| how you how to slice pre-made sampled drum loops | | | | want to use it to drive our new track's percussion |
| to help you re-arrange them, create variations as well | | | | section. To achieve this we're going to split the loop |
| as totally new new drum grooves. | | | | into two tracks, one will deal just with the kick drum |
| To aid us we'll be using Propellerhead Software | | | | slice, the other with the rest of the loop parts. Hit |
| 'Recycle!' software to aid the slicing of your drum | | | | Logic's 'duplicate track' button and copy the loop's MIDI |
| loops since this easily creates a MIDI file representing | | | | region to the newly created duplicate track. |
| each beat slice of the loop. This enables you to load | | | | On the original track cycle through your loop's slices |
| the resulting Recycle! file (REX) into your sampler | | | | (you can do this using the horizontal cursor keys) and |
| software for easy arranging. An alternative for both | | | | delete all the slices except the four kick drums in the |
| PC & OS X is iZotope's Phatmatik Pro, a VST & | | | | bar. |
| Audio Unit plugin that'll work from within your | | | | Open up your duplicate MIDI region and remove the |
| sequencer. They've recently added Recycle loops | | | | kick drums from your loop. Now we've got our two |
| support too so this one's a definite contender for slicing | | | | sections separated (we'll refer to them as the kick |
| drum loops. FL Studio also has it's own built in beat | | | | drum and loop components from now on) we can |
| Slicer tool. | | | | experiment with editing and effecting them. |
| We'll be using Recycle & Apple Logic for this tutorial | | | | We've opened the EXS24 amp envelope's release |
| so lets start off by choosing a sampled drum loop to | | | | control up to full to allow each sample to be played in |
| manipulate. We've loaded up our loop in Recycle! and | | | | full. Try a little EQ or compression on your kick drum |
| ramped up the sensitivity slider to highlight each beat | | | | this can really help to give it added impact in your mix. |
| as a 'slice'. We're assuming here that your loop is a | | | | Tip: don't always quantize everything! this may kill the |
| precise amount of bars, which will almost certainly be | | | | 'groove' feel of your loop, experiment with different |
| the case for samples from CD's and sample | | | | quantize settings. Logic provides several different |
| download sites. Recycle! offers you the chance to | | | | grooves in it's Quantize menu, we settled for the 16 a |
| enter the correct amount of bars and beats for your | | | | setting in this case for our loop component. Your kick |
| loop - this will make sure that your import into your | | | | drum should of course be quantized dead on 1/4 of a |
| DAW software goes smoothly. Now that we've got | | | | bar timing. |
| our loop defined into slices we can save the chopped | | | | Listening to the loop component we can hear that |
| sample as a recycle drum loop or REX2 file. To do | | | | there's way too much bass, so a hefty low-cut is |
| this choose 'Save As' from the File menu and save | | | | needed. We've chosen Logic's built in channel EQ and |
| the file into you 'Logic' -> 'Sampler Instruments' folder. | | | | cut the bass below 230 Hz by the maximum -24dB. |
| Equally if you'd just like separate the drum slices and a | | | | We've also applied a little attack to our EXS24 |
| MIDI file the 'Export' command from the File menu will | | | | sampler amp controls and had a slight re-arrange of |
| do this for you. | | | | the loop slices to help it slow. |
| Now we'll start the fun and get re-arranging our loop. | | | | At this point we're going to add some effects to our |
| Load up Logic and insert an EXS24 sampler (if Logic's | | | | loop component - we'd recommend a little delay or |
| already running hit 'Refresh Menu' from the EXS24 | | | | sort drum reverb. For livening up sampled loops is |
| front panel - this will reveal your newly exported | | | | Logic's 'Ringshifter' plugin is a great tool - experiment |
| Recycle file in your sampler instrument list). | | | | by inserting it over your loop component channel and |
| Choose your loop from the EXS24 menu - this will | | | | flicking through the presets, you can then refine your |
| automatically import your sliced drum loop and create | | | | sound using the plugin's varied controls. |
| a sampler instrument for it, as well as import the | | | | Now we're happy with our loop component we can |
| corresponding MIDI file into Logic's timeline for editing | | | | make our 4/4 kick drum pattern a bit more full-on with |
| (click OK to the 2 dialogue boxes that pop up). | | | | some fills, generally these would be used at 4 or 8 bar |
| Now that we've got our loop imported run your cycle | | | | intervals to keep the track interesting. |
| points around the drum loop MIDI region. Double click to | | | | To complete our drum groove we've added a clap |
| open Logic's piano roll editor and you'll see the slices of | | | | and high hat tracks... |
| your loop represented as notes in the roll. This is | | | | So there you go, a quick and dirty guide to editing |
| where we can create some variation or even spawn | | | | sampled drums. As always experimentation is the key |
| an entirely new loop using the beat's individual | | | | so don't expect your efforts to be rewarded instantly - |
| components. | | | | if it's not working out trash the loop and grab another! |
| We've decided we like the kick drum in our loop and | | | | |