Im a step recording man myself. i'll normally start with a 4/4 beat over 32
bars, setting the step to 480 so i can rattle the beats off quickly. I'll
also drop in the occassional extra beat here and there for some variation to
start with. then sometimes, while also in step mode, i'll drop in a single
note bassline, off beat, over the same length of bars. when im playing it
all back to test how it sounds, i play with the Gate knob to get the bass
notes sounding just right. if im just playing with the rm1x alone, i dont
really use much of the actual bass sounds for the bassline, but rather other
sounds from other banks but just pitched down an octave or two, as they can
actually make pretty good bass sounds. or so i think. but if im not in the
mood for a single note bassline and feeling more experimental, then i find
grid mode good for getting a good bassline brewing up. you know, in Grid
mode if your ever stuck for getting a good sequence, then just bang in some
random keys for each note (though dont put two notes on the same step,
unless thats what your after.) once ive tweaked the bassline so it sounds
the way i want, i'll play it along with the beats to see how its all moving.
if its going well, then i'll start to program a supporting line for the
bassline, to give the bottom end more depth. how i do this is to play a
just few keys while the bassline is moving and try to find something that
sounds well with it. I dont have to have many keys rolling along with it,
just something that sounds good and it can be 1 bar long or 8 bars, just
whatever sounds good and goes well. once Ive got an idea, I record it using
'Over' on the bar that I want them to come in, doing this for perhaps 16
bars just to see how it sounds. then quantise. also, again tweaking the
gate knob while playing it all back. it'll probably sound raw at this point
but i normally dont worry about that right now. worrying about stuff like
that only 5 minutes into a track and your only gonna be setting things for
ages and ages until you get something right. I leave the proper tweaking
until later. now i find that a good trick to get things moving in a more
dancy way is to tweak the keys that I have just entered using the midi
delay. this can get things sounding pretty good, and turns the few keys
that I entered into a rolling sequence.....i find that this whole way for
the supporting lines are far more better than playing with arpeggios.
raising the delay level alittle until I can hear the delays, then I go onto
adjust the delay time, perhaps to something like 360 or something....I know
what time I should set it to by how it sounds.....it can really kick ass at
some points. when it starts to sound good I might notice one or two stray
notes in the sequence that I dont like, they can be removed easily later
though. so by this time i would have beats, bassline and supporting line for
the bottom end. if I like what I have, I then extend it for more than 32
bars. the reason i only start with 32 bars is because it'll save me all the
hassle of programming more bars if it doesnt sound great. then i go on to
add hats, claps, snares and snare rolls etc at various points. perhaps
bringing the hats in first for a few bars, then the claps and so on,
progressing slowly, or just have them all coming in together on a bar. just
whatever sounds good. I also make use of variations. now normally i'll have
something that sounds good for the bottom end by this time. I'll then start
making the main riff or melody, also utilising some midi delay if it needs
it. this might start at the breakdown.
anyway, this is how i make things with the blue box.
anyone else like to share they're programming techniques?
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Holloway <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: RM1x <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2000 11:35 PM
Subject: Which recording mode?
> For those of you who are using the RM1x as a sequencer for all your other
> equipment, do you right most of your [dance/techno] music in Step
Recording
> or Step Recording Grid?
>
> Also, I'm new to this box, but if I understand correctly .. ALL the sounds
I
> hear in each Pattern is available to me when writing music and I can
assign
> a sound to a midi channel and control it from my Nord Lead 2....? When
> flipping through the "voices" it doesn't seem like the sounds are the same
> as the ones in the Phrases.. Maybe it's just me....hmmm.. Anyway, I
> appreciate any feedback!
>
> Mark
>
>
>
