Real World Digital Audio

DreamTnc1_drm), and gradually mute parts to thin out the texture and

round out the song. Then remove the part 5 drums in groove 8, the

part 1 bass in groove 9, the part 4 Clav in groove 10, and the Trance1

beeps in groove 11.

Tutorial 3: Ready for the Dance Floor

With the grooves in place, you’re set to turn your home studio (or club, if

you want) into a dance inferno. The key to producing this result is real-

time, tempo-locked triggering of the grooves we’ve just assembled.

1. Change grooves: Try out your custom groove box by clicking on dif-

ferent buttons in the Groove Picker. Thanks to the Change on Groove

setting, everything will sync up nicely. Move sequentially through

grooves to build up or remove parts of the mix, or try jumping through

the structure out of order for changes with more contrast. If you have a

keyboard, add an instrument on another part and jam over the top.

2. Thin out the mix: Try switching back to groove 1 with just the bass

for four bars (perhaps between grooves 5 and 6)—the sudden sparse-

ness makes for some dynamic contrast. Notice that we’ve covered our-

selves by assigning the Tempo Delay effect to the analog keyboard

patch. This traditional DJ trick ensures that when other parts drop out,

delay spills over the silence rather than the sound stopping abruptly.

3. Control grooves: If you have a MIDI device—a keyboard or any other

controller—you can use that instead of a mouse to control the grooves.

Just right-click on the button or knob in the Kinetic interface you want to

assign. For example, right-click one of the grooves, select MIDI Remote

Control, and click Learn. Press the button or key you want to use to

switch to that groove, then click Stop Learning. (Alternatively, enter the

information manually with Control Source, although Learn is generally

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MIDI Remote Control

Para-Q

Song Arranger, Export

MIDI Controller (optional)

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easier.) Repeat this procedure for the other grooves, and you can “play”

your grooves using your keyboard or other device.

4. Control a filter sweep: A must-have physical control is a DJ-style filter

sweep: it’s no fun with a mouse, but it’s perfect for a fader, mod wheel,

or (best of all) a knob. (See Chapter 7 for more on equalization and

filtering, but you’ll probably recognize the sound.) Select part 5 (the

Groove Player) and select Edit Patch. Right-click Audio FX and add a

2-band parametric equalizer: Effects > Project 5 > Para-Q. Increase

Gain 1 to 100%, then assign a MIDI knob or slider to Frequency 1

(right-click, select MIDI Remote Control, and follow the Learn proce-

dure in step 3). Now, using your knob or slider, gradually sweep through

the filter with this groove playing.

5. Play, record, share: Using the Song Arranger, it’s possible to paint

grooves into the arrangement with the mouse, but instead (especially if

your live MIDI controller performance is hot) click the Record button

in the Arranger or hit the R key before triggering the grooves. Click