Glitch drums?

[ClaySchmitt]

Hello slutz,
To be honest I dont even know the correct term for what I am talking about.

I was wondering how artists get that glitch/hyperbeat sound? For referance to what I am talking about listen to Bjork's Vespertine or any album by The Books.

I have done a bit of this within Protools by copying a region and pasting it over and over and resizing the regions to fit the beat, but that is super time consuming. What program should I be doing this on(mac)? Are there any tutorials for how to best do this creatively? (I am new to computer music.)

[bluemoon]

that sounds like a lot of work. You got dedicated tools for that, namely reaktor and max/msp seem to be great environments to create such things. there's also VSTs specific for this.

http://illformed.org/glitch/

Then there are hidden tricks in every gear that sort of alow you to do this. it's all about keeping short decays and messing around with fx. Lo-fi stuff.

check these lo-fi fx

http://destroyfx.smartelectronix.com/

in terms of hardware my favourites are the machinedrum and the monomachine from elektron.

you can get really cool tricks messing around with samples in ableton Live as well for example.

just a few ideias...

[Ol' Betsey]

You need LiveCut and Suppatrigga - Both AU.

Run your drums through either (or both) of these while recording to another track and then edit away.

Warning: You're going to get ALOT of unusable garbage coming out of these plug-ins but the editing is what separates the men from the boys here.

Good luck!

R.

[ClaySchmitt]

thank you! I knew there had to be a better way of doing this. Welp time to get to work.

[DJDJ]

I was going to post last night, got too tired, but here's my take:


it *really* depends on what you mean by glitch. There are many types of glitch, and thus, many techniques to make it. If you mean like smeary, and falling apart sounding, definitely check the above plugins. As referred to but not named, destroy Fx's buffer override is standard. Reaktor excels at extreme smearing as well. Resampling is key here: run your parts through reaktor, automate and get it to be how you want, and then resample it, and take just the best bits to mix back in with your track.

But honestly, the way you were doing it is how you'll get the best results. Most of the heavy duty pioneers of "glitch"/microsound work at extremely small resolutions and edit by hand. However, it's time consuming and most people lose interst in their track after working this way for a little bit, so here's another way of doing it: use your sampler.

If what you're after it skittery beats that have been bit reduced/sample rate reduced, but they're a bit more controlled, just lay out the samples you want to use in a sampler and program away. If you want to really mash things up a bit more, pre process all your samples through different fx, and different settings, choose the ones you like, and write beats with that. Maybe even include a few longer pieces from your beat loop starting at different points, some glitched out through buffer override or reaktor, and get creative. I personally view the IDM/glich/microsound ethos as being that simple. It's not about 1 technique for treating and twisting sound, it's about experimenting and being creative to get new and fresh results. Have fun with it, and see what happens


standard fx for this sort of thing:

bit reduction/sampler rate reduction
tight delays/combfilter/extreme flange
longer delays too
filter filter filter
distort
ring modulation

etc etc etc

[Jazzpunk]

Originally Posted by ClaySchmitt

thank you! I knew there had to be a better way of doing this. Welp time to get to work.

You'll find that the more time spent hand crafting these types of beats the better the results. It takes time but the process is part of the joy. I've never read an interview where Squarepusher or Aphex Twin complain about how long it takes to make their beats!

I second the technique that DJDJ describes. I like using Kontakt to trigger my drum samples. I will have literally dozens of processed elements for each piece of my kit. Manipulating all of these samples via midi is much easier than moving audio files around on the grid but you still have micro control over every glitch.

There is a reason Vespertine sounds the way it does. I guarantee a lot of love and sweat went into crafting those beats.

[ClaySchmitt]

yeah I agree, Vespertine is made of magic. I heard they just went around with the built-in mic on their minidisc recorder to get their samples. thumbsup

When you say "run your parts through reaktor" what instrument/ensemble are you using? I am sort of new to reaktor but I am working my way around it. Can you possibly give me a little walk through?


Also, what do I need to do to get the effect that "The Books" are getting with their strings? (The start stop samples)

[DJDJ]

I get the distinct impression that the books do most of their editing by hand, afterrecording in their performances on their instruments. However, there are times that it sounds like they are using gating and/or automating the track mute button on their DAW to get some of the rhythmic pulsing that it part of their sound. But really, that's just an (somewhat) educated guess.......

as far as reaktor goes, it really depends. I have WAY too many ensembles, and though I have a few that I go to for specific sounds, most of the time, I find one I like, open reaktor in standalone mode, load in a file (or stem) from the song I'm working on, and muck about with it for a few minutes while I record my messing around. Then I open that up in a 2 track editor (peak, on the mac side) and cut out the bits I like. Then I make a kontakt intrument, or load 'em into battery as part of my kit, and there's my fave glitches ready to be sequenced. I wish I could tell you some magic formula, but it's a lot of exploring and fooling around, and for me, that's part of the magic. Though I'm not remembering ensemble names right now, I will say that some are better for atmospheric textures, some for extreme glitch, some for distorted stuff, etc, etc.... I generally use reaktor as a standalone thing and use the "sequencer" and "sample transformer" type effects over stuff as a plugin insert in my sequncer. That's mostly 'cause I've had a hard time automating ensembles, but I'm sure there's tons of fun to be had that way too.......


hope that helps a bit.

oh, and as far as the drums go, don't forget to pitch/tune your drums and I'd imagine that tightening up decay times on your hits so that they're shorter and blippier will help get the sound you're after......

just keep playing around with it. You'll find what you like!





D

Originally Posted by ClaySchmitt

yeah I agree, Vespertine is made of magic. I heard they just went around with the built-in mic on their minidisc recorder to get their samples. thumbsup

When you say "run your parts through reaktor" what instrument/ensemble are you using? I am sort of new to reaktor but I am working my way around it. Can you possibly give me a little walk through?


Also, what do I need to do to get the effect that "The Books" are getting with their strings? (The start stop samples)

[lineofcontrol]

this is what i do...

Panda Drum & Bass | Making Aphex Twin Timestretch Effects with Propellerhead Reason 3 - YouTube

[symmetricalSound]

Originally Posted by ClaySchmitt

but that is super time consuming.

yes, yes it is.

Originally Posted by ClaySchmitt

What program should I be doing this on?

none, carry on as before.

[shadowelectronic]

Run a bunch of drum samples through an arppegiator and go to town

[doulos30]

try d blue glitch render a loop with the sound you like from there then chop it into samples you could also add some circuit bent drum samples to the mix

[gremlin moon]

It's always worth asking at the source:
Damian Taylor
I've found that people on the nerdy-creative end of the spectrum don't have a lot of people to talk shop with in their daily lives -- you might get lucky with a really specific answer.

[ohmicide]

program some drums, bounce them out, cut them up, add some effect, bounce those out, cut some more, rearrange, etc

copy paste copy paste copy paste copy paste copy paste copy paste

I find Live to be the best for this since you can pitch and stretch individual cuts however you want

you can also easily join audio files, I just wish it had bounce to place like Logic