Helmet Man Clinic: DrumMachine sampling – MPC style April 16, 2009
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In the last installment, my faithful assistant Helmet Man and I tried to explain sampling on the Elektron MachineDrum in a more accessible way than described in the UW User’s Guide.
By connecting gear to the audio inputs, we can sample up to one bar of audio (or shorter snippets) into each of the two sample instruments called R machines and play it back with the P machines.
We’re still backing off the bizarre and dwindling depths of the MLEV control, still restraining ourselves to the main inputs, and from sonic mayhem.
P-machinery
Understanding how the R and P machines work holds the key to MPC style beat reconstruction. Two measures of a loop in the current tempo can be sampled into the R machine memory by setting the END parameter to 127.
To cut up the sample, just create multiple P machines on several tracks. Now, you can quickly setup different parts of the loop at your fingertips, by adjusting the STRT and END parameters of each P machine. Since two measures equals 127, this means that setting STRT=0 and END=63 on the first P machine will make it play back the first measure of the loop when activated. You may need to tweak the start and endpoints depending on how close to the downbeat you managed to trig the R machine, but these are useful starting points. By setting the second instance of the same P machine STRT=64 and END=127, it will now play the second part of the loop. Similarly, you can now set up four P machines that could play back two bars each of the beat, and so on, without taking up additional memory, as they play back different portions of the audio recorded by the R machine.
Example of values and loop positions
Stutter and Hold
You should notice by now that triggering the P-machines does not mute each other, ensuing chaos. At times, this is desirable, to overlay synced loops, but for our purposes, we want to make sure that triggering another part of the loop mutes the other parts. This is what the RELATE MUTE-POS parameter under KIT>EDIT stands for.
Select the MUTE-POS parameter for the first P1 machine. Set the value to 14-M2. Then select the other P1 machine (M2, track 14) and set the MUTE-POS to 13-M1. Voilá – you have now made sure that the sample bits will cut off each other when triggered! Press ENTER and then EXIT out of the menu to try this out. (Note that you can also use the TRIG-POS parameter to make several audio bits play back in sync when one is triggered)
Playing for keeps
A downside to the RAM R and P machines are that their contents are lost on power down. And, even more dangerous to our Grammy-winning beat, if you should happen to re-trigger the R machine accidentally, by brushing against the wrong button, all will be lost (or replaced by something unpredictable). A good measure is therefore to store the loop in a ROM machine when you’re satisfied with it.
To do this, go to the KIT>FX screen and select the Sample Manager. Select the corresponding RAM machine, and press COPY (FUNCTION+RECORD). This has the effect of putting a copy of the selected machine on the clipboard. Now select one of the ROM machines and press PASTE (FUNCTION+STOP). If you had enough memory available, the sample captured in the RAM machine will now be safely stored in one of the ROM machines, and you can now program instances of the ROM playback machine with various playback parameters just as the RAM P machine before, with the difference that the sample will be retained on power-down, keeping it stored for next time.
Helmet Man Clinic: MachineDrum Sampling February 19, 2009
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The sampling option of the Elektron MachineDrum UW (mkI/II) has left many users confused. It took me quite a while to get my head around the way sampling/playback works, and coming from a MPC perspective didn’t make things any less confusing.
While the MPC over the years have always been a sampler, the MachineDrum is a drum synthesizer at heart. Every instrument of a MachineDrum kit is generated by an instrument referred to as a machine. This means that the sample/playback instruments also fall into the machine paradigm, and this is where it tends to get complicated. (The guys at Elektron sure knows how to create inspiring quality instruments, but writing manuals are a different story…)
In this clinic, I would like to shed some light on how to use the sample engines, known as RAM machines, of the MachineDrum to advantage, and emulate how we would cut up a beat on the MPC.
Basic setup
For this setup, I have a turntable hooked up to my MachineDrum through a mixer. You need a mixer or a RIAA converter as you can’t connect the turntable directly to your MachineDrum. If you don’t want to use a turntable, just hook up any sound source such as an iPod, computer or similar.
Machines, machines
The first thing to grasp, is that it takes two different machines to work with samples: Play machines and Record machines. In the UW, we have two of each, R1, R2, P1 and P2. These actually go in pairs, so the P1 machine will always play back the sound clip recorded by the R1 machine, and the P2 machine will likewise play back the sound clip recorded by R2.
So, to have sample clip playback, we add a playback machine to our kit. Press KIT and select
EDIT, and make sure that you’re in EXTENDED mode. Holding FUNCTION, select M1 to be the instrument track of choice, and select the RAM-P1 machine for track M1. EXIT out of the KIT menu when you’re done.
OK, so now we have a sample playback machine on track 13 (M1). This can be programmed just as the other machines, and every step will play back the sound clip recorded by the R1 machine. At this moment, it will probably be empty, thus making no sound.
Recording a sample
To record a sample, we need a RAM-record machine. 
Punch up the KIT EDIT menu again, and select the RAM-R1 machine for track 16 (M4). Now, select the SYNTHESIS display mode, and I’ll walk you through understanding the parameters of the R machine.
There are four basic things to grasp when it comes to R-machines:
- They are volatile, meaning that they do not retain the sample in memory after power off
- They always sample to the same slot (R1 to slot 1, R2 to slot 2) meaning that every time R1 is sampling, the previous contents will be erased
- They start sampling when triggered, and
- They can sample from the audio inputs, or the audio currently being produced by the MachineDrum (known as resampling) – or a mix of both!
The sample source is controlled by the parameters MLEV and ILEV, meaning M(ain output) LEVel and I(nput) LEVel. If you have your turntable hooked up to your MachineDrum as described earlier, we want to turn down the MLEV fully, and up the ILEV. This will mix no resampling signal with maximum input signal to the R1 machine.
Resampling is the magic key to sonic mayhem. But let’s keep it simple before diving into the deep end, so we’ll just sample whatever audio we have on the inputs for now!
The parameters CUE1 and CUE2 makes it possible for us to listen to the source/sampled material. If you’re feeding your MachineDrum audio now, you can listen to it by gently increasing the CUE1 parameter. Try it!
Sample at length
The LENgth parameter is actually tempo related. By turning it up to 127, you will sample one bar of audio at the current tempo setting. Turn it up, and try to match the tempo of the MachineDrum to the beat you’re planning to record.
Assuming that you have audio at the MachineDrum inputs, all you need to do to sample, is to trig the R1 machine.
Yes, it’s really that simple. Assuming your MachineDrum is stopped, just hit the M4 button on the downbeat, and the R1 machine will sample two bars of incoming audio. You can check it out by hitting M1 (the P1 machine) !
In the next article, Helmet Man will guide you through rearranging beats MPC style.
