Looking for some tips when working with pattern chain devices… I usually work in patterns of 8 bars to make chaining/song structuring manageable (20x 8 bars vs 100+2 bars etc). But always run into problems when I want to program unique breaks,fills and drops at key points in a track. Little fills at the end of every 8 bars is fine, but if I want a 2 bar unique fill/drop just before bar 64 say, I run into the problem where a 2 bar pattern comes at the end of an 8th bar in the chain, so not exactly where I would want it. The solution is probably programming a unique 8bar pattern to insert into these moments. But that gets quite cluttered/inefficient. Does anyone have any other method of doing this?
I’m fairly new to the pattern chain workflow however the way I’m approaching things from a recording/arranging standpoint I program all my parts and then record the individual tracks into Cubase where I then chop them up if needs be.
For breaks/fills I’ll record those parts separately often with an empty pattern at the end to catch tails etc.
Once I have all the material I then arrange. This gives me the creative flexibility and power of the Elektron sequencer and then the precision editing the audio in the DAW.