Any VST/AU instrument with multiple outputs can be accessed by Live’s Exernal Instrument device. For example, let’s say you want to use NI Battery, but you want one MIDI track to play the kick drum, another track the snare and so on. Or perhaps you want to use SampleTank for several sounds simultaneously, one track […]
INSTRUMENTEMPLATE
Now that we’re all up to speed on using the External Instrument device with multi-output virtual instruments, its worth while to take a look at creating templates for these instruments. For example, here’s a set of grouped MIDI tracks that I’ve created to manage my Virus TI: Here are the External Instrument devices inserted in […]
EVEN MORE FUN WITH VELOCITY
One reason it’s good to be a master of velocity mapping (with whatever instruments you use, not just Operator) is because randomizing the velocity of an incoming MIDI signal is so darn easy. Once you’ve created a patch that responds in weird and wonderful ways to velocity messages, try dropping the Velocity device in front […]
LET’S GET RANDOM
The last couple of tips have gotten me back into the mindset of thinking about how to generate good musical part, rather than composing them in the traditional sense. Clever use of randomization has always been part of this process for me, and lots of other folks as well. We’re going to take a look […]
LET’S GET RANDOM, pt. 2
Once you’ve wrapped your mind around the Scale-Chance relationship, the rest of the Random device is pretty easy to understand. The other setting that affects the notes that can get chosen for output is the Sign setting. Both of the examples we looked at in the prior tip assumed a Sign of Add. This simply […]
THE SHAKER VARIATIONS
So, here’s one practical use for Random. We begin with a simple MIDI clip: …that’s triggering a Drum Rack with a Random in front of it: The MIDI clip only triggers the first pad (shk1) directly. The other three shakers only get triggered when a random note gets generated. With Chance set to 75%, Random […]
RANDOM OCTAVES
Another fun way to use Random is to get it to make more dramatic changes, but do it less frequently. For example, try creating some synthetic percussion with Operator (or something else, the important thing is that it not be in a Drum Rack so it responds normally to pitch). Now, program a simple part […]
THE ALTERNATOR
So, you’ve probably noticed by now that all of my suggestions for Random are tending towards the percussion side of things. The prior tip was a slight deviation, but so far I’ve been focusing in that area because getting random pitches to do things that are musically coherent opens a whole other can of worms. […]
MICROTONALIZE IT
We tend to assume that the relationship between the MIDI notes sent into a device and the sounds coming out to be relatively fixed. But in fact, depending on the instrument you’re working with, you can customize the behavior of the instrument to ignore note input completely (and always output the same note) or scale […]
MIDI FILTRATION
If you get deeper into generating parts through creative randomization, you’ll find yourself sometimes wondering how to get rid of certain nasty notes. There are all sorts of techniques for taking parts that have been generated through random, or strange improvisational techniques and turning them into musically coherent material. We’ve already discussed one of the […]
