Combining A TR-8 + Ableton’s Crush/Delay For “Live” Drumming Effects

Today we’re releasing two more videos from Ean’s series on using the Roland AIRA TR-8 alongside Ableton Live in a live performance setup. The first video focuses on using delay on hi-hats for a fresh live drumming feel, while the second shows how just a bit of bit crushing can make rides sound really cool. All of the effects are MIDI-mapped, turning the TR-8 drum machine into a powerful live instrument!

Performance Drums + Effects: Making A TR-8 Hi-Hat Sound Like A Live Drummer

In this video, Ean shows off how just adding a few basic effects to the hi-hat coming out of a Roland AIRA TR-8 can quickly make it sound more like a live drummer. Here’s some of the basic steps that he goes over in the video:

• Add a Ping Pong delay to the hi-hat channel
• Map the wet/dry knob in Ableton to the Decay knob on the TR-8, selecting a range that works well without getting excessive
• Play with the delay time to get a unique swing sound
• Add an Overdrive effect to the effects chain – mapping the frequency range to the decay.
• Add a basic EQ Eight to the chain and map a low-end and high-end pass to the decay knob – narrowing down the sounds that come through the mix. Use the spectrograph to find any other frequencies that need to get removed.

Adding Crush+ Delay To A 909 Ride Cymbal

Similarly in this video, Ean creates a unique-sounding performance effect just by adding a few effects to the audio chain that are mapped to the decay knob of the 909 ride cymbal sound on the AIRA TR-8.

• Add a Crush effect to the effects chain, playing with the frequency to determine a good-sounding range of frequencies to apply it to.
• MIDI-map the frequency knob on the effect to the Decay knob on the Roland TR-8
• Add a Delay effect to the chain, after the Bitcrusher. Map the decay knob to feedback for all three inputs, and volume for the left and right inputs.
• As with the first video, add an EQ Eight to take out some of the harsher frequencies that develop when layering additive effects.

Gear Used In This Video

• Razer Blade laptop (Read Ean’s review here)
• Ableton Live 9
• Roland AIRA TR-8 drum machine
• Chroma Caps (to remind you which knobs are particularly important!)

Stay tuned to DJTT in the coming weeks for Ean’s performance using all of the techniques from this entire series.