Ableton Forum

If I'm going to be extracting the groove from several old funk songs for example. And applying it to my drum loops. What is the best technique?

I'm thinking that using a 16 bar loop from the track, where the kicks are warped to be on the markers... This will let me extract the "in between" stuff? Or do I just make a loop and extract it plain?

I've read the manual, and looked it up in other places and I can't get a definitive answer on proper groove extraction. It seems like people just kinda do it and play around.

In an issue of Computer Music I recently got. They "fixed" all the transients to proper warp markers on the grid. It seems like this would totally just kill the groove no?

Hi MauricioAndrades,

the groove tutorial coming with Computer Music is definitely a good way to start. I would recommend to try to apply the techniques described there to your own material, but to use a shorter section ( try 1-4 bar loops first). Fixing the transients related to the downbeats as described in the tutorial should a good idea in many cases: the most important parts of many grooves are the 16th and their swing feel, so this technique should not "kill the groove".

Best,
Jörg

You'll want to make sure that the transient markers really sit on the transients. Often times, Ableton does not really put the markers to the start of the transient - as a result your extracted groove will sound odd. It can be quite hard to put the transient markers right on complex material but it's worth it.

I often find myself doing it roughly and then change the midi notes from the extracted groove by hand to map the original transients, the final midi file will then be put back into the groove pool to be my final groove.

Hope that helps.