Groovy tips & tricks

•	Because you can route each note lane to any of the 32 ReGroove channels, the key to creating really dynamic grooves is to spread your instrumentation across multiple note lanes.

For instance, where you might normally create a Redrum sequence with kick, snare, and hi-hat all on the same track, putting these elements into different lanes will let you apply different grooves to them. For example, you might have a kick lane routed to a ReGroove channel with a slight shuffle feel, and you might send the snare to a ReGroove channel that slides the notes earlier in time to “push” the backbeat a little. Breaking things into lanes will definitely enable you to create beats that are more loaded with feel and personality than if you simply apply one groove setting to everything.

See “Extract Notes to Lanes” for tips on how to automatically distribute notes from one note lane to several additional note lanes.

•	When building a groove, start simple. Experiment with adjusting the slide parameter to move just the snare or hi-hat forward or backward in time.

Try applying slightly different amounts of shuffle to different percussion instruments. Small changes can sometimes have a big visceral effect, so use your ears (and not your eyes) when adjusting the various groove settings.

•	Try applying the same groove patch to multiple lanes, but by varying amounts.

You are, of course, free to apply different groove patches to different lanes. Though, more often than not, your results might result in something that sounds more clumsy than groovy. The hottest grooves often have the most subtle of humanization.

•	Don't forget to try sending sequenced REX files through the ReGroove mixer.

Depending on the material in the file and how it's sliced up, this can create all types of results-ranging from unusable to downright inspiring.

•	If you're doubling instruments - that is two instruments play the exact same part - try sending one of the instruments to a ReGroove channel that has a small amount of random timing applied.

Random timing (which is accessible in the Groove Settings section of the Tools Window) will put some separation between the two instruments, making their performance sound more human. For example, if you have a clap doubling a snare, apply a little bit of random timing to the clap track, and it'll stand out more clearly in the mix.

•	As described under the “Anchor Point” heading above, grooves restart whenever a new time signature appears.

You can use this knowledge to force a groove to restart, which might be required if your music contains sections of odd lengths. Simply add in a time signature event, with the same type of time signature as you already have in the song. The groove will restart where the event starts.

•	Remember that groove patches have separate timing and velocity impacts and, as such, you can apply them independently.

For example, if you already have a track that has just the right groove timing, but you want to experiment with different dynamic feels, you can apply just the velocity portion of a groove by setting its Timing Impact parameter to 0. A groove's timing and velocity impact parameters can be accessed by clicking a ReGroove channel's Edit button, which opens the Groove Settings section of the Tools Window.