Has anybody developed any tips for selecting drum patterns?

timg11 · Post by **timg11** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 10:09 pm

I was trying to find a drum pattern with a particular 6/8 sound. It seems rather difficult to browse a flat list of almost 700 entries. As far as I can tell there are no filters, categories, or search functions. The pattern being played only changes on whole measure boundaries.

I was browsing from the Drum Pattern selection on the Drum Track tab (both Prog and Combi).

I haven't used drum tracks too much, but I'm wondering if anybody has any tips or tricks to make it easier to search and audition them?

billbaker · Post by **billbaker** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:13 am

For 6/8 patterns try and visually key on a couple of key words that mean triplet pattens are forthcoming:

Shuffle
Blues
Triplet
Swing

The triplet patterns are in a section from about 138 to 160 though there are swing and triplet patterns scattered throughout.

One of the big lacks to drum patterns (IMO) is the fact that "swing %", which was an option on Triton arps, was not included on drum patterns as well since I think it increases the versatility and usefulness of such patterns across the board. Hopefully it will be considered for future OP update.

You can, I believe, add swing to KARMA patterns, which should, at about a 20% swing factor, cast straight 4/4 patterns into a 6/8 (or strictly speaking 12/8) mold.

I recommend looking at dropping in new patterns into a simple program as a way to audition patterns to see if they'll stand up as the only rhythm or if KARMA + swing % will be a better option.

BB

apex · Post by **apex** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 2:11 am

billbaker wrote:For 6/8 patterns try and visually key on a couple of key words that mean triplet pattens are forthcoming:

Shuffle
Blues
Triplet
Swing

The triplet patterns are in a section from about 138 to 160 though there are swing and triplet patterns scattered throughout.

One of the big lacks to drum patterns (IMO) is the fact that "swing %", which was an option on Triton arps, was not included on drum patterns as well since I think it increases the versatility and usefulness of such patterns across the board. Hopefully it will be considered for future OP update.

You can, I believe, add swing to KARMA patterns, which should, at about a 20% swing factor, cast straight 4/4 patterns into a 6/8 (or strictly speaking 12/8) mold.

I recommend looking at dropping in new patterns into a simple program as a way to audition patterns to see if they'll stand up as the only rhythm or if KARMA + swing % will be a better option.

BB

can't you technically swing the preset patterns too? i'm not in front of my Kronos right now, but I do believe the Korg boards have a way to quantize data (that is already recorded) and you can add a certain level of swing to the quantization. (if I remember correctly)

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 6:21 am

Unless you're talking African rhythms, 6/8 has nothing to with any kind of 4/4 triplet groove. I'm assuming the OP is looking for some kind of ballad-ish pattern. But no, I don't think there is any way to browse by category or even meter, which is a shame.

rob_tky · Post by **rob_tky** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 10:13 am

yes, choosing a drum pattern could be more user friendly. I have a memo of drum patterns I found interesting, useful for me.
I also wish there was more 3/4 6/8 patterns, though I have to say that deficiency worked for me somehow. I ended up playing my stuff with patterns I found interesting even if they were in 4 rather than 3

, which was a good rhythmic exercise.

jimknopf · Post by **jimknopf** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 2:27 pm

First of all: having drum patterns in reach anytime is a great asset in the Kronos!

It would all be much more convenient to make full use of them, if there was a tool to import midi drum patterns directly into the drum pattern user slots.

That would allow to build up a little database of basic grooves according to user interest and user grouping. This is something I really miss in or for the Kronos.

apex · Post by **apex** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 3:13 pm

jimknopf wrote:First of all: having drum patterns in reach anytime is a great asset in the Kronos!

It would all be much more convenient to make full use of them, if there was a tool to import midi drum patterns directly into the drum pattern user slots.

That would allow to build up a little database of basic grooves according to user interest and user grouping. This is something I really miss in or for the Kronos.

The ability to import drum patterns is already there (technically)

apex · Post by **apex** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 3:40 pm

jimknopf wrote:First of all: having drum patterns in reach anytime is a great asset in the Kronos!

It would all be much more convenient to make full use of them, if there was a tool to import midi drum patterns directly into the drum pattern user slots.

That would allow to build up a little database of basic grooves according to user interest and user grouping. This is something I really miss in or for the Kronos.

The ability to import drum patterns is already there (technically)

jimknopf · Post by **jimknopf** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 3:44 pm

I know that the ability is principally there: I once wrote a step by step instruction in here showing how to do that. But this way offers no well useable workflow at all.

It requires a lot of steps for each single drum groove: a real waste of time for each groove you want to import, and you certainly won't like to fill several hundred slots with that extremely low usability procedure.

An import tool within a Kronos OS update - or an external software tool - would really help to get us going with user drum grooves.

billbaker · Post by **billbaker** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 11:07 pm

@ apex,

If the ability to swing (thank you Thomas Dolby) is actually there, please cite menu / page / location and make my week.

I haven't been able to find it - it doesn't appear to be on the drum pattern page, at least not on OS 2.

It would be really nice to have, particularly for humanizing some of the stricter dance/EDM patterns.

I haven't explored the KARMA drum patterns as such, but I know that "swing" is one of the modulation destinations for controls.

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apex · Post by **apex** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 4:27 am

@bill, I just went into the studio and recorded a quick and dirty video for you explaining how to accomplish this. It is uploading to YouTube right now. I will post a link as soon as it's finished.

I hope it helps.

apex · Post by **apex** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 1:31 pm

https://youtu.be/j-f9AtcO9sA

psionic311 · Post by **psionic311** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 7:42 pm

Thanks, Apex, that video had a lot of useful information in it. Especially useful was the bit explaining the difference between "put MIDI" and "copy MIDI" to track.

billbaker · Post by **billbaker** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:13 pm

Apex,

Watched your excellent video and, please correct me if I'm wrong, it shows a completely valid method for adding swing to a pattern and then saving it as a (swung) user pattern which can then be put in to a program or combi.

What was looking for is what the Triton had, which was the ability to add swing on a case by case basis without the need to change/re-save the original pattern, and which could be added in a percentage as the pattern was running so you could hear the impact of the change in real time.

As far as I can tell, that capability is not a capability of the Kronos, even though the drum track patterns are essentially identical to the arpeggios in Triton - that assumption being based on the way in which the new drum tracks can be copied, generated from scratch or imported (.mid) and then saved as internal user patterns.

I guess I'm left with your routine which is a little awkward but works rather than the one from Triton which IMO works better. Hoping that there's both room and a pathway for making that capability part of Kronos' architecture in some future update.

BB

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:07 pm

Drumtrack is rather more limited than the Triton arps despite working somewhat similar in the "import" aspect. It doesn't follow chords in any way, there is no "gate" setting, no swing, etc.
Of the two, KARMA is more of a replacement of the Triton arps and it does have a swing parameter for the relevant EGs. Without extra software, creating user patterns is out though.