Just started with Ableton could use some advice.

[marbles12]

Hey everyone, I just started messing around with Ableton and looking up tutorials. Right now, I'm just trying to make a beat manually by setting up drum racks for each percussion and using the piano roll (or record and hit the key on my keyboard). I've looked up tutorials and read a lot on swing/shuffle/ and groove but a lot of what I read just makes no sense to me. For example, I've tried extracting a groove from a drum loop and then applying it to my hats but it doesn't do anything. I'm not really sure how to use it and it's getting frustrating! Does it only work on midi clips? Can I not use it on the piano roll or something?

And making a garage beat manually seems so difficult. The timing really throws me off. I just made a very short and basic loop, here it is: http://www.mediafire.com/?0znnzx95e8b7za5 It only has a kick, a hat, a clap, and a shaker. I added a little bit of effects but nothing else really, it just sounds so... dull. I could really use some advice!

[Kolendo]

Okay, first of all this should answer your questions on extracting grooves in Ableton:
http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/pro ... ve-engine/

Second, in regards to your short drum loop, it's really missing swing (and obviously complexity).
I'm feeling generous, so use this if you want if you're not really understanding swing:
http://www.mediafire.com/?1be2vplolcn3n5p
It's a short drum loop that I constructed. You're welcome to copy the drum pattern and basically see what a 2-step garage beat looks like.
Although I wouldn't use this sample directly, it's only 192kbps.

The big thing about swing when it comes to garage is the placement of the hi-hats in relation so the other percussion.
You can always construct a straightforward breakbeat and quantize the beat to give it some swing.

[marbles12]

Thanks! That was a great guide. I think I finally got the jist of it. One other silly question though (I guess this comes down to personal taste), when you start up setting out your drums, do you usually use the same drum rack for all the hats/kicks/claps/shakers etc. use the piano roll and THEN add the swing? Or do you split the percussions into different drum rucks and add the swing to each one? Thanks again!

[Kolendo]

Thanks! That was a great guide. I think I finally got the jist of it. One other silly question though (I guess this comes down to personal taste), when you start up setting out your drums, do you usually use the same drum rack for all the hats/kicks/claps/shakers etc. use the piano roll and THEN add the swing? Or do you split the percussions into different drum rucks and add the swing to each one? Thanks again!

Seems like a waste of channels and time separating all the percussion.
If you're concerned about adding audio effects to certain percussion and not others, you don't have to apply the effect over the whole channel.
You can drag over reverb, for example, you can place it directly on one of the audio clips in your drum kit.

I load up an empty drum kit with whatever audio clips I need, then start drawing in notes in piano roll.
The way that I get a really nice swing is to snap off the grid placement.
You can get much more organic flow to your drums.
Some people like to quantize the beat to get swing, but I really prefer placing everything myself.

[marbles12]

Thanks again Kolendo, I imitated a drum loop that BINDL posted somewhere and added a groove. I think I'm getting the jist of it, although the patterns still confuse me. http://www.mediafire.com/?24ubcbs7enu5v0z Of course it's very dull but I'm just checking out the patterns and looking at how everything's placed. The kick drum still confuses me but I guess I just need practice. I also stopped splitting the percussion. Thanks again for the help man!

[anexpresso]

Thanks! That was a great guide. I think I finally got the jist of it. One other silly question though (I guess this comes down to personal taste), when you start up setting out your drums, do you usually use the same drum rack for all the hats/kicks/claps/shakers etc. use the piano roll and THEN add the swing? Or do you split the percussions into different drum rucks and add the swing to each one? Thanks again!

Seems like a waste of channels and time separating all the percussion.
If you're concerned about adding audio effects to certain percussion and not others, you don't have to apply the effect over the whole channel.
You can drag over reverb, for example, you can place it directly on one of the audio clips in your drum kit.

I load up an empty drum kit with whatever audio clips I need, then start drawing in notes in piano roll.
The way that I get a really nice swing is to snap off the grid placement.
You can get much more organic flow to your drums.
Some people like to quantize the beat to get swing, but I really prefer placing everything myself.

I use reason but I also place everything myself, zoom all the way in and snap off grid. I also set my shuffle before I start placing the drums. Try to get funky grooves with a couple different hats after placing a simple beat and make sure you mess with the velocity on your drum hits if you want a more natural feel imo.

[marbles12]

Hey anexpreso, I'm not sure how I can snap off grid on Ableton but I followed a previous advice to add a groove and it really worked out. I just finished making this little loop. I don't know how to use a sampler yet, so I just grabbed a sample of a string and put two notes in. And a small stab of a voice to see how it would sound. Any opinions would be appreciated!

http://www.mediafire.com/?8br0l5oxyxrui4b

[Stealth Elf]

Firstly get a www.soundcloud.com account because not many people will be bothered to download an mp3 to listen to your stuff (super lazy I know but that's the way of the world these days).

Secondly welcome to Ableton, you've made the right choice to get off the grid you wanna go down to the bottom right corner of the piano roll where there should be a fraction indicating the current snap level e.g 1/16. You wanna right click on that number and then select 'off' under fixed grid. Remember to put it back to 'narrow' under adaptive grid if you need to get the snap back.

[ljp]

I'm at a similar stage in learning ableton, and at the moment the furthest I've come is making a little drum loop, which is on SC, but set as private just for a few friends to help me. Honestly, just put a little time into it everyday, I try put an hour in a day before I sleep and you'll slowly pick stuff up. Also this site has got a few good links to some sample packs you should check out if you haven't already.

Been on this site for less than 24hrs and I've learned a lot. Awesome


Edit: Some people from this forum should really consider making some tutorial videos. The guys on youtube tend to know their programme very well, but their knowledge on genres tends to be pretty thin (at least in a lot of them)

Also, what might be of help to me and TC is some print screens of the percussion in the piano roll in terms of construction, layout etc etc.