Elektron Musical Instruments

Nobody could have said it better... :-)


--- In elektron-users@yahoogroups.com, "innerclock2004" <david@...> wrote:
>
> Thanks for the response Daniel - it's a very tough issue and you have 
> made your point clear enough although I disagree on a number of 
> fundamental points though all the same and because I initiated the 
> timing thread I felt it only fair that I respond after so much 
> healthy and, at times, heated debate.
> 
> I don't think there is any 'magic' beat box feel - vintage or 
> contemporary. What gives any rhythmic pattern 'feel' is how we 
> anticipate where sounds fall in time and because every individual 
> hears subjectively it makes practical analysis and criticism of 
> timing performance in sequencers very difficult. This I well 
> understand.
> 
> What I do feel strongly is that adding any random element to 
> step/event placement in any sequencing device does not create feel. 
> All it serves to do is blur the edges of the groove. 
> 
> The exact opposite applies when deliberate Push/Pull placement of 
> steps/events against a strict quantised tempo grid is used to 
> customise feel - pushed hats, late snares and of course shuffle/swing.
> 
> You use rigidity as a way of describing the interest many musicians 
> have in tighter event timing and suggest using computers for such 
> tasks. The term rigidity has negative connotations for most musicians 
> but I must stress again that a desire for precision and consistency 
> in sequencing is not about rigidity or stiffness at all. Quite the 
> reverse in fact.
> 
> Feel is all about rhythmic anticipation – and that very human 
> anticipation demands that if a snare is deliberately placed 5 ticks 
> late it must always sound 5 ticks late to faithfully maintain the 
> groove. The potential feel in any rhythm becomes less focused when 
> the snares fall 3 ticks late sometimes and 7 ticks late other times 
> in a pattern or loop when the timing variation is of a random nature. 
> 
> This is not human feel. It is not feel in any sense because the 
> timing variation is random – this is simply software and hardware not 
> keeping time.
> 
> Remember that my initial tests were not analytical to begin with – I 
> could hear things shifting around which made me look closer. This was 
> something I could hear.
> 
> If you had implemented a secret 'groove template' in the SPS-1 I 
> could appreciate that to a point although I would have liked an 
> option to switch it off. What leaves me unconvinced is the random 
> nature of the push/pull. If it was a deliberate process to add 
> a 'feel template' - wouldn't the step push/pull variation be 
> consistent across a complete pattern? 
> 
> I guess I am a little disappointed as I love what the MD can do and 
> had hoped the timing could be straightened out a little.
> 
> At the end of the day – it's a very beautiful machine and makes 
> beautiful music. That was never in any doubt. I just asked the 
> question to see if it could be tightened up a little.
> 
> Regards and deep respect as always,
> 
> David.
>