I don’t even know how to Form the question tbh so don’t shoot if it makes no sense.
Say i have a Project that consists of a beat that is 2 pages, so 32 steps long.
I then choose a bass sound or some kind of synth, jam over the beat and think “nice progression. only it is a lot longer than 32 steps”
I noticed that you can set individual lengths for each Track. Since i am very new to the Elektron workflow i have not thoroughly tested how it works though- i don`t get it yet.
Is there a way to spontaneously capture the progression i am playing that is longer than the loop that is playing as a basis? Or do i have to go into the Page setting, set a longer length for one track and then play the progression-record the progression live?
Ps: if you have a suggestion how to better express-write my question feel free to let me know please
Wow my brain is melting trying to understand and predict how it will look like.
Will try it tomorrow cause I am too mind tired now.
Reason why I want The beat to be 32 steps is an easier overview. I don’t know if I get you correctly, but will this make everything in the project longer or only this one track I want to play the melody on?
I am not that accustomed to the workflow yet So I would not want my beat tracks to also be extended in length too because I’m having trouble remembering what is where if I want to edit anything like triggers. It is much easier if it’s only 16 or 32 steps long (at least for now) Cause I use Many more drum triggers than melody notes if that makes sense.
So if I have a 32 step project and set what you suggest with 1/2 I could have a single track (the melody in this case), be 64 steps long in a 32 step project? Am I getting it right ?
You can keep the 32 steps sequences length, change other tracks lengths as you wish, 128 steps max.
Press Func + Page, Func + Yes :
Scale Per Track mode
Select tracks to change their length. Master has to match longest length, or longer for more complex stuff.
Ok. First off, you’re thinking way too small. Think bigger.
A project can contain an entire albums worth of tracks, or a 3 hour live set for example.
A project is just a file, in that file lives banks, and patterns. These banks of patterns are what make up your albums worth of tracks, or live set.
You can have eg bass lines that span more than 4 bars or 8 bars, by simply chaining patterns. Chain them before you play the notes in, and bingo, theres your 16 bar phrase.
So you can have a 16 bar bassline over a 2 bar drum beat. Easy.
Ok now that i read this then you are right, i was thinking small.
Its mainly because i am trying to understand what i am doing so i dont work completely randomly.
While i can do the basic things, everyday i discover a new layer of depth on the machine.
Reading the manual can only help so much. I only get it when i actually start doing things.
Hmm that sounds cool and scary. Now that i think of it, say the project is playing back and i want to record a played melody, how will i know where i am in the timeline of the 8-16 bar track (the prolonged track) and when it will loop.
Yesternight i watched a video about Page looping and tried it out. Its mind bending how many tricks you can do inside this alone.
Also i find a bit confusing how the Page Led-Indicators work when i am trying to jump to a specific Page in a playing project. If you are a newbie there are loads of space for error on what is actually playing and what you are seeing and some other things i always encounter (but also always forget to take notes of so i can
comment on it.)
Ok roger, so i will try to apply this today or tomorrow when i get a moment for music making
Thank you
When i say Project i mean a „Theme“. Like i load a Project that is called "cold spring“ (random name)
and usually most of my Projects are relatively short 16-64 steps cause:
A) Its too much information if they are longer
B) Using Probability and the other Trigger trickery, modulations etc a loop can sound a lot longer than one would expect by hearing how many steps we are talking about. I am impressed so far
Thats what i love. The times of the same exact loop playing for 16 steps sounding exactly the same are forever gone
Patterns are super advanced words for me for now…… i am rather at a level where i am happy if i successfully jam for an hour and then manage to save everything and also remember how to replicate steps i did so i understand how the machine works
…with all elektron devices, preparation is key, if u really wanna enjoy the whole catalogue of freedom they could provide…
in u r case, first thing u might wanna do, once u got something going u wanna now jam along with in realtime recording, is maxing out the overall length of that pattern…by just copy paste functions…
since we now got 32 bars max, instead of 16 before, and ur already maxed out with all pages, no way around to get used to individual length concepts…
basic rule here is, what works for individual lanes, also works for all at once…
wrap ur head around basic math 'n measures of halftime/double time…
but u can also always work around…in ur case i’d say…copy ur pattern three times…jam once on the first one, jam once on the 2md one…listen to what u got and copy paste all the lucky moments into the third, final one…delete the first two and move on with number 3…
meanwhile, repetition always makes the hit…and rehearsing takes multiple times always moves u forward…
Setting pattern length/scale per track is my go-to for doing what you want to do. Once you get the muscle-memory down, it’s dead easy to set it up.
Track scale is great too, especially for longer chord progressions. As said previously, it effectively can double the duration of any track, although you don’t get extra notes to play. So, for example, in a 64-step track set at 1/2 scale, it will play the equivalent of 128 steps at 1 scale…basically each trig step represents an 8th note rather than a 16th. With microtiming, you can make it nuanced, but you can’t rattle off a ton of notes. Also, you need to remember to set the master length to 128 if you want a 1/2 scale 64-step track to play all the way through.
i am rather at a level where i am happy if i successfully jam for an hour and then manage to save everything and also remember how to replicate steps i did so i understand how the machine works