Help for a frustrated beginner

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Hi Guys, very new to production and finding it VERY frustrating trying to get started – think I may have picked the wrong DAW (WF 9) based on the lack of tutorials out there ☹ I’ve been through the beginners guides on Traktions YouTube channel and have really tried to crack this myself but I’m on the verge of giving up. I seem to hit a hurdle at every stage. Hope someone here can help or point me in the direction of some useful resources.

Tried to start simple – a basic house beat. Loaded a selection of samples (kicks, snares etc) into the sampler then proceeded with a new step clip. The nice long deep kick I’d selected was cut short on playback. I found that setting the step length to 1 resolved this. This however is a global setting for that step track meaning I then can’t put my hats on the ¼ beats for example. If i set it back to 16 steps it just clips the kick again.

Is it really the case that I’d have to setup another step track to program the ¼ beat sounds and so on? Can’t be?? What am I missing?!

When I watch videos of others DAWS I see people blissfully painting in beats and hats and snares all over the grid.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer… Dave.

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Most DAWs come with a 30 days free trial FYI. Don't worry, this is a game of patience. I haven't got WF9, hopefully there are members here who can help you further.

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Generally, most step sequencers in DAW's force you to choose the number of steps per bar, that's the nature of step sequencers. If you want to use different beat lengths you're probably better off using the midi editor and drawing beats in. Just add a midi clip to the track and then open the midi editor. If you really want to use step sequences you could put them on different tracks with different step lengths and feed each track in to the track with the instrument on it by setting the track output destination to the instrument track.

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Hi Dave,

I use the Multisampler, that comes with WF9
Maybe this could be the Solution for you:

Multisampler pt. 1: https://youtu.be/knyXiyr7_3M
Multisampler pt. 2: https://youtu.be/0I1cB0V2p-8
Multisampler pt. 3: https://youtu.be/GHI0UMmqWds

The sound shaping controls allow you to set length, pitch ... etc. for your samples. Simple and very easy to use.

Hope this helps a little bit

Don’t give up, be patient ;)

Greetings, Michael
I don’t speak English, but this very well :D

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I agree with Michael (other Michael ;-) on that. Choose the finer grid for the hats but control the length of the kick by manipulating it in the sampler.

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Thanks guys, I did have a quick look at the the more in depth multi sampler vids but thought I was jumping ahead - didn’t realise it’s capabilities - so it can actually preserve the sample in its entirety but shorten it so it fits in a smaller step? Will certainly give that a shot, and the midi editor as well. That’s probably what I’ve seen in the videos I’ve been watching.

Thanks for the tips (and encouragement) will be back with updates!

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You could also load up different kick samples: short, medium, long, etc and set multisampler for one-shot.

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Are we making this more complicated than it needs to be?

If you're using the basic Tracktion sampler, and importing drum samples to different keys on it, make sure to click the "Ignore release" button for each sample, if they're drum hits.

What you want to happen is for the sound to trigger when you press a key / hit a pad / have a hit in a step clip, and it to play the whole sample, to the end. If it's drum samples. Because that's what drums do, you hit them, and they make a sound, till it fades away.

If you were importing organ samples (for example), you want them to play while you hold the note down / for as long as the midi note is drawn, and then go off when you release. At which point you *don't* want to "ignore release" for those samples.

Make sure drum samples are set to "ignore release" and others aren't, and you can crack on with the basic tracktion sampler, for the time being, if that's clearer.
"my gosh it's a friggin hardware"

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In the multisampler, the same thing is on the Sound tab, change the Mode from "ADSR" to "One Shot" (one shot is the same as "ignore release", you would use that for drums)
"my gosh it's a friggin hardware"

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If you've set up drums samples, in the tracktion sampler, without turning on "Ignore release", then they stop playing when the playhead gets to the end of the individual hit, in the step clip. With "ignore release" turned on, they won't.
"my gosh it's a friggin hardware"

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"lack of tutorials"????????????????????????????????????????????
[W10-64, T5/6/7/W8/9/10/11/12, 32(to W8)&64 all, Spike],[W7-32, T5/6/7/W8, Gina16] everything underused.

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Wow - Thanks for the replies. It's clear I still need to get to grips with a lot of the basic concepts.

Had a busy week of work so still working my way through your suggestions.

Editing the sounds in the multi sampler didn't work for me but was well worth the time spent getting familiar with the advanced controls.

Had a quick look at programming the drums using the midi editor last night and along with the quantize options this certainly is one method that seemed to work. Also felt good playing it live.

@Steve / @Chico - This sounds really interesting, it's exactly what I'm looking for. I just want the percussion hits to play out in their entirety so the OneShot and Ignore Release settings could do it.

Good to know there's so much knowledge and support out there. Cheers.

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jabe wrote: Wed Jan 16, 2019 1:25 pm "lack of tutorials"????????????????????????????????????????????
Am I missing a resource Jabe? The 15 or so videos on Waveform 9 from Tracktion are great for getting started, but when I do a search on something a little more specific (such as the above), it all seems to be Ableton and Logic videos.

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If you open the basic sampler and can't see the "Ignore Release" button and wonder where it is, make sure to drop a sample into the sampler first. Then the button appears. You set it for each sample, not globally.

If you're doing drums, step clips will be more straightforward than midi clips, just set the step length small enough that you can draw in your hihats in the clip too, or whatever your "fastest" bit of percussion will be.
"my gosh it's a friggin hardware"

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Cheers - presume the multi sampler has the same options? I've only toyed with the multi sampler so far. Is there any advantage to the basic sampler over the multi?

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