So, I’ve been having a go at using chromatic mode to get a bass out of the AR.
First crack was to use the RimShot pad, set up a classic kick and turn off the frequency sweeps.
A bit of over-drive and it works quite well. Using a high-pass filter chops the bottom off enough for my kick drum to not get swamped, although intuitively a high-pass filter on a bass feels wrong.
What I have noticed though, is that getting the tuning spot-on is quite difficult.
Anyone come across a way to fine-tune chromatic sounds?
Perhaps a dedicated bass machine, available on the bottom 4 pads would be a useful feature?
Does chromatic mode not automatically map the pitch to the notes in a octave? I’m planning on getting a AR soon and chromatic drums was a big selling point for me.
[b]TUN /b sets the pitch of the voltage controlled oscillator in chromatic semi-tones. To move faster, press the knob while turn- ing it. Bipolar knob range (-64-+63).
@R7 AR has chromatic mode, yes. It requires a couple of steps p.10, it goes up 4 octaves i believe.
No - I’m using a tuner to check the tuning and it’s a off by a significant amount.[/quote]
A drum is by nature, going to change in pitch over time. As the skin (s) vibrate lower, they also slow down and the pitch goes down. It’s a normal behaviour, and so, tuning a drum usually involves a bit of subjectivity and approximation. I’m not surprised that a guitar tuner would not pick up a single, steady frequency from a drum machine. Harmonics might be throwing it off too. I’d say the best way is to tune by ear, to a note from a synth. When something works, consider if tuned. Even then playing wth the pitch envelope depth and time will, obviously, change the pitch. So, in essence, tuning a drum properly, with the right pitch envelope decay and depth, could take quite a bit of fiddling, and will rarely be “perfect”. I wouldn’t sweat it, use your ears and go from there
Cheers
No - I’m using a tuner to check the tuning and it’s a off by a significant amount.[/quote]
A drum is by nature, going to change in pitch over time. As the skin (s) vibrate lower, they also slow down and the pitch goes down. It’s a normal behaviour, and so, tuning a drum usually involves a bit of subjectivity and approximation. I’m not surprised that a guitar tuner would not pick up a single, steady frequency from a drum machine. Harmonics might be throwing it off too. I’d say the best way is to tune by ear, to a note from a synth. When something works, consider if tuned. Even then playing wth the pitch envelope depth and time will, obviously, change the pitch. So, in essence, tuning a drum properly, with the right pitch envelope decay and depth, could take quite a bit of fiddling, and will rarely be “perfect”. I wouldn’t sweat it, use your ears and go from there
Cheers
[/quote]
You’re kind-of missing the point I’m making.
I know it’s a drum machine and I know how drums are synthesised.
I have a single, steady frequency which I can see not fluctuating (I have the sweep disabled).
I can HEAR that the tuning is off, it’s not just the tuner. I just used the tuner to check.
All I was asking is - is there any way to fine-tune the frequency.
It seems that there isn’t, so I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to use Rytm for bass as things stand.
I suggest posting some #s for the tunings (eg record it and measure the fundamental frequency with a plugin or your favorite audio editor) and also post the patch parameters, then other people could compare. If there’s variation then we know it’s a calibration issue.
There should be more control over this in a future OS release. It seems like there is no ‘Master Tune’ option on the AR to set the base tuning (typically A=440Hz) which is a shame, and it seems like the individual machines are tuned in semitones (but the manual does not say clearly - why not, Elektron?).
I think this is a key point to bring up, because while the machine clearly does fantastic bass sounds, they won’t be very usable if they’re out of tune with other instruments!
OK, with these params on the RS (classic kick), I’m getting just below a B at 61.4 Hz.
Tun 0
Sw 0
Swd 0
Dec 96
Wav (middle pos)
Hold 0
Tra 0
Level 126
No Sample
Open filter
Amp params, 1, auto, 4
LFO set to do nothing
If I use a sample instead, it seems to be spot on tuning-wise.
Those of you who said so are right though, I could just use a sample.
Edit: I’ll tell you what, using a saw sample tuned properly and then using the analog osc as a sub works very nicely - even if it’s slightly out of tune!
a little off topic, but are you able to sequence chromatic notes in grid recording mode? on mine, doing as the manual says, it will sequence the trigs in but will just play the original sound. the only way for me to sequence chromatic notes is live recording, which is a bit frustrating atm.
So off by -0.34 and +0.73 Hz on two different machines, plus tracking errors… This does sound like a calibration issue, but I’m hopeful it could be managed in software.
Yes I am able to do that. You must press the trig button and while holding it press the pad in chromatic mode you want. It doesn’t work the other way around.
