Rytm Kit Managment in 2017

[danlukas]

I hopped on the RYTM bandwagon immediately when they released it. I mean I ordered from Sweden and got on the first shipment. Loved it conceptually. Really wanted to move to making music without looking at my computer screen (Ableton). But I found it difficult to move from how software manages presets, files, songs and patterns and how hardware manages.

In particular I didn’t like (or fully grasp) Rytm’s file management. From how you load a kit, to not being able to access whatever kit I wanted whenever I wanted. Life happened and Elektron boxes got put away.

This Spring I decided to sell the stuff gathering dust. As I unboxed them to take pictures I remembered…

And now I’m back. I think.

Anyhow, here is my question:
Has Rytm file/kit management changed substantially from 2014 to now?
What is the current best resource to begin understanding it?
Thoughts, direction, guidance?

And yes… I searched here and google for content, but I still haven’t found what I’m looking for…

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[re5et]

Get collider
I’ve recently dug into rytm which I’ve had for ages
Kits seem a little weird , can’t easily copy them around , especially with samples but I did find collider iPad app helped
I think I’ll end up saving lots to the sound pool

I think using the digitakt helped a lot , making it a little easier to understand structurally , I haven’t dug into each engine yet though , just basic stuff
I haven’t tried overbridge either.

[danlukas]

It’s funny because the DT file system makes immediate sense to me. Everything is SELF contained. I’ll look into collider, though… I’m trying to lose the computer.

[Open_Mike]

I’ll speak a little bit about kits and patterns with an example flow…

Say you have a new project on pattern A1 and it has kit 1 loaded by default. Design and save the kit, create a pattern. The same kit can be used for multiple patterns so maybe you make a progression by creating patterns from A2 to A4, by not loading another kit to the patterns they will all still use kit 1.
Starting with A5 you decide you want another kit so go to kit menu and load kit2. Design your kit2 and save it. Maybe you want a progression through A8 so you keep using kit2(by not loading another one) until you get to A9.
For A9 you decide it should have its own kit and not be part of a progression so you load kit 3, edit it, save it, and when you get to A10 you load kit4, edit it, save it… Etc…

At any time you can link an existing or new kit to any pattern from the kit menu…
Any kits edits will remain through progressions using the same kit, and if you edit a kit that’s not in a progression it too will keep those changes if you leave its pattern and come back to it, until power cycle(explained below).
There is also a kit reload on pattern change option in the settings that will force the kits to be in their saved state when switching to a different pattern, if you prefer…

Patterns are autosaved but only until you switch projects so save the project every once in awhile when it’s in a state of your liking…
You can save track “sounds” individually to load to kits or be able to use sound locks on trigs…
When you power off the rytm and turn it back on, any edited kits will be reloaded to their saved state except the active one. This way if you save your kits when you like them, you can freely tweak away all of them and only save them again if you want to keep the changes, as all but the currently active one will be reloaded once you fire it up again…

There’s more but that’s some of it…
I really like the way it’s set up personally, until you go trying to move stuff in between projects, that’s a different story!

[macropod]

I’ll also add that if you miss the DAW approach to presets, RYTM Sounds and banks of sounds are your friend. I have all my sounds in banks of type, so I can quickly access each bank using the trig keys and the sound browser. I’ve gone as far as labelling the front of the Rytm with each sound type so I can just hit function-sound, browser, tap trig key for “snares”, audition snare sounds. Really made a big difference to my speed especially with samples.

[danlukas]

That’s helpful. Thx!

What about kits with sounds that use both synth and sample? I’m remembering this being an issue for me.

My creative habits are a little manic, I tend to sound design as I write. There’s an interplay of inspiration.

[danlukas]

Did you use overbridge to arrange that way?

That’s great. Something like this?
A kicks
B snares
C rim
D etc

Do you use sound packs? How does moving sounds tied to samples work?

[macropod]

I think I tried to use overbridge but it was too unstable at the time. Might be a good way now though. I keep A as a catch-all kind of inbox bank so sound packs dont end up in my Kicks bank. Sample storage is totally abstract in Rytm’s as far as I know. I think the samples are hashed and stored in a big dictionary somewhere, the folders system for samples are pretty much UI candy on top of that so it doesn’t matter about moving them. Someone correct me on that if I’m wrong. When you load a sound into a kit, it’s sample comes along for the ride. Downside to that is your list of samples can end up pretty random.

[danlukas]

Interesting Discovery (for me). Maybe this will help someone.

I’m in a project named VHS (It’s the project for the VHS sound pack). I like a sound that is based on a SAMPLE (not synth) so…

I save it in the SOUND manager (whatever). I also make a note of the name and position of the sample it relies on because I think I’ll need this when I import the sound to a kit. It was like sample 72 and a Rhodes/keys sound.

I then leave the VHS project and move into a new unused project. Which, at least as I have understood it, have NO samples loaded and some default kit setup.

I then go into the browser to load a SOUND to a particular track (I think it was the HT). After I do it I begin preparation to go find the sample and bring it in AND save it to slot 72.

However I discover that I don’t need to do that. WHAT?! Amazing. The way to connect different sounds from different sound banks is to… save individual sounds. That way the sample slot number doesn’t seem to be relevant.

My head is still spinning. I’m assuming I’m missing something. But this is a huge ‘discovery’ for me.

[re5et]

it was new to me too , until i saw cuckoo’s big rytm tutorial and tried it out.
so , if you have a sound you like that uses a sample , save the sound to use it in other projects.
it maps the sample to the next blank slot (or something like that).

[OHEXOH]

From what I remember this was a updated fix, it used to load / ref the sample in the sample slot it was saved from.

A sample manager is still very much welcome in 2017.