stigf:

You mentioned groove quantize in Ign.Virg.'s thread on quantizing.

How *do* you use the groove quantize? Do you build up your rhythm pattern in real time or by step entry and then slap one of the templates on it? Do you take a rhythm pattern and slap a completely *different* template on it just to see what happens?

It has always seemed to me that if you understand which template you want to use to begin with (i.e., if you already understand the rhythms well enough to do a pattern the template can work with at all), you are already able to build up the rhythm pattern in the first place, either in real time or, certainly, by step entry. What does the groove template then do to it that you can't do by regular or step editing?

I never understood the point of the templates; in fact, when I moved from the JV1000 (with the MC50 mkII sequencer) to the XP (with the MRC PRO), I was miffed they eliminated some of the useful MC50 features (like velocity fade) and added some--for me--useless features (like groove quantize).

Or am I underestimating its usefulness? Can you give an example of how you use it?
It sits there on my sequencer like a bit rock or something that I have no clue how to use.
Thanks.

For what it's worth, my take on this is that the groove templates can be quite fun if you are just 'doodling' with ideas and looking for some external stimulus to spring-board from.

I quite like writing a basic rhythm pattern then applying various templates to it just for fun. Sometimes the strange accents it thourhg up can take you in new directions to jam/write over.

For me that's all it's useful for. As you say, if I have a specific pattern in my head that I want to use, I don't need a template to get it down. But that bit of unpredictable inspiration can sometimes be fun. (Then again, sometimes it can be poitnless rubbish. It does tend to fall under the Japanses category of "we can do this, therefore we will do it"!)

All the best,

Martin

Yeah, that's basically all I've ever done with it, namely, slap it on some patterns I already have. The results have generally been pretty weird and not very useful. I have always wondered if anyone really uses these things the way they were intended. No one ever even talks about them.

I used it to 'unsquare' public midifiles that i wanted to re-arrange. lots of midi's I found to've been quantized too narrow. the result is a Bob Marley midi sounding like it was done by a polka expert. I shuffled the midi with a groovequantizer with quite satisfactory effect. But I don't think I'll ever use it on one of my own compositions.

Hi dnarkosis

Let me start by saying that I have not use Groove quantize VERY much. I have used it when I have recorded the rythm-track in real-time. I then quantize the whole track with one of the tenplates. I agree with you, it is often unpredictable as I do not understand well enough what the templates do. It usually ends up as a try-and-fail process, but if you have som patience you really can get some nice results.

Now, I may be on thin ice here, but i think the reason behind groove-quantize, is to be able to quantize to something else than quarters or eiights etc. The groove quantize is more "flexible" in a way, as it uses the template as a preference to where notes will be placed after the quantize-process. This means that some notes are quantized to 1/4, while some are quantized to 1/32, in the same process! I believe that is the whole point of groove-quantize, apart from adding a rythmic feel from the template.

I have used this to add some "spice" to rythm tracks that I felt were getting to "flat" and quantized. I think this is a feature one the XP that is well worth exploring, even if you don't end up using it all the time..

I have never used this feature on a melody-track.. It can be useful if you have a rythm track with a "strange" rythm. I guess the groove-quantize does not do anything that normal quantizing can't do, but the process is simpler, and it takes a lot less accuracy than recording a track for quantizing with 1/32.

As I started out by saying, I do not completely understand all aspects of the groove-quantize, so some of this is guessing..

Stig


[This message has been edited by stigf (edited 12-13-2001).]