Hi
I have a question which might suggest that I true noob
It’s regarding the setup for working on beats / samples.
So far what I have done is that I import different one-hits and loops. Most of the time I want to use such an eclectic beat ensemble that I 9 times out of 10 I don’t find I can use pre made drum banks in VSTs.
I give each sample / drum hit / loop a track of its own.
I do this maybe mostly for visual reasons, to be able to have an overview of the project when I look at the DAW sequencer of the song. I am an order / control freak so I feel the need to see clearly for example on what parts of a song say a certain percussion instrument is active / not active. Where the beat changes its patterns etc…
I also do it to be able to rearrange loops and edit (mostly mute) parts of them etc. I can’t see how I could do that if I assigned the loops / samples to different midi keys in a vst.
I also do it to be able to do separate automations and insert fx for the different hits / samples.
However since a long time now I have a deep suspicion that this is extremely far from the best way to do things. CPU wise but also workflow wise.
Do you have any comments on what I am doing wrong and examples on how you do it?
I have been thinking that I should probably try to get more audio samples onto one track. And use a vst to program the patterns of the samples. I was thinking of Geist and / or Kontakt for that but don’t know what is best. Or if there is something better. I also thought about using regroover instead of editing the loops by cutting and pasting in the sequencer.
My main concern about using a drum machine vst is that get dizzy by thinking of programming different patterns for a song but then not see visually in the DAW sequencer which pattern is on where in the different parts of the song.
Thanks so much for reading this long question that I probably could have put in a much clearer and brief way.
Btw I am on Cubase 11 on Mac / Mojave but this question is universal I assume.
Bless,
Eric