And now…here’s the conclusion of David D.L.‘s tip covering the basics of kick drum synthesis… OK, it’s time to get this thing to sound like a Kick! (If you have listened to it so far, it’s pretty much a dull low-pitched thud). The trick is to use the pitch envelope to make the sound rapidly […]
KICK DRUM WORKSHOP: THE BASICS
For the next few tips, we’re going to take a look at kick drum synthesis. What started all of this was a tip submission that came in a week or so ago… If you’re new to synthesizing drums, today’s tip is a great one to get you started. Once you’ve gotten up to speed with […]
RANDOMIZING W/ VELOCITY ZONES: ADD MIDI FX
Another fun modification to the velocity zone randomization trick is to get some MIDI effects into the picture: For example, you could place an Arpeggiator in each chain… …and change up the parameter settings in each. My suggestion would be to first spend some time finding a setting that sounds good for the part you’re […]
PAT’S SECRET RECIPE
Those of us who work with random processes a lot know that the big trick to getting good results is following randomization with editing. Not only that, depending on the process you’re doing, the editing workflow you use can have a big impact on the results you get. Becasuse of that I decided to ask […]
RANDOMIZING WITH VELOCITY ZONES
We’ve had randomness on the brain over here at LiveTips HQ lately. This tip comes from my friend Pat Cupo, the Director of Curriculum and Instruction over at the Dubspot. It’s a fun way of randomly switching between several different synth presets, or different synths entirely! First, load several chains of an Instrument Rack with […]
PERCUSSIVE SAMPLE AGRESSION
A problem I sometimes run into when working with random/found audio to generate rhythmic parts (as in the prior tips) is that the sound is a bit mushy and needs a more percussive or agressive character. Here are a couple of simple techniques for adding some smack to your samples. First off, go into the […]
SAMPLER OFFSET SUPERSWEETNESS
One thing I like about the technique described in the last tip is that you can generate dramatic variations with a very simple adjustment. After you’ve programmed a part, try adjusting Sample Start by moving the start flag (or adjusting it numerically). Every time you move it, each note triggers a different portion of […]
SAMPLER OFFSET SWEETNESS
This tip comes via Jim Wood, who asked that I not include any additional links…he’s just doing it for the love. Thanks Jim! It’s a cool tip that offers a way of breaking up an audio file into lots of smaller samples, not unlike the technique shown in this tip. However, this method offers a […]
LOOPING WITHOUT WARPING. SORTA. pt 2.
Another sorta solution to this problem involves using a Follow Action. To do this, you’ll bring in the audio the same way you did in the last tip. After you turn on the Warp switch, zoom in on the right edge of the waveform display. In this case, we see that at 120bpm (the arbitrary […]
LOOPING WITHOUT WARPING. SORTA.
Every now and then, it comes up that you want to loop a sound without warping it. For example, you might need to loop a bunch of field recordings for an ambient performance or installation. What you want is for all of the recordings play back at their original speed regardless of their length, or […]
