how do u make your drum trax?

oioi · Post by **oioi** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 2:59 am

i use cubase sx and battery, but would realy like 'tighter' drum tracks...i find midi can be slopy at times.

how do you get bang on drum trax with rock solid timming?? any secrets to this?

kensuguro · Post by **kensuguro** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 3:58 am

I don't particarly see a problem with midi timing, unless there's somethine very wrong with your midi setup. Unless you're trying to do something that specifically needs sample specific tweaking. Can you put up a recording of the "untight" drums so we can hear what's wrong?

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 5:27 am

On 2003-09-21 03:59, oioi wrote:
i use cubase sx and battery, but would realy like 'tighter' drum tracks...i find midi can be slopy at times.

how do you get bang on drum trax with rock solid timming?? any secrets to this?

Huh? Your timing with SX and Battery is sample-accurate. (like all VSTi's)
There is no midi sloppyness at all. You can't get tighter timing that that.

_________________

[ This Message was edited by: King of Snake on 2003-09-21 06:27 ]

Mr Arkadin · Post by **Mr Arkadin** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 7:34 am

i think oioi's hearing goes beyond mere sample divisions

Mr A
"The King of Sloppy"

[ This Message was edited by: Mr Arkadin on 2003-09-21 08:34 ]

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 7:42 am

In a band I used to play in we used a drum machine live but also had a percussionist. He was pretty sloppy, but we didn't mind, we always said (not to him!) that he was our "human error generator" and gave the music a more natural feel

I think oioioi would have had him shot

oioi · Post by **oioi** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 7:46 am

if u record a 4 on the floor patern in cubase its not that tight i tell you. if u then 'bounce' the recorded track down and into cubase u can see the kicks sre off (all be it slighty)

Post by **hubird** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 7:47 am

you could try the SPL Transient Designer or the Dominion to get your drums more tight.
Maybe that's what you're after.
Coz, indeed, midi IS perfect

cheerz
edit: you was faster

but if you set Cubase prefs/resolution to the max, you'll see in the audio editor that after bouncing the error is about one half millisecond, in numbers about 20 to 25.
One millisecond is 44,1 samples, so you must have unbelievable ears if you can hear errors of 1/2 millisecond.
You also can shift the whole file to the left for half a second.
Man, a life band must be horrible thing to you...

_________________
Let There Be Music!

[ This Message was edited by: hubird on 2003-09-21 08:55 ]

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 9:07 am

On 2003-09-21 08:46, oioi wrote:
if u record a 4 on the floor patern in cubase its not that tight i tell you. if u then 'bounce' the recorded track down and into cubase u can see the kicks sre off (all be it slighty)

VST instrument timing is sample accurate since the instruments are integrated in the audio engine itself. so if you think your timing is off you should probably be searching elsewhere for the problem. Do you have the latest SX update installed?
Or maybe your kickdrum sound has a short silence in front of it?
_________________

[ This Message was edited by: King of Snake on 2003-09-21 10:17 ]

[ This Message was edited by: King of Snake on 2003-09-21 10:23 ]

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 9:56 am

If you can SEE the short silence in your bass drum, why not just cut it in your sample editor? Works for me anyway

valis · Post by **valis** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 1:15 pm

If you're using battery or a similar vsti I suggest checking the start point of each sample layer...

kensuguro · Post by **kensuguro** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 2:36 pm

as mensioned by hubird, the meaning of "tight" may be at question. The fact that you can "feel" a track being untight doesn't necessarily mean the sample play back of off-time. Compression, and the duration of each of the drum notes can affect how you precieve the overall accuracy of the playback. Though of course, since you can visually confirm that the drum samples are being delayed, it may be a different issue.

As far as I know, battery and vsti has sample accurate playback. Your external MIDI hardware may have latency, but if your cubase is properly configured, it should be sample accurate. Again, can you record a 4x4 drum pattern that is "off", so that we can check it out. It may be a simple configuration problem afterall.

valis · Post by **valis** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 12:23 am

What is cubase set to synch by?

R-type · Post by **R-type** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 5:08 pm

If you're recording the midi for your drums by tapping it in the system latency will mess up your timings.

You could try reducing the latency to the lowest just for the initial drum tack midi recording.

You could also quantize your midi recordings to tighten them up.

As the dudes are saying VSTi's are sample accurate maybe your working on your tracks too late at night?

oioi · Post by **oioi** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 7:01 pm

after a reinstall, all seems well now, midi is tight and good. did a complete reinstall of all my software ... somthing must have gon wrong i guess.

Post by **hubird** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 8:27 pm

pffft...!
Our universe almost seemed to collapse...aiai

emzee · Post by **emzee** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 8:37 pm

I thought that midi timing just wasn't as tight as audio...........did I read something before about double-tracking drums......or was it redmuze/wavelength/kimgr who made the comment...........? Not a critical point for most but I like to keep these things in my organic database....

dehuszar · Post by **dehuszar** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 1:07 am

Well certainly audio stays forever tight until you go in and muck with it. Midi, while normally very precise, can drift or not reset it values properly and make synths, fx, whatever, play back in a way that was not intended. But that's just because it's a totally dynamic, live performance, gift to this earth, and as such must suffer some slight imperfections in order for our brains to believe that it truly exists.

Sam

emzee · Post by **emzee** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 1:41 am

Sounds like my lady.................thanks for that explanation..........

I checked out wavelengths "Drumvox"....if you like "Kickme" you'll appreciate "Drumvox"..........try it if you haven't already ...........I'm impressed!

[ This Message was edited by: Mikka on 2003-09-23 02:55 ]

Post by **Neil B** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 8:14 am

I agree with all the previous posts, but could offer a tip.
If you have lots of midi tracks, move the busiest ones (such as 16ths hi-hats etc) to the top of the midi tracks.
This was an issue and recommendation in earlier versions of Cubase - perhaps it has gone now. Cubase processes from the top of the screen apparently.

Richmo · Post by **Richmo** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 9:46 am

Thanks Neil, I didn't know that and it explains some things