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Old 12-12-2019, 11:27 AM   #1
vejichan
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Default How do you program midi bass and midi drums quick and efficiently?

I know this is basic and involves copy and pasting but I need to know how to do it quicker.

Basically I am stuck on the following, on the midi map in reaper
• I paint the note on C but I want to paint the same note for the next 4 or 5 bars, how do I do this?
• The first 2 bars have all the notes painted, I want to copy the same notes for the 1st 2 bars for the next 4 bars.. how do I do this?
• I painted all the notes on the map but it’s an octave down. How do I select all the notes and drag it up to the correct pitch?

Lastly, what are your humanize settings for midi drums (Ez drummer) and Midi Bass? Any tips on how I can it sound more exciting etc? Thanks
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Old 12-12-2019, 11:57 AM   #2
foxAsteria
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Best thing to do is record it. No matter how bad you are, a well edited but poor MIDI performance will generally sound more realistic and interesting than a "humanized" but programmed part. Depends what kind of music you do though. Some benefits from inhuman timing.

Humanize settings work best within 10% but they are random and don't actually produce the kinds of musical mistakes we call groove. Groove has more to do with the way the musician tends to move/physical habits/limitations etc.

If you don't have a MIDI keyboard and have to enter notes manually, just have a look through the actions list (MIDI Editor section) for all the ways to manipulate the MIDI.

Select all notes on a line by right clicking the corresponding note in the piano roll. Hold shift to select multiple notes.
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Old 12-12-2019, 09:12 PM   #3
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To make it groove you move some notes slightly off the grid - usually it's best to pick the off beat hits and move those slightly either forward or backwards ensure that you move all the hits that land on that beat by essentially same amount.

Simplest method is to do this as a 2 or 4 bar loop with the 1st & 3rd beat kept to the grid.

Items loop by default so just drag the 2 (or 4) bar item into required sections of your song.

Once you have your groovy song sections (say in 8 or sixteen bar loops) then split them down into smaller sections for humanization - but only humanize the velocity not the timing and only by about 5-10% then once they are humanized glue them back into sections - you now have a more groovy loopy song section.


Or get a drum pad and play the notes in.
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Old 12-12-2019, 09:55 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by foxAsteria View Post
Best thing to do is record it. No matter how bad you are, a well edited but poor MIDI performance will generally sound more realistic and interesting than a "humanized" but programmed part. Depends what kind of music you do though. Some benefits from inhuman timing..
I TOTALLY agree.

Just buy a cheap midi keyboard you can plug via USB in your compter. Old controllers go for super cheap in second hand shops, pawns shops/ online markets.

I got mine for 15 bucks a couple years ago, and I couldn't happier. I'm no keyboardist, even if my life depended on it. But that thing saved me hours of mouse clicking. Possibly days... MIDI mouse clicking time adds up real quick.
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Old 12-13-2019, 12:54 AM   #5
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I ditched humanizing drum tracks at all, I came to a conclusion randomizing it slightly offtime does nothing to make them noticeably more real. I have varied velocity though as I program most of the drums by tapping them into a pad controller with velocity (quantized to counter my shitty timing). Plus everything around drums is un-quantized so kinda overrides drum track stiffness. Also I humanize my bass by humanely playing it on bass guitar.
edit: still dont understand why OP didn't get a bass guitar after all those "how to fake bass without bass" threads - you apparently have solid guitar chops, after getting some $50 bass you'd have solid rock bass guitar tracks in no time.
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Last edited by zeekat; 12-13-2019 at 01:02 AM.
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Old 12-13-2019, 01:43 AM   #6
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Get a good drummer, have him/her perform the parts on a Roland kit to a clicktrack, and capture the midi.

Best of all worlds.
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Old 12-13-2019, 02:45 AM   #7
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I use sequencer_megababy. It takes some learning but it's very powerful.
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Old 12-14-2019, 11:29 AM   #8
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The quickest way (not saying the best) for bass might be to write your C note bar, then drag the MIDI item to the length required, then glue it.
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Old 12-14-2019, 03:12 PM   #9
lerian
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Not really a practical advice but with only 127 velocity steps i hope midi 2 controllers come soon, so the midi grooves will be really groovie.

Kicking some electronic drums would be the best effect, but with time and dedication you can also mouse the groove.

sequencer_megababy looks like a nice tool.
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