The time that I save making kicks is almost lost in the time I spend tweaking the amp envelope and length but still! Having those features how theyre presented is gold. And being able to use the same clean click everytime is so nice.br
br
Anyway I love the plugin but 2 questions.br
br
Keep in mind i fully understand music theory so dont worry about explaining note relationships and what notes should be grouped, etc… my questions are.br
br
1.) When programming your nodes which notes do you usually start on? Progress through? In relation to the tonic note the kick is landing on. I notice alot of the presets have 4-5 different notes. But when I make my own kick I generally just set the nodes to either the tonic of the 5th. Always landing on the tonic, and the nodes prior to that either goto the 5th or the tonic, completely situational just based on whichever of the 2 nodes sound better.br
If none of those 2 work ill goto the 3rd note in the scale. BAsically just try to keep every node representing a full harmonic of the tonic. But i notice alot of presets dont follow that structure? Yet some of the presets have ALL nodes set to the tonic…so im just curious what the theory behind building a kick is in relationship to tuning each node from bottom to top.br
br
2.) I spend ALOT of time trying to adjust the decay and sustain in the amp envelope, its great having that flexibility but at the same time all i really need to do is lower the sustain and im usually good. But I end up tweaking it in so many other ways just to get there since it doesnt look like a typical envelope(sort of does but has more breakpoints obviously) SO…the question here is- What would an envelope look like on the Kick GUI that has no sustain? Basically just a typical kick envelope, attack, some decay, no sustain, small release. I can get there making some crazy shapes but its all trial and error…how would i program just that basic envelope from the start? And how many nodes?
I have changed my oppinion some what after listening to steve duda and how he works with kicks. (and bass).br
br
His oppinion was that tuning kicks to the bass for tracks in a club environment can actually be undesirable. as it can create a single wall of sub bass that has no groove or movement.br
br
If you do what to tune kicks the only nodes that are really important are the last 2 that create the sustained note… anything before that is just part of the thump and should be desigined to give you the required “weight” to your kick.
thats actually the exact reason I was asking. I tuned every node of this specific kick to the tonic and I felt like it was all I was hearing in my headphones even though it was EQed and i had the sustain down. Boomy as sh*t…so if steve dudes talking about that its probably what I’m hearing.
also be aware that kick drums tend to highlight the inadequacies of heaphones/speakers and can pick up on their lower resonances.br
br
always best to listen on various systems to build up a picture.
For what it’s worth I used to care a lot more about kick tuning. Now I just go with what sounds good and fits the style of the track. If the kick and bass are working together then it’s all good.