How do you pitch samples without speed changing?
Hello everyone!
I’m a little new to beat maker 3, i’m still learning everything and overall i have been having tons of fun!
I’m just having a slight issue with the sampling part of it. I can’t seem to change my sample’s pitch without it going faster/slower which then makes it not go along with the BPM. Even if I check it’s BPM after it’s been pitched down or up, it says that it’s still the same, even though it clearly is not.
If someone can please help me that would be very appreciated.
Comments
Hi @solada12
I'm currently at work, so sorry this will only be a quick reply (I can add more later)
The two controls you need to use are labelled A and B in the diagram above:
A - Time stretch
this needs to be turned ON. There are two modes: high performance and high quality. Experiment and pick the one that works best for you
B - Duration
This needs to be set to the sample's duration. For example, if the sample lasts a whole bar, you should set it to 001:0:00
Once you've set both these settings you are free to re-pitch (or play the sample at different pitches) without the timing being affected.
Generally you would use BPM rather than the duration setting, for example, you would press on BPM, then you would have these options..
1. Enter the original tempo manually.
2. Calculate tempo based on number of beats.
3. Auto detect tempo (Let B3 guess)
Now when you turn on Live stretch it will automagically change tempo to match the session.
Duration is used when you need more finite control, then you have these options..
1. Enter the length in bars.
2. Enter the length in beats (Go above 3 and it will reset to 0 and add a bar)
3. Enter the length in ticks (Go above 960 and it will reset to 0 and add a beat)
I’m just the opposite. I almost always know the number of beats in a sample. I almost never know the BPM. BPM detection is often way off. I get much better results using the other method.
True, but both methods are perfectly valid - and the one you use ultimately depends on the sample and where it came from.
For example, loops you get from samplepacks are already neatly trimmed and often specify BPM in the filename. In this case, setting BPM is the quickest way to go.
...however, if you've recorded the sample yourself (eg a loop you've recorded from vinyl) and you don't know the exact BPM, I often find it much easier to count the beats and bars in my head whilst previewing the sample and then enter these directly (and allow BM3 to calculate the BPM, which may be something like 97.3BPM).
Note here that I always recommend trimming the top and tail of loops and samples so that they begin and end neatly, otherwise you'll find your sample is always slightly longer than full beats and bars, in which case you may have to finetune by trial-and-error (resulting in weird durations like 001:1:674)
I'm still writing this section of my guide (as it's pretty complicated and there are lots of different 'schools of thought' on sampling) - but hopefully a more in-depth look at the different approaches that I'm writing will help newcomers use time-stretching in BM3 effectively.
Ironically, I almost never use time-stretching in my own productions. But I know that it is a major feature for many producers.
Sorry, I seem to have given the impression that there is an either or choice here, there isn't, both ways are linked, you can neither set one without the other changing or vice versa, the reason I suggest using BPM first and foremost if possible is because it will always work in all situations that you either know the BPM or you can count the number of beats, duration however will not, it only goes up to 32 bars.
If you know the number of beats then using BPM can never be wrong, just use calculate instead of detect, again, setting BPM vs duration is preferred in this instance because you only have to enter one number, beats, not three numbers, bars, beats, ticks, in fact the only time that duration is specifically preferred is when you have extra ticks in your audio file, that would be an audio file that is not edited exactly to the beat, if you are capable of counting ticks i am mightily impressed, because there are 960 of those every quarter note, that would be 7680 ticks every second at 120BPM, so in these cases, edit the audio file to a single loop, calculate the BPM of that file, then use that to set the BPM of your file with extra ticks, another time duration is preferred is for special effects, when you are stretching for fun.
So just to reiterate.
BPM and Duration are linked (They are basically different ways to look at the same thing)
If you know the original BPM of your sample, use BPM and type it in.
If you know the number of beats, use BPM calculate, it's the quickest way to set.
May I add that BM3’s pitch shifting sounds very clean. Congrats on that, devs!