TW #75 — IT Percussion Tips (Zinc)

zinc's techno-oriented advice for Impulse Tracker 2.06 ("most of them will probably be useful with earlier versions, and even in other trackers").

Key claims#

• Panning: the kick goes in the middle; other percussion need not. Fake stereo by doubling channels equidistant from the target position with (A) two slightly different samples, (B) the same sample slightly delayed by offsets or delays, (C) the same sample on two consecutive notes. Panning envelopes: don't push past 00/64; tune a beat loop to C-5 at the song's BPM, make the envelope exactly the loop's length and pan it back and forth in step with the kicks and snares; two slightly different loops crossing each other's path is "a nifty stereo effect — don't overdo it"; a loop tuned at C-5 plays double speed at C-6 (use for transitions); the volume column's ` lets you change pan and keep vibrato. Farthest samples at 00 or 64, track as if the speakers were side by side and let listeners lower the separation (default 128). Use panning swing for subtle hi-hat variation and panning default instead of re-panning every note.
• Tuning: set the sample's C-5 speed so the drum sounds right at one note instead of hunting for the note — easy to change later.
• Volumes: keep sample volumes 00–64 relative to each other and balance instruments with the global volume; volume swing on hi-hats (even after hand-writing 64-24-32-20) makes the song less mechanical.
• NNAs: handy, but "don't cram your instruments into one or two channels". Pitch envelopes rarely useful for percussion.
• "If you remember just one thing from this article, remember this: Don't overdo it!"

Relevance#

Core impulse-tracker mixing practice; feeds stereo-panning, randomization-and-probability (swing), instrument-design, instrument-envelopes.

Pages touched#

zinc, impulse-tracker, stereo-panning, randomization-and-probability, instrument-design, instrument-envelopes.