This for real! Noise hats are my fav hats. With some resonance and filter movement you can get really nice stuff.
(you can also take it to extremes and get some lazer zaps just by boosting the resonance! win - win)
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Sledge
43
Nice!
I have completely overlooked the noise machine. Iāve been using 808 and 909 samples for so long that it hadnāt entered my mind.
So I spent the evening playing with this, I had nice closed hats within seconds 
also sound great when you LFO the sweep depth.
This has really pleased me. Finally nice hats from one of the synth machines!
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Try filtering the hihat machines too, often a hpf with a little resonance can make them sound nice, and LFO on the synth parameters or decay can give some nice movement to get away from the static feel.
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I guess the reason why many users were/are underwhelmed by Rytm hats is basically expectation. I myself was obsessed with 808 hats fifteen years ago. Ten years ago, I started to obsess over 606 hats. Five years ago, I got into 909s mainly. TRs (and other Roland/Boss machines) are everywhere. Then thereās MFB and Jomox and I guess Elektron wanted to do their own thing. The Rytm sound is its own thing, but maybe TR hats are stuck to deep in our ear canals?
There is something special about the TRs in general, if someone brings a 909 kick in the mix, chances are it will just fit. Same for the other TR voices, so theyāre stuck for good reasonā¦Rytm hats aināt bad, tho!
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With a bit of finesse I think theyāre perfectly usable. If you really take your time to experiment and learn where the sweet spots are for you, theyāre actually quite good hats, especially with a little bit of support from a sample. But I do think you have a point with the prevalence of the TR sounds, I think you have to think outside that box a bit to find what you like in the Rytm hats.
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Iām thinking most peopleās references to certain sounds are assumed to be direct from the machine and no post production. 808 sounds way better recorded than the machine did directly. Using filters to shape the machines is a must so it mixes better but that was a long journey.
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nah the toms come 1st, and also just a couple more options for a short snappy kick
Yes. Iād like one with a deeper initial transient (if thatās even possible, wavelengths being what they are).
Stoss
50
My favorite HiHats have been made using the noise engine or the cymbal engine. That being said, Iāve read some comments in here about using the filter along with LFO modulation of it to find the character you are after. I went back and revisited some of the sounds Iāve made using the HiHat engine and I was surprised to see that I didnāt use any filter at all on them and no modulation. The reason I was surprised was because I had discovered how vital the Filter, LFO, and Overdrive are for shaping kicks, snares, and many other sounds and why I had not yet applied that thinking to the HiHats is beyond me. I think I may have been trying to save the filter to use as a thinning effect within a performance macro. In any case, I am now inspired to sit with the Rytm again and really dive back into some HiHat sound design.
This is actually a really great reminder for me and for anyone who might be trying to create sounds exclusively using the analog engines (which I have dedicated myself to over the last year and a half). The use of the FILTER, OVERDRIVE, and LFO as well as creative use the AMP Envelope settings has been critical to finding the sweet spot that Iām looking forā¦ particularly when Iām trying to emulate another deviceās sounds. I mean, it is critical to the level that not using them leaves me super disappointed with the sounds Iām getting out of the Rytm. This is actually kind of odd, because it makes the Rytm a very abstract piece of gear with an unintuitive path to finding those sweet spots. Your expectation is that you should be able to dial in the sound you like using an analog engine and then use all of those pieces to effect it afterwards. But really, you need to be moving between all of these parameters continually and integrating them in the process of messing with the analog sound engine to find what you are after.
So, as far as sound engines goā¦ taking the time to dive into each engine, understand what is happening with each parameter and how that affects the sound, and then memorizing that to the level that you can intuitively pick which sound engine to useā¦ thatās a lot of work. I mean, Iād always welcome new analog engines, but I think Iām going to try out some filter modulation on my HiHats first.
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Airyck
51
I definitely use filter modulation on my Analog Hats which helps to shape them over time (which is needed I think).
Most of how I make them sound good though is by having a slower attack on the Amp envelope and Filter Envelope when it makes sense. This can mess up the timing/tightness of the rhythm though so I usually shift the trigs back a little with microtiming adjustments once I like the sound.
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I really canāt believe how long it took me to realize that a āniceā rhythm can be made a lot stankier by adjusting envelopes well after you have a sound you like. The nice thing about rediscovering equipment youāve put aside for a year or so with fresh ears and growth in process.
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This sounds like some black belt magic I donāt even know if my ears would hear. Will have to try it. 
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Thatās the cool thing, adjusting the envelopes is much more subtle than altering the microtiming or shifting the entire pattern left or right.
Itās great for creating āspaceā between each track in a way I didnāt consider when focusing solely on how āsnappyā or ālazyā each sample/synth track was in isolation.
The interplay is gr8 and takes me beyond sound design into if not humanized, more pleasing and ānaturalā territory. Things that sound cool in isolation need tweaking to interact with each other.
Itās probably super obvious but I think itās improved my mixing and beatmaking.
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Bloop
55
Yeah I also find filter mod to be a very important part of the hats character. With limited source parameters, this is really what defines the sound.
I almost always use the bandstop filter with env or lfo mod, adds some natural phasey motion like you hear when real cymbals are hit
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Totally. Itās easy to forget that groove/rhythm isnāt only based on when the note is played- but also how long that note is played for. Itās obvious in the scope of melodic instruments but itās just as important for percussive sounds. Arguably MORE important, because changing the envelope of such a short sound has an affect on the timbre, almost in a psychological way rather than a literal oneā¦
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Definitely, negative space holds a rhythmic āglueā and helps us know how to move.
1 Like
Airyck
58
Yes, I love to use the notch filter for that phasey stuff! You can really get a hat to fit with the other elements like that. Just like when you EQ out the frequencies of one sound to make room for the others. Also just for more organic less boring stuff too
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Airyck
59
Definitely! The attack of a sound is extremely important to our ability to recognize different sounds and determining the timbre of a sound imo.
It also can have a huge affect on a groove and the mix engineering of sounds.
While not a hat sound, bass can be made to work playing at the same time as a kick (house music for example) by increasing the attack of the amp envelope so that the punch of the kick comes through before the bass fades in. Itās subtle but it means you donāt need sidechain compression to have the bass and kick play (seemingly) at the same time.
For the AR hat sounds I find that the longer attack gets rid of a lot of the harshness that I think puts people off from them.
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Somebody recently posted a sound pack for the rytm with really nice soft hats that use only the analog machines. Canāt find it. Can anybody help?
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Borrowing a friendās Rytm and was initially put off by the default sound of the hihats as well. Would be very interested in hearing if there is still Rytm owners out there that have good tips.
