Ableton Forum

lolalola wrote:

gibson_ewok wrote:

What's a velocity device....?

'

It's a MIDI effect in Live. It alters the velocity of MIDI on an overall channel. Generally velocity will make stuff louder. Although it can pretty much be routed to anything.

Cheers,
Bill
http://www.mrbillstunes.com

Where in Live..?

Mayhaps it's time to read the manual if you are unaware of where the MIDI effects are located?

They're in the general area of the instruments and audio effects only under another subfolder called MIDI effects

to create a groove you need a least 2 tracks, one that has a constant rhythm, and another one that fluctuates around the one that doesn't move.

What I do easily, put 8 hi-hats then groove with shakers around it. Or just kick snare ot the 1st and 3 beats, and place hi-hats around it. that's really basic thought you can evolves from there.

Command 4 to toggle the grid on/off. Command 1 & 2 to zoom in out. *Command and hover over the midi note to change velocity- it's quick and precise, so you only need the velocity sliders at the bottom for grouping notes or drawing velocity sweeps etc.

Used to always use Trigger Finger to play in beats but lately I've been drawing beats in more often. To cover both, here's how I combine the 2:

Tap out a beat, then select the loop brace, hit Command A (select all notes) and then Shift Command U (quantize to a percentage). Often I will quantize to the chosen percentage twice. This is where the Groove Pool comes in handy: I'll extract the Groove from my midi beat (control click brings up sup menu). Then I can use the Groove I extracted to line up other things that might clash; perhaps a bassline with a lot of attack needs to line up with the kick drum to avoid phase cancelation. Or, sometimes tap in the kick & snare on pads, but draw the high hats. In that case, just apply the Groove to line the hats up w/ the kick & snare hits, then turn off the grid, zoom in a bit, and move the other (non-aligned) hi hats just enough to give the whole thing feel. This isn't as time consuming as it sounds.

I use Drum Racks mostly. Later on I'll drag the individual drum pads in Drum Rack out onto their own tracks, then Command G to group them for mixing. I'll hit Command R to rename this group "Drums" and put EQ & compression and any other effects on the individual drums and again on the whole kit. Thinking of starting out this way (each on it's own track) but it's nice to look at them together at first.

Hope that helps. It's all about using quick keys, helps keep it moving fast enough to keep the process fresh and enjoyable.

I've always used Simplers and nothing else.

But this idea some of you have of dropping audio straight into the arrange page, turn the grid off and arrange freestyle really intrigues me. I'm gonna give this a try. It does sound more time consuming but maybe worth the effort.

Thanks for that.

^ ^ Can make the fattest snares with this simple method:

3 audio tracks for snares.

One low end

One mid

One clap

have the clap hit a couple of millisconds before the beat. The low end on right the beat and the mid a couple of milli's after.

Group and compress/eq the three tracks to taste.

Play with the timing to get some uber fatness.

(Can also do the same thing with devices and track delays but I found dropping samples straight in method simples)

Maschine

gibson_ewok wrote:

What's a velocity device....?

' Generally velocity will make stuff louder.

That is pretty lame, to be honest. Velocity can compress the midi inputs velocity above or below or in between the range user has defined. Velocity can also alter the velocity of midi input randomly within the given range, which makes it excellent device to create some life.

Generally I find that Lives midi devices are excellent tools. Worth exploring.

Some pretty convoluted methods on here

I sometimes take a song as an inspirational "base track" (say, a James Brown tune that has a lot of energy), play MIDI instruments like drums, bass and synths on top of it, and finally remove the base track, which gives me something that's completely my own stuff, but with a feeling and energy that may resemble the base track in some way. Or maybe there's no resemblance at all, but at least I got an inspiration and made something that I couldn't have thought of, if I had started completely from scratch.

The Carpet Cleaner wrote:to create a groove you need a least 2 tracks, one that has a constant rhythm, and another one that fluctuates around the one that doesn't move.

What I do easily, put 8 hi-hats then groove with shakers around it. Or just kick snare ot the 1st and 3 beats, and place hi-hats around it. that's really basic thought you can evolves from there.

*Facepalm*

Nah. You can take a single sample and make a groove out of that. Put down 16th closed hihats, then side-chain compress them and you have yourself a quick and easy groove.

beatflux wrote:

The Carpet Cleaner wrote:to create a groove you need a least 2 tracks, one that has a constant rhythm, and another one that fluctuates around the one that doesn't move.

What I do easily, put 8 hi-hats then groove with shakers around it. Or just kick snare ot the 1st and 3 beats, and place hi-hats around it. that's really basic thought you can evolves from there.

*Facepalm*

Nah. You can take a single sample and make a groove out of that. Put down 16th closed hihats, then side-chain compress them and you have yourself a quick and easy groove.

facepalm 2

Yea and you side-chain the compressor with what ? a bike? a plane? no, a kick on another track... even if the kick is muted, the hi-hats are evolving against something that has a constant rhythm (the kick in your example).

beatflux wrote:

The Carpet Cleaner wrote:to create a groove you need a least 2 tracks, one that has a constant rhythm, and another one that fluctuates around the one that doesn't move.

What I do easily, put 8 hi-hats then groove with shakers around it. Or just kick snare ot the 1st and 3 beats, and place hi-hats around it. that's really basic thought you can evolves from there.

*Facepalm*

Nah. You can take a single sample and make a groove out of that. Put down 16th closed hihats, then side-chain compress them and you have yourself a quick and easy groove.

And according to Dr. Facepalm that's all there is to it.

The Carpet Cleaner wrote:

beatflux wrote:

The Carpet Cleaner wrote:to create a groove you need a least 2 tracks, one that has a constant rhythm, and another one that fluctuates around the one that doesn't move.

What I do easily, put 8 hi-hats then groove with shakers around it. Or just kick snare ot the 1st and 3 beats, and place hi-hats around it. that's really basic thought you can evolves from there.

*Facepalm*

Nah. You can take a single sample and make a groove out of that. Put down 16th closed hihats, then side-chain compress them and you have yourself a quick and easy groove.

facepalm 2

Yea and you side-chain the compressor with what ? a bike? a plane? no, a kick on another track... even if the kick is muted, the hi-hats are evolving against something that has a constant rhythm (the kick in your example).

Not everyone keys a side chain with a kick. Try a closed hihat for example.

You can take a single hit and easily make a groove out of it. There are so many hihat and shaker loops out there that prove this point.

No one was using sidechain before daft crappy punk came out, and no one uses the stupid millisecond delay plug/slider. That is fucking messy.

You are clearly all trying to polish a turd.Choose the right source sounds!

The best thing to do is just use your ears and practice.

That's what is not being done and thats why this thread exists.