Totally free recording of pad sounds (with looping)

Morning,

Would welcome any sensible ideas on how to get round the following issue.

Ok I am getting more into the swing of setting up beats to flow with records, where the timing often isn't as tight as a drum machine.

I have a set of kicks, snares. hats etc. I can use for now.

Im running JJOS 2 xl on a 2500. Now what I used to do to get, say a 2 beat bar going was to approximate the tempo press record and just record a new track with the pads.
What I'd like to do now is this. Basically record but NOT be restricted by time or tempo. Now I've turned Quantize off (never really use it anyway).

I realise this may sound confusing - so let me put it another way. When I record an AUDIO track. its exactly how I want it - perfect. Im not restricted by any thing - just hit a pattern and save it - I then trim it and then loop it.

I'd just like to know if there's a way of doing this on a standard drum track so I get to see the markers on the screen.

Maybe Im missing something obvious - maybe it can't be done any better than just using the audio track.

Ideas welcome.
Mark

What up Mark,

I get what you're saying. I was pretty focused on the same question at some point in my beat-making career. The most honest answer I can give is this-- You will probaby benefit if you get used to playing TO TEMPO and setting the right tempo to begin with. It sounds like you do beats like I do, in a spontaneous/creative kind of way. It takes some practice to go from rocking the tempo in your head, to playing EXACTLY to something else's tempo (the MP).

But there is absolutely nothing wrong with just banging it out to the tempo in your head. I started some of my freshest beats like that. You can either use an audio track like you said, or just a regular drum/midi track w/ no quantize (and then resample from the track, and loop up that resample in a new sequence).

Peace,
Elevated (yup)

Hey Elevated.

Cheers for the advice mate. Good to know that others were in the same place at one time.

Mark

Here's what I do:

With MPC stopped, practice your beat til you like it and you've got a good flow going on.
Then go straight into tapping the tempo the same as you were just playing.
Then hit record and try to play your beat to the metronome or a shaker track you already set up.

It takes some practice to tap in the tempo right on that lame button, but this works for me when I'm starting from scratch. You don't have to choose a tempo out of thin air.

Yep good point - I'd forgotten about the Tap Tempo button !

Cheers

M

GrantB wrote:With MPC stopped, practice your beat til you like it and you've got a good flow going on.
Then go straight into tapping the tempo the same as you were just playing.

Co-sign... awesome advice, I should have mentioned this-- tap tempo is critical..

Is it just me or the Tap Tempo button is really not accurate?

Self Made wrote:Is it just me or the Tap Tempo button is really not accurate?

It works great for me, but I been tempo tappin for years. It usually gets me within 3 bpm of where I should be and then I fine tune it.

Play around with the options in the Other menu... using 3 or 4 taps is easier than the default 2.

I'm using the 4 taps option and still it's not accurate, it's close but not exactly how want it and it could be fine if it was 0.6 value up or down but the value is alot bigger.
And i know as a fact that i'm keeping the same tempo because in fl studio the tap tempo function works spectacular.

i have the same problem sometimes. I've been resampling myself just free playing on the pads, then i do tap tempo while i play it back. Once i have the tempo I re-record everything without quantize to a regular drum track.

yeah 4 taps is better. but it wont be 100% accurate ... treat it is as an approximate value.

Self Made wrote:Is it just me or the Tap Tempo button is really not accurate?

I think it's the button that makes it seem not very accurate. It's kind of clunky and doesn't respond until it clicks, which takes more than a "tap". That's why I said it takes practice: you have to press the button just right. It's a lot easier to tap tempo on a computer keyboard or drum machine pad.

It's also unaccurate even if i do the tap tempo on a pad...

Tap tempo works well for me.. it's not going to be exactly on point. Remember, the beat is in your head, and your trying to recreate it inside a machine. I usually tap tempo a few times to make sure i'm close to where I need to be, and then lay the pattern down. If it's not looping right, make some adjustments.