Getting more groove from my Tr-707 using Ableton.

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eggnchips
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Getting more groove from my Tr-707 using Ableton.

Post by eggnchips »

Hey chaps,

The 707 is quite a static machine with not much groove so I am thinking of ways of getting it grooving a little more by somehow effecting the input signal within an Ableton channel.
Say I have the hi hats going into a channel. By using Ableton effects or possibly Max, can you think of anyway of making the input audio a little more random therefore grooving somewhat more?
I have Max but haven't looked into it yet although maybe an LFO effecting a GATE could be a solution?
steevio
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Re: Getting more groove from my Tr-707 using Ableton.

Post by steevio »

i've never used a 707, but its quite similar to the 909, and ive never (or the house guys) had problems getting groove out of a 909, are you using the shuffle function ?

i'd say the easiest way to get movement other than the various shuffle modes would be to run it from midi from Ableton, less of a ball-ache than you're suggestion i reckon. For a good few years i ran my 909 from midi so i could get unusual grooves.
eggnchips
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Re: Getting more groove from my Tr-707 using Ableton.

Post by eggnchips »

steevio wrote:i've never used a 707, but its quite similar to the 909, and ive never (or the house guys) had problems getting groove out of a 909, are you using the shuffle function ?

i'd say the easiest way to get movement other than the various shuffle modes would be to run it from midi from Ableton, less of a ball-ache than you're suggestion i reckon. For a good few years i ran my 909 from midi so i could get unusual grooves.
I could link it to Midi but I like using its own step sequencer. The shuffle on the 707 is pretty poo (known for being poo too)
I am not complaining the shuffle though, I am just thinking of ways of getting creative with the 707.
steevio
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Re: Getting more groove from my Tr-707 using Ableton.

Post by steevio »

eggnchips wrote:
steevio wrote:i've never used a 707, but its quite similar to the 909, and ive never (or the house guys) had problems getting groove out of a 909, are you using the shuffle function ?

i'd say the easiest way to get movement other than the various shuffle modes would be to run it from midi from Ableton, less of a ball-ache than you're suggestion i reckon. For a good few years i ran my 909 from midi so i could get unusual grooves.
I could link it to Midi but I like using its own step sequencer. The shuffle on the 707 is pretty poo (known for being poo too)
I am not complaining the shuffle though, I am just thinking of ways of getting creative with the 707.
what type of clock inputs has it got ?
mehta
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Re: Getting more groove from my Tr-707 using Ableton.

Post by mehta »

eggnchips wrote: The shuffle on the 707 is pretty poo (known for being poo too)
compared to a modern sequencer it is pretty limited, but the 4 shuffle settings + flam are decent! I have a friend who plays live using a 707 as the brain/heart of his setup and it is totally groovy.

an easy trick for getting a bit more raw shuffle would be to use an echo or filter delay on some of the channels. you can get dub effects this way but you can also get some nice grooves if you dial in the time correctly
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Re: Getting more groove from my Tr-707 using Ableton.

Post by steevio »

i'm quite suprised that the shuffle modes are much different to the 909.

not many of the 909 shuffles are that usable, 2,3,4,5 basically for our kind of music, and 5 is starting to get extreme. but groove is more than shuffle. shuffle is only a starting point for me, when i play live i use my 909 as a master clock for my modular rig and i go between those 4 shuffles during my set. these shuffles set the underlying groove, but velocity, envelope, note length etc... have massive parts to play.

the reason i asked above about what clock inputs the 707 has, is because if it has any sort of analogue clock input you could swing the clock before it gets to the 707. i just dont know the machine
mehta
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Re: Getting more groove from my Tr-707 using Ableton.

Post by mehta »

steevio wrote:i'm quite suprised that the shuffle modes are much different to the 909.
they really aren't so different. maybe you have a bit more flexibility in terms of swing/quantization but it's not too important because ...
when i play live i use my 909 as a master clock for my modular rig and i go between those 4 shuffles during my set. these shuffles set the underlying groove, but velocity, envelope, note length etc... have massive parts to play.
exactly! there are many ways to make a groove.

the 707 has a good triplet/sextuplet feature that can help a lot. honestly I've never heard anyone say that the 707 is a bad/stiff sequencer!

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=& ... Wc&cad=rja

here is a link to someone's DIY manual if you haven't seen this yet
the reason i asked above about what clock inputs the 707 has, is because if it has any sort of analogue clock input you could swing the clock before it gets to the 707. i just dont know the machine
it has din sync, midi in/out, and cv trig out (pretty sure that's via the rimshot)
eggnchips
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Re: Getting more groove from my Tr-707 using Ableton.

Post by eggnchips »

I know there a a few ways I could get more groove out of the machine. I could even just sack it off altogether and use samples, as the 707 is just a bunch of samples anyway. However, I am quite intent on figuring out away of affecting the incoming audio with so that it can be modulated to be a bit random.
Can anybody think of ways of doing this using Ableton or Max? Maybe there's a way of modulating a gate like I mentioned in the first question.
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