Most of my favorite groove-tweaking is done manually, but there are a number of automated techniques that are worth knowing as well. It’s easy to overlook the fact that as of Live 8, audio can be quantized just like MIDI. The quantize commands are under the Edit menu. If they are grayed out, click on […]
PARTIAL QUANTIZATION
OK, I’ve decided that before we get into the nitty gritty of groove, I want to talk a little more about quantization. You’ll see why in a minute. After that, we’ll plunge right into the groove pool. (This will also give you a chance to get into your Speedo. Or bikini. Whatever.) An often overlooked […]
COMMIT IT
The other way to really see how a groove is changing your clip is to use the Commit button: In the case of a MIDI clip, this will simply move the notes in your clip to the locations specified by the groove, much the way Live’s Quantize function moves notes to conform to a grid. […]
KNOW YOUR VELOCITY
Just like Timing, there’s also a control in the Groove Pool to determine how much of a groove’s velocity variations are applied to your clips. Remember that for MIDI clips, Velocity is just a standard MIDI parameter, so unless the instrument is configured to map velocity to volume (or some other parameter) messing with this […]
A FUN FACT ABOUT GROOVE VELOCITY!
Here’s a Fun Fact about groove velocity: when you commit a groove to an audio clip, the groove’s velocity settings get applied to the clip via a volume envelope. So, a groove that looks like this: …will create a volume envelope that looks like this: Factual! Fun!
GROOVING A GROOVE
OK folks. A few more things about groove and then we’ll move on. Earlier I talked about using the Groove Pool to quantize clips, but that’s only a piece of the quantization puzzle. A big reason that the Quantize setting exists is to apply pre-quantization. That means forcing a clip to conform to a strict […]
KINDLY ACTS OF RANDOMNESS
If there’s something more ironic than a human being using a computer algorithm to “humanize” a rhythm, I’d like to hear about it. In music, us human beings are primarily valued for our inaccuracy these days. One way that computers try to copy our haphazard ways is with randomization. In the Groove Pool, you’ll notice […]
GROOVE EXTRACTION
Live can take any clip and turn it into a groove template. Just grab a clip out of the Session or Arrange view and drop it into the Groove Pool. Live will then extract the timing and dynamics: …and make the new groove available to apply to clips in your set. A few things to […]
FUN WITH EXTRACTED GROOVES
Here’s a bit of fun I’ve been having with extracted grooves. Instead of using the resulting groove template in its intended fashion, I’ve been using the MIDI directly. Remember, a groove file is just a MIDI clip – you can grab it out of the pool and drop it into a clip slot. What I’ll […]
EXPORTING FOR THE GIG
How you export your minty fresh grooves for your upcoming gig depends on how your performance template is set up. If you use a straight up DJ approach, it’s very simple – just export the output of your Master track and you’re done. My set is a little different. At any given moment, I tend […]
