Sample Packs

Elektron Gear Analog Rytm
#1

I didn’t realize the price on the AR packs was half the OT packs so I never even looked into them. I’m considering a few of them now.

Can you instal just the samples/kits without patterns or other stuff?

Is there a benefit to installing the other stuff?

Any faves? I’m thinking about buying the 909, 808 and Junk percussion as I’m too lazy to dump my own in there I guess.

Why are there no free sample packs/kits for the AR? There seems to be little freebies for the rest of the machines. The 808/909 should just be included as they are so basic that every drum machine should at least be able to have them. Not hating, just my opinion obviously.

Sample chains - coming from an OT user
Sample chain help
#2

Check the Files section of Elektronauts.
LOADS of free Rytm sample chains in there. 606, 727, XD-5, MBase, MD, Prophecy drums…
Personally, I prefer sample chains to the Elektron packs. 128 sampled drum hits per project is too limiting for me, and too limiting based on how much RAM is inside.
With compiled hits into sample chains you can have over 7,000 hits per project.

#3

Oh yeah! I use Sample Chains in my OT. Great!!

#4

You can edit your OT chains for use in Rytm.
OT samples use 128 slices, Rytm uses 120 slices.
So truncating 64 slice OT chains down to 60 slice works. 32 to 30, and so on.
Also, be sure to render them at 16bit, mono, 48khz. That is the native configuration for Rytm.

#5

You can edit your OT chains for use in Rytm.
OT samples use 128 slices, Rytm uses 120 slices.
So truncating 64 slice OT chains down to 60 slice works. 32 to 30, and so on.
Also, be sure to render them at 16bit, mono, 48khz. That is the native configuration for Rytm.[/quote]
Without wanting to get off topic. . . why did they do 120 on one and 128 on the other?!? These are the things that annoy me about Elektron. Weird inconsistencies between machines.
Thanks for the tip!!

#6

Hey it’s your topic, let’s derail this train! :joy:

Not sure. The reasoning from Elektron that I have read doesn’t compute much with me.
There are other threads on the topic.

Dalton from Elektron said this, from the thread, “Sample start/end has 120 steps ?”

with n slices there are n+1 positions (slice boundaries) where playback can start and stop. So if the knob had a range of 0 to 127 you would be able to select 128 positions and that would give you 127 slices. You would not be able to select any perfect divisions because 127 is a prime. To get 128 slices the knob would need to range from 0 to 128 (have 129 values) and thus break the MIDI 7-bit convention which allows only 128 values for a parameter.

With a range of 0 to 120 you have 121 positions available. The number of slices is 120 and this number divides with 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8. So you can play for instance one beat from a 3/4 or 5/4 bar, or one eight from a 4/4 bar.

I hope this makes sense

The fact that NPRN range is 0-120 and that OT does very different things with samples and slices may have something to do with the decision.

#7

You can edit your OT chains for use in Rytm.
OT samples use 128 slices, Rytm uses 120 slices.
So truncating 64 slice OT chains down to 60 slice works. 32 to 30, and so on.
Also, be sure to render them at 16bit, mono, 48khz. That is the native configuration for Rytm.[/quote]
The thing I don’t understand with the AR sample chains is, what’s the number I need to dial in to go from one sample to the next?

If there’s 120 slices, is there a new sample on each step (1,2,3,4…) Then I have to set the sample start to 1 and end on the 2. That means I have to adjust the sample start for each and every step, 120 times…2 to 3, 3 to 4, 4 to 5…etc.

Curious if there’s an easier work around?

#8

I always put the slice # in the file name, so that when i load it up (or tap the sample select button/encoder on Rytm to verify whichh chain is loaded), I can see how many slices there is in the sample chain.
All the chains I have uploaded to the file section have the slice# in the name.

I mostly work with 60 and 30 slice chains. My library of recorded MD hits wasn’t 120 hits deep, nor were my XD-5 and SQ-80. So those chains are smaller, yet properly divisible.

If you’re working with a chain that has 60 slices, then you’ll want to set start points at 0, or 2, or 4, 6, 8 etc. and end at 2, or 4, or 6, 8, 10, respectively.
Each slice is 2 divisions (120 divided by 60 is 2)
If there are 30 slices in a chain, then 0,4,8,12,16 etc for start points, with end points 4 slices after respectively (120 divided by 30 is 4)

If there’s 120 slices, is there a new sample on each step (1,2,3,4…) Then I have to set the sample start to 1 and end on the 2. That means I have to adjust the sample start for each and every step, 120 times…2 to 3, 3 to 4, 4 to 5…etc.

Are you referring to auditioning sample hits within the chain?
For that, I set the end point to 120, and then just start triggering the pad while I move up the start point. I’m only listening for the first hit that is triggered with the pad. Mentally disregarding every hit that gets automatically played afterward. If hearing the rest of the hits in the chain is too much for you, just make the envelope times shorter.
Once the start point arrives at the hit that I want, I adjust the end point accordingly.

I should probably make a Rytm sample chain workflow video sometime.

#9

That’d be cool

I guess a feature request for the AR would include locking the start and end points of samples to a fixed length.

So basically, if moved the start point from 1 to 2 the end point would move from 3 to 5 without manually having to do.

The OT is nice because you can set the HOLD to a fixed length. If I knew what the correlation was between the numbers HOLD represents and what that means for a sample, that’d help.

#10

Exactly, the first parameter should be start and the second, length. This way, nudging the start simply moves up the chain with the length to play remaining the same (until you get to the end at which point it would stop).

So:

0 / 5 would play start from 0 and until 1 (0 > 4)
10 / 5 would play from 10 until 11 (10 > 14)

Applying the LFO on the START would open this up even more.

EX/

#11

However, swapping “end” for “length” would prohibit reverse samples in the current configuration.

#12

Good idea’s guys. Locked sample length. This is definitely something for the future rytm. Changing chains using performance mode/LFO/Scene would be very cool.

#13

Not to sound like the village contrarian, but we already can with Scene and Performance, as both allow multiple parameter ties.
But as there is only one LFO, it is only not possible with current LFO configuration.
A 2nd LFO destination on the single LFO shape would solve this, however (like how A4 has 4 destinations over 2 LFOs).

#14

Yes. I was al little bit too conclusive there :wink: However, when pushing the performance pads, the sample chains swops cannot be accurate, can they? In that case you would need some sort of quantized locks or something, because of the start end positions.

#15

Adam - if you haven’t already, get your hands on an OT and mess around with some sample chains. That experience is a lot different than using chains with the AR. Having started with the OT, it’s hard to jive with chains on the AR. It’s not as immediate and there’s like one or two extra steps involved - particularly dealing with the end position.

On the OT you’ve got a HOLD function which correlates directly to how many steps a sample should play. REL set to zero. This way, you only have to adjust the START knob and you’re in LFO, crossfade sample heaven. And it’s on the beat. I find myself playing samples at weird start points when dealing with them on the AR.

To that end, I guess I prefer sample packs on the AR. For now…

#16

Not to sound like the village contrarian, but we already can with Scene and Performance, as both allow multiple parameter ties.
[/quote]
I ‘scan’ the AR chains using velocity - give both modulation destinations the same range - not something to do for kit playing as such, good for pseudo random and timbral variation
.
if elektron wanted to help us out, they’d only need to (in the short term) allow us to target simultaneously both start and end as a solitary destination - easy peasy, that’s what i’d do in Lemur/Max for such limitations

#17

Maybe a dial going from -120 > 0 < +120 to allow forwards and reverse?

(Side note—this forum blows on an iPad)

#18

Check the Files section of Elektronauts.
LOADS of free Rytm sample chains in there. 606, 727, XD-5, MBase, MD, Prophecy drums…
Personally, I prefer sample chains to the Elektron packs. 128 sampled drum hits per project is too limiting for me, and too limiting based on how much RAM is inside.
With compiled hits into sample chains you can have over 7,000 hits per project. [/quote]
Adam…just want to say thank you for being so helpful around here. I am noticing it often…samples to tech help.
Nice and thanks!

#19

Seconded. I just downloaded several of your sample chains and I can tell already they are going to be a valuable resource. Thanks for all of your sharing and support!

#20

Seconded. I just downloaded several of your sample chains and I can tell already they are going to be a valuable resource. Thanks for all of your sharing and support![/quote]
Thanks to both of you. I’m happy to help.

djadonis, Yea, I’m familiar with how much smoother sample chains work on OT. I think that due to the slicing capabilities, OT lends itself very well to imported sample chains. And yes the 128 division helps. It’s clear that using sample chains on Rytm is more of an exercise, but I don’t think it is futile. In the end, what you get (thousands of hits in RAM and a single project) for what you put in is absolutely worth it.

On Rytm, your “HLD” parameter would equate to 1.058 to 1 (127 divided by 120) Close to 1:1, so try it as 1:1 for now (60 slice chains, set HLD to 2, 30 slice chains to 4, etc.), with DEC set low. It won’t be perfect, and depending on your sample hit, it may trim the tail a little. But it will be close, and should help with the annoyance of sample hit selection within a sample chain.

I just tested this out, and this is how I am going to audition all of my sample chains from now on. Using the HLD parameter in place of sample END for auditioning. Then using the sample STA (start) to sweep through the various hits. Once I have the sample hit I want, adjusting the end point according to the slice count, and turning the HLD back up to prevent shortening the tail.

If you’re making your own chains, especially from drum samples, you can make sure to have 6% of silence after each hit (at the cost of losing 6% of your sample RAM space) when you render the chain. This practice means you won’t need to adjust HLD and END after auditioning, as the envelope won’t be effecting the tail.