New to Elektron. Curious what people’s strategies are for organizing sounds in kits, kits and patterns, songs, chains, tempos, etc.
Composing is messy, right? So I’ve gotten into the habit of working from a ‘scratch’ bank of patterns, but then saving a kit diligently for each one -naming the tempo in the kit- then copy pasting patterns more as ‘prints’ into other banks that line them up all orderly. Kindof. Forgot to re-save kits a few times and lost sounds. Now I’m starting to create songs that relate to each bank… Does anyone just leave all their patterns all jumbled up and work from that? How do you deal with tempos? Work it immediately into a song so that you can lock tempo? Basically is what I’m doing what everyone is doing or am I out to lunch? Last, can I expect much of a kit/pattern/song/tempo librarian in Overbridge? (logic user)
Ugh, I’m still trying to figure these things out a year later. I’ll be looking forward to reading the responses in hopes that something finally clicks for me
I usually organize my creationts by limiting myself to up to four patterns per song (okey sometimes a bit more… rules are meant to be broken right?). That means I have up to four songs worth of patterns per bank, with the first pattern of each song located at 1,5,9 or 13. That gives room for er… 32 (?) potential songs per project of which about half end up as finished compositions which works out well with the 16 song limitation. The tempo of each song I just have to remember, but writing them in the kit ceartanly is a great idea!
After messing up quite a few kits by saving over and forgetting to change to a fresh kit when I start a new composition I’ve just gotten that into my workflow to always make a new one or resaving an old one to a new slot.
The tricky part for me now is working on two machines since I do all of my writing on the keys and rytm simultaneously. Now I have to apply the same structure to both machines and save every pattern to the same slot in each machine. That also means I have to be extremely strict with structuring my compositions since it would be hell finding the correct patterns for each song. Now I just press A1 or C13 on both the rytm and keys and everything lines up
Nice! I just started doing the same. 8 patterns allowed instead. I find this machine forces you to be working on a song, which is not an altogether bad thing.
tempo management remains a bit of an issue. and save save save.
Bring on arrange mode and librarian in Overbridge. …or not…?
Years after starting I’m no closer to a definitive workflow.
I tend to group patterns in 4s, giving them the same kit and same general theme/variation. I place my patterns in banks related to key (so bank A is for Am, B for Bm etc.) so I always know how they’ll fit in with my other stuff on other gear. I also never use song mode and rarely chain patterns, tending to start with a common kit for the project that is changed constantly. That way I don;t need to keep doing the performance definitions from scratch, since setting them up for each kit takes too long.
Whoa, assign bank according to key? That’s an interesting approach! I’d run out of space in A minor haha.
How do you keep your tempos in mind without using song mode?
Does anyone else find the global tempo issue incredibly frustrating? I feel like the second I come up with a groove it needs to be saved as a song to preserve the tempo.
Anyone have a glimpse into Overbridge’s librarian? Is the possiblity of an arrange mode wishful thinking?
Where does your AK end and your DAW begin? I’m getting all philosophical here…!
This topic ^ 
I’m using the Syntakt but organization is pretty much the same everywhere?
Originally I was thinking of a project as a song, but I end up just filling up banks until I don’t have any more space. Now with the song mode on I can at least kind of identify where the songs are 
I’ve started a few projects because I wanted to contain specific ideas but mostly the are just catch alls.
I now find it hard to remember where a sweet song is. I end up going from project to project to find that one song I was wanting to go and work on again.
If have an idea I’m working on and want to start a new idea I will end up either starting a new pattern over on the other side of the pattern grid or going into a new bank. I kind of rely on the pattern layout as a fingerprint to remind myself where certain ideas are.
Awhile back I also got a note book that sits right next to my gear, but I find I forget to put info in there.
Also as far as tempo I always have it on global and use ableton to dictate the tempo and when I finally record is when it solidifies.
I’ve been wanting to use symbols in project and song names to help identify where the good ideas are. On Mac I often use colour coding the help me remember where good ideas are.
Here’s my current system - not claiming it’s the best, but it works fine until I can think of a better one.
I use Analog Four and Digitone as my main system for recording and live performance. The A4 is master clock&transport, and sends pattern changes to the Digitone. A4 and Digitone both have 8 banks of 16 patterns, and this helps keep everything in line.
I have an INIT pattern and kit on pattern H16, and start new ideas there. Anything promising I’ll copy to eg. A1 or A9, leaving space for derivative patterns afterward. Some compositions end up being only one pattern, some can be 2, 8, or a whole bank, it depends on where the musical ideas lead. Any idea that’s interesting, but probably a dead-end, I copy to the spare patterns in bank H.
I create a fresh project when the current one is mostly full, which takes maybe a month or two. If I decide something is good enough to record/perform, I’ll copy it into my current “Performance” project, which contains all the best material I have at any moment. A single project can easily contain enough songs for a live show, so I don’t need to change project mid-set.
Hi. Nice process! Question. You mention you copy hood songs to your performance project. What’s the best way to copy a song, say multiple patterns to another project, one pattern at a time?
Yes copying one at a time is the only option. Unfortunately this is the most boring part of the process, especially because on the Analog Four, you have to copy pattern and kit separately! On the DN the pattern contains everything including sounds, so that’s a little faster.
Ah ha!! That’s what I thought.
It’s a shame you can’t use Overbridge in the same way you can pull parts of different Live sets into a current project.
Still good process!!
What about sound pools/sound locks?
That’s what always keeps me using a project per song workflow
Yes, the use of sound locks creates extra work if you’re copying songs over into another project. It’s still possible, but involves making a note of which sounds are in the sound pool, and often adjusting the sound locks so they point to the right sounds in the new project. I don’t use a lot of sound locks, so the extra work is manageable for me, and worth it to have a whole live-set available without having to switch projects. I’m always thinking about live performance, and don’t want to have to switch projects onstage.