Creating Good Drum Loops

[kennyda]

Try Ableton Live maybe. Reaper is ok, but if you can afford Live it's a lot easier, and has a lot more features, I reckon. In Live you can drag in a track, warp it, chop a loop out and slice it to midi (including checking all the transient positions) in a couple of minutes. Slice to midi takes about 1 second.

Here is me doing the first bit



Here's how to check transient positions in Live before extracting a groove or slice to midi

http://www.macableton.com/Ableton_live_ ... ooves.html

Basically you just shift drag the markers and create and delete if necessary so they are all at the right points, if they arent alreay



Once you have done all that slice to midi is just a right click away[/img]

[1DMF]

Thanks, I do have a copy of Alberton Lite, it came with my Novation midi controller, so I might have a look.

Though when I checked a comparison site for feature vs feature with all the major DAWs, Reaper kicked every single one of them's butts!

From Pro tool, Cubase, Sonar, Alberton, etc.. etc..

What features do you believe Alberton has over Reaper?

Thanks,
1DMF.

[deleted]

DELETED

[1DMF]

Well having done some research on Alberton, would I be better off waiting for Bitwig?

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/tag/ableton-live-9/

What I find even more worrying is Alberton have closed their user help and don't list known bugs or have a bugs report forum.

Coupled with that press release and its posted comments, it all seems as little iffy!

[1DMF]

It's not that hard - ask 'em at the Cockos forum. They will help you out.
They are a very helpful bunch of people.

Well having been to the forum and asked a few questions, that statement couldn't be further from the truth, they seem an obnoxious, tetchy bunch of arses!

[ezelkow1]

What I find even more worrying is Alberton have closed their user help and don't list known bugs or have a bugs report forum.

Coupled with that press release and its posted comments, it all seems as little iffy!

They do have a bug report forum, look at the very bottom of the main forum page there are separate forums for the 8.3.x and 8.4.x releases where people report, and usually get a response within a day or two from an employee

[codec_spurt]

It's not that hard - ask 'em at the Cockos forum. They will help you out.
They are a very helpful bunch of people.

Well having been to the forum and asked a few questions, that statement couldn't be further from the truth, they seem an obnoxious, tetchy bunch of arses!

Well I hope michi_mak has got his popcorn.

Here goes.


Yes they can be very helpful, but they have also turned into what they once complained that KVR was - a Gentleman's club for the initiated and privileged.

Otherwise known as a clique. I posted a few times there, always had rude answers, a couple of useful things for sure. I think you just need to make a couple of thousand posts and you'll be allright. Start off with 'REAPER IS THE BEST DAW ON THE PLANET' type threads - that is always a winner...

I'm just joking. They can be a bit arsey, but when they do give good info, they really go into depth and explain things very well.


Sorry I couldn't help you more with you problem - I had the same thing myself it has something to do with changing the sensitivities of the fade-in/out stuff.
That might even be set in Preferences - I don't remember.


But then again, you might get marked as a repeat cross-poster - ooh. Not good. Then your card will be really marked.


Tell you what, why don't you post an example project with files etc.. give a quick brief on what you want to achieve (yeah beatslicing - I get it - but what kind? )...

I'm sure there are more than enough REAPER heads here to help you out. It is probably something quite simple, or maybe it might be something un-doable.
Give us some examples - a clue, and let's see if we can't help you!

[1DMF]

wow thanks codec_spurt, I really appreciate the support.

I was starting to loose faith in these forums as I have gotten abuse on KVR in another thread and wondered if it was suffering from the same sickness as the Reaper forum!

I have uploaded a test project (hope it contains all that is required- let me know if it doesn't).

http://dance-music.org/1DMF-Reaper.zip

I simply want to know how to split the drum loop (beat slice) at what appears to be (I think I've picked this up right) 'cue points' indicated by dotted lines which to me look like they are on the beats.

I want to do this without any nasty pops / crackles etc. and so they keep thier correct timing (quantised - is that the right terminology?) , so when you glue the clip and then expnad it (loop) , it's clean, free from pops and nicley in time.

I feel this is possible and one nugget I picked up from the Reaper forum was there is an option called 'Item : Split at media cues' , only I can't find that option, I have 'Item : Split at - cursor or time selection' , but no 'media cues'?

Hope you can help.

Regards,

1DMF.

[codec_spurt]

Ok, just dl'd this but it just seems to be so small that it is a REAPER project file. If you are chopping up beats - you will need the audio file you are chopping up - prolly bigger than 4kb, do you want to go back and get the original audio file while I fire up my REAPER box?

uh uh?





If it is a big file, you can even just give a bit of it to get the gist.
Then you can work the rest out from there. But we will need something.


Let me get powered up...

[codec_spurt]

PM sent - need the original audio file.

[1DMF]

PM - replied

[lingyai]

Reaper is powerful for sure, but with a massive learning curve. Some people swear by it -- it's a cult -- and will deny there's anything counterintuitive about it; and then there's the rest of us. If your main interest is learning how to create good beats, learning it via Reaper might well be the long way around.

DAWs which have a reputation for being quite capable and also (relatively) easy to get started with include Studio 1; MuLab; and -- although it looks like development has stopped -- Sony Acid.

You might also consider

-- a good Groove3 instructional video on drum programming (http://www.groove3.com/str/drumming-explained.html)

-- Toontrack's EZ Drummer VSTi. You can get good beats right out of the box, and because they are in midi format, tweak them to taste.

By the way, don't worry about that guy who laid into you on the other thread; he was just being an asshole.

[codec_spurt]

http://www.4shared.com/zip/PY6fYLtb/1DMF2-Reaper.html?

Ok, just got the loop chopped it up. Found no noticeable glitches, maybe that's just my shot hearing or shot headphones though.


It worked perfectly - what was the problem again?
What method did you use to chop up the beat?

It sounds fine to me.

Select whole file>
Item processing>Dynamic split Items>Set transient sensitivity>
Box comes up: Sensitivity %50 > Threshold -24Db

This was just some random setting I set - but it worked - enough to get
the 1/4 beats out of the groove to re-arrange into something new.

Hit "split" in the main box that first came up.
Now deselect the whole loop.
Select the bits you want.
Move them around like the pieces on a chess board.


Worked for me.


I can see how it is confusing because certain boxes stay up while others still have focus...


Try this. See if it works. I re-arranged your loop no probs.

See the file - do you hear clicks and pops - was that the problem in the first
place or just chopping up the file?


Let us know how you get on.


Edit:
Btw another confusing point might be that the slice points are made up of the quantize points. You need to set these for your sensitivity - I have chopped up loops down to 1/16ths and had no problems. Really, be patient - it is not so difficult - I will get you slicing and looping like a maniac!

[1DMF]

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement lingyai and the advice.

codec_spurt ->

I checked out the split, but it is only splitting on 1/4's as you say not each idividual beat, perhaps I'm using wrong terminology, as I used to think the bar had 16 beats, now I find it's 4 beats per bar with 4 16's in each!

What's i'm trying to say is every hit, but i think a penny has just dropped, or not as that case may be.

I just played with a few more samples and found the one I just sent you doesn't split nicely for looping, have a try.

But then I realise is it to do with some 16's resolution i'm in , do i need 32's?

Or is it because it's a break beat sample (125bpm) and has swing on it so not all beats/notes will be on exact measurements , that's how you get it to not sound rigid and mechanical?

Am i being an idiot and not understanding how the split works on direct measurements? or how you can't always split drum loops exact?

Well I just beat sliced it in eXT and it cut it up into nice slices with no clipping and on each individual hit, so I could pick move and duplicate no problem, so it can't be that?

It must be a setting i'm not doing right?

[codec_spurt]

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement lingyai and the advice.

codec_spurt ->

I checked out the split, but it is only splitting on 1/4's as you say not each idividual beat, perhaps I'm using wrong terminology, as I used to think the bar had 16 beats, now I find it's 4 beats per bar with 4 16's in each!

What's i'm trying to say is every hit, but i think a penny has just dropped, or not as that case may be.

I just played with a few more samples and found the one I just sent you doesn't split nicely for looping, have a try.

But then I realise is it to do with some 16's resolution i'm in , do i need 32's?

Or is it because it's a break beat sample (125bpm) and has swing on it so not all beats/notes will be on exact measurements , that's how you get it to not sound rigid and mechanical?

Am i being an idiot and not understanding how the split works on direct measurements? or how you can't always split drum loops exact?

Well I just beat sliced it in eXT and it cut it up into nice slices with no clipping and on each individual hit, so I could pick move and duplicate no problem, so it can't be that?

It must be a setting i'm not doing right?

I think it has more to do with the setting of sensitivity that you choose in the box that comes up when you choose the Dynamic Split option. In REAPER.
It's Saturday Night, I'm on my night off. But I tell you what, please just make one more post explaining exactly what it is you are trying to achieve exactly (not that you have not already given a very good description), but then I will have a better idea how to answer your question. I am sure it is done easily enough. EnegyXT2 does not have any more ability than REAPER, when you know how to use it.

I think maybe why more people have not commented is because of a common problem: We are struggling to find out exactly what you want to do.


It's just communication, it's not coz you are bad at explaining or because we are bad at listening. This stuff goes on all the time.


I've got the file - it's pretty clean. Just try one more time what it is you want to achieve.

To my understanding - you want to chop it into 1/16ths as opposed to 1/4s - Is that right?

I'm sure you can do that by the sensitivity setting in Dynamic splits.
Ok, I'll turn my other computer on. I'll chop it up to 1/16ths for you.
But please tell me if this what you mean, or we are wasting each others time.