Is there a way to randomize an envelope?

benthomas1977 · Post by **benthomas1977** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:53 pm

Say I have an effect on a drum loop, I want to be able to randomize the controls on the effect and have them move around for me..

i know it sounds laim, but I basically want a computer program to twiddle the knobs for me and provide a starting point for certain elements of my music,..

Any ideas?

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:54 pm

EnergyXT / Bidule plus MidiYoke - takes a bit of setting up, but after that you can randomize anything you can assign a controller to.

benthomas1977 · Post by **benthomas1977** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 4:01 pm

I think Ill just get my girlfriend to mess around with loops and see where it gets me. "Here, move these dots around" . Just having a little writers block..

xuoham · Post by **xuoham** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 4:37 pm

Something i do all the time is using envelopes with a length of odd numbers like 7,
11, 13, 17, etc, each assigned to a different parameter. For each envelope, i draw
some "bricks and slopes", or sometimes nothing except one 16th, 8th, 4th beat that has the value at the max while the rest is at the minimum (fx send, for example).
It usually doesn't work at the first time and you have to tweak it more precisely in the direction you want. But very often it sounds much better than pure random. It's like "controlled randomness of odd numbered cycles". You can go for 15mn of total surprise if you setup your "installation" in a good way. And all fits in a tiny clip!
Hope this helps and brings some interesting fun.

tomperson · Post by **tomperson** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 5:06 pm

I've done similar things with odd hihat loops length. The thing feels like "moving" with sense but not being really predictable...quite nice!!!

Per Boysen · Post by **Per Boysen** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 5:13 pm

xuoham wrote:Something i do all the time is using envelopes with a length of odd numbers like 7,
11, 13, 17, etc, each assigned to a different parameter.

I do that too. But I draw the envelopes on separate MIDI clips that target parameters on plug-ins etc on other tracks. Then I use to set up Follow Actions to randomize the pseudo random MIDI controller clips.

I don't at all think it's lame to use controlled random scripting. There is a serious name for such techniques: Generative Music.

tribalogical · Post by **tribalogical** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 6:45 pm

hey fondue,

are you using Live 5? Checked out "Beat Repeat" yet? It's great example of 'controlled random' effecting... it can seriously mangle, or can keep things very musical... nothing lame about that plugin!

the other suggestion, using Clip Envelopes at odd lengths to the clip itself is a great way to introduce varied results..... the key is to "Unlink" the envelope, and then draw your values into the resulting "free ranging" envelope.... coolest thing is you can do this on the fly, for even more varierty....

in case you haven't gotten your head around this yet, here's a brief step-by-step as an example:

- setup a track with a kit loaded into Impulse, and either drop in a midi clip, or record a new clip.... try something moderately dense for this example. Let's work with a 2-bar loop, so you can hear the results more quickly....

- double-click the clip to get the Clip View. Make sure the Envelope Editor is open to the left.... we'll be working here exclusively for the moment...

- In the Envelopes Editor, drop down the Device Chooser, and select Impulse. Right below that, drop down the Control Chooser, and select Global Transpose from the list.

- Now, the big step: Click the "Linked" button, and it will light up and say "Unlinked"..... Just to the right of that are the Loop Position and Length values. Since we're viewing the unlinked envelope for Impulse/Transpose values, those now affect the "unlinked transpose values".
- Roll the Length value up from 2 0 0 to 3 1 3.... (example only. you can make the length as long or short as you like, so experiment with this one, it's key to the results...)

- Draw in some wild variations across entire the length of the Envelope....

- Hit the midi clip's play button, and let it play through a view cycles.... it should be starting to sound somewhat "randomized".....

- Every Control in each Device can have its own independent unlinked envelope.... So add a few unlinked clip envelopes. Select the device, the control, and light up the unlinked button..... each unlinked envelope has its own individual length too, so it can get pretty "randomized" in the results, very fast....

The beauty of this is you can do the same thing with FX... drop a couple of Live audio effect into this track, maybe a ping-pong delay, and auto filter, then select one, a control, and start unlinking, changing envelope length, and painting various settings in.......

How much more "random" do you want it?

hope I was able to make this "tutorial" clear enough......

peace,
tribalogical