Ableton Forum

Hi, I'm new to making music in Ableton and to the forum. I've actually had Ableton for a couple years but only used it to make edits to help with my job as a DJ. Anyway, I like a lot of hiphop and bass music and want to learn how to use tuned 808s. I've found some tutorials on how to tune the drums and play in Sampler, but I have no confidence with my ability to key match by ear and also feel like there must be an easier way.

I'm wondering if there's a preset or VST I could DL or buy that would allow me to play 808 drums and bass sounds on the keyboard in a midi track. I like how I can put notes into a midi track and then drag different preset sounds onto the track to hear how it sounds. Is this possible with 808s and other drums or do I have to go through the tedious process of tuning each drum and playing in Sampler?

I appreciate anyone who takes some time to help.

Cheers,
Walter

Ditch sampler, use drum racks. Much faster workflow for your purpose. Beyond that, if you can't tell if your shit's in tune, you may be in the wrong business

d.reamonn wrote:Ditch sampler, use drum racks. Much faster workflow for your purpose. Beyond that, if you can't tell if your shit's in tune, you may be in the wrong business

I can tune a guitar, but a kick drum is whole other thing. Not only that, but tuning every one shot drum I may want to use is something I'd like to avoid if possible. Is there a way to play drum sounds on a keyboard using the drum racks?

You don't normally have to tune EVERY hit. You don't want a drum kit to be in the exact same key on all hits. Just mainly a hat and bd but it depends on the context of what you are doing, what you can hear, etc. Not sure that tuning is all that laborious since you just twist a knob.

If you have a controller, as d.reamonn said, create a drum rack and setup the Macro knobs to tune 8 hits. Then you can use the knobs to tweak new samples as you load em until they are all sounding nice. Then if you need more hits to tune, move to the next 8 pads.

WBallz wrote:

d.reamonn wrote:Ditch sampler, use drum racks. Much faster workflow for your purpose. Beyond that, if you can't tell if your shit's in tune, you may be in the wrong business

I can tune a guitar, but a kick drum is whole other thing. Not only that, but tuning every one shot drum I may want to use is something I'd like to avoid if possible. Is there a way to play drum sounds on a keyboard using the drum racks?

Yup, drag samples to pads, each pad corresponds to a "keyboard note", which can be reassigned if you click on the little I/O button on the bottom left of the rack. You can even assign one instrument to multiple pads and—bam!—instant beat/bass combo track.

d.reamonn wrote:

WBallz wrote:

d.reamonn wrote:Ditch sampler, use drum racks. Much faster workflow for your purpose. Beyond that, if you can't tell if your shit's in tune, you may be in the wrong business

I can tune a guitar, but a kick drum is whole other thing. Not only that, but tuning every one shot drum I may want to use is something I'd like to avoid if possible. Is there a way to play drum sounds on a keyboard using the drum racks?

Yup, drag samples to pads, each pad corresponds to a "keyboard note", which can be reassigned if you click on the little I/O button on the bottom left of the rack. You can even assign one instrument to multiple pads and—bam!—instant beat/bass combo track.

Very interesting! Does it matter what key the sound you're dragging in is?

jestermgee wrote:You don't normally have to tune EVERY hit. You don't want a drum kit to be in the exact same key on all hits. Just mainly a hat and bd but it depends on the context of what you are doing, what you can hear, etc. Not sure that tuning is all that laborious since you just twist a knob.

If you have a controller, as d.reamonn said, create a drum rack and setup the Macro knobs to tune 8 hits. Then you can use the knobs to tweak new samples as you load em until they are all sounding nice. Then if you need more hits to tune, move to the next 8 pads.

I understand that it only comes down to the physical labor of twisting a knob, but it requires a lot of work reading tutorials to understand what you're talking about etc.

Playing a drum sound into a midi track using a midi keyboard would be more ideal for me than "creating a drum rack and setup the Macro knobs to tune 8 hits. Then you can use the knobs to tweak new samples as you load em until they are all sounding nice. Then if you need more hits to tune, move to the next 8 pad"... Know what I mean? I'm searching for the most simple, efficient way of playing tuned drums. I do appreciate the response though.

WBallz wrote:Very interesting! Does it matter what key the sound you're dragging in is?

It doesn't matter a jiffy. Drum tracks by definition are not instruments in the same way that a piano is, so each pad/note can have its own tuning, regardless of its place on the keyboard.

Sorry, I wasn't aware of your experience level

But, honestly, even if that sounds involved I would look at how to do it rather than "What is the easiest way" otherwise you may find yourself always looking for the easiest way to do everything and then where is the fun in that.

Even without any mapping it does come down to just twisting the Tuning or transpose knob to adjust the pitch of the sample and you can do that with just the mouse while the track plays until it sounds in-line with what you are doing.

As has also been mentioned, mapping a sample across the keys of a piano roll would allow you to just go up and down the keys to find the correct pitch but I would think that would take more time than just using the tune controls in sampler

jestermgee wrote:But, honestly, even if that sounds involved I would look at how to do it rather than "What is the easiest way" otherwise you may find yourself always looking for the easiest way to do everything and then where is the fun in that.

I don't always look for the easiest way, but when I do, it's for the easiest way to make shit complex.

d.reamonn wrote:

WBallz wrote:Very interesting! Does it matter what key the sound you're dragging in is?

It doesn't matter a jiffy. Drum tracks by definition are not instruments in the same way that a piano is, so each pad/note can have its own tuning, regardless of its place on the keyboard.

Very interesting I'll spend my time tonight trying to get this down. Thanks a lot for the help dude.

jestermgee wrote:Sorry, I wasn't aware of your experience level

But, honestly, even if that sounds involved I would look at how to do it rather than "What is the easiest way" otherwise you may find yourself always looking for the easiest way to do everything and then where is the fun in that.

Even without any mapping it does come down to just twisting the Tuning or transpose knob to adjust the pitch of the sample and you can do that with just the mouse while the track plays until it sounds in-line with what you are doing.

As has also been mentioned, mapping a sample across the keys of a piano roll would allow you to just go up and down the keys to find the correct pitch but I would think that would take more time than just using the tune controls in sampler

I'm definitely looking for the easiest way to accomplish what I want to accomplish, otherwise I spend more time being overwhelmed watching tutorials and asking you questions than I do actually creating music.

If I could have the kick sound or bass sound play on the piano roll like a synth preset that would be ideal. Like when I play a C3 note it's a C3 tuned kick and when I play an A4 note it plays an A4. Even better if after I program the kick I could drag a hat on there and it would be tuned the same way.

d.reamonn wrote:

jestermgee wrote:But, honestly, even if that sounds involved I would look at how to do it rather than "What is the easiest way" otherwise you may find yourself always looking for the easiest way to do everything and then where is the fun in that.

I don't always look for the easiest way, but when I do, it's for the easiest way to make shit complex.

WBallz wrote:I'm definitely looking for the easiest way to accomplish what I want to accomplish, otherwise I spend more time being overwhelmed watching tutorials and asking you questions than I do actually creating music.

If I could have the kick sound or bass sound play on the piano roll like a synth preset that would be ideal. Like when I play a C3 note it's a C3 tuned kick and when I play an A4 note it plays an A4. Even better if after I program the kick I could drag a hat on there and it would be tuned the same way.

This is not possible. In fact it's just plain wrong. The whole point of the drum rack is to have one sample per note/pad—the pitch of the said note/pad is irrelevant.

If A4->kick tuned to A4; and A4#->snare, then playing A4# will play snare, not A4# kick.

tuning using a pitch assigned macro in combination with spectrum so you can see the note/frequency output, then resample.