As we try and wrap our heads around the limitations of the 8-tracks-but-not-quite-exactly-8-tracks “workstation” architecture of the Tonverk, what are some emerging strategies for dealing with drums (in the context of a full production, so, utilizing some subtacks?)
For me, just dedicating one set of 8 subtracks is right out as I don’t want the same reverb level on my snare and kick.
So:
How do we best utilize a set of tracks/subtracks to have enough FX on our drum kit?
Given the clunkiness of this, how do we make it fast to audition and select samples (since kits can’t span multiple tracks)?
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Re: #1, my thought was reserving 3-4 tracks worth of subtracks:
In this scenario, we could also use the subtracks of track 1 for anything unprocessed (stems, or dry bass).
Obviously this gets clunky to template, which leads to:
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Re: #2 — How do we make this fast? Kits are out, unless we wanted to load the same full kit to all four tracks, and then dial in different FX configurations for the those four tracks and then trigger drum hits that best correlate to a particular FX profile.
Do we template this by loading a bunch of samples to the A-H banks??
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Inshallah, we’ll get individual send FX levels on subtracks, which would make this mess so much easier to deal with.
Regarding send fx: Just plock the send levels on the supertrack? For example if you want a particular snare hit to go to a reverb you can just plock the step the snare is on.
If you want that reverb as part of the snare sound all the time just resample the snare with that reverb applied to it.
Edit: also regarding your perceived need for „strategies“ to deal with the „clunkiness“ in order to be more effective or something - idk, something about this rubs me the wrong way. It doesn’t sound fun at all.
If I had to do „serious“ music production with tight deadlines and high stakes again (thank god that’s over) I‘d just use my laptop and get to it.
Anyway, what is insanely fun imo is chucking a few hundred oneshots into an eldrum kit, disable velocity to volume in the amp settings and have a giant palette of drum sounds at my fingertips via p-locking velocity to each step - bam, drums solved for an entire project basically, with 7 tracks left to do whatever.
tbh my strategy involves not using em at all. I’m not a huge fan of the UX. I prefer just using single tracks instead n focusing on less sounds, and sample locking if needed.
with the opxy’s version of subtracks I’d have sh1tloads of drum sounds goin n it was more quantity over quality at times. a bad personal habit.
when I ditched the subtracks I started to love the verk.
ehh, p-locking every individual drum step sounds horrendous, and doesn’t work when you have a kick and snare on the same beat.
When I’m talking about ‘effective’ I don’t mean it in the ‘productivity culture’ sort of way, I mean in the way of trying to create something that is as fast and fluid as the DT so I can just be in a flow state and not fighting with an interface, you know?
Yeah I’m coming around to the idea that the $2300 workstation is not actually a workstation, and is going to require another dedicated drum machine. Which is frustrating, but it is what it is.
These workarounds are interesting but, really, I’m pretty sure Elektron are aware by now that individual send FX levels per sub-track are a commonly requested feature.
If future firmware updates continue to leave sub-tracks as they are with no option for individual FX send levels I think the TV as a whole will be a less compelling proposition as a result.
It’s similar to the lack of pattern mutes IMO. Mutes per pattern as well as global mutes are so ingrained into the Elektron workflow that their omission from the TV is pretty glaring.
Being able to set amp, filter, trig conditions per sub-track but not being able to configure the amount of send FX per sub-track feels like a similar omission to me.
Here’s hoping these workarounds aren’t needed for much longer…
I agree. I’m kind of old school and like the concept of having all my drums in one place. I understand the logic of what EZBOT is saying and yes it makes sense, but there is so much power in the Tonverk it seems a bit crazy to use up half the tracks to do something the DT2 can do just as well and with a bunch of other tracks to spare.
FX Sends on Subtracks has to be in the top 5 most requested features. If (when)? it is implemented, it will be all over the Upgrade thread that week, for sure.