chopping drum loops

this is more of a statement - not really a question. here we go: when i come across a drum loop i like i'll often chop it up into individual sounds. i'm sure a lot of you do this too since this procedure makes the drum track more interesting than just using one snare, one high hat and one kick plus since the loop is chopped it's more flexible concerning timing and making variation. however i usually come across the following problem. i'll start off by cutting the entire loop a single sound. then i'll loop it directly in the sequencer and thereby find what velocity the loop has (in it's unpitched state). then i'll - as mentioned - chop the loop into the individual sounds using the the slice function. next step is just adding the individual sounds to the sequence so the programmed drums are playing the same thing as the drum loop. however: when i discard the drum loop the programmed drums mostly sound choppy because there are short intervalls where there is no sound between the samples. do any of you run in to the same problem? i usually solve this problem by doing one of the following three things:

1. increase the velocity of the sequence so the sounds are "closer"
2. pitch the drum sounds so they are longer
3. move the drum sounds around in the step editor so the samples are no longer "quantized" (is that the right expression?)

naturally the third method is the most elegant since it approximates the drum loop more realistically (no drummer's timing is as on point as a sequencer's). however i seldom reach the point where the programmed drums are as smooth as the drum loop and most often i'll throw in the towel midway. i guess intricate production really does hinge on one's patience. oh well... just wondering how you guys deal with this problem.

one word for you my friend. "Recycle" by far the best chopping program out there and it will even make a midi file for you to play back the loop in full. It's so easy to use and will even set the slice point for you.. You can't lose with this one get your hands on it. You can either export your sliced loops in rex files and then use MPC file creator (it's freeware now) or you could just export wav files out of Recycle.

It's that simple, you'll love it more than your first born.

Yes, you have a good technique there - turning the quantise off will help a lot as live drum loops rarely 'fit' into a quantise template.

Recycle does rule though - not only does it slice, it creates an artificial decay at the end of each slice which means you can slow things down quite a bit without having any gaps in the audio (and without having to tune the samples down in pitch)

a lot of friends have told me about using recyle but so far i really just try to keep everything strictly mpc. there's so much more for me to discover on the mpc alone that i feel i'll be completely out of my depth if i start to delve into other things. moreover - and i don't mean this as a dis or anything - i sometimes feel like people take the easy way out by bringing in additional equipment. creating a nice drum set by blending and tweaking drum samples you get off "old" records you found in a thrift shop - to me - is a lot more satisfyinig than taking the sounds off some sound module (although i do admit that i too have done so *gasp*) albeit it is a lot more time consuming. however, recycle does sound sweet, maybe i need to reconsider...

I used to have a similar outlook (still do I guess, hence my refusal to use computer sequencers).

I agree, it's so much more satisfying to spend ages tweaking and chopping, as you really feel you've achieved something at the end of it. Thing is with Recycle, it does something that's not really possible with an MPC - creating an extended artifical decay on the chops - with a little tweaking, you can get some nice individual snare sounds that keep a decent amount of realistic decay, rather than the abrupt ending you get with an MPC (also the MPC decay is subtractive - i.e. it just shortens the sample even more). So, it's not really lazy or nothing, it's actually doing something pretty useful and unique. It really 'opened my eyes to new possibilites' (sounds like an old film sample )

I actually chopped the bass loop on the sounds page through Recycle.

Let's say if I got a copy from someone but didn't get this stuff? Or is it just that easy?

For anyone that needs the address for mpc file creator here it is

http://www.risings-software.de/

Enjoy

Does Recycle create the artificial decay automatically as you chop a sample???

You have complete control over this decay - there is a dial you can set from 0 - 100% (100% can be little too much for some sounds), plus a wealth of other options such as attack and decay.

I remember reading an interview with DJ Shadow a long time ago, and he said what he does is just sample some of the "air" without the actual drum attack, and use the envelope settings to fade up and fade out. Then just assign it to a pad and program it in where the digital silence is.
It's sort of like using a sonic "spackle" to fill in the cracks.