By Antonym
Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:19 pm
EDIT: uploaded a rather clumsy demo zip
drums were a 5 minute affair, no tc, just threw them in so they're a little sloppy. salsa style. the drum program is from my beat "cello" that i posted in my music and in off topic.
http://nymantics.com/fallnotautumn.zip
download above
groove control via qlink to tempo.
this is one of the most powerful features i've come across lately.
follow me here as i explain my workflow step by step.
1 - load/record sample (in my case a solo lute)
2 - chop sample note by note. each pad contains 1 pluck of the string, or 1 chord, etc. one transient per file.
3 - record the performance exactly as it was in the original loop. leave TC on.
4 - turn on alternate loop for each sample (time consuming)
5 - turn all pads to NOTE ON, turn program to POLY
6 - enter midi grid edit and adjust the duration of each pad to extend all the way until the next note - ie if there are 2 notes and the 2nd is 48 ticks away from the first, the first note's duration should be the full 48 ticks.
7 - NOTE: you can do this by hitting MODE in midi grid edit and noticing that qlink1 can control duration if the AFTER button is on (and 2 can control velocity, how nice is that?) hit overdub while on a sample and move qlink 1 to change duration. pretty goddamn fly.
8 - play your sequence. it'll sound a little robotic due to the strict TC but it should sound passable due to the alternate loop AND selective duration.
pause. let's look at what you've done. using note on/selective duration, you've created what amounts to a MONOPHONIC program. however, the difference is this: you can adjust the pads' collective decay to add a bit of overlap to the samples. try assigning Qlink2 to DECAY, hitting after, hitting play, and then bringing the qlink2 up and down. pretty cool effect, huh? since altloop is on, you can really tease out those tails. not something you'd want to leave up, but you can simulate a grainy sampler-reverb this way. imagine bringing the decay up right before you drop something out, kind of as a climax to a sample or something.
also, alternate loop allows you to have more creative control over the tempo - sort of a realtime timestretch without timestretch - and that's what we're about to do in very small increments.
1 - go to main screen. hit MODE over the tempo.
2 - assign tempo to qlink 1 (or any an unused qlink)
3 - make the percentages cover a narrow range. i like 97-103.
4 - hit play. listen to your sample. are there busier parts and more easygoing parts? are there parts that could use a slightly more fast pace, while others that could benefit from slowing down slightly?
5 - what you're gonna do is record very subtle tempo changes to humanize the groove of your sample, and since tempo is global, your entire sequence. record a couple sweeps. use of this is really sample specific, as it depends strongly on what type of sample you're using.
NOTE: this way, you worry less about the painstaking process of sliding and
pushing your chopped sample to create a groove and allow the TC marks to seize your recorded notes. instead, tempo change is doing all that work.
finally, when you track out, you can PRESERVE these tempo changes by exporting a midi file, which includes the tempo change information. your daw will them reflect this, and you can still use the grid of your daw. (at least i can in reaper.)
i'll load an example file at some point soon.
you guys get this or can i explain it better?
EDIT - what would make this function a HELL of a lot more powerful is graphic, qreal grid-style viewing of the TEMPO items
drums were a 5 minute affair, no tc, just threw them in so they're a little sloppy. salsa style. the drum program is from my beat "cello" that i posted in my music and in off topic.
http://nymantics.com/fallnotautumn.zip
download above
groove control via qlink to tempo.
this is one of the most powerful features i've come across lately.
follow me here as i explain my workflow step by step.
1 - load/record sample (in my case a solo lute)
2 - chop sample note by note. each pad contains 1 pluck of the string, or 1 chord, etc. one transient per file.
3 - record the performance exactly as it was in the original loop. leave TC on.
4 - turn on alternate loop for each sample (time consuming)
5 - turn all pads to NOTE ON, turn program to POLY
6 - enter midi grid edit and adjust the duration of each pad to extend all the way until the next note - ie if there are 2 notes and the 2nd is 48 ticks away from the first, the first note's duration should be the full 48 ticks.
7 - NOTE: you can do this by hitting MODE in midi grid edit and noticing that qlink1 can control duration if the AFTER button is on (and 2 can control velocity, how nice is that?) hit overdub while on a sample and move qlink 1 to change duration. pretty goddamn fly.
8 - play your sequence. it'll sound a little robotic due to the strict TC but it should sound passable due to the alternate loop AND selective duration.
pause. let's look at what you've done. using note on/selective duration, you've created what amounts to a MONOPHONIC program. however, the difference is this: you can adjust the pads' collective decay to add a bit of overlap to the samples. try assigning Qlink2 to DECAY, hitting after, hitting play, and then bringing the qlink2 up and down. pretty cool effect, huh? since altloop is on, you can really tease out those tails. not something you'd want to leave up, but you can simulate a grainy sampler-reverb this way. imagine bringing the decay up right before you drop something out, kind of as a climax to a sample or something.
also, alternate loop allows you to have more creative control over the tempo - sort of a realtime timestretch without timestretch - and that's what we're about to do in very small increments.
1 - go to main screen. hit MODE over the tempo.
2 - assign tempo to qlink 1 (or any an unused qlink)
3 - make the percentages cover a narrow range. i like 97-103.
4 - hit play. listen to your sample. are there busier parts and more easygoing parts? are there parts that could use a slightly more fast pace, while others that could benefit from slowing down slightly?
5 - what you're gonna do is record very subtle tempo changes to humanize the groove of your sample, and since tempo is global, your entire sequence. record a couple sweeps. use of this is really sample specific, as it depends strongly on what type of sample you're using.
NOTE: this way, you worry less about the painstaking process of sliding and
pushing your chopped sample to create a groove and allow the TC marks to seize your recorded notes. instead, tempo change is doing all that work.
finally, when you track out, you can PRESERVE these tempo changes by exporting a midi file, which includes the tempo change information. your daw will them reflect this, and you can still use the grid of your daw. (at least i can in reaper.)
i'll load an example file at some point soon.
you guys get this or can i explain it better?
EDIT - what would make this function a HELL of a lot more powerful is graphic, qreal grid-style viewing of the TEMPO items
Last edited by Antonym on Tue Nov 06, 2007 3:22 am, edited 2 times in total.
