There are many different ways to utilize Groove Control in various situations. All of these techniques involve ways of interacting with features from your host application and features in Stylus RMX. Sometimes the majority of the work will be done in the host, and other times the majority is done using features in RMX. The more you know about your host’s capabilities, the more you’ll be able to use the features of Stylus RMX to their fullest potential.
LAYERING
In Stylus RMX, the concept of layering grooves has been maximized and vastly improved over traditional samplers. RMX is eight Part multitimbral and each Part is capable of playing many grooves simultaneously using Groove Menu MIDI Mode. The layering possibilities are practically endless when you consider the massive core library included with RMX, the sonic-shaping potential of the Edit Page, all the FX, the Chaos Designer, the SAGE Xpanders and the fact that you can import your own audio files.
USING TIME DESIGNER
The Time Designer feature in RMX allows you to change the time signature, pattern, and feel of a groove in real-time, and lets you lock the feel of a groove to any other groove in your RMX Library. You can add swing, apply pattern variations, and even simplify the overall complexity of the groove. Use Time Designer together with the Chaos Designer to add more variety to the feel of the groove.
Once you have manipulated a groove using Time Designer, it can be exported as a MIDI file into a host MIDI track for further editing and arranging.
Watch the Time Designer tutorial video to learn more about this powerful feature.
USING THE CHAOS DESIGNER
The unique Chaos Designer feature in RMX allows you to quickly change many aspects of a groove. You can randomize the pattern, timing, pitch, dynamics, and more. Using Edit Groups, you can isolate individual or groups of slices for Chaos. This is where the power of S.A.G.E. technology really comes to life.
Once you have altered a groove with Chaos Designer, you can capture these changes into a new MIDI file and then drag-and-drop this new file into a host MIDI track for further editing and arranging.
To see Chaos Designer in action, check out all the Chaos tutorial videos.
EDITING MIDI FILES
If you’ve used Groove Control products in the past, you’ll already know how this basically works. Now, the MIDI files are available from within RMX on the Browser Page and you can drag-and-drop them directly into your host (if your host supports this feature). If your host doesn’t support drag-and-drop directly to tracks, then you can drag the MIDI files to the desktop and then Import the MIDI files into your host from there.
While Stylus RMX has many new features that speed up working with Groove Control files, the original method of host manipulation of the MIDI files still has many uses:
- Modifying the Pattern
It’s easy to customize the rhythm pattern of the original groove element by reassigning the MIDI notes of the MIDI file using your host’s MIDI editor. This allows you to match the rhythm pattern to an existing musical piece or change it into a totally new pattern.
Watch the Pattern Variations video tutorial for a demo!
- Changing the Feel
By using the MIDI quantize and swing features of your host, you can either tighten up a groove’s rhythmic feel to be perfectly quantized or completely change it to a different feel by increasing the shuffle or swing amounts.
- Groove Templates
You can match the feel of existing MIDI tracks or favorite feels by using your host’s Groove Template feature to use the timings of other elements in your track as a MIDI-quantizing template.
- Sound Replacement
You can replace certain sounds in the groove with other sounds. If you don’t want a particular sound like a snare, you can use your host’s MIDI editing functions to find the snare slices and replace them with other slices from the groove such as a hi-hat or a different snare sound on another MIDI channel.
Check out the Sound Replacement tutorial video for a demo!
- Changing Time Signatures
Using your host’s MIDI editing capabilities, you can move beats to alter the Time Signature of a groove.
- Creating New Patterns from Scratch
Using your MIDI controller with RMX in Slice Menu MIDI Mode, you can sequence a brand new pattern of your own from scratch by simply playing the slices of an existing Groove Element. In this type of musical application, you are ignoring the MIDI file for a particular groove and performing/programming your own groove using the original groove’s slices.
