Sound Design : Techno stab

Question for you if you have the bandwidth : when you’re using poly meters, how do you set up your pattern length/change length on your digis?

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Switched to per track mode set the track’s length to 5, 10, 15 for a 5 step meter (with varying degrees of complexity). M.len should be set to infinite so that the polymeter keeps going and isn’t reset. Change length can be any number of steps that you want the sequence to take to switch to a next pattern. Generally I just keep it simple and use 16 or 64. But i mostly work with 1 pattern per groove.

If your track uses multiple patterns and you want the polyneter not to be broken, simply multiply the meter until it lines up with a 4 bar sequence. So for a 5 step this could be 40 steps for example.

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:content: Apparently simple for you, not for me, would you please give us a detailed example with some Elektron gear ?
I mean inspired by first example.

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Will try to find some time tonight :slight_smile:

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Having @DaveMech on this topic is an honor :slight_smile:
Really enjoying all your vids !

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I’m really trying to nail this technique at the moment also. Had good results with the DM12 because the unison options work with poly mode and make thicker sounding stabs with slight detune. That was my initial findings comparing with OB6 and Rev2, which unison only seems to work with mono mode. Otherwise spreading the oscillators out for thicker sound seems to work well.

Also 2 filters seem to work well. 1st for initial low pass cutoff sweep to create the stab sound. 2nd high pass or band pass to create some random movement?

Something like this? (made with syntakt)

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Yep ! Thanks I’ll give it a try in a few days, some things to finish before…

So it’s the recipe ? :content:

Yes :slight_smile:
in scale menu set one or more tracks to 5/16 length. And program steps like this: xoxoo

For the stab I used 4 digital tracks with bits and one analog voice with dual osc :stuck_out_tongue: All with their own lfo modulating filter frequency and waveform to create this movement that keeps on changing.

Also, to delay on 1/8th dotted. feedback not too long, no too short and keep it subtle.

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Your 5/4 polymeter recipe caught my eye and I’ve had my Syntakt on my desk for “focused distractions” from my day job…

Wilder delay than yours. I like to play the delay filter and feedback. I probably shouldn’t have put the hats through it. The stabs are two tracks of SY BITS that differ only by the TUN and DET amounts, to create the chords. I created a MIDI loopback (thanks @sezare56) to allow me to play the filter decay and cut-off of both synth tracks from one MIDI track. I like how yours is much more spacious and clear!

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Great Info Nauts Thanks!

Nice! Make sure you set the m.len of the pattern to infinite so that the 5 step keeps on going. On yours it resets (maybe that was the intent though so this could be a captain obvious comment :wink: )

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Or 5x16=80 if it’s drum are 16/16…here is an handy calculator by @Kalimari.
Elektron Octatrack: Track Trigs/Multiplier to Master Length Calculator

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Or that yeah. Never really use that. Just infinite :). Can create more complexity in the 5 step sequence by multiplying while it stays a 5 step polymeter as well. So 20 and 40, 60 steps work

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I guess for specific polyrythms it can allow a nicer transition compared to CHange length, but it can be long !

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Polymeters* :grin: (different from a polyrhythm)

Yeah definitely useful in some cases :slight_smile:

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Curious. I hear that too. I’m pretty sure it’s set correctly.

On listening back to it today, I realise the chord two tracks were out of step. I’d been messing with [FUNC]+[LEFT/RIGHT] whilst it played, to hear how that interacted with the polymeter… and probably got carried away and didn’t tidy it up so the two tracks matched (prior to recording). That might have affected it.

I hadn’t intended to take this to “finished” (or my definition of done was “a quick sketch to share”… ) only now I’m invested in it and I want to add more stuff :smiley:

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5 step polymeter that resets every 4 bars if I’m not mistaking

Nope :slight_smile: