Chapter 1
Ok, if you have not yet downloaded the tutorial snapshot bank and imported it into Limelite, you should do so, now.
(For all people on Mac with problems downloading the file, here is a quote from the Reaktor forum: "press Alt as you click to download. you will then get a .txt file. delete the .txt and you should have a .ssf file. you will be asked whether you want to keep the .ssf extension, choose that you do", -Sowari-)
Listen to some of the snapshots, if you wish. Something interesting there for you? I hope so... and if not, there is this magic Snap 1 "INIT". This should be the most important snap for you throughout the tutorial. Whenever you get the feeling that you learned something new, change to Snap 1 and experiment a bit on your own. Don't forget to save your creations as new snapshots ("Append" button in the snapshot window).
Only your imagination is the limit.
But let's start simple...
Set the BPM (beats per minute) to 120 and select snapshot 2 "Bassline 1" from the tutorial bank.
Can you imagine anything simpler than that? A boring standard beat -- like you can hear it in many top 100 chart hits.
First thing you can do is add a bit more punch by activating the NORM button in the OUT section. It makes the sound "louder" or "thicker" by amplifying the not so loud parts. Play with the AMP (=amplification) knob to get a feeling for it.
Now add a bassline and another percussion element by activating the TIE and POD section (by simply clicking on the TIE and POD) or just select snapshot 3 "Bassline 2". Sounds much better, doesn't it?
Let's look at the TIE, first. Click on "TIE" in the sequencer section, so that you can see the pattern that is used for the bassline.
The height or VEL (=velocity) of each step is interpreted as tune because this is the selected modulation target for velocity in the TIE module.
One thing to recognize here is that the TIE pattern has more steps than the main sequencer. The pattern length for each element is set in the Remix area to the left of the sequencer area.
The TIE has 32 steps while the main sequence has only 16 steps. The TIE, POD and MOD pattern can have up to 64 steps and this helps a lot to make static loops more interesting, as we will see later. If you want, you can change the TIE pattern length to 16 (double-click on the number and enter 16 or use the knob, instead), but make sure to switch back to 32 before you get a headache.
Every sample module (kick, snare, hat, tie, pod) comes with a sample map of 128 samples, each. Here, I chose the sample "ana07" for the TIE module. However, this is by no means the end of the story when it comes to sound definition. Let's experiment a bit...
Mute all other modules by activating the Solo mode for the TIE module (the grey circle at the top right corner of the TIE module). Now play with all the knobs in the area marked below.
You will easily get an idea of what every knob is doing. Here are two of my sound variations.
Sound 1: The PORT (=portamento) lets each note slide to its correct value. The ST (=starting point) of the sample playback is shifted so that the aggressive intonation of the original sample is skipped. The increased A (=attack time) makes the sound even softer.
Sound 2: This is an aggressive FM bass.
All this is done with only one sample ("ana07") -- one out of 128 samples of the TIE module and one out of 640 samples of LimeLite. You get the idea :-).
Before going to the next snapshot, take a brief look at the POD module. Solo it and bring up the POD pattern in the step sequencer.
Unlike in the TIE module, here the VEL (=velocity, the height of the bars in the sequencer pattern) is mapped to dcy (=decay). Turn up the D (=decay) knob to full right and you will understand why I did that.
The D (=decay) determines the time it takes for the sample to fade out. Obviously, for short percussive samples, this makes no big difference but here we have a sample ("brush") with a complex sound. With D at full right, the whole sample is played for every triggered step. Turn D to small values (left) and you will hear only short staccatos. Turn D back to the center position (12 o clock). The VEL values from the POD pattern sequencer are added to the D value. The small VEL value on the last step makes sure that the sample fades out quickly. Play with the height of that last step in the POD sequencer and you will understand how it works.
So, these are the basic features of LimeLite and the way to program beats:
Patterns are drawn in the sequencer area, sounds are selected in each module section and interesting harmonies, melodies, rhythms are added with the TIE and POD sequences.
Here are two more examples for this basic functionality.
The TIE uses a vocal sample and its tune / pitch is modulated using the VEL values in the TIE sequence. The only new thing here is that also the kick (bass drum) has a pitch modulation. Activate MOD in the sequencer to see this very simple pitch modulation. You can turn off the pitch modulation by choosing "--" as modulation target in the KICK module. Sounds a bit wrong now, right?
A bread-and-butter beat with soft harmonies from the TIE module and a pitched percussive sound from the POD module. Not bad, but it sounds extremely static...
Select snapshot 6 "Phone 1" and listen to it for some time. You will notice that even though this is only a one bar sequence, it sounds like much more. One reason is a rhythmic variation every 8th bar that is activated in the Remix section.
The main rhythmic modulation, however, is found in the XFX section, the recordable effect. Deactivate the XFX section by clicking on the "XFX". The pattern looses much of its motion and becomes very repetitive.
Activate XFX again. The effects section will be covered in detail in a later chapter.
Now, deactivate (mute) the TIE and POD section and listen how the sound changes....
Well, it does not change at all. That is no surprise since there are no patterns programmed in the TIE and POD sequencer.
But where do the pitched sounds come from?
Solo the HAT section by clicking on the small grey circle. Aha, here is number one, a ringing sound for the open and closed hi-hat. Activate all sample modules again ("un-solo" the HAT section). There is one more pitched sound...
Solo the PULP section to the left of the XFX section.
Somehow, another ringing sound is generated here that is synchronized to the KICK pattern. You can hear that by also soloing the KICK section (or just select snapshot 7 "Phone 2"). Interesting, isn't it?
However, for now we will not dive into PULP or the other effects but concentrate on the sound variation features of the KICK section.
Select snapshot 6 "Phone 1" again and solo the KICK section. We will now play with the knobs marked in the area below.
Activate the LO switch. This filters out the very low frequencies of the KICK sound, which is very useful when the overall sound is too muddy. Here, however, there are no other low frequencies that interfere with the KICK, so de-activate LO again.
Turn the CUT (=filter cutoff) knob to full right, so we hear a bit more high-frequency content of the sample. The modulation target for the KICK module is d (=decay). You learned about decay modulation already in the previous snapshots. The only difference here is, that the modulation pattern is found in the MOD sequence and not in the POD sequence.
Turn the D (=decay) knob to full right. Awful, isn't it? So, turn it back to full left. The modulation of the decay length is used to shape and accentuate the kick pattern. You can make the steps even shorter by turning H (=hold) to smaller values. H sets the length the sample is played before the decay phase starts. Also play with the other knobs to understand the impact of each of them on the sound.
Select snapshot 8 "phone 3" and listen to one of my sound variations for the KICK. Play with the CUT knob in the KICK section for some nice filter effects. You can add a lot of motion and character to the loop with it, right? You could map the CUT knob to a Midi controller for real-time play during a live performance or you could modulate this parameter in an external sequencing software like Live5 or Reason.
Here is a short sound example of what it sounds like: Phone 3 (cutoff variation).
So much for the basic features. Now, it's time to go a step further. The fun with Limelite has just begun...
Resume:
In this chapter you have learned about:
- Normalizing the sound in the OUT section
- TIE and POD modules
- Sampling module parameters
- Modulation of the sampling module parameters