Drum tracks and voices

ModularOverkill · 2014-03-18T21:20:09.000Z

I feel like I must be doing something wrong, but even a simple drum track will consume nearly all the voices on my A4. Kick/snare/HH take up at least three, and I can’t use p-locks (I assume) because I want them layered on each other instead of just alternating.

Is there a simple solution to this or should I just assume that I can’t have drums + lead + bass on an A4?

avantronica · 2014-03-18T21:25:20.000Z

you can do a tonne with 4 voices, soundlocks & delay will take away some of the pain, but 4 voices is 4 voices, not an obstacle for my needs

bandersong · 2014-03-18T21:36:21.000Z

Well yeah that’s 3 out of 4 voices.

However I’m gonna say that I basically see no point in putting a snare and a closed hh over each other. Just p-lock the hit before the snare (the hh) and put a delay on it if you really want that for a straight 16th let’s say.

Just gotta get creative or outsource some of your sounds

ModularOverkill · 2014-03-19T01:07:51.000Z

ugh. I have an MD that can take over drums, but only having 4 voices does make it a bit more fiddly. There’s a certain ease to just dropping 16th note HHs everywhere without having to worry about ‘oh, wait, there’s a snare in there, so remove the HH and plock it to a snare, and use a delay…’

subq · 2014-03-19T05:32:14.000Z

Don’t feel alone on the 4 voice thing, I personally don’t know how anyone could give up a voice to drums on the A4, I use all my voices for standard synth sounds. Right now I settle for a volca beats (if I’m insisting on analog) until I get an AR. Otherwise, midi to the ipad does the job.

TrabanT · 2014-03-19T05:46:43.000Z

micro timing might be an idea also

avantronica · 2014-03-19T10:18:33.000Z

""ModularOverkill"":

‘oh, wait, there’s a snare in there, so remove the HH and plock it to a snare’

that’s what a real drummer would do …, not sure what you hope to achieve here, there are 4 voices, use them as you please, feed the (low voltage) cv back into the inputs and modulate and use that for something

ModularOverkill · 2014-03-19T13:26:58.000Z

This isn’t a slam on the A4 – 4 voices are 4 voices after all. I was hoping there was some trick that would let me get the effect I wanted (in theory I suppose I could make a BD+snare layered voice or something to that effect if I really wanted to go that route).

It just makes it less convenient as a portable groove box.

kick + snare + hh on the same beat is pretty common in house, and real drummers can do that no problem. So I’ll have to improvise a bit or just use my MD for drums most of the time.

bandersong · 2014-03-19T13:36:28.000Z

""ModularOverkill"":

This isn’t a slam on the A4 – 4 voices are 4 voices after all. I was hoping there was some trick that would let me get the effect I wanted (in theory I suppose I could make a BD+snare layered voice or something to that effect if I really wanted to go that route).

It just makes it less convenient as a portable groove box.

kick + snare + hh on the same beat is pretty common in house, and real drummers can do that no problem. So I’ll have to improvise a bit or just use my MD for drums most of the time.

From my experience the A4 isn’t that strong for drums anyways. It’s certainly okay but I’m having a good time sequencing synth sounds with my friends A4 and running Nepheton (808 vst) on my computer for drums. Very flexible, now if only I could sequence MIDI on the A4…

ModularOverkill · 2014-03-19T14:08:57.000Z

yeah, i’m traveling on business right now and had room to pack the A4 – figure being stuck in a hotel room for a few days would be a huge opportunity to learn the A4.

And I’m definitely learning it, I just keep running out of voices. The chords are great however, but I start using them and get into a Deadmau5 vibe…then run out of voices. Argh!

I think part of the ‘Elektron sound’ people use to criticize the A4 is that everything ends up with a minimal ambient sound with lots of reverb and delay, partly to mask the lack of actual polyphony.

I’m excited to hook it up to my MD when I get home though, that should be a pretty cool setup.

subq · 2014-03-19T14:45:43.000Z

hey, I love my A4 but 4 voices is 4 voices…more would definitely be better

I do a lot of layering and if I need some chords and go into polyphony mode the 4 voices are pretty much zapped…I could use an 8 or 12 voice A4 heheh

…oh and on the drums, since I deal with acoustic, hat(open/closed)+snare is quite normal…personally, I don’t see 1 track/voice as a viable drum solution…could work in some cases sure…I am typically using at the very least 4 midi tracks on the OT for drums…I can’t wait for the AR though

bandersong · 2014-03-19T14:52:50.000Z

""ModularOverkill"":

yeah, i’m traveling on business right now and had room to pack the A4 – figure being stuck in a hotel room for a few days would be a huge opportunity to learn the A4.

And I’m definitely learning it, I just keep running out of voices. The chords are great however, but I start using them and get into a Deadmau5 vibe…then run out of voices. Argh!

I think part of the ‘Elektron sound’ people use to criticize the A4 is that everything ends up with a minimal ambient sound with lots of reverb and delay, partly to mask the lack of actual polyphony.

I’m excited to hook it up to my MD when I get home though, that should be a pretty cool setup.

I totally agree with the criticism of Elektron sound but at the same time, people buy analog synthesizers with only one voice for like $500.
The problem comes when you try to make one Elektron box do all the work. It just isn’t that feasible.

ModularOverkill · 2014-03-19T15:32:14.000Z

i think i let myself get a little overimpressed by Dataline and Cuckoo’s demos (using just the A4) so I convinced myself that an A4 could do everything. And I think this is true, if you’re willing to stay very disciplined about voice allocation.

I do have an MD though, but for travel fitting two of Elektron boxes is pushing it, so I’m a little bummed that a single one isn’t quite powerful enough for song writing. Song sketching, sure, but doing a full song doesn’t seem possible unless I go the ambient reverb delay minimal style.

Which is maybe the direction I go when just playing with the A4 by itself, and that’s not a bad thing, but not what I expected. I have a home studio that’s Cirklon based w/ a modular + Prophet08 and outboard effects but my goal is/was to have Elektron box(es) be a separate, portable music construction rig with an emphasis on live jamming.

subq · 2014-03-19T15:41:16.000Z

A4 is definitely not a one box wonder. The closest thing to that would be an OT with all the samples already loaded and that would probably leave you wanting. The OT can sequence external gear though so if you add that in the mix it gets closer.

I already have the OT and A4 but the AR is a much needed piece IMO. Once my AR arrives, I will probably still be using my OT to sequence external gear.

bandersong · 2014-03-19T15:49:19.000Z

""ModularOverkill"":

i think i let myself get a little overimpressed by Dataline and Cuckoo’s demos (using just the A4) so I convinced myself that an A4 could do everything. And I think this is true, if you’re willing to stay very disciplined about voice allocation.

I do have an MD though, but for travel fitting two of Elektron boxes is pushing it, so I’m a little bummed that a single one isn’t quite powerful enough for song writing. Song sketching, sure, but doing a full song doesn’t seem possible unless I go the ambient reverb delay minimal style.

Which is maybe the direction I go when just playing with the A4 by itself, and that’s not a bad thing, but not what I expected. I have a home studio that’s Cirklon based w/ a modular + Prophet08 and outboard effects but my goal is/was to have Elektron box(es) be a separate, portable music construction rig with an emphasis on live jamming.

Thats the thing though. Those are DEMOS.
They are songs specifically crafted to show off these boxes. They are not necessarily the music these people would make given a full studio…

bandersong · 2014-03-19T15:50:10.000Z

""subq"":

A4 is definitely not a one box wonder. The closest thing to that would be an OT with all the samples already loaded and that would probably leave you wanting. The OT can sequence external gear though so if you add that in the mix it gets closer.

I already have the OT and A4 but the AR is a much needed piece IMO. Once my AR arrives, I will probably still be using my OT to sequence external gear.

Ha yeah, I already miss my OT but in the end I felt that for the music I was making I needed to handle more things in my DAW. The OT was truly the closest I’ve ever experienced to a hardware DAW like Ableton and not just a multitrack.