Newbie - Drum Rack Questions

[yoda]

Hello,

I’m on Ableton 8.33 and I’m relatively new at this.

I’m trying to create a Drum Rack of my own for a song I’m working on. After some time (hours) of experimenting with Drum Racks that came with Ableton, I’ve found many sounds I like and some I will never use. It seems many tutorials recommend that I start with a blank rack. I assumed that I can just “drag and drop” everything then tweak it to the way I like. Well . . . it doesn’t seem to be that simple.

-----> “CHOKE” parameter :
According to the Manual, I need to assign a “sound” or each “sound” in a Multi to one of 16 groups, and when another sound in the same group is triggered sound will play and mute the all other sounds in the same group. This sounds pretty straight forward . . . I thought.

I was creating a custom Hi Hat sound by combining an 808 Hi Hat with an acoustic Hi Hat sound, both “open” and “closed”. Closed to F#1 and Open to A#1 pads. After getting them to sound the way I like, I wanted the “closed” sound to choke the “open” sound. The 808 sounds are Operator synth sound and the acoustic sounds are sampled sounds. Both sampled sounds was set to “All notes” by default. In such case, the “Play and Choke choosers” are disabled; so says the manual. So I changed the notes to the same note as the pad notes. I assigned ALL Hi Hat sounds to “Choke group 1" When I trigger the sounds from the keyboard, the “choke” is not working.

Did I do something wrong so far ??

Is there a conflict because one of the sound in the “Multi” pad is a synth and the other one is a sample ??

The best way to figure things out is to look at one where the “choke” is working. I pulled up another Drum Rack where the Hi Hat choke is working. I opened up the pads to see the settings . . . Whaaaat ??!!?? . . . The “Choke Groups” are SET TO “NONE” !! Now I’m REEEALY confused. According to the Manual, the “choke” should not be working . . . but it is.

Can someone explain why ??


-----> "Copying a Pad sound from one Rack to another :
Other than creating a few of my own sounds, the logical thing to do is “copy” pads from other existing drum racks into my own drum rack. Copying a pad to the clipboard from one rack to a different rack doesn’t work . . . unless I’m doing something wrong. I can drag an audio clip into the pad . . . but I can’t drag the pad itself.

HOW can I copy what is in one pad of a rack into a pad on a different rack ??

I would appreciate any help or suggestions.

Thanks
Ed

[yoda]

Help or Suggestions please ??

[antarktika]

You need to use different choke groups for each sound(why do you think there are 16 of them?). Try assigning the sample on the closed hat to choke 1, and the closed hat operator patch to choke 2, then the open hat sample to choke 1, and the open hat operator patch to choke 2. This way, both sounds are being choked by different groups, so all samples/patches from one multi are cutting off their equivalents on the other multi. You definitely don't want multiple samples/patches on *THE SAME* multi to go to the same choke group, because then they will be choking each other, and you won't even be hearing one of the sounds because of it. Just think of it this way, no two sounds in a choke group can play simultaneously, so when you assign multiple sounds within a multi to one group, you are just going to end up screwing things up. Anyway, hope this helps!

Also, for your other question, you can drag pads between two drum racks, so if you're just trying to grab a couple pads from another drum kit, you can just click and hold on the pad, then hover on top of the session view track you are trying to drag to, until the track focus switches, then you can just drag down onto the rack where you want the pad to go.

Good luck!

[yoda]

antarktika,

Ahaaa ! DIFFERENT choke group for EACH SOUND. That works. Now I understand why I was just getting a "click" sound . . . it was choking itself . . . a "sound suicide"

Also, for your other question, you can drag pads between two drum racks, so if you're just trying to grab a couple pads from another drum kit, you can just click and hold on the pad, then hover on top of the session view track you are trying to drag to, until the track focus switches, then you can just drag down onto the rack where you want the pad to go.

Thank you . . . That works.

That's one less Newbie mystery for me.

Thanks
Ed

[yoda]

Hello,

DAAG-NAABITT !!

One mystery solved . . . then right into another one

Now I can move pad sounds between different racks. Now I am trying to combine 2 pad sounds into a new one to create a "Multi" pad. I already created one a while back, but when I try to do it again, it doesn't work. I thought I was doing the same thing but obviously not. I'm missing something . . . again.

What I am trying to do is to create a new snare sound by creating a Multi made up of 909 snare and 707 snare. I'm on a PC. In the browser, I right click on the 909 snare and select "show in Explorer". The hi-lighted file is "Snare-909.adg". Then I dragged that file into the pad containing the "Snare 707". Instead of the pad becoming a "Multi", It turned into another "Snare 909" pad.

What am I doing wrong?
Am I dragging a wrong file type?
What is the correct file extension the pad will accept to create a Multi?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Ed

[Cool Character]

So, when you drop a sound to a pad, you can right click on it and choose "group," which puts it into an instrument rack.
Now, you get to the chain and drop your other sounds, not into the drum rack, but the instrument rack within that pad.

Here's an image that shows where you gotta drop it, hopefully this makes sense. Also, sorry about the handwriting. (:

[yoda]

Cool Character,

When I Right-click on a pad with sound, the only selection I get is "Rename" or "Delete". I don't see the selection "group".

I already created a new "Multi" for my kick sound using "Kick 707" and "Kick 707-b". I did it somehow. I dragged the sound from an Explorer window.

I didn't have to use the "Instrument Rack" before to create the "Kick-Multi" pad. Do I really need to use the "Instrument Rack"?

Thanks, but so far its not working as you described it. I can't get to the "group" selection.

Ed

[td6d]

Why not just drop an "insrument rack" on the pad you want multiple samples on and drop the samples on the instrument rack. They will all have their own simpler and play on the same key

[Cool Character]

Cool Character,

When I Right-click on a pad with sound, the only selection I get is "Rename" or "Delete". I don't see the selection "group".

I already created a new "Multi" for my kick sound using "Kick 707" and "Kick 707-b". I did it somehow. I dragged the sound from an Explorer window.

I didn't have to use the "Instrument Rack" before to create the "Kick-Multi" pad. Do I really need to use the "Instrument Rack"?

Thanks, but so far its not working as you described it. I can't get to the "group" selection.

Ed

Right click the instrument, not the pad.

There may be another way to do it, but my brain isn't working right now, and I just automatically do stuff without thinking about it.

[antarktika]

another thing, perhaps what you were doing before, is if you put a sample on its own pad, then set it's "receive" value to the same note as the pad you want to merge it with, it will combine them. Just another way, maybe not the simplest, but if you're having trouble with the other ways, might try it.

[yoda]

Hey guys, thanks for your replies.

I am a TOTAL DOOFUS !!!

I left a message with my friend who is a young kid (24 years old) whose been teaching me some stuff on Ableton. I teach him mixing and mastering. He is totally into Dubstep. I'm more towards Chill & slower Dance with vocals. Anyway, he left me a message with the answer to my problem.

I was doing everything right . . . EXCEPT . . . I have to ALTERNATE-DRAG (PC) the sound onto my pad !!

When I ALT-DRAG, the pad becomes a MULTI !! One thing for sure, I'll never forget the ALT key.

Since I'm close to 60, I'm going to blame it on my age Creating a "Multi" seems much simpler than turning a pad into an "Instrument Rack".

Thank you to all who posted.

Ed