How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Cultural Convention

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

when first playing a Machinedrum back in 2007, I was flummoxed by the seemingly arbitrary designation of bd, sn, ht, mt, lt, cp, etc etc

ignored the convention and in fact as a statement of individual freedom and personal expression, made sure to put my samples on completely differently labelled slots.

but then one day when i noticed the same convention would be used on the Digitakt, thought … well why ever not just follow the convention, it isn’t like not following it is advantageous in any way whatsoever.

developed my own code …

bd is bassdrum, yes.
sd is snare drum, cool.

but then … high tom? when do i use a high tom? not often.

but the letters ht kind of represent “hat”.

so i always put the high hat on ht.

medium tom, mt, is kind of mid-range like a vocal sample is often mid-range.
so the slot mt is saved for a vocal or mid range keyboard sample.

The low tom is also the same frequency range as a bass guitar or synthesizer, so the “Lt” slot is used for a bass sample, or a tom drum of any sort.

anyway just writing about the subject as it is kind of bizarre and yet worth talking about i guess.

the idea with physical instruments is achieving economical muscle memory,
and to some degree, drum machines and sequencers are similarly benefited from some form of arbitrary habitual designations.

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#2

Some interesting thoughts there.

Not least the highly infrequent requirement for a high tom.

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#3

steady on, high toms are 90% of what I do. (the rest is congas)

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#4

ever since listening to Juno Reactor’s “Bible of Dreams” in a Melbourne sharehouse circa 1998, i’ve dreamed of making congas work in a satisfying yet recontextualised scenario.

#5

I’m really bad at remembering that HC = clap (handclap) on the TR-8. I think I’m always looking for CP as on the Machinedrum.

#6

i remember making my peace with the labeling pretty early on in my md ownership, when i realized that in low-light situations i couldn’t read the damn things anyway :smiley:

i’ve arrived at a couple of sonic arrangements that makes sense to me (and which i won’t bore anyone with) but as much as developing muscle memory, i’ve realized it’s easier for me to find sounds at a moment’s notice on the md when they’re grouped in pairs. (a kick w/ its trigged transient pairing, two pairs for a HH-heavy top, etc.) then i’ve only got eight zones to keep track of rather than 16 buttons, which quickly confuse me when the pressure’s on.

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#7

very cool … is this for drum layering …

yes, 16 buttons is kind of almost too much in some ways.

After committing slots 9-16 on all of the Kits to be for the Record/Play machines, and one slot 8 for playing the Prophecy…

Well, the limitation of just using 6 or 7 slots made me realise those drum type labels were pretty much the sounds i use anyway. Clarified the situation. And noticing the labels were there, it just seemed natural to try and work with it.

i will delightedly go ahead and be boring, describing further my own personal code for the Cultural Convention … RS … Rim Shot … who uses the rim shot sound these days? Maybe not as many as should be :smiley: … anyway the sound “type” is percussion, so i will place any type of percussion sound on that one.

yes, in low light the labels become invisible, but in the studio, at least it is cool to just go oh … bassdrum, i goto slot 1 … snaredrum, i goto slot 2. hat, i goto slot 3. open hat, place on slot 4 if there is no vocal or key sample, or on the RS slot.

never quite got a similar file arrangement working smoothly for the Octatrack, the playing field is so much more expansive than the Machinedrum, somehow overwhelming. And yet, has its own set of limitations.

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#8

I quite often replace the #2 (snare) slot on the MD with a midi machine to trigger the TR-8’s kick so I can easily mute them at the same time when they’re layered.

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#9

lol i just realised layering is totally going to change my templating. the Jomox Base11 arrived yesterday :smiley:

if all the drums required layering it would be easy,
2nd set of 8 trigs are corresponding trig-layers for the 1st eight.

but no, layering is only sometimes required. just goes to show how important flexibility is over some kind of label usage agreement.