I’ve recently starting playing around with chord progressions. They’re more fun to play when there is a drum track playing in the background. Right now I pick one of the default styles, deactivate everything except the drums (and on occasion percussion) and let that start as soon as I start playing.
It would handy to have a library of dedicated drum styles. Does such a thing exist? Or is there a way of creating them from midi drum tracks?
Drum styles?
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?Drum styles
I, too, use the drum elements of available styles to play against in an exploratory way, as distinct from assembling recordings.
The '4-substyles' aspect of what the EK-50 offers in many cases seems to me less a route for smooth elaboration through a piece, than a collection of related beats. So there is certainly a lot of exploring to be done to find grooves that suit a personal inclination. The sometimes rather random naming of styles doesn't help.
So I think I'm agreeing with your general thrust - a thought-out proforma for quick noting of things you're likely to want to come back to is very useful in getting to know the EK-50, and this applies to other aspects as well - e.g. the actual sounds.
The '4-substyles' aspect of what the EK-50 offers in many cases seems to me less a route for smooth elaboration through a piece, than a collection of related beats. So there is certainly a lot of exploring to be done to find grooves that suit a personal inclination. The sometimes rather random naming of styles doesn't help.
So I think I'm agreeing with your general thrust - a thought-out proforma for quick noting of things you're likely to want to come back to is very useful in getting to know the EK-50, and this applies to other aspects as well - e.g. the actual sounds.
Drum styles - further thoughts
First, to do with tempo:
So far as I know, Korg do not publish any list of the styles by default BPM. But my limited experience is that the BPM value shown in the display may be initially a bit misleading.
For instance, one style I use regularly is 217 Bebop. That shows in the screen a default bpm of 103; but it feels a very busy, up-tempo style, as its name would suggest it should.
Cross-referencing it with another ap, I would suggest that in conventional terms (e.g. as you might find at the top of a lead sheet) it is actually more like 206 bpm.
I haven't repeated this check specifically with any other style, but it's worth bearing in mind when trying to choose a style.
Secondly, when playing with just the drums audible, I sometimes find it useful or interesting to scale the tempo. That is to say, if I'm basically playing at, say, 140 bpm, I can do this against a drum track at 70 b.p.m. or 280 b.p.m, as well as one at 140 b.p.m. (280 would not be possible on the EK-50, but you get the idea.)
So setting 217 Bebop to a nominal value in the range 52<>70 gives a sparser beat against which you can play at around 100<>140.
So far as I know, Korg do not publish any list of the styles by default BPM. But my limited experience is that the BPM value shown in the display may be initially a bit misleading.
For instance, one style I use regularly is 217 Bebop. That shows in the screen a default bpm of 103; but it feels a very busy, up-tempo style, as its name would suggest it should.
Cross-referencing it with another ap, I would suggest that in conventional terms (e.g. as you might find at the top of a lead sheet) it is actually more like 206 bpm.
I haven't repeated this check specifically with any other style, but it's worth bearing in mind when trying to choose a style.
Secondly, when playing with just the drums audible, I sometimes find it useful or interesting to scale the tempo. That is to say, if I'm basically playing at, say, 140 bpm, I can do this against a drum track at 70 b.p.m. or 280 b.p.m, as well as one at 140 b.p.m. (280 would not be possible on the EK-50, but you get the idea.)
So setting 217 Bebop to a nominal value in the range 52<>70 gives a sparser beat against which you can play at around 100<>140.
[quote="grahamid"]So are you thinking of playing drums from your i;pad, and something else pre-recorded from the EK-50?./quote]
The other way around: the ipad plays a fixed drum track and I play along on the Korg.
Well, that was the plan until I ran into a nicely priced MC-707 groovebox earlier this week. That may very well reduce my Korg to a career as a midi-keyboard.
The other way around: the ipad plays a fixed drum track and I play along on the Korg.
Well, that was the plan until I ran into a nicely priced MC-707 groovebox earlier this week. That may very well reduce my Korg to a career as a midi-keyboard.