Let’s Create a Drum Beat! (Part 1/6) - MilkyTracker and Chiptune Tutorial #09

This is the first tutorial of six on creating a drum beat in MilkyTracker.  I mean LITERALLY make a drum beat from scratch… every sound.  

The purpose of these tutorials is to help MilkyTracker users get more familiar with the sample editor.  The sample editor can be a scary, intimidating place, even for intermediate users.  After these tutorials, you’ll have a better idea of how you can use the sample editor to create sounds, manipulate sounds, be creative, and do it quickly!

Part 1/6 is dedicated to the snare drum.  The full video is about 31mins long.  Below are the time stamps, observations, resources, workflow ideas.

• Intro 0:00
• Anatomy of a snare drum in Ableton 0:45
• Converting samples to milliseconds 4:07
• Setting relative note to F-6 4:30
• Making Snare #1 5:24
• Using 10 Band EQ 7:15
• Adding volume fades 10:14
• Adding a noise/clap layer 11:40
• Making Snare #2 14:12 
• Creating a “Mirror Sample” 15:30
• Adding a noise/clap layer 17:27
• Fine tuning volume fades 19:06
• Making Snare #3 20:40
• Drawing a waveform 21:18
• Using longer samples for pitch dips 21:44
• Creating a “Mirror Sample” 25:30
• Adding a noise/clap layer 26:36
• Using noise samples to create space 28:20

I highly recommend Mr. Bill’s tutorial on the breakdown of snare drums and making them electronically in Ableton 

It’s helpful to think of a snare as being in 2 or 3 parts

• 1. Donk (body/tone)
• 2. Clap
• 3. Noise

Snare drum observations:

• A waveform that starts with a harsher sound and morphs into a sine wave. 
• Each waveform cycle is 3-5ms long (this is the pitch)
• Occasional gradual widening of the waveform over time, creating a pitch dip  
• The sample decays in volume over time
• Samples may contain some distortion
• The clap is mostly noise, with various levels of decay (usually longer than the donk)
• A third layer of noise can be used in stereo to create space.

Samples <--> milliseconds calculations (assuming samples/playback is 44.1kHz)

• x samples / 44100 * 1000 = y milliseconds
• y milliseconds / 1000 * 44100 = x samples

Workflow ideas:

• Creating/Drawing a sample of sine/square waves about 150ms (about 6500 samples)
• Using 10 Band EQ harshen the sample (around 1K and 500Hz)
• Adding volume fades using the sample editor
• Adding volume fades using an envelope in the instrument editor
• Doubling the length of the donk, create a new blank noise layer
• Using “Undo” and “Redo Filter” to play and make subtle adjustments
• Mix-Pasteing noise later into the donk layer
• Using Smooth (Tri.) effect in the sample editor to make the sound less harsh
• Playing with a “mirror sample” for mix-pasting into the original sample
• Using multiple, longer samples for pitch dips
• Creating stereo space using a noise sample/layer