import one sample, play it across the chromatic range. You’ll need to enable this in the Sound settings (I don’t remember where). The AR doesn’t time stretch, so higher pitched chords will also play for less time. You’ll also face the issue of the chord going out of strict key at some points, but you might like that effect (I do).
create samples of each chord you wish to play and add them all to individual sample slots in the project. Don’t use one sample per track (it wastes tracks); instead use a single track and “sample lock”. Each trig can have its own sample! Check the manual for how to do this. The 128 sample slots are shared by your whole project so you might want to ration this technique if you have a lot of songs per project
As above, make recordings of each chord. But then assemble them into a single audio file (typically called a “sample chain” here), with each sample start point strictly evenly spaced. There’s tools to help with this. Import the sample into the AR and parameter lock (plock/p-lock) the start point of the sample for each chord trig. You’ll need to pay attention to the AR’s 120 point start time granularity.
You can do it any way you like. Three techniques I’ve seen talked about here a lot, and which I’ve tried:
one bank per song. It just makes sense.
four patterns per song / four songs per bank. It’s kinda arbitrary, but also kinda neat. The AR’s Scenes and Performances make each drum kit very flexible. Combine with Mutes and each pattern can behave a lot of different ways without changing notes or samples or whatever.
One pattern per track. Because of the mutes, scenes and perf mentioned above and other variation-generating tools like conditional trigs and fill mode, you can make tracks using just a single pattern. They tend to vary more in tone and energy than melody and harmony when you work this way. Popular with makers of techno and hiphop
whatever makes ur low end…tune by ear anything u add on to the point it makes sense to U…
there’s always one sonic element that turns out to take the next harmonic lead reference…
leave ur workflow open to readjust all open tunings along in an ongoing process til u got a final sonic picture to complete match…cut that…print that…next one…
I don’t work for Elektron, so I can only guess the thought processes. The box has limitations: physical, electrical, financial… and possibly some semi-arbitrary ones because the designers felt it would tilt their and your creativity in certain directions. One of those fixed choices/limits is the mechanism for selecting patterns. You push a [BANK]+[rrig] combo, and there’s only 8*16=128 of those. I’m certain you can come up with more than 128 drum loops/tracks with this box, so how will you choose them? The box is designed for performance, so they HAD to provide quick access to SOME patterns without going via menus, so that part of the design can’t change much… but you probably wont need more than 128 patterns for an unbroken section of a live show, so they can develop a “menu-based” solution to get at the remaining patterns.
I’ve been playing around with the rytm, and ran into an obstacle you may be able to advise me on:
Similar to a DAW, how would I loop a single note/trig over and over to dial in a specific sound or loop a specific small phrase you want to polish and focus on?
Currently it looks like I have to wait for the specific trig in question to play before I get to hear it again. Maybe the closest thing right now is to shorten the Scale to one bar or something? That seems like it honestly wouldn’t help that much but who knows.
Is there a way to accomplish this, or at the very least a workaround? I’ve searched around and seen some info alluding to the fact that there isn’t.
I can’t help as much as you’d like I’m afraid. It’s not occurred to me to try that.
When I’m creating a sound I usually just hit the pad. Sometimes I make a new pattern with a few trigs of that sound and loop that.
I’ve had bad luck changing the length of patterns. The Rytm seems to lose trigs if you shorten a pattern. It also (by default) copies the trigs from one page to the next when you lengthen the pattern.
Either shorten the scale length so the sample comes around quicker or put the sample on every trig so it’s constantly repeating. You can always take out the trigs you don’t need once you’ve got your sound right.
Or are you meaning turning a one shot sample into a constant tone? You’d do that by setting the sample setting to loop then playing with the start and end points to get the sound where you want it
I see what you’re saying. That may be the closest solution to what I’m trying to achieve for now.
To be more specific:
Let’s say on Page 3 of 4, I like what is happening between trigs 5-11, during a Chorus section of a song. However, I suspect it could be even better and make the entire Chorus feel better if I tweak/experiment with the notes within this range.
Not just the timbre/sound of the notes, but also the rhythm/positioning/micro timing of them.
From what I understand…in this scenario, one of the few ways I could to attempt this:
Copy trigs on Page 3 to another Page (Page 4 is already taken up in this scenario so not sure how to do that) > shorten the length in this new place to get trigs 5-11 looping. Experiment with them from there, then somehow replace this updated Page 3 that I created in a vacuum with the old Page 3.
Now, I have the polished Chorus section I heard in my head integrated into my song. And it was only possible to be happy with the result through experimentation in a vacuum.
IDEALLY…it would be nice to have some sort of loop brace to set between trigs 5-11 on the Page 3, tweak them how I like, turn the loop brace off, and go on my merry way (Pretty sure Rytm can’t do this).
Not at all. I tend to have verses on one pattern then a chorus on an other. In that case I’d let the chorus pattern keep looping, dropping trigs in and out until I’m happy. It’s a process that takes time (in my case!) but I don’t see that as a bad thing… It helps me to get a more ‘rounded’ pattern.
You could copy the section to another spare pattern and work on i5 there? Then copy that section back to the original pattern. As I say, I’d just leave it where it is, and let it loop but that’s just me.
Relax, unlearn your DAW ways, and learn new Rytm ways. Some musical activities will be faster, more exciting, easier and more fun on the Rytm, compared with a DAW, and they’ll sound great. Some will be slower and more annoying. If you keep expecting it to be otherwise, you’ll be frustrated.
I understand the frustration you’re feeling, waiting for Page 3 to come around. I’ve felt that. It’s really easy to ask why and what if and when for features you’re used to in other contexts… but that’s a mental trap because this box wont give you those things. The only way out is to learn new techniques.
Try this version: In Step Record mode, hold all of the trigs you’re interested in, 5-11 with one hand. Hit [REC] to copy them. Switch to a new pattern, hold trig 1 and hit [STOP] to paste them. You can then shorten the scale to just those trigs. Tweak, then do the manual cooy back to the source pattern+page.
