Hey. First post here, but I’ve been following these forums for some time. Theres a lot of good reads and a good vibe here.
I’ve had a MD SPS-1 MKII for a couple of months now, and I’m really enjoying it.
I have a question though, and I hope it’s a newbie question, and that it’s just me who is doing something wrong.
My kicks tend to vary in sound, like if I make a standard 4/4, two of them might sound ‘more filtered’ than the other two. Sometimes I also feel like they vary in volume.
I cannot recognize any pattern in it, it just seems to be happening kind of randomly.
I don’t think I have any weird LFO / P-lock settings on, at least i think I have turned off any LFO’s, and I’m never using P-locks on kicks.
Hope my question makes some kind of sense, and that I can get some help - it would be very very appreciated.
Are you noticing this on TRX kicks in particular? I ask because, on the old E-U forum, there were a few threads where this behavior was attributed to the TRX machines emulating analog oscillators.
I’m not in front of my MD right now, but it might very well be worse with the TRX kicks… I read the other thread, and I guess it plausible, it just sounds weird…
Is there really no workaround? Right now I’m taking the kick out alone and then cutting up one wavelength I find good, and then using that, and it works fine, but as I’m planning on using it live, it would be so cool if there was something to do about it?
Tobias - try building your kick by layering two or more different sounds. It’s one of the most effective ways to build kicks with individual character on the MD and a technique well worth exploring for its own sake. (A few ideas to get you started are in the thread Brigadier mentions.)
I agree with Dubathonic. Layering your sounds is a great way to fill out your sounds and get more character. You can then run both of those sounds through an INPUT machine to unify them and for further tonal control. Good stuff.
This is a random idea that I have not tried myself so please forgive me if this doesn’t work. But, you might try using a square wave LFO on that kick (that is changing by itself) to control the VOLUME parameter. The idea being that the square wave LFO will push the Volume setting of the hit all the way up and hold it there. Try adjusting the HOLD time and DECAY time.
The TRX kicks (maybe only BD2?) are the only ones that I can really notice a variation in the hits, so I assumed that was the sound you were talking about.
I guess another option includes double-checking that there’s no MIDI from anywhere else modulating any parameters… just to be sure.
Nice one, never tried that but have started layering sounds.
One thing that annoys me is say your making a layered snare with 3 machines, you can set the first mach to trigger the second when you trig it, so why cant you set the 2nd to then trig the 3rd ?
I’m now realising the MD is a super beast using the layering tecnique with a more than ample 16 trax (if using it purely for drums).
Hey everyone. Thank you very much for your answers, and Brigadier thank you for clearing this up, I’m pretty happy that it wasn’t a problem with my MD, but just a part of the algorithm (even though I still think it’s kind of weird).
I have no MIDI running anywhere else, and the problem occurs with both the TRX kicks. I guess theres no way around it and I have to start using other kicks, or layering well enough for the variations not being noticeable.
Before I got the MD I used to layer a lot, I guess I was just so happy about the kicks I made that I thought they didn’t need layering - but you are all absolutely right, getting into layering will be the way to go now.
Theres a lot of great ideas out there, and thanks for the cool advice with the input machines.
A method of leveling trx kicks is to use multiple tracks with identical machine settings. Space out the kick hits on different tracks. The energy drop occurs when one hit follows another on a given track. Placing successive hits on different tracks cleans things up a bit. Can eat more tracks than layering, but if you have a trx kick you love and want it steady and don’t have a UW, you can get there.
Other than BD2, I like the fm kick. From there it’s wide open creating kicks from non-kick machines. Some of the snares with the noise turned down work well, great for boxy hollow kicks.
It can be nice in some regards. But for the music I make (very ambient techno), where the kick at times may be the only constant thing, it’s sometimes important that every hit cuts through clearly, so the sense of structure isn’t totally lost. But yeah, for some tracks it works pretty well…
I made this beat using a TRX B2 sound. No LFO or parameter locks. However, if you listen to just the kick drum, you can hear that it changes its tone/sound/whatever on almost every hit. Any insight into why this is happening? It doesn’t really make any sense. Thanks!
I have an A4 so not sure if this is a feature on the Rytm but could it be that theres a velocity mod destination set on the kick?
Took me ages to realise this was the source of my mysterious delays!!!
beast using the layering tecnique with a more than ample 16 trax (if using it purely for drums).