Hey guys, just Got the AR and I feel really inspired using it and really overwhelmed at the same time, so much to get a grip on!
My main goal right now is getting good at using samples/chains/single cycles in a natural way, and watching alot of jams with the AR and using samples as synthleads/keys/pads Got my hopes up using the AR more than for just drums.
So my question here is what is the correct settings for samples to have it play out like different synthsounds, start/end points? Loop mode? How do I get a note to play out longer like a Pad from a sample?
Congrats it’s a fab machine.
Try this recent thread, which helped me a lot. There’s a nice video in there with ideas and tricks.
For pads:
Set up loop points, loop on, lfo to sample start with say square, use the band pass filter, stuff around with that ,
take decay off auto and work with the adr, hold,
Set up the after touch or velocity mod to start and end
Use chromatic
I like using the tip in said thread: performance mode with a few pads set to start and end, and glitch and grain out the sample or glide thru waves
Also set up the reverb and delay to taste, maybe heavy
You can also lock in per step different lfo modulaations from extreme to subtle
Treat each step like a modular cable connection
Don’t forget to use slide on steps to smooth it up
After all this , Also look into the timestrech trick and thread - and the sample select lfo scanning tricks
Good luck
Single-Cycle’s are effectively reproduced by setting Start/End-Point of the Sample to the same value (or one value away from each other) and having Loop turned on. You can cycle through the Sample to find the necessary sweet spots and use the AMP Envelope to shape the sound.
One tip: Dont use very long samples if you want to create Single Cycle Waveforms. Sample Start/End Point scale with the length of the sample, so if you have a Sample which is incredibly long - start and end point might not be spot on in the worst case and you would hear a fast loop rather than a single wave.
Is it possible when finding these “sweetspots” to “drag out” the sound thereby creating longer notes?
Or maybe its the same workaround like Orwell mentioned above regarding making Pads?
I think you mean something like the the single cycle loop scanning through the sample at a specified rate? If not then just set the sample to loop and use the Amp env to achieve this. I spent a lot of time sculpting these kind of sounds with no filter envelope just to get used to the amp env and it helped quite a bit. then try messing with the different LFO settings, etc. Keep it up! sounds like you have a vision!
By looping an extremely small part of a sample your kind of mimicking an oscillator of a synthesizer. Synthesizers have different timbres depending on the wave shape of the oscillator. By changing which extremely small section of sample loops, you get different timbres, like changing the waveform of an oscillator but your waveforms come from your sample…
You can play these like a synth and you can get different length notes by adjusting the amp page settings and the note len setting on the trig page(for sequenced notes)…
With some of the drum engines you can dial the settings in the synth page so you hear a stable tuned oscillator which you can then play as a real analog synth voice, in case you are unaware…
Thanks for the detailed instructions, had the Idea I knew the basic synthetis but obviously not even near! think I might get the hang of it, but what difference is it to the samples when you use different machines/drum engines?
In general, the sample playback will not be affected by changing the synth engine. You get different synth sounds by choosing the engine and adjusting parameters, you get different sample sounds by changing the sample and adjusting parameters, these two sounds are added together and passed through overdrive, filter, amp, and can be sent to fx.
If you are referring to the last sentence of my reply, I was suggesting to not use a sample at all and use one of the rytms analog oscillators as a lead or bass synth, in case you haven’t thought of this…
think I might get the hang of it, but what difference is it to the samples when you use different machines/drum engines? 