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Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:20 pm
by shahbazi
Noticed on a lot of ableton tutorials people seem to be creating their drums with audio samples in individual tracks, rather then using the drum rack. Just wondering what the majority of people do when creating their drums, and any advantages/disadvantages of the varios methods?

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:22 pm
by Kilo Graham
midi is nice because triggering and if the sampler can use data like velocity. audio is nice because you can edit the individual hits all over the track more easily. "this snare needs more punch" or whatever. instead of making a new track you just edit and paste

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:13 pm
by mks
I just revisited this topic two weeks ago, third page in.

http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=191748

For me I've been a musician my whole life and I play all of my drums (and everything else) in live in real time. I can't stand making riddims with a mouse.

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:46 pm
by SMOR3S
mks wrote:I just revisited this topic two weeks ago, third page in.

http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=191748

For me I've been a musician my whole life and I play all of my drums (and everything else) in live in real time. I can't stand making riddims with a mouse.
I use audio samples, imported into a drum rack, and then I either set a common pattern with the piano roll, or play a beat with my drum pad, on my Akai MPK Mini..

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 11:20 pm
by Swelly
I use drum racks. It frees up a lot of screen space and keeps them organized. Disadvantages unknown as of now. I love em.

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 11:48 pm
by bkwsk
Swelly wrote:I use drum racks. It frees up a lot of screen space and keeps them organized. Disadvantages unknown as of now. I love em.
Get a lot of them up and you'll start seeing your CPU and RAM dying slowly (or not so slowly). Only disadvantage I can think of.

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 1:16 am
by Towany
I use audio and then group my tracks together so you can fold them and free up space, for some reason it is just stuck in my head that you can do more with audio samples such as stretching and reversing and all that sort of thing. You can do the same in midi i'm sure but I just really like audio. Kind of the same reason why people bounce basslines out to audio to mess with em more.

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 2:09 am
by Swelly
I usually make my drums in a drum rack, then if i bounce to audio for reversing samples and what not from my complete drum track. I leave it in the midi form while actually writing, then bounce when mixing down and making adjustments.

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 6:18 am
by elyhess
MIDIDIDIDIDIDI

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:39 am
by nameless133
Midi. I use drumrack to play samples with my MPK Mini's drum pads.

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 12:48 pm
by bl0rg
oddly all things equal, simply dropping audio has better sound quality than impulse and drum rack...

https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php ... w=previous

i have a legit version of live too.

been using audio for the longest time because of that

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 12:44 am
by Perej
I've never bothered dropping in audio because it's so fiddly in live, but also mainly because drum racks are just so good. Half the appeal of Ableton is just throwing a ton of samples in a rack and messing about with them. It speeds up workflow so much. Also layering with instrument racks is amazing too.

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 12:54 am
by dickman69
i put a bunch o samples in that impulse & hit keys

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 2:00 am
by Gusto
bl0rg wrote:oddly all things equal, simply dropping audio has better sound quality than impulse and drum rack...

https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php ... w=previous

i have a legit version of live too.

been using audio for the longest time because of that
An Ableton forum post from 4 years ago about 'elves' magically changing the sound. I'm sticking to drum racks and playing my drums. Audio is all well and good for the dubstep guys that put the same sounds, in the same rhythms for every song.

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 8:15 am
by RandoRando
Ive im using nexus drums ill record them to audio, otherwise its just drum racks filled with sounds

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 10:05 am
by Misanthr0py
Almost always use Audio, only really use midi for percussion if I want something funky, and I don't really even do that often at all.
I just find Audio quicker than dropping it onto a drum rack slot then changing the volume of that track to make it hit at the level it was supposed to.

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 10:15 pm
by RandoRando
Misanthr0py wrote:Almost always use Audio, only really use midi for percussion if I want something funky, and I don't really even do that often at all.
I just find Audio quicker than dropping it onto a drum rack slot then changing the volume of that track to make it hit at the level it was supposed to.
your missing out on the advantages of simpler though.

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 11:38 pm
by Misanthr0py
RandoRando wrote:
Misanthr0py wrote:Almost always use Audio, only really use midi for percussion if I want something funky, and I don't really even do that often at all.
I just find Audio quicker than dropping it onto a drum rack slot then changing the volume of that track to make it hit at the level it was supposed to.
your missing out on the advantages of simpler though.
Such as?

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 5:04 am
by Swelly
Such as being able to set velocities...rather than automating the volume.

Re: Ableton live drums: Audio vs Midi

Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 7:38 am
by RandoRando
Misanthr0py wrote:
RandoRando wrote:
Misanthr0py wrote:Almost always use Audio, only really use midi for percussion if I want something funky, and I don't really even do that often at all.
I just find Audio quicker than dropping it onto a drum rack slot then changing the volume of that track to make it hit at the level it was supposed to.
your missing out on the advantages of simpler though.
Such as?
Velocity sensitive, spread, adjusting the velocity envelope, filter envelope, and tons of stuff, its simpler! i once chucked a snare into drum rack and started messing with simpler and ended up turning my snare into a bassline, and thus a new tune was born from that. Its just alot more fun rather than just dropping it into a audio lane and just sitting there.