howdy folks--
i'm sure there's a simple solution that i just wasn't able to dig up, but i was wondering if there was a way of randomizing the start time of midi notes in the piano roll. to be frank, i'm trying to write fairly "natural" sounding drums, and just a little randomization as to their timing would go a long way.
cheers for any help
randomizing impulse/piano roll
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sir prancelot brainfire
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:21 am
Hi
There are many techniques for programming natural/human drums.
The first thing that comes to mind would be to record yourself playing the beats live on some drum pads for starters, then quantizing them slightly to tighten things up.
A little bit about midi drum programming and playback....
The samples you use are obviously a big consideration. I dont know what level you're at but if you haven't yet heard about "velocity layered" drum kits, it would be worth looking into.
Samples aside, two important factors when looking at drum programming are Dynamics (velocity/volume), and Timing.
I never thought one would want a random start time until I gave your post a little more thought, and it is an interesting thing all right.
In Live we can easily add a little randomness to the dynamics and timbre (pitch, panning, and volume) but with timing, its a little different.
The swing settings (just left of the metronome) can add a degree of human feel, but it's still not random. Playing the drums or midi notes in yourself is about as natural and human as it gets, but for the sake of discussion, lets look at how you might get some randomness to the timing from a midi loop.
Typically of Live, there are probably a few ways you could go about getting the effect, but the first thing that springs to my mind would be to use multiple instances of your Impulse in a rack, each with their own velocity layers, and each with different settings for sample start time. A velocity device would be placed before the whole rack to give random velocitys., thus triggering different samples at random.
The problem with this is:
If you really wanted it to be effective, you would really want samples with around 100ms of silence before the hit, it also limits your random timing to somewhat small values.
To get around that, (sorry, im typing while I think here) you could forget about 100ms bullshit and different sample start times, and use a delay device after each impulse in the rack. Yeah, thats how do do it. It will sound shit when you are playing live, but would be more usefull afterwards for playback, presuming you are quantising your midi data after recording it (or just painting it in, in the first place)
PS -
Do you own Sampler?
Are you using Live 6 or 7?
PPS-
Also, don't forget CTRL-U on selected midi data to quantize it.
There are many techniques for programming natural/human drums.
The first thing that comes to mind would be to record yourself playing the beats live on some drum pads for starters, then quantizing them slightly to tighten things up.
A little bit about midi drum programming and playback....
The samples you use are obviously a big consideration. I dont know what level you're at but if you haven't yet heard about "velocity layered" drum kits, it would be worth looking into.
Samples aside, two important factors when looking at drum programming are Dynamics (velocity/volume), and Timing.
I never thought one would want a random start time until I gave your post a little more thought, and it is an interesting thing all right.
In Live we can easily add a little randomness to the dynamics and timbre (pitch, panning, and volume) but with timing, its a little different.
The swing settings (just left of the metronome) can add a degree of human feel, but it's still not random. Playing the drums or midi notes in yourself is about as natural and human as it gets, but for the sake of discussion, lets look at how you might get some randomness to the timing from a midi loop.
Typically of Live, there are probably a few ways you could go about getting the effect, but the first thing that springs to my mind would be to use multiple instances of your Impulse in a rack, each with their own velocity layers, and each with different settings for sample start time. A velocity device would be placed before the whole rack to give random velocitys., thus triggering different samples at random.
The problem with this is:
If you really wanted it to be effective, you would really want samples with around 100ms of silence before the hit, it also limits your random timing to somewhat small values.
To get around that, (sorry, im typing while I think here) you could forget about 100ms bullshit and different sample start times, and use a delay device after each impulse in the rack. Yeah, thats how do do it. It will sound shit when you are playing live, but would be more usefull afterwards for playback, presuming you are quantising your midi data after recording it (or just painting it in, in the first place)
PS -
Do you own Sampler?
Are you using Live 6 or 7?
PPS-
Also, don't forget CTRL-U on selected midi data to quantize it.
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stardust3000
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:58 pm
- Location: Vega
the most effective way is to turn grid off and draw notes manually, simple and not that complex to do, thus you'll have random velocity, length and slightly unsync'd notes; if you use impulse also randomize pan, pitch (just 2-3%) and filter cutoff if you're using it..
p.s. i use this process also for synth sequences like basslines and the result is just delicious
p.s. i use this process also for synth sequences like basslines and the result is just delicious