building a beat

THE ADVERSARY wrote:You totally missed the point.

The software should allow you to throw bars up and then define a region of the timeline that correlates to the equivalent of a pattern thus allowing you to still work like a MPC.
So it would be more like you drop 64 bars then you define that bars 1-8 = Patt01, 9-16 = Patt02 etc.
From the hardware it would look the same as it does now since it would simply display patterns but from the software it would look more like a linear song.

Song mode has a view like this now from the software but you have no control within it.

This would make structuring a song a lot more fluid from the hardware or software.

My bad. I see what youre saying that you want. I don't use the method I posted but I know some use a long pattern as their song mode, copying and pasting different parts of the pattern to others as needed.

Yeah it's a doable method but I just as soon work on one of my hardware MPs if the software doesn't expand on a function.

fdodds wrote:i'm pretty formulaic with how i do my beats, i usually do an A section of 16 bars (either 16 bars straight or two seperate 8 bar sequences... if you've got just a 4 bar loop you can use seq edit to duplicate the 4 bars using copy bars, then i'd suggest changing the drums a little bit in the last bar of each set of 8 as a transition)

then a B section that's a chorus. it's pretty common for the chorus to be a shorter loop than the verse, i'll often do an 8 bar chorus and loop it twice, maybe add different detail in the second loop, or alternate the drums, add a different drum fill)

then you can go back to the same verse, try adding or taking away components or add some variation with track mutes.

sometimes you'll want to do a C section, this can be a different verse with a new 16, or just an 8 bar bridge that leads into or after a chorus, for a C section you'll usually want to change up the rhythm and feel a lot and especially the bass line, you can also strip it back, do a build up, whatever, something to justify it being a different section and not just a slightly different A section. another alternative might be to strip the beat back and do a solo feature with an instrument/chops, blow out some of your fx for the section, throw out a vocal sample you like, whatever.


the other type of beats i like to make are simple A-B-A-B-A-B loops where i do two 8 or 16 bar sequences that flow nicely into one another, it's easy then to add variation later when you're mixing in a DAW by using envelopes on filters, muting/reversing parts, whatever.

those are my main styles, of course i change them up how i feel to suit each beat, and listening to how other artists approach arrangement as suggested by 83dude is the best idea. i'd suggest you count out the bars in your head or out loud as you listen, i do it like 1 2 3 4, 2 2 3 4, 3 2 3 4, 4 2 3 4, 5 2 3 4, etc. etc. count out how many bars artists you like leave for each section, whether they stick extra 2 bar lead ins between their sections or whatever...

I think this response covers it we'll.. +1