Well I’ve been messing with my Rythm for few hours now and loving it.
One thing though, I’ve quickly noticed how so much stuff I take for granted in my DAW such as visual feedback in an parametric EQ or spectrum anaylser and precise values as you move the mouse (or midi controler) is missing in the hardware realm - in the Rytm a lot of stuff is just an abstract value between 0 and 127.
So how do you folks who produce OTB do without the visual information a DAW provides?
Mixing in a DAW it’s very easy to boost/cut at precise frequencies etc.
This isn’t a criticism of the Rytm, just curious to how the more experienced hardware guys do their producing.
I’m hoping/expecting Overbridge will overcome this somewhat as well - my hope is that a wicked Rytm tune can be taken into the Daw for finishing touches/eq adjustments and polishing.
[quote=“” DeltaPhoenix""]
Use other hardware like a mixer, rack eq, etc.
Mix with ears, not eyes.
[/quote]
Pretty much what DeltaPhoenix said. Accept the facts that you will make mistakes along the way. Memorize the shortcuts and ins and out of the machine. Once you know the machine and out you will have the muscle memory to jump through menus and get to where you want to be.
I like it that it’s abstract. I’m a bit limited, it’s difficult for me to look and listen carefully at the same time. That’s why I use hardware, I can just turn knobs and press buttons, without the need to look at the where the pointer of the mouse is at the same time.
You won’t need the Overbridge to do that. Why not record into your DAW using either the main outs or the individual outs?
I second what everyone else said. I like control and precision, so it was hard to let go at first, but once I started using hardware and getting away from the computer I adjusted very quickly and I find it both more creative and productive.
one added thing you should learn the soul of you rythm with headphones and hear everything as much as possible. knobs should be handled delicately and precisely. once you get to that point you will realize there is no need for a DAW.
I find it waaaaay more intuitive and simpler to make beats live on the Rytm… looking at the screen detracts from the work flow and being “in the moment”. Your creativity will reach new heights with hardware, heights that are a limitation of software/computer creation!
It’s my first piece of hardware as well, and I found the same thing after producing in Ableton for so many years.
It is strange, especially after being so anal about EQ for so long, to just trust the RYTM and turn the nobs and hope for the best!
My process at the moment is to construct a beat on RYTM, and then record the individual sounds via the master out, straight into ableton, then I add some sidechain to the bass, and a bit of EQ etc, basically clean everything up and finish the tune in Ableton. But the RYTM allows me the freedom to create on the fly, to get into a flow, which I’ve never had before. Plus the bottom end is absolutely ridiculous.
It’s fucking awesome
I think eventually I’ll start creating whole tunes on the RYTM and start performing LIVE, but that’s a long way off.
I hear you guys! Sat on the sofa with my rytm last night and headphones on, messed around until 2 in the morning.
In a perfect world, right now each track would have at least a 3 band eq for quick sculpting.
I can remember when I first started making music on a computer with a demo version of Fruity Loops (as it was then called) - I had no idea whatsoever about using plugins eqs etc to shape sounds, cut things, roll off frequencies etc so it was just a case of messing around with the samples and synths until something sounded good then as I read more and more stuff in magazines over the years about how to “sound professional” so you get more concerned about frequencies etc and things being “perfect” .
I understand that when you use drum samples, you might need a 3 band EQ on each track; because there might be unwanted frequencies or harmonic energy in your sample.
However, you are now using a drum synth. The sounds are yours to create from scratch, not samples. If you have unwanted stuff, think of your problem as a synth problem rather than as if it was a sample. It’s likely that you can get the drums to sound just as good by tweaking the synth parameters, and might not need an EQ at all.
I have never played the RYTM, but I have a good experience of the Machinedrum, and even though it has an EQ on each track, I really, really seldom use it.
Don’t do that… if you do that you will miss a huge amount of creativity, a huge amount of life in your drums, things that’ you can’t have in Ableton live unless to spend a huge amount of time in MICRO-Editing.
Keep the “Perform” in your chain and don’t loose it by just designing one shot. For me the best way is to sync ALL and Record when you have finish or have very great ideas of the final arrangement. Or record your part with overdub in your daw (you can see overdub and multiple takes in tutorial)
Use the Pattern and build variations… maybe use SONG mode…
And Record when you have done, polish the final Arrangement and voila.
A few things to consider are that sweep & sweep time will affect EQ in some degree, of course using different filter setting sculpts sound (leave room for higher pitched sounds with a LPF, use a HPF to take boom out of a sound, etc.). Plus there are a lot of different gain stages to keep in mind when doing sound design.
Would a 3 band filter for each voice be cool? Sure.
Am I holding my breath and not having fun without that? No Way.
When working in all-hardware mode (I use DAWs too for some work), I accept that the sound is going to be different.
I don’t tend to release much recorded material though. 98% of what I do is live gigs (with a partner), where people can often be more appreciative that the sound is not over-processed or over-produced.
Btw, Rytm does have filter modes (e.g. peak and notch) which can be used to sculpt the sound a little. So long as you’re not relying too heavily on the filter for the sound, you can use high pass to chop the bottom end off where necessary. Peak is effectively like a sweep-able EQ boost.
If you’re really going to be anal about EQs etc., I guess you could use a digital desk which allows you to have complex EQ curves per track. You could route individual outputs into such a desk.
[quote=“J0bey”]My process at the moment is to construct a beat on RYTM, and then record the individual sounds via the master out, straight into ableton, then I add some sidechain to the bass, and a bit of EQ etc, basically clean everything up and finish the tune in Ableton. But the RYTM allows me the freedom to create on the fly, to get into a flow, which I’ve never had before. Plus the bottom end is absolutely ridiculous.
It’s fucking awesome
I think eventually I’ll start creating whole tunes on the RYTM and start performing LIVE, but that’s a long way off.
[/quote]
Don’t do that… if you do that you will miss a huge amount of creativity, a huge amount of life in your drums, things that’ you can’t have in Ableton live unless to spend a huge amount of time in MICRO-Editing.
Keep the “Perform” in your chain and don’t loose it by just designing one shot. For me the best way is to sync ALL and Record when you have finish or have very great ideas of the final arrangement. Or record your part with overdub in your daw (you can see overdub and multiple takes in tutorial)
Use the Pattern and build variations… maybe use SONG mode…
And Record when you have done, polish the final Arrangement and voila.
Just my Advises…
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I guess you misunderstood me a little bit, probably because I explained myself poorly. I don’t record a single hit of a drum sound, I record the whole track, of that particular sound (soloed) , which includes all of the parameter tweaks and variations I’ve added on the RYTM. My point was that I use Ableton to fix the EQ’s of a sound and give the track an overall polish.
