$Page 64 Pad Lab by Mad Zach $TargetName 64 Pad Lab by Mad Zach 64PadLab_MadZach_260x260.png *Welcome to 64 Pad Lab by Mad Zach.* 64 Pad Lab is a collection of 5 meticulously crafted Drum Racks for finger drumming or creative performance, designed to be played on a 64 button grid controller such as Push. Each Rack contains all the different types of sounds needed to craft a full song: drums, bass, synths, atmospheres, vocal blips, risers, backspins, breakdowns, and more… Whereas many Drum Racks are designed intentionally with a generic use in mind, these Racks ooze uniqueness, covering a variety of different vibes yet retaining an unapologetic dose of Mad Zach's signature sound design style. His technique draws heavily on a slew of outboard analog gear, yet takes advantage of the full flexibility of Ableton's Drum Rack device to render a product which is both great sounding and conveniently encapsulated. Many of the stylistic decisions that went into creating these Racks were dictated by the nature of the performance medium. As such, the sounds are designed to be played with rhythms and tempos which make sense for finger drumming, typically between 140 and 180 bpm. However, since the Racks are mostly comprised of one-shots, they can be creatively played at any speed or style you wish. Click on "Next Page" or jump directly to: -> $Link Layout & Features -> $Link Tips & Techniques for Finger Drumming -> $Link What is Finger Drumming? Divider.tif For more information about Mad Zach please visit $Link www.madlabaudio.com More Packs at $Link www.ableton.com/packs $Comment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- $Page Layout & Features $TargetName Layout & Features *Layout & Features* All the Racks feature a (relatively) consistent layout in order to encourage development of muscle memory. Please take a look at the following image as a general reference for where to find the different types of sounds. 64_Pad_Layout.png (Note: Press the Note Mode button to toggle between Push's standard three-section layout and 64-pad mode.) Mad Zach's pioneering finger drumming layout is based on years of fine tuning and testing but naturally, some players will prefer to arrange the sounds themselves. If you choose to do so, it's really quite easy; simply click and drag a cell to whichever other cell location you wish it to be on and it will trade places with the sound on that cell in a nondestructive way. Be sure to save your updated version to your User Library (because user presets can't be saved in Packs.) A bit about choke groups, gated sounds, loops, and other types of sounds included in the Racks… The sounds vary widely in both their interaction with each other and their individual playability. For example, some sounds react differently depending on how long you tap/hold the pad for. A clear demonstration of this can be found in the first Rack, where in the lower left quadrant you'll find a selection of sounds which are simultaneously one shots and loops. Tap one of the pads quickly and you'll be able to use it as a percussive one shot. Hold it down and you have a percussion loop. This particular strategy allows for a playing style reminiscent of beat juggling. In other sections of the grid you'll find sounds which contain non-retriggering LFOs assigned to various parameters. This means each time you play that sound regardless of how you play it, the sound's tone will be different. A really fun instance of this to explore is on sounds where the LFO is set to control the filter cutoff of a 24dB bandpass filter on white noise. The result is a very vibrant "scratch like" sound that morphs as you hold it or scurries around when you tap. Another example of how the sounds interact with each other is the way the choke groups are set up. Choke groups make it so that some sounds will cut off other sounds depending on whether they are in the same choke group or not. All the Racks have been set up with choke groups for things like sub bass kicks: bass synth noises that would conflict if played at the same time. This ensures that your mix will stay clean and punchy as you explore the myriad of sounds and possibilities within the Rack. The best way to discover the way the sounds interact is to just start pressing pads and see what happens! $Comment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- $Page Finger Drumming Techniques $TargetName Finger Drumming Techniques *Finger Drumming Tips & Techniques* When approaching finger drumming, it is important to think of your controller as an instrument. You must have patience, and practice a lot in order to become a master. This is not to say the process isn't an amazingly good time and you can't see results right away. Depending on your musical background you may be able to quickly apply skills learned at piano, drums, guitar, or another instrument. One of the great things about finger drumming and Drum Racks is that you can use sound design to your advantage to create something amazing with simple articulation. Essentially the concept is this: Certain fingers on certain hands are responsible for specific types of sounds. For example, the right hand is always on drums, while the left hand is assigned to bass, atmospheres, and melodies. Within the right hand even more specific assignments are made: right thumb is assigned to the kick and sub kicks, while right first and middle finger are consistently playing hi hats, shakers, crashes, etc. But even with these types of specific rules, sometimes there is crossover or "rule breaking," for example when it might be cool to have a melodic type sound in a rhythmic context. By establishing a consistent assignment of types of sounds for specific fingers, you will with practice be able to develop muscle memory for the different patterns and rhythms you practice. Because each Drum Rack features a similar layout, this muscle memory begins to apply to each Rack you load, allowing you to constantly build on your skills as you move between Racks with ease. This principle applies regardless of how you choose to lay out your samples. All that is important is that the layout remains consistent. $Comment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- $Page What is Finger Drumming? $TargetName What is Finger Drumming? *What is Finger Drumming?* Finger drumming is a method of live electronic music performance whereby one plays the buttons/pads of a MIDI controller or sampler like a drum or piano to trigger a variety of sounds from drums, to melodic elements, sound effects, and atmospheres. These sounds can be arranged into rhythms with the left and right hands and combined into complete songs, or used as an instrument in an ensemble. The art of finger drumming has been around about as long as there have been digital samplers with buttons, although in the early days it was typically limited to the common (at the time) grid size of 4X4. With the development of Ableton's Drum Rack device, it became much easier to go beyond just sampling, and for the first time all the strength of electronic music and a production DAW was suddenly available on each pad. The power of finger drumming is that it is a musical skill set which can be applied to any sound. In the context of a program like Live, it revolutionizes music production because it allows the player/producer to step away from programming-oriented production and actually play in a whole song or song idea at the touch of a finger. $Comment Status: Translate