Pattern sequencer

MrZian · Post by **MrZian** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:40 am

I’m looking for tips about the pattern sequencer, I have chopped some samples, but my main problem is trying to make a pattern out of them that flows properly.
What I am doing is setting the sequencer’s bpm to the same as the sample then making a main pattern, but then i want to swap and change to other patterns made from parts of the song. But the bpm is not the same for these samples so i cant get them to play smoothly and if i change the bpm it destroys the first pattern when i swap to it.
Other than this im useless with the sequencer does anybody have some tips?

drewzle · Post by **drewzle** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:55 am

generally the best way to overcome this is to chop your samples as small as possible, then they are more flexible tempo-wise and also you'll have lots more opportunities to re-arrange things and make switch-ups etc

Euclid Ov Oåklånd · Post by **Euclid Ov Oåklånd** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 6:32 pm

I agree with Drewzle, I'd also say that you should notice hip hop and dance music have a very simple and basic 4 beats per bar arrangement. Start by making the length of your pattern 1bar long next try putting hi-hats on 1/8th note quantize and then a single piano or string note on 1/4th note quantize. Now while you still have quantize set to 1/4th notes, place a kick on the 1st beat/ snare on 2nd beat/ kick on 3rd beat/ snare on 4th beat, now you have a basic 1 bar loop where everything is in time and fits. Now go and experiment with other arrangements and you'll pick it up pretty quick.

MrZian · Post by **MrZian** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:40 pm

thanks i think i was just jumping in to fast and trying to use a sample that was 5 bars long in a pattern. And i got it to run smoothly, it was just when i changed the tempo it obviously killed it.

Another question. How long would you usually spend making a beat from start till finish? Cause im just new to sampling, Im use to writing songs with guitar, keys and vocals, but really love beat music like J Dilla, and other sampled music like Panda Bear. I think it sounds alot easier than it is to make.

Euclid Ov Oåklånd · Post by **Euclid Ov Oåklånd** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 4:01 am

That's it's beauty or zen, it's appears simple initially but the deeper you look the more layers of complexity are revealed.

jbl · Post by **jbl** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:52 pm

if you do want o use four bar parts then just get right in the bpm you want as a pattern and then record the bpm in your mind or on a memo (that7s what i do). it's really hard to chop to fine for me some times so i mangle. lately i've been chopping a little more.

Antee · Post by **Antee** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:16 pm

yo regaz, i've noticed a strange thing...when i set the lenght 1 bar my chops match perfectly, when i aumented the lenght the sequence doesn't match perfecly...

georgesbrazil · Post by **georgesbrazil** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:07 am

...also, something I've been getting into lately is setting the pattern length to something short, like one or two measures, and using the click track to knock out some beats w/quantize "off". This gives you a blueprint to work with, while keeping the rawness/swing of your beat intact. ...and the shorter the measure, the less frustrating it is to delete and retry.

dman5000 · Post by **dman5000** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 8:27 pm

one thing related to this is that you can set the bpm of your samples to PTN which adjusts them then based on the bpm in pattern select mode, i havent messed with this to the max but say ive got a drum beat and a wavy electronic noise that hits on the first beat of the measure... the ptn mode bpm has def made it last out the whole measure at different bpms

another thing, maybe unrelated to the topic and known to most, but ive until recently used pattern mode to program drums and different sounds on top, but couple weeks ago i set it to 99 bars 40 bpm, no quantize and sequenced all loops and stabs and it was awesome and sort of like using an 8 track

Rhua · Post by **Rhua** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:30 pm

dman5000 wrote:another thing, maybe unrelated to the topic and known to most, but ive until recently used pattern mode to program drums and different sounds on top, but couple weeks ago i set it to 99 bars 40 bpm, no quantize and sequenced all loops and stabs and it was awesome and sort of like using an 8 track

Interesting, but how did you go about the drums, did you put them into a loop on a single button before turning on the sqeuencer?

beatifictatter · Post by **beatifictatter** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 9:25 am

dman5000 wrote: another thing, maybe unrelated to the topic and known to most, but ive until recently used pattern mode to program drums and different sounds on top, but couple weeks ago i set it to 99 bars 40 bpm, no quantize and sequenced all loops and stabs and it was awesome and sort of like using an 8 track

i got pretty excited when read that, tried it and could hear the internal mic in headphones, hit record and optimistically started putting down a simple live acoustic guitar riff....alas, still no mic function when in pattern mode it seems....unless anyone's found a workaround?
but still cool, as you say, if i wanted i could record a whole song on to a pad, just guitar, or keys etc. then use the method you mentioned to put everything else on top; beats, bass, samples, other pattern etc...and if im using the blue metronome when recording on to pads i can still do some other guitar/vocals etc that will synch from pads in pattern mode...perhaps not ideal, and probably easier just to multitrack that kind of thing, but will definitely give it a different feel your way. something i'll try...and handy if you only have your 404 to hand..