I want to record live drums using superior drummer software, and make loops of them.
Then I’d like to upload them to my octatrack, and use this in my dawless jams (live).
normally, a typical build up would be first the kick coming in, then the hihats over it, and then everything (kick/snare/hihats) together, with an occasional fill.
Is it best to record different loops (so kick only, hihat only, etc), and make different track for them in the octatrack? or everything on 1 track and use different patterns?
would like to hear your tips/tricks on how to do this best.
I don’t work with drum loops, but I’d recommend you to give all possibilities a shot. See what works best for you, what feels most natural to you.
You could render several loops, so one loop is only your kick, one is kick with hats, etc., render all the variations you want to use.
Then you could use samplelocks on your OT, first pattern has only the kick loop, second pattern the kick+hats samplelocked, third pattern a variation etc. and you switch through your patterns.
Or render a few patterns and slice them up. Sample locks also work with sliced samples, so you could even sample lock a different sliced sample.
Or use several tracks, one for the kick, one for the snare, one for the hat etc. and patterns to progress through the song.
This approach lets you easily mute individual elements, apply fx…
If your music builds energy by introducing drum elements that way, then create your loops to support that. Alternatively, genres like “old school” hip hop, trip hop, and d&b (and others) tend to use loops of a drummer playing the whole kit at once, creating quirks of rhythm by rearranging slices of these loops.
I’d go for chains of individual hits/sounds and combinations of them eg kick and hat, kick, hat, snare, etc, then use slice mode to select which sound or combination plays. You can have a lot of fun with this technique and get lots of “happy accidents” when introducing random slice, crossfader to slice, TRC, etc.
I’d you don’t need slicing, then don’t discount “loop chains”
Similar to sample chains, but each slice is a loop instead of a single shot. It’s a technique I’ve been using to really load up my static slots with loads of content. Manipulation of the loops is still possible with trigless locks (pitch, fx p-locks) and off-setting notes in the sequencer, using conditionals (even in trigless locks), etc.
When I want to take an entire tune’s stems, like something made in Ableton or on my Model:Samples + Pro 2, I’ll lay out up to 128 bars in the single loop chain sample.
Kicks first, hats second, percussion third, bass fourth, hooks fifth, etc. with included sequence variations. Then all tracks inside that Part are only referencing the same single sample slot in the static slot list.
This way I never run out of slots and can fully fill the 64 parts and 256! patterns in a single project. The result is I’m always working from one project, and playing live means never having to stop the sequencer to load another project. Efficiency at its finest. I save the Flex list for things that require slicing.
Patterns will just have different sequence variations of that content. 1 part uses up to 4 patterns. And those 4 patterns make up a tune.
It’s not so bad. Get Octachainer* to start with and search the forum for discussions of sample chaining. Adam is just putting loops in instead of one-shot samples. You can then trigger the loop by placing a trig on the first step of the loop and using the start point to select which loop you want for the track. All tracks can point to the same slot. Also if you p-lock the start point you can have a different loop per pattern. In other words, you can have all 16 patterns in a bank all assigned to part 1 all playing different loops that come from a single chained sample. It’s an awesome workaround for the “only 4 parts per bank” problem.
*Edit: Prefer Ableton to Octachainer for this because the loops must be at the same BPM so it’s simpler to create the chains in Ableton with its timestretch enabled - see Adam’s response below.
These posts are my tutorial for you, as personal exploration is also important.
Timestretch on. Slice off. All loops same BPM. Laid out on a grid in a DAW. Either 64 or 128 divisions, evenly.
You could use Octachainer but if the loops going in aren’t already same BPM and properly cut, Ableton makes things easier (great for initial time stretching of faster/slower material, since Live’s stretch algorithm is a bit better).
Start with a simple test loop chain. Chuck in 16 different drum and synth loops, and mess around with it. Use the same sample one every track, but different start points on each.
Have fun!
have you found it’s better to export them FROM ableton at the BPM you intend to use them at. Or do you batch everything at like 120 and let octa do it’s dirty work?
I know this is an old thread, but does anyone know if a loop chain selector is doable on Digitakt 2 ? ( using a different tempo than the one of the loops used)
Thank you!