>Step by step

Randomising techniques

1 First, a quick and easy system for generating random tom and percussion fills at regular intervals within a groove. I’m just using one of Live’s bundled Drum Racks, and I’ve programmed a three-bar beat followed by straight 16th-notes on the lowest note triggering a tom.

2 Inserting Live’s Random MIDI Effect before the drum kit and raising the Chance parameter to around 65% immediately causes havoc, as around 65% of notes are remapped to randomly selected pitches. We only want to apply it to the fill at the end, so toggle it on for those last two beats using clip automation.

3 The fill is way too mad. Setting Random’s Choices parameter to 3 narrows it to only notes up to three semitones higher than the one programmed, or the note itself. Swapping the Drum Rack’s cells around, so that the potential choices are all toms or percussion, completes the random setup.

4 Now notes are in a random order, but the fills lack interest. Beat Repeat is ideal for adding life here, so insert it at the end of the chain, ensuring the Interval parameter is short enough to catch input within the fill period, and automate its On/ Off button to only process the last two beats of the phrase. Glitchy.

5 Now, let’s constantly randomise a percussion line over a solid beat. There are a few pieces of software out there that make this kind of thing easy, including Audiomodern’s new PC, Mac and iOS application and plugin, Playbeat. Here it is playing a regular kick/snare/ride pattern on three of its four tracks.

6 Track 4 is loaded with a bongo sample, and Playbeat lets us randomise the number and position of its triggering steps, as well as both the Pitch and Volume. We can even set it to automatically randomise itself periodically by switching to Infinity Mode, for constant shifts in rhythm and pitch.