I’m making percussion heavy techno adjacent music.
In my case I’m using an Analog Keys and a Digitakt. I love the percussion I can get out of my AK, but as there’s only four tracks, and not wishing to go too over the top on on sound locks, I want to split my percussion duties between the DT and the AK.
The question I have is, which percussion ‘types’ do you think it is better to have direct access to the synth parameters that made the sound in the first place, here the AK, and which are fine to sample and load into the DT and alter from there? Why?
Obviously substitute in your own drum synth and sampler, and tell us if that makes a difference to you.
I’m sure it’s a mostly personal decision as far as what works for someone and how cautious you are, but even if you’re resampling into your sampler, it’s a good idea to keep the original sounds in a stored pattern on the source machine so you can go back and edit it at the source if you run into an issue.
Really though, anything can be further sculpted if the sampler has decent sound design capabilities, which digitakt does. My opinion though, is that you’re always better off being able to make changes retroactively (be able to back out of or back up a step on what you’ve already done) than to try and remove that which you’ve printed into a sound by committing to it 100%.
Like I said, just my opinion, you have to do what works for you and if storing sounds in patterns and moving on to a new pattern when necessary doesn’t suit your workflow then don’t.
I agree. I think you need decide for yourself what works and what doesn’t. Your music is personal therefore it takes personal decision. You will get a number of opinions and all will differ, and you will ultimately end up figuring it out yourself anyway (unless you go with someone else’s style and aesthetic).
I’m sorry for this answer is of the type that I don’t particularly like, that which doesn’t answer the question directly, but I think in this case it is 100% valid. This is a problem solving issue 100% driven by personal choice and needs, not the needs of makes sense to the overall techno community - or at least it should for the sake individuality and creativity (if that matters, of course).
So in this hypothetical situation, neither of you would think as a starting point ‘hi-hats are a safe bet for the sampler, but I’d rather have my kick from the synth’, or something like that?
Yeah, I also have to clarify I like to focus on composition and sound design as separate components or I never get anywhere and spend all my time tweaking sounds which will have to be retweaked to fit together. I do a little initially then usually end up going back for more so I guess that’s where I’m coming from when I recommend this, if you work differently it might not work for you.
I can tell you that I would go for hats coming from a synth because I like to adjust the sound of the engine, but I also like to adjust the parameters of sampler like the pitch, to be able to reverse, to make it sound choppy, and I would think that some tracks are better suited for one approach and others for the other approach. I would then have to think, "OK, do I a) settle to tweak the synth parameters; b) would I rather tweak the sampler parameters; c) complicate my life and and do both, depending on the situation. I would try it all 3 options, make note of each, and then decide. I also know that the chances that I have to think of about this again in the near future, I will change my mind and do something else.
I use LFO’s on hats pretty frequently and sometimes how I want that to sound changes drastically between concept and how it ends up, even outside of the sound design aspect. You can definitely add LFO’s to the track on digitakt but you never know how resampling will change the sound until after you’ve done it, and then after that you have to see if it has the same character as it did with LFO’s (even with the same settings on the source device). I think you could really try it both ways but it ends up being time consuming to A/B everything which is one reason that when I get caught up on sound design I rarely finish anything.
I’m kinda like that about things though, I get wrapped up in the little details if I’m not careful and the trail of pretty colored rocks I’m following at my feet lead me tumbling off a cliff.
When I am working best, or most productively if that really counts as best, I tend to make decisions quickly and live with it. If after I’ve recorded a take something doesn’t work, I mute the offending track and replace it with something that better fits.
Realising that this is the case has made me question why I am making the quick decisions that I am making in the moment, and this thread is one of the reflections I’ve had while in between projects.
I’ve also had my most recent attempt at a track with extensive use of the AK fall to bits and abandonment for one reason or another, where I spent too much time on designing my way into a hole rather than thinking about composition and arrangement sufficiently, leading me to an unwieldy lump of a song that doesn’t move me emotionally or physically.
Yeah this is more important to me personally. The ability to tweak something into a sound that suits me.
I have a slight preference for drum machines, specifically something like the ST over samplers because I don’t like browsing hundreds of samples for the right kit. I’d rather have a limited palate to learn well.
This being said. I have a DT2 now and I literally never revisit the sample selection once I choose it.
I pick some random kicks, hats, snares, tons, blips, whatever and make them work. Sometimes the toms become my kicks or the hats my snares, etc.
Often times I’ll copy one track over and make the snare out of the same sample as the hat and also a filter pinged perc thing.
At the risk of being a bit too obvious I’d say try to just jam with your tracks on the ak to the degree that you can and see what sounds you actually end up tweaking on the board as part of your performance. Anything that doesn’t fall into that category could be easy sampling material. That’ll at least narrow down the choices.
Also, considering the frankly ridiculous amount of sampling time that many modern samplers (like the dt) have, why not try every one shot as a sample? It doesn’t mean you’re committed to it just because you sampled it.