Chop shop - the more slices the better - but why ?

Ok so Im using Akai OS on my 2500 - as JJOS doesn't do direct record Im happy to stay with Akai OS.

But more and more Im experimenting with chopping beats up. Now for me - chopping a beat up into 16 parts is perfect as it can scan perfectly over 2 bars. i.e.

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & <-------- is 1 bar, and 8 beats...so 2 bars is 16 beats...

cool, but i tend to hear a lot about JJOS and how it can chop up samples into many more pieces - now whats the big deal about chopping up stuff into 64 pieces then - is that such a big advantage in making beats/samples fit better over bars ?

any help welcome.

mark.

Well... It is nice to have the ability to have more samples/pieces. I.e You have a beat which goes as you described, but in the end, there you have just that little extra bit you really want. so then it must be in 17 pieces/zones. With normal 16 chop, that means the last bit will added to the last sample you create. With JJos I saw you can chop it up to 64 zones total (?), which then is making it easier to chop. of course, you will still need to adjust the zones so they fit with the sample. Start and end points that is. If the sample drops out of tempo, so will your chops..


I just received my 2500 a little over 24 hours ago, so please bare with me if I write something wrong. But a long time 2000 xl user, which only had 16 zones..

I believe u can chop it up till 64 pieces on the akai os.
More chops is not always better. Depends on the situation. After a while u find ur own technique how u chop things up.

Chop shop - the more slices the better - but why ?

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & <-------- is 1 bar, and 8 beats...so 2 bars is 16 beats...

Chop 8 bars as fast as 2 bars...
Make very little parts to send little noises (sax player breath, guitar slides...)
64 is more than 16 ... ...
Who can most can least.
Each sees midday in its door...
Get rich or die tryin' (oops sorry, this one doesn't fit)

Gamin92 wrote:

Chop shop - the more slices the better - but why ?

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & <-------- is 1 bar, and 8 beats...so 2 bars is 16 beats...

Chop 8 bars as fast as 2 bars...
Make very little parts to send little noises (sax player breath, guitar slides...)
64 is more than 16 ... ...
Who can most can least.
Each sees midday in its door...
Get rich or die tryin' (oops sorry, this one doesn't fit)

are you eric cantona ?

but i see your point - am giving jjos a try. v impressed with it so far

M

He's a great source of inspiration for everyone...
I just found some reasons to chop in 64 parts, but I actually never use more than 16 parts.
Same thing with the grid edit. You can see up to 64 pads in the GE ! But WTF ? You need a 1000% zoom to see something...
My advice is : chop and work as you like, there's no best way to work, just play.

Here's something you can try that demonstrates the benefits of what I'm going to call megachops:

Get a nice two-bar melodic sample, something pretty simple, maybe a string intro or similar, something that loops okay. Recently I grabbed the intro to I Don't Want To Lose Your Love by the Mad Lads and that's a fine example.

Loop it at its original BPM and you've basically got a pretty dull lifted loop that had better be damned good and damned rare if you're going to leave it there.

But! Now chop that loop into 32 equal slices. Bring up a blank pattern and program them in sequentially, so you've got the same loop playing but as 32 slices rather than one single sample. It'll probably sound like ass with clicks on every transition, but you should notice that you can now vary the BPM a little without screwing up the beat.

That's basic slicing, though, and you can't vary the BPM much. But now go into the Program screen and raise the amp attack of all the samples to somewhere between 30-40. Go back and play the sequence and you've hopefully got a nice tremolo effect that changes the mood of the loop and in many cases makes it sit a lot nicer with a beat. Plus if you start playing with the BPM you should find that you can vary it a lot further and it'll still sound good. You can turn an upbeat loop into a relaxed shimmering background without having to timestretch it or drop the pitch.

Obviously it'll depend on the sample to a fair degree, but it usually works really well.

With JJOS2XL (not sure about earlier) you can also assign a q-link to chop number, which means when the q-link is at zero the sequence plays normally, but anything higher and the slice played will be determined by the position of the slider. So if you have 32 slices and the slider is halfway up, it'll be playing slice 16 on every hit. Move the slider as the sequence plays and you get a nice 'randomised' playback stutter. With a tight drum loop source chopped into many pieces, this can sound great. The number of slices determines the speed of the effect, and very often the more the merrier for me.

If you just want to chop up a beat and mix the order around, 32 slices is probably going to be a pain in the neck and impractical, unless it's a long and varied loop. But large slices do offer a lot of potential for creative sampling - not that I'd claim the above to be particularly creative, but there's a lot more you can do.

32 chops is in some ways a kind of 'lo-fi granular' approach. Using the q-link technique above you can 'scrub' through the sample playback in a discrete, quantised way. It can be good fun.

Sadly I don't think JJOS can go above 32 slices, though I'd be very happy to be corrected. Of course you can cut a sample in two down the middle and then slice each half into 32, a technique where the only limit is your own sanity. Well actually the limit is 1 frame, but it's a safe bet your mind would snap well before that point.

sounds like a great tip - will give it a try !

cheers
Mark.

p.s. any hints/tips on minimising those audible 'clicks' at the start of each transition ?