Korg Forums

[Abolger1980]

Hi all.... Anyone know how to do this? There is a short paragraph saying it can be done but even after trawling through all manuals (dear god!) Nothing!! Creating drums live from scratch is very tricky and impossible to make sound polished... Especially if you want a drum roll... Any help would be very much appreciated.

Cheers

[GregC]

if you dig around the drum patterns, there are a few drum rolls. They might be connected to a Karma GE.

It sounds like you are trying to create drum patterns from scratch . Are you a drummer ? It takes a definite skill to create a professional drum tracks from scratch.

I have good results with the SEQ and mashing up existing patterns.
But that's my approach and I made it work.

Many here will tell you to get a VST, and there are a few that are very impressive.
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[Abolger1980]

Cheers for the advice. When it comes to computer technology I'm a complete novice haven't even progressed to connecting midi instruments together yet! The whole idea of using a daw is hell to me.. how would a VST work with the Kronos? For instance if I arrange my own drums on a plug-in when back on the Kronos would it be synchronised properly as a track in sequencer? so i could still use the Kronos click track and adjust tempo etc.. or would it just be a recording?

Im connected to a computer with the application installed which to be honest isn't much use. When I've done drums in the past I've build patterns from scratch using the alesis sr18 or the step sequencer on the JD XI. I think a physical step sequencer with 16 keys is my ideal.. I'm told you can connect one via midi and use it as a controller but I wouldn't have a clue how to do that! Would connecting the sr18 to the kronos be a possibility?

[biggrime]

[pete.m]

A simple way to do drum rolls is to bash them in manually as best you can, and then to correct them in Event Edit, where you can alter timing, velocity, pitch, pan, track volume and instrument sounds and effects until you are happy with everything.

If the drum roll you want is way too complex for you to play at the current tempo of your song, you could record it with the sequencer speed slowed down to a speed that means you can play it.

Finally, you can program the whole roll in from scratch, using Event Edit.

Works for me every time!

[Abolger1980]

Thanks everyone for your help I've literally just tonight got my head around event edit ..once you fathom something out you realise it's actually quite simple. I absolutely love the Kronos but it an absolute minefield!! I really do think korg should make more detailed videos.. they would probably sell far more Kronos if people could see more online guides.

I'm going to post this as a separate question but does anyone know if a drum machine with a built-in 16 step sequencer connected via midi could be used to create user patterns within the kronos?

Many thanks people 👍👍

[pete.m]

I think it depends on a few things, all of which revolve around the MIDI capabilities of the Drum Machine.

One way would be to find out if the Drum machine has the MIDI capability to act as a master (with the Kronos as a slave). However, if you're doing it that way, the limits of what the DM can do will determine the limit of what the Kronos will do, and it will probably be just a limited number of tracks - maybe even one track.

There is also the possibility that the DM might be able to export the sequence as an SMF containing all the MIDI event information, which you would then import into the Kronos. You would need to map the drum sounds you want to match the MIDI note numbers of the imported sequence. You'd do that by altering the MIDI note numbers in Event Edit. For example, if the note on the SMF file corresponding to a snare hit is C2, C2 on your Kronos drum kit might be something else entirely. If the snare hit sound you want is C4 on the Kronos, you can shift all the C2s in the sequence to C4.
In this instance, the drum sounds in the resulting pattern would of course be the Kronos drum sounds.

Depending on the MIDI capabilities of the DM, you could slave it to the Kronos, and the Kronos might be able to trigger the sequence you previously recorded on the DM.

If you have a DM drum pattern/set of sounds that you particularly need to keep, you could either sample in the whole sequence or else sample in the individual drum sounds, import the sequnce as an SMF and construct it in the Kronos.

Sorry to hit you with a load of different possibilities, each of which are actually simple enough to do. As I say, it largely depends on the MIDI capabilities of the DM.

[Abolger1980]

Cheers pete much appreciated👍

People on here talk about having used the Arturia beatstep pro with the kronos so im going to do some digging. For now the event editor
will do the job fine... Would be great to have the external sequencer to get a rough idea then tweak as i like in the kronos editor. Either way im just happy i know how to build drums from scratch now😀

[pete.m]

You're welcome. You'll find the way that suits your workflow soon enough.

Event Edit is surprisingly powerful, though. I very rarely use the Kronos' internal drum sounds, but instead have gradually built up a bank of drum samples which I've randomly arranged into about 90+ kits. When I'm making a piece with drums, I'll probably use about four MIDI tracks for drums, and so I've got up to 240 drum samples to play with and can do everything I want with them in Event Edit.

I do also use an external sequencer as a notepad, as much as anything to force myself into generating new music by using things other than the Kronos, so that I don't get too settled in my habits. So I do agree with your idea of looking at something like the Beatstep. Hope you find what you're looking for.