
MIDI drum loops have a bad rap, because some musicians consider them metronomic and boring. But they don't have to be. Subtly leading or lagging the beat at strategic moments, like physical drummers do, can give a better feel. You can also introduce slight, random variations with Studio One's humanize function.
This tip covers yet another option: pitch changes. Harder hits raise the pitch of acoustic drums. Sometimes, electronic drums are programmed to emulate this effect. Furthermore, pitch changes can go beyond subtlety to create special effects.
Impact XT responds to pitch bend, but bending affects all drums that trigger at the same time. This technique is more selective. It uses automation to vary the Tune parameter for Impact XT's individual pads.
The following drum loop is for reference, prior to any automated pitch changes.
Creating Automation Data
You can automate individual pads in the Arrange View or Edit View. I prefer creating automation in the Edit View. This makes it easy to see the correlation between a pad's notes and the associated automation data. Here's how to add automation in the Edit View:
1. Click on the three dots at the left of the controller labels in the Edit View's Automation Lane. This brings up the Add/Remove automation dialog (fig. 1).
Figure 1: Add/Remove automation dialog.
2. In the Parameter column on the right, locate the pad you want to automate. For example, in fig. 1 the snare is on Pad 2 in Bank A.
3. Click on the Sample - Tune parameter to select it.
4. Click on <
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