Now, what started as a garden variety synth hit has become some kind of drum-triggered subterranean monster, and I think that’s a good thing. Then I’ll bring the threshold down some so that I’m only opening the gate at the peak of the drum hits.įor a little extra unpredictability, I’ll add an LFO device and map it to the gate’s threshold to give it a slight undulating characteristic. I’m going to activate the “Sidechain” control and select my EZDrummer track from earlier as the sidechain. So at the beginning of the signal chain, I’m going to add a gate effect. I’ll throw on a Drum Bus plugin at its default settings, followed by an instance of Hybrid Reverb at its default settings, followed by an instance of Live’s Multiband Dynamics processor using the famed OTT preset set to about 50 per cent wet, followed by an Echo plugin at roughly the default settings and an EQ to emphasize the highs.īut I’m still lacking that weird, organic, slightly unpredictable element.
![mest ezdrummer midi mest ezdrummer midi](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lIdSaboHOco/maxresdefault.jpg)
Mest ezdrummer midi Patch#
On our first instrument track, we’ll start with a synth patch – just a preset from MaxForCats’ “Pallas” that shows some promise. Select the kick drum from your drum rack in the “Audio From” dropdown and make your settings match what you see here:
![mest ezdrummer midi mest ezdrummer midi](https://dt7v1i9vyp3mf.cloudfront.net/styles/news_large/s3/imagelibrary/r/reaper_0518_01_standard_piano_roll_view-XqoTaSzMzhCjiwQ3jfKAfHOKo6r1q.wR.jpg)
Place a compressor device on the new group track and expand the device by clicking on the triangle on the top left to reveal the sidechain menu. In Ableton Live, accomplish this by creating an instrument track and, while it’s selected, use Command+G to create a group. Important Note: All our synth tracks on this session will be grouped and processed using a compressor that’s side-chained to the kick, an almost ubiquitous practice in electronic music. So we’ll want to take a metallic, pulsating synth hit and make it feel a bit more unpredictable, cultivating a version of the feel of Jon Hopkins’ 2013 track “Open Eye Signal.” Let’s listen again to the clip before adding the groove:Īnother fun trick you can play with audio from real musicians is using it to trigger your cold, sterile hardware. I simply right click on the clip and select “Extract Groove.” Now the “feel” from that clip is available in my groove pool, which will pop up underneath Live’s browser when I extract the groove.īy clicking and dragging that groove onto the MIDI clip that controls my electronic drums, I get an infusion of vibe, and my very straight robotic pocket turns much more interesting. So I’ve clicked and dragged that MIDI loop to a clip in Live’s session view and I’m not going to use the audio instead, I’m going to extract the groove and apply it to my electronic drums. But it has a pocket that’s really interesting and appealing. We’re looking for a groove that has the feel, some push and pull, something… interesting.Ĭracking open one of Toontrack’s EZX Expansions (Pop/Rock to be exact) I found a groove that on its own doesn’t sound like it would work in anything techno or house. This works because EZDrummer’s MIDI loops are taken from recorded performances of great session drummers.įor starters let’s put an instance of EZDrummer onto a new instrument track and open up the instrument’s MIDI browser. We’re going to use the MIDI library in Toontrack’s EZDrummer to find an interesting groove that’s a bit more interesting and organic than your standard MPC swing. In our session, we start with a straightforward beat in Ableton Live’s Drum Rack. Maybe the easiest way to add some vibe is to change the actual groove of your drum sequence.