I just released a new EP on my label called Diagnosis Terminal with Miro Pajic. One of the songs “IO” has a heavy swing to it. It’s a very easy two step process to implement Swing in Ableton Live. Swing is of course popular in Jazz and is one of the main stylistic points in modern “Minimal” techno.

To hear it work let’s create a test clip. I put and instance of Impulse with a Roland TR-808 kit on a track. I double clicked an empty Clip Slot to create an empty Clip. Then in the Midi Note Editor I laid down a 4/4 kick, Snare on the 2 and 4 and a 16th note closed Hi Hat.

On the top left side of the Ableton interface, to the left of the metronome “dots” you will see a number 0. That number represents the Global Groove Control parameter. Click and drag that number upwards to about 55.

Lastly, back down to the the Clip View and under the Groove drop down menu choose “Swing 16″ which matches the 16th closed Hi Hats you have placed in your clip. Now listen to the loop with the Groove Control parameter at 0 and then at 55:

Download audio file (groove_control_0.mp3)

Download audio file (groove_control_55.mp3)

If your working with a pattern that is mostly 8th notes set the Swing to “Swing 8″. This is the classic rock swing preset you hear on vintage drum machines.

Be sure to check out the swing parameters in plug-ins like D16′s Nepheton or Audiorealism‘s ADM as they both Swing in a awesome aggressive nature. For MPC timings and unique Groove Control patterns try out Propellerhead’s Reason 4 ReGroove Mixer.

Do you like to swing?

I’m not going to talk too much about my own music on this blog. People can find plenty about me all over the internet under The Horrorist. But news like this is fun to share so here you have it.

The song is called 13 Dobermans and it has remixes by The Advent, Die Krupps, Felix Krocher and Gabriel Palomo. It’s released on a big German alternative/goth label called Out of Line Music.

The song was recorded completely “in the box”. Some of the plug-ins included Audiorealism’s Bassline Pro, D-16 Nepheton, Izotope Ozone and Wavearts Power Suite.