Humanization quantenzation of midi or samples

[alvin of tha hood]

I am wondering what you guys use as quantensation when making the drums to get them sound smooth. 128? 64? Most of you probobly never do this, but I know a pro programmer will do this. Tell me. Thanks for your input.

[dvyce]

I am wondering what you guys use as quantensation when making the drums to get them sound smooth. 128? 64? Most of you probobly never do this, but I know a pro programmer will do this. Tell me. Thanks for your input.

Based on your question, it seems that you do not understand how quantization works.

The question *should* be "do you quantize or not?"


the "128" and "64" you mentioned refers to the note value: "128th note" and "64th note"

If the material you are quantizing is made up of nothing smaller than 16th notes, then quantizing to a value of anything higher or lower than 16th notes will give you incorrect results (i.e., it will move your notes to the wrong places)

although you may want to quantize different parts of the material at different values...

for example...

If you have a drum beat where the kick and snare are playing 8th notes and the hat is playing 32nd notes, you will probably want to quantize the hats separately from the kick/snare. If you quantize the kick/snare to 32nd note values, they will most likely be shifted at LEAST a 32nd note or 2 (or 3 or 4) to the left or right from where they SHOULD be.

There is a much-more-likely-than-not chance that if you quantize your "16th note" material to a "128th note" resolution, your will be doing more harm than good.







...so, do i quantize drums? If I want a quantized sound then i will quantize. It all depends on the situation.

[alvin of tha hood]

I know this. I am just wondering how to get that human feel that a 32 or 16 quant won't give me. Like horns are never played at 16 or 32 then they will sound getto. Like that song by jay z drinks is on the house. Horns sound like ****. I am a pretty good guitarist and I don't play my guitar by 32 or 16 notes. The feel of the recording or midi makes a song.

[dvyce]

I know this. I am just wondering how to get that human feel that a 32 or 16 quant won't give me. Like horns are never played at 16 or 32 then they will sound getto. Like that song by jay z drinks is on the house. Horns sound like ****. I am a pretty good guitarist and I don't play my guitar by 32 or 16 notes. The feel of the recording or midi makes a song.

of *course* 32nd notes and 16th notes are very frequently played by horns and guitar.

Once again, you are missing the point.

If you play a melody made up of 16th notes and 8th notes, quantizing that to a higher note resolution (like 64th notes or 128th notes) will NOT give it more of a "human feel"... all it will do is quantize your performance to the INCORRECT note values and it will still sound inhuman.

what you are looking for is "groove quantize"... this quantizes to predefined templates that have a "human feel"

the other thing you can do is quantize with a lower strength, so the quantization engine will not move the notes rigidly to the absolute note value, but rather it will move the notes you played some amount closer to the absolute note value.

[Erik London]

thank you dvyce. Well put.

[Mokah]

Like horns are never played at 16 or 32 then they will sound getto. Like that song by jay z drinks is on the house. Horns sound like ****.

Just so you know, the Jay-Z song you're referring to (I think you mean "Roc Boys") actually uses samples from a song called "Make the Road by Walking" by The Menahan Street Band.

So, sh*tty or not, those are "real" horns, played at 16th note intervals...amongst others.

I just wanted to clear that up.