2 posts tagged “tutorial”

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Song structure in Nanoloop.

Song structure in Nanoloop differs for each and every person. It also depends on the style of music you're writing and what it is you want to do. For now we'll start with some basics.

r channel - bass and kicks (bass drum)
l channel - good for either leads of accompaniment
s channel - also good for leads or accompaniment
n channel - for snares or hit-hats

Some sound examples:

r channel (kick & bass): kick & bass
l channel (accompaniment): accompaniment
s: channel (lead): lead
n channel snare & hi-hat: snare & hi-hat
all: all

Each loop is played at 142 bpm and the l channel loop is played at 1/2 speed.

What it looks like in Nanoloop:

R channel kick
R channel kick

r channel:

Kick: The notes for a kick sound should be on blocks 1, 5, 9 and 13 (this is what's known as a 4x4, your basic kick used overused in a lot of dance tracks). The picture to the left depicts this clearly. Each note is at the lowest octave and semitone. Next you will have to adjust the pitch in order to achieve a

R channel pitch
R channel pitch
kick sound, otherwise it will just sound like very low bass notes. The picture to the left shows a good adjustment for pitch. Use the cursor to help with placement. You can move it around to experiment with different sounds. Moving it to the left will make your kick sound cleaner (it may sound similar to a kick on a TR-606). Moving it to the right will add more bass tones to the note and it may sound more like a low tom rather than a kick. After you have adjusted the pitch and found a sound you like, then you can add the bass notes. This is a very simple process. Place down the same notes as you kick but make them an octave higher.
R channel notes (kick and bass)
R channel notes (kick and bass)
The smaller square controls the octave. The notes in the picture are at C when making them higher you can use A + up or down on from the function menu to adjust all the notes at once. When this is done the kick will match the bass notes and they will sound a lot better when added with leads or accompaniment. The steps I've shown are pretty basic try experimenting with note placement, attack, delay and tempo speeds to achieve different results. There is no pitch added to bass notes like there is with the kick, although you can add slight pitch shifts up or down to change the sound. Again, experiment and find something that works with the style of music you're composing. It's all a matter of personal preference. Even fm and arpeggio effects may sound interesting with bass notes.

Post a comment Tags: tutorial, nanoloop, song structure

R-channel sounds for my tracks using Nanoloop 1.2

Starmelt asked how I made the sounds for the r-channel in my track Game Over.

Well, here's how I did it:

nlr-channel1.jpg
nlr-channel1.jpg

The first shot of the r-channel is the screen where notes can be entered at different octaves and semitones. This is known as the pitch menu. The small square represents octaves while the rectangle represents semitones. I just picked a series of random notes for this example. The octave of notes is measured in half steps and this is only applied to the s and r channels. This function cannot be used with the noise channel in 1.2. In Nanoloop 1.2 the fm, interval/pulse width and filter menu are used to control the shape of noise. In Nanoloop 1.3 noise shaping can be done with the pitch menu. There's no difference in each version.


The second screenshot shows the settings for the fm, interval/pulse width and "filter" menu. The screen looks the same for each function, but what it can do and the sound it will produce depends on which channel you're using it with. The s-channel uses the fm function, the r-channel uses the interval/pulse width function and the n-channel uses the "filter" function. This shot shows the pulse width settings I used. The rectangle represents the pitch of the second oscillator relative to the first. When it's moved up or down the overall sound of the note will detune. At a
nlr-channel2.jpg
nlr-channel2.jpg
lower interval a warm sound is produced. But at a higher interval the sound becomes rougher and more detuned. The small square controls the pulse width of the note and the interval it's set at will determine how much the pitch (the rectangle) is detuned. When the square is moved to the left (less width), a thinner sound will be produced, and when moved to the right (more width) a "thicker" sound will be produced.

nlr-channel3.jpg
nlr-channel3.jpg
The final screenshot shows the settings for the pitch envelope menu. Moving the rectangle up control the increase or decrease of the attack, and moving the rectangle down controls the decay of the note. The adjustments in this track are all made on empty squares (where there's no note on the pitch menu). This acts as a pitch bend (it's a neat trick I learned from Bit Shifter). On an empty square the setting will increase or decrease the pitch of the note it follows. If the attack (first menu) is increased the resulting pitch will play for a longer period or until another note is played in the sequencer.

All of this information may seem a bit confusing at first, but with a little research and experimenting, it's not at all hard to get the hang of. I suggest looking up a few terms if you want to understand the technical aspect and just trying it out yourself. I know when I first started using Nanoloop it was better if I tried something and heard it for myself after trying a suggestion someone made. I hope this is helpful to users and comment if you have questions or additions.

Next post, "How to make a good kick sample using the s-channel"?

Post a comment Tags: tutorial, nanoloop 1.2, r channel