of this guide is furnished for informational use only and
is subject to change without notice.

Fourth Edition, January 2023.

1BITDRAGON™

[email protected] | www.1bitdragon.com

1BITDRAGON is a registered trademark. The 1BITDRAGON logo is a registered design.

© 2020-2023 Nicolas Morin. All rights reserved.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents
1. Install and run 1BITDRAGON .......................................................................... 4

2. Main Screen ...................................................................................................... 5

3. Main toolbar ...................................................................................................... 6

4. Choose an instrument...................................................................................... 8

5. Add notes........................................................................................................ 10

6. Use tools to modify notes.............................................................................. 12

7. Choose a drum ............................................................................................... 14

8. Create a song using blocks ........................................................................... 15

9. Play the song, pause it................................................................................... 16

10. Edit song properties (volume, BPM, etc.) ................................................... 17

11. Copy and paste blocks, columns, rows and grids ..................................... 18

12. Loop certain parts (columns, blocks) ......................................................... 27

13. Choose an accompaniment ......................................................................... 29

14. Choose an arpeggiator ................................................................................ 31

15. Create complex rhythms.............................................................................. 33

16. Save the song ............................................................................................... 34

17. Export in midi format ................................................................................... 35

18. Live mode...................................................................................................... 36

19. Record in WAV, MP3 or FLAC format ......................................................... 38

20. FAQ................................................................................................................ 39

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1. INSTALL AND RUN 1BITDRAGON

1. Install and run 1BITDRAGON

After purchasing the software from itch.io, you can download the
version for your operating system.

If you have already installed 1BITDRAGON, you must manually

uninstall the previous version before installing the new version,
otherwise .1bd files may still open with the old version when you
double-click on them:

› For Windows and Linux users: delete the folder.

› For macOS users: delete the application from the Applications

folder.

Then unzip the downloaded file, which will create a new

directory. Then:

› For Windows and Linux users: launch the software from this
directory.

› For macOS users: double-click the DMG file to open it, and you
will see a Finder window. Drag the application’s icon to your
Applications folder and you are done: the software is now
installed.

 Notes
› For macOS users: when you double click on the application,
you'll notice that it doesn't open. This is because macOS has
blocked the app from running. Since this app came from the
internet, macOS assumes it is not safe and automatically
cancels opening the app. To bypass this, ctrl-click (or right-
click) the app icon in the Finder, choose Open, and
confirm.

› For Linux users: if you receive an error when double-clicking

the X86_64 file, you may need to mark it as "executable". To
enable execution of the X86_64 file, follow these steps: right-
click the X86_64 file, select Properties, go to the permissions
tab, then tick the box "Allow executing file as program".

› For macOS users: if you try to open a new copy of

1BITDRAGON, it will switch to the running copy. If you want to
open a new copy, this is what you need to do from your
terminal: open -n /Applications/1BITDRAGON.app

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2. MAIN SCREEN

2. Main Screen

1BITDRAGON's main screen is divided into three sections:

A Song controls

B Choice of instruments and drums

C Notes editing grid

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3. MAIN TOOLBAR

3. Main toolbar
The main toolbar contains button shortcuts for global commands:

PLAY

PAUSE

STOP

NEW SONG: erase all

OPEN SONG: open a .1bd file

SAVE SONG

UNDO

REDO

EXPORT MIDI FILE

RECORD A WAV, MP3 OR FLAC FILE

RECORD A LOOP (WAV, MP3 OR FLAC): export the looped

region as a seamless loop file

HELP

 Note
You can also press the space bar to play or pause the
song.

If you double-tap on the space bar, the song will stop and
return to the beginning (this is the equivalent of the Stop
button).

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3. MAIN TOOLBAR

 Note
You can also use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-Z (undo), Ctrl-Y
or Ctrl+Shift+Z (redo).

On the right side of the screen there is a button to switch to full

screen mode. The appearance of the button changes according to
the action it proposes:

Enter Full Screen Mode

Exit Full Screen Mode

 Note
You can also use the keyboard shortcuts Alt+Enter (Windows)
or Command(⌘)+Enter (Mac).

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4. CHOOSE AN INSTRUMENT

4. Choose an instrument
To choose an instrument or change it, click on the instrument
name:

You can then choose from the list of proposed instruments.

You can also switch from classic instruments to chiptune (8-bit)

instruments.

There is a preview button next to each instrument:

Validate your choice by clicking on "OK" or by double-clicking on

the name of the chosen instrument.

 Note
You can change instruments during play to see what works
best.

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4. CHOOSE AN INSTRUMENT

To enable or disable an instrument, click the power button next to

the instrument name.

Click the power button while holding down the Alt key to solo an
instrument track by muting all other tracks.

To change the volume of an instrument, move the slider on the

field:

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5. ADD NOTES

5. Add notes
To add notes, just draw them on the grid by clicking the left
mouse button.

Left-click + Shift to create long notes.

Right-click to delete notes.

 Note
There is an option to draw monophonically, i.e. not allow
multiple notes in the same column while you draw:

You can move notes left, right, up or down:

1BITDRAGON uses a pentatonic scale by default (five notes per

octave) to avoid false notes. You can change the root note and the
scale by clicking on the Scale button at the top of the screen.

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5. ADD NOTES

 Note
In the grid, each square represents a sixteenth note.

BPM (Beats Per Minute) is how many beats of the song

(quarter notes) occur in a minute.

Click on a note while holding down the Alt key to reduce the
volume:

Notes with 100% volume

Attenuated notes (50% of the volume)

When you want to draw several notes in one go, just keep your
finger pressed on the left mouse button. Likewise, when you want
to delete several notes in one go, simply hold down the right
mouse button. If you want to attenuate several notes in one go,
hold down the left mouse button while holding down the Alt key.

You can zoom in on part of the screen using the mouse wheel,
or the trackpad pinch zoom.

 Note
› For macOS and Linux users: pinch with two fingers on the
trackpad to zoom in and out is not supported on all machines.
Instead, take two fingers and swipe upwards on the
trackpad area to zoom in, then use your two fingers to swipe
downwards to zoom out (or vice versa, depending on your
configuration).

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6. USE TOOLS TO MODIFY NOTES

6. Use tools to modify notes

The Tools menu contains useful tools for working with notes:

Arpeggiate 1-1-1 

Arpeggiate 1-2-1 

Arpeggiate 1-2-3 

Flip 

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6. USE TOOLS TO MODIFY NOTES

Randomize lightly

Randomize heavily

Shuffle 

 Note
› You can press the shuffle several times to get a little more
randomness.

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7. CHOOSE A DRUM

7. Choose a drum
To choose a drum or change it, click on the drum name:

You can then choose from the list of proposed drums.

You can also switch from classic drums to chiptune (8-bit) drums.

Validate your choice by clicking on "OK" or by double-clicking on

the name of the chosen drum.

 Note
You can change drums during play to see what works best.

To enable or disable a drum, click the power button next to the

drum name.

Click the power button while holding down the Alt key to solo a
drum track by muting all other tracks.

To change the volume of a drum, move the slider on the field:

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8. CREATE A SONG USING BLOCKS

8. Create a song using blocks

A song is made up of blocks. A song can use up to 30 different
blocks.

The blocks are shown at the top of the screen:

To switch from one block to another, just click on a block.

A block can have different states:

The block is empty. It contains no notes.

The block contains notes.

The block is being edited.

Above the blocks, there is a loop button:

You can loop regions so that they play repeatedly:

Looped region

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9. PLAY THE SONG, PAUSE IT

9. Play the song, pause it

Use the following buttons to play, pause, or stop the song:

 Note
You can also press the space bar to play or pause the
song.

If you double-tap on the space bar, the song will stop and
return to the beginning (this is the equivalent of the Stop
button).

When the song is stopped, you can position the play bar on a
particular column by clicking on the column number.

Similarly, you can click on a block to select it.

 Note
While the song is playing, if you want to go immediately
to a specific column, double-click on it.

While the song is playing, you can also click on a specific block
to go to that block. The sequence will start when the play bar
reaches the end of the column that is currently playing. If you
want to immediately select this block, double-click on it.

 Note
If you experience a lag, close other applications, including
background applications.

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10. EDIT SONG PROPERTIES (VOLUME, BPM, ETC.)

10. Edit song properties (volume, BPM,

etc.)
At the top of the screen, you can edit the song's properties:

The Scale button allows you to change the root note and the scale.

 Note
1BITDRAGON uses a pentatonic scale by default.

A "pentatonic scale" is a set of 5 notes which belong to a

conventional scale (for example, C major scale), in
contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes
per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale).

Example:

C Major is C D E F G A B

C Major Pentatonic is C D E G A

The Reverb toggle button disables the effects that are applied by
default (reverb and echo).

The BPM indicates the number of beats (quarter notes) per minute.

These properties are saved when the song is saved.

 Note
You can change the song properties while the song is playing,
allowing you to apply live effects while recording a WAV, MP3
or FLAC file.

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11. COPY AND PASTE BLOCKS, COLUMNS, ROWS AND GRIDS

11. Copy and paste blocks, columns, rows

and grids
Copy and paste blocks

Right-click on a block, or press the Ctrl key for one second while
moving the mouse over a block to bring up the cut, copy and paste
buttons:

You can then click and drag the block with the mouse to move it:

Click and drag while holding down the Alt key to copy the block:

 Note
When copy buttons are visible, you can also use the
keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V to cut, copy or
paste.

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11. COPY AND PASTE BLOCKS, COLUMNS, ROWS AND GRIDS

Copy and paste columns

Right-click on a column, or press the Ctrl key for one second

while moving the mouse over a column to bring up the cut, copy
and paste buttons:

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11. COPY AND PASTE BLOCKS, COLUMNS, ROWS AND GRIDS

You can then click and drag the column with the mouse to move it:

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11. COPY AND PASTE BLOCKS, COLUMNS, ROWS AND GRIDS

Click and drag while holding down the Alt key to copy the column:

 Note
When copy buttons are visible, you can also use the
keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V to cut, copy or
paste.

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11. COPY AND PASTE BLOCKS, COLUMNS, ROWS AND GRIDS

Copy and paste rows

Right-click on the power button next to the instrument name, or

press the Ctrl key for one second while moving the mouse over
the left part of a row to bring up the cut, copy and paste buttons:

You can then click and drag the row with the mouse to move it:

Click and drag while holding down the Alt key to copy the row:

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11. COPY AND PASTE BLOCKS, COLUMNS, ROWS AND GRIDS

 Note
When copy buttons are visible, you can also use the
keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V to cut, copy or
paste.

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11. COPY AND PASTE BLOCKS, COLUMNS, ROWS AND GRIDS

Copy and paste grids

Press the Ctrl key for one second while moving the mouse over a
grid to bring up the cut, copy and paste buttons:

You can then click and drag the grid with the mouse to move it:

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11. COPY AND PASTE BLOCKS, COLUMNS, ROWS AND GRIDS

Click and drag while holding down the Alt key to copy the grid:

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11. COPY AND PASTE BLOCKS, COLUMNS, ROWS AND GRIDS

 Note
When copy buttons are visible, you can also use the
keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V to cut, copy or
paste.

When copy buttons are visible, you can also move notes up
or down, using these buttons (or using the up and down
arrows):

 Note
You can copy and paste from a drum to an instrument, and vice
versa (when it is on the 1st line).

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12. LOOP CERTAIN PARTS (COLUMNS, BLOCKS)

12. Loop certain parts (columns, blocks)

To loop a column, click on the loop button above the column
number:

Click the symbol again to remove the loop.

 Note
You can play several successive columns in a loop:

Looped region

To loop a block, click on the loop button above the block:

Click the symbol again to remove the loop.

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12. LOOP CERTAIN PARTS (COLUMNS, BLOCKS)

 Note
You can play several successive blocks in a loop:

Looped region

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13. CHOOSE AN ACCOMPANIMENT

13. Choose an accompaniment

To choose an accompaniment for an instrument, click on the first
group of buttons to select the desired accompaniment type (Bass
lines, Chords or Fills):

Click on the second group of buttons to choose one of the presets:

To turn an accompaniment on or off, click the power button to the

left:

 Note
You can change accompaniments during play to see what
works best.

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13. CHOOSE AN ACCOMPANIMENT

 Note
After selecting an accompaniment, you can change it by adding
or deleting notes (this will deactivate the accompaniment
mode).

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14. CHOOSE AN ARPEGGIATOR

14. Choose an arpeggiator

To choose an arpeggiator for an instrument or to change it, click
on the arpeggiator field:

You can then choose from the list of proposed arpeggiators:

To turn an arpeggiator on or off, click the power button to the left:

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14. CHOOSE AN ARPEGGIATOR

 Note
You can change arpeggiators during play to see what works
best.

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15. CREATE COMPLEX RHYTHMS

15. Create complex rhythms

You can use the rhythm generator to generate rhythmical patterns.

Click on the first group of buttons to add or space primary beats:

Click on the second group of buttons to add or space secondary

beats:

To move the beats to the left or right, click on the arrows to the
right of each track:

To turn a rhythm on or off, click the power button to the left:

 Note
After creating a rhythm, you can modify it by adding or deleting
notes directly on the grid (this will deactivate the rhythm
generator).

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16. SAVE THE SONG

16. Save the song

Click the Save button to save the song in .1bd format.

 Note
You can also use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-S.

 Note
.1bd files can be opened directly by double-clicking on them.

.1bd files contain the following information:

› Main Volume

› BPM

› Scale and root note

› Effects (reverb and echo) on or off

› List of instruments

› List of drums

› Instruments on/off and volume

› Drums on/off and volume

› Blocks and notes

› Accompaniments

› Arpeggiators

› Rhythms

› Repeat buttons on or off

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17. EXPORT IN MIDI FORMAT

17. Export in midi format

Click the Midi button to save the song in .mid format.

This button exports all active tracks as a multi-track MIDI file.

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18. LIVE MODE

18. Live mode

Press the TAB key to switch to Live mode.

Live mode allows you to apply live effects while recording a WAV.
These effects stay on when you switch back to normal mode, but
they are not saved with the song.

You can play with the following settings:

› Use the XY controllers to control two parameters at once (low

pass and high pass filters):

› Use the modulation wheels to filter in real time: set the amount
of cutoff frequency when the modulation wheel is dragged up or
down:

› Activate high pass, medium pass and low pass filters:

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18. LIVE MODE

 Note
You can also change other properties while the song is playing
(volume, scale, reverb, BPM, instruments, drums, notes,
accompaniments, arpeggiators, beats), allowing you to apply
live effects while recording a WAV, but be careful, the changed
settings will be saved with the song.

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19. RECORD IN WAV FORMAT

19. Record in WAV, MP3 or FLAC format

Click the “Record a .wav, .mp3 or .flac file” button to save the
song in .wav format (44.1 kHz, 16-Bit, stereo), .mp3 format (320
kbps, 44.1 kHz, stereo) or .flac format.

Click the “Record a loop (.wav, .mp3 or .flac)” button to

export the looped region as a seamless loop file.

The looped region consists of:

› the looped columns of the current block,

› or of the looped blocks, if there is no looped column on the

current block

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20. FAQ

20. FAQ
Q. How can I learn 1BITDRAGON?

R. Read the User's Guide. Watch the videos:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkmPS6SmZ1IacgmlOmGxg81_
ln4BYjcU1

Q. Can I distribute songs made with 1BITDRAGON?

R. Yes, you can distribute, sell or copyright any production

rendered from 1BITDRAGON. You don't need to credit me :)

Q. Can I use the finished music loops in a song I make?

R. Yes, you can use the loops in your own music compositions and
sell your songs. You cannot claim the copyright to the instruments
and drum samples themselves.

Q. Do I get updates?

R. Yes, you do. With your purchase you will be able to download
updates from itch.io and you do not have to repay. When you buy
something on itch.io you don’t need an account. When purchasing
without an account your purchase is tied to your email address.
You just have to redownload 1BITDRAGON. If you ever lose the
link, you can request it to be resent to your email:
https://itch.io/docs/buying/already-bought

Q. How do I access my purchase on itch.io?

R. After your purchase your browser will redirect to your download

page. You will also receive an email from [email protected]
confirming your transaction. This email contains a link to your
download page.

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20. FAQ

Q. If I buy 1BITDRAGON on itch.io, will I receive a DRM-free

version?

R. Yes, if you buy 1BITDRAGON on itch.io, you will receive a

DRM-free version.

Q. If I buy 1BITDRAGON on itch.io, will I receive a Steam key?

R. Yes.

Q. How to get a Steam Key from my itch.io purchase?

R. You can claim your key on your itch.io download page. You
should have a link to that page in the email that you received from
itch.io after purchasing 1BITDRAGON. If you need that email sent
again, go here: https://itch.io/docs/buying/already-bought and you
can request a fresh download email be sent to you.

Click "Get Steam Key" and follow the instructions to get your key.
You will use that key to put the application in your Steam library, so
copy it to your clipboard.

In the Steam app, go to your Library and click Add a Game in the
bottom left of the window and choose "Activate a Product on
Steam" and paste the Steam key.

You can now download, install and launch 1BITDRAGON from

your Steam library!

Q. Is 1BITDRAGON supported on Apple silicon / M1

computers?

R. Yes, 1BITDRAGON is compatible with Apple silicon computers

through Rosetta (select the app, press Command-I and tick the
"Open using Rosetta" check box).

Q. Ahhh! I found a bug!

R. Keep calm and report the bug here:

https://itch.io/board/968507/bug-reports

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