Tips and tricks
2003-04-10 by erik_magrini@Baxter.com
I'm bored and sick of work, so here's some tricks and tips, some of which I may have posted before: 1. Random Presets. If you use the Randomize Preset command a lot (in the Save menu), you can come up with some pretty cool sounds. However a lot of times the Randomize function will assign sounds to ALL of the Presets layers, and many times not all of them actually produce anything you can hear (or it's too quiet when in the mix to matter). Use the Solo Layers function in the Preset Edit menu to solo each layer one at a time. If you solo one and don't hear anything, it's best to "deactivate" that layer by selecting no sounds (the first sound #0000) in the Preset layer. That way you save polyphony that would have otherwise been dedicated to a sound that wasn't even audible! 2. Need phatter drums? Many of the drum sounds in the XX-7's only use one layer. If you want to add more punch to your drums, go into the Save menu and select the "Copy Preset Layer" screen. Use that to copy layer 1 to layer 2, then do the same with the "Copy Preset Cords" cords function. Save the Preset to a user location. For more variety, use the Trasnpose screen in the Preset Edit menu to change the sound of the second layer, this will help add more variety and/or texture to each hit. Note that some of the "kit" presets may actually use all 4 layers, so you should use the Solo Layers feature to see which of those can be safely overwrittern with the Copy Layer command. 3. Still need phatter drums? If you use the Grid Record method to enter your drum hits, the notes can be quite short. Use the Scale/Shift Duration feature in the Pattern Edit menu to make the notes longer, which can help add more sustain to the drum hits. 4. More human sounds. If you go into the Preset Edit menu, and then the Patchcords screen, there's a simple way to make your songs sound more human, and less robot like. Create the following patchcord: KeyRand1(or KeyRand2) ---> AmpVel = X Where X is the value that provides the best amount of randomization for your needs (typically I use somewhere between 1 and 10). Now, each time you press a key or the sequencer plays a recorded note, the velocity of that note will be modified randomly. Works great on HH's! Anyone else got any? rEalm [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]