"Loose" feeling on ESX

[hseiken]

Hey doods. I've been dipping into a separate scene/circle/whatever where being perfectly quantized is almost frowned upon which seems to be impossible do on ESX normally. Recording sequences automatically quantizes to 16th (or 32nd if you selected that option for some reason) and you can't do anything about it. Well, here's some good news I guess if you want some sloppy sounds from your Korg.

Sloppy Drums Method 1:
To get sloppy drums, sample a drum break but don't do any trimming. Leave the outside edges that normally you'd cut out as they are. Most drum breaks are about a measure long or whatever and normally you can use START POINT knob to find a hit perfectly, which is due to the math involved between how START POINT works and how music itself works. Either way, NOW when you try to create a drum chop out of a loop using START POINT, it'll be much harder to get a perfect hit and maybe impossible. This can be used in two ways: 1.) Create sloppy chops of snare, hats and kicks that naturally sound 'off' when played back quantized or 2.) Trigger your full drum loop slightly early or later than everything else to achieve a sloppy, mismatched sound. Using either may take some getting used to, but if you're going for some sloppy, loose, human, soulfull hip hop, you'll appreciate learning this.

Sloppy Drums Method 2:
Create a blank pattern and put your drum hits on some channels (kick, hat, snare, etc.). Resample yourself playing a drum riff live. Trigger that sample as you normally would.

Sloppy Drums Method 3:
Another way to give the impression of sloppy drums is to simply have something 'not right' even though everything else is right. For instance, create a pattern and make a hi hat trigger every 8th note. Resample this. Now chop off everything except 2 hits in the sample editor. Now trigger the sample every quarter note on the down beats (1, 5, 9, 13) and pitch it down slightly or even change the tempo so that when the 2nd hat plays, it's off. You can adjust it so that it has swing or so that it just sounds REALLY lazy. Either way, it allows you to trigger that hat in places the ESX would never let you.

Sloppy Drums Method 4:
Sample some drum hits with silence in front of them. On a song when they're triggered, use START POINT to change the amount of silence that delays the drum hit to give the drums a human feel. Be careful to not cut into the sample, only the silence. You can fine tune it how you want later in the step editor. This method allows you to create ever changing sloppiness but is also the most work, I think.

All methods above can be made to have even more character if you play with the swing setting of the unit. For instance a straight beat with with a little swing in it can create some life and a swingy sound can be unhinged with maximum swing.

Experiment, get sloppy. Nobody is perfect!

[Dr Feelgood]

Good post. Number two is usually the method I use for a more relaxed feel. Another way to inject a bit of a 'live' loose sound is to play with the volume of your hi-hats i.e. record accent fluctuations into your patterns using motion sequences. This method actually makes a world of difference in terms of dynamics and expressiveness and has the potential to take an otherwise static and monotonous pattern and turn it into something that is quite complex and interesting to the listener. Of course you can also apply the same method described above to your kicks and snares and percussive sounds, with a smidgen of swing if preferable, for an even more pronounced live and loose sound.

[adamitron]

the other day at i was thinking about trying #4, i guess now this seals it, next thing i make is going to be goose loose.

[Maff Stenning]

Cheers for this, some really good ideas here...!