Strategies For Assembling Patterns And Songs - Akai XR 20 Reference Manual

STRATEGIES FOR ASSEMBLING PATTERNS AND SONGS

Ideally, you should be able to translate your inspirations into tangible form with a minimum
amount of effort. The following tips and techniques help speed up the process of creating
Patterns and Songs.
Create Fills Quickly with the Copy Function
Many times a Fill will simply be a variation on another Pattern, but with a few minor
differences to add variety or serve different musical purposes. To save time, use the
Copy function to copy the main Pattern to the Fill, and then add variations to the Fill in
real time or with Step Edit mode.
Assemble Short Patterns into Longer Patterns with the Copy Function
It's less time-consuming to work with short Patterns, since you don't have to wait for
the entire Pattern to cycle through before overdubbing or "spot erasing" events. After
assembling several short Patterns, use the copy function to append Patterns into a
longer Pattern. Example: Create four eight-beat Patterns, then use the copy function to
combine these into a single 32-beat Pattern.
Save Memory Through Song Steps
Whenever possible, repeat Patterns using Song steps rather than program long
Patterns. Example: Suppose you have a 16-measure figure where the first three
groups of four measures are identical, and the final group of four measures provides
some sort of variation. Recording this as one 16-measure Pattern will take up more
memory than recording two Patterns (one of the first group of four measures and one
of the last group of four measures), and while in Song mode repeating the first group
three times followed by the last group once.
Odd Time Signatures
For time signatures based on quarter notes, changing the number of beats in a Pattern
can also change the time signature. Example: Programming a Pattern seven beats
long will yield a measure of 7/4. Programming a Pattern 14 beats long will yield two
measures of 7/4. Time signatures such as 2/4, 3/4, 5/4, 9/4, and so on are easy to
implement.
For time signatures based on eighth notes, it's easiest to double the tempo so that
each beat lasts an eighth note instead of a quarter note. However, you will have to
take this into account when quantizing and setting the metronome—if the display says
a quarter note, it will be read as an eighth note.
Plan carefully when mixing different time signatures within the same piece. If some
Patterns use a time signature based on quarter notes and others on eighth notes, you
will need to double the tempo for the quarter note-based Patterns to match up with the
eighth-note based Patterns.
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