Live use of G-Stomper Studio as an "acoustic" beatbox

[pnoman]

I'm trying to see if G-Stomper Studio could be used as a "beatbox", providing drum and percussion tracks for live playing. The Live Pattern/Song Arranger mode seems almost ideal for this kind of situation; I plan to have a tablet/phone on top of my keyboard, and would like to be able to start a pre-determined song arrangement, but change it on the fly when we e.g. decide to repeat a chorus or continue soloing over a bridge, etc. And this appears to be a strong feature of G-Stomper Studio

So compared to the competition (C******), this is very nice -- although I find the G-Stomper interface a little more multi-layer menu-driven than I would prefer.

I plan to do the drum tracks in the Drum Grid, but cannot find out how to 1) individually vary the levels of each note, and 2) vary the timing slightly compared to the rigid grid -- which I can do on the competition. I know I can put accents on some notes, which basically means I can get to two different levels on each track, but I would like to be able to also put in e.g. more faint notes (e.g. like an up-beat ghost note). I would also like to be able to e.g. shift the timing individual notes (and maybe also the entire track) slightly away from the grid (e.g. putting some snare notes a bit late compared to the grove, while keeping the hi-hats on the exact beat, etc).

is there a way to do this?

Also, I would mainly use this in (semi)acoustic settings, and therefore need an acoustic driven drum set (like the Rock kit, but with a bit more variation to choose between) as well as some percussion sounds (bongo, conga, shaker, cowbell, ...).

What add-on packs addresses this segment? Or maybe my planned use is slightly outside of the focus group -- in which case I guess I could create my own drum samples from my existing libraries?

[planet-h]

Welcome to the forum, pnoman
And thanks for your message.

I'm trying to see if G-Stomper Studio could be used as a "beatbox", providing drum and percussion tracks for live playing. The Live Pattern/Song Arranger mode seems almost ideal for this kind of situation; I plan to have a tablet/phone on top of my keyboard, and would like to be able to start a pre-determined song arrangement, but change it on the fly when we e.g. decide to repeat a chorus or continue soloing over a bridge, etc. And this appears to be a strong feature of G-Stomper Studio

Thanks a lot. Great to hear that G-Stomper Studio covers your needs that well.

So compared to the competition (C******), this is very nice -- although I find the G-Stomper interface a little more multi-layer menu-driven than I would prefer.

I understand what you mean, and I agree, that the menu depth in G-Stomper Studio can be overwhelming.
The menus are unfortunately required to control all the details in G-Stomper Studio while keeping the main screens layouts in the typical Groovebox style.
Other apps might have less menu structures, but require more scrolling or similar.
However, if you have suggestions for improvements, always feel free to post them here;).

I plan to do the drum tracks in the Drum Grid, but cannot find out how to 1) individually vary the levels of each note, and 2) vary the timing slightly compared to the rigid grid -- which I can do on the competition. I know I can put accents on some notes, which basically means I can get to two different levels on each track, but I would like to be able to also put in e.g. more faint notes (e.g. like an up-beat ghost note). I would also like to be able to e.g. shift the timing individual notes (and maybe also the entire track) slightly away from the grid (e.g. putting some snare notes a bit late compared to the grove, while keeping the hi-hats on the exact beat, etc).

is there a way to do this?

Regarding individual levels:
You can set the Level (and most other parameters) per step, either manually using the Step Edit feature, or you can use the Randomize Parameter Automation feature to slightly randomize a parameter. Be sure to give the complete chapter a closer look, as there are many ways to change/generate automation curves.

Regarding slight timing variation:
It's not yet possible, but we've planned some new features in that direction, which will let you vary the timing (and much more) per step, either manually or in a randomized way.

Also, I would mainly use this in (semi)acoustic settings, and therefore need an acoustic driven drum set (like the Rock kit, but with a bit more variation to choose between) as well as some percussion sounds (bongo, conga, shaker, cowbell, ...).

What add-on packs addresses this segment? Or maybe my planned use is slightly outside of the focus group -- in which case I guess I could create my own drum samples from my existing libraries?

I think both, EIP's PocketKit pro and PocketKit Platinium provide a nice set of acoustic drum samples:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eipstudiosohio.pocketkitpro
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eipstudiosohio.pocketkitplatinum

Also the tropical house packs might have someting for you, as they all provide bongo, conga or similar:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.planeth.gstflphdeepandtropicalhouse2

Acoustic samples are not in our main focus. It might be that we'll provide such samples in the future, but for now, it's not in sight.
If you're up to create packs in that direction, just let us know if you need help with building the packs.

[pnoman]

Thanks for the quick reply. I've played around with the automation feature/step edit features, and I agree that it could cover the needs for volume variation -- just need to get used to how it works

I guess there is no way to step edit from within the drum grid itself?

Is there any way that the colour of a note could reflect e.g. its the volume? As it is now, an accented note is coloured differently, but it would be nice if this scheme could be extended so that you could see at least some levels quickly from the colour.

[planet-h]

Thanks for the quick reply. I've played around with the automation feature/step edit features, and I agree that it could cover the needs for volume variation -- just need to get used to how it works

Great, that's good news.

I guess there is no way to step edit from within the drum grid itself?

No, the grid does not have any step edit features.

Is there any way that the colour of a note could reflect e.g. its the volume? As it is now, an accented note is coloured differently, but it would be nice if this scheme could be extended so that you could see at least some levels quickly from the colour.

Reflecting the sample level in the color of the note is not an option, as the sample level lives logically in another context.
But the color might reflect a new added velocity value (planned for some future update).

Accentuation and Velocity in general is a tricky thematic.
A lot of users prefer a real velocity (like the poly grid has) while others (usually those who come from hardware drum machines) prefer accentuation.

I'm not sure yet what's the right way to go here.
To replace the complete accent handling by a regular velocity
or to add velocity and keep the accentuation (so that users can choose what they want to use)
or to enhance the accentuation to three levels Accent, Normal, and Ghost.

What is your opinion here?

[pnoman]

Is there any way that the colour of a note could reflect e.g. its the volume? As it is now, an accented note is coloured differently, but it would be nice if this scheme could be extended so that you could see at least some levels quickly from the colour.

Reflecting the sample level in the color of the note is not an option, as the sample level lives logically in another context.
But the color might reflect a new added velocity value (planned for some future update).

That would be nice

Accentuation and Velocity in general is a tricky thematic.
A lot of users prefer a real velocity (like the poly grid has) while others (usually those who come from hardware drum machines) prefer accentuation.

I'm not sure yet what's the right way to go here.
To replace the complete accent handling by a regular velocity
or to add velocity and keep the accentuation (so that users can choose what they want to use)
or to enhance the accentuation to three levels Accent, Normal, and Ghost.

What is your opinion here?

Been thinking a bit on these options.

Maybe the most flexible option is to make it so that 1) the velocity of individual notes can be assigned to any value you select (like in the poly grid), with a suitable default value if you don't change it.

Then, in addition, 2) the accent button could have maybe 4 modes: Off, Accent, Normal and Ghost (almost like you say), and for each key press it cycles to the next of these. When in Accent, Normal or Ghost mode, pressing a note would then assign the current accent velocity to the note. This way, the note is not really marked as accented (or ghosted); it is just a quick way of assigning a velocity to several notes.

This way, you could quickly use the accent mode to get the velocity into the right ballpark, and then you could make individual adjustments on top as/if needed (or not at all, if it's not in your interest)?

[planet-h]

Been thinking a bit on these options.

Maybe the most flexible option is to make it so that 1) the velocity of individual notes can be assigned to any value you select (like in the poly grid), with a suitable default value if you don't change it.

Then, in addition, 2) the accent button could have maybe 4 modes: Off, Accent, Normal and Ghost (almost like you say), and for each key press it cycles to the next of these. When in Accent, Normal or Ghost mode, pressing a note would then assign the current accent velocity to the note. This way, the note is not really marked as accented (or ghosted); it is just a quick way of assigning a velocity to several notes.

This way, you could quickly use the accent mode to get the velocity into the right ballpark, and then you could make individual adjustments on top as/if needed (or not at all, if it's not in your interest)?

Thanks a lot for taking the time.
Yes, that was actually my thought as well.
The only downside of that solution is that it would probably confuse new users a lot.

However, the re-design of the accent/velocity implementation of the drum sampler will be one of the next tasks, and I'm sure there'll be a suitable solution.

[planet-h]

Just a quick update...
The "real" velocity has been integrated in the Drum Machine module.
And yes, the velocity will also be reflected in the note grid cells.

It'll go beta in a couple of days.

[pnoman]

This sounds great, thanks! Is the beta live now -- and if so, how do I go about testing it (i.e. signing up for beta releases)?

[planet-h]

This sounds great, thanks! Is the beta live now -- and if so, how do I go about testing it (i.e. signing up for beta releases)?

Just visit https://groups.google.com/d/forum/g-stomper-public-beta-group and click "Apply for membership".
Once joined/+approved, click the dedicated link in the Community info/about section and then on the resulting page, click "become a tester".

Btw. BETA2 will go online within the next two hours.
It'll bring two more mind-blowing new features to the drum machine:
Step/Trigger conditions - apply conditions per step to generate endless variations for live use.
Micro Steps - Move every step up to 31 micro steps towards the next regular step

[planet-h]

This sounds great, thanks! Is the beta live now -- and if so, how do I go about testing it (i.e. signing up for beta releases)?

Just visit https://groups.google.com/d/forum/g-stomper-public-beta-group and click "Apply for membership".
Once joined/+approved, click the dedicated link in the Community info/about section and then on the resulting page, click "become a tester".
Please take note that the BETA is only available for Google Play buyers (Amazon and slideMe buyers cannot be part of the beta tests).

Btw. BETA2 will go online within the next two hours.
It'll bring two more mind-blowing new features to the drum machine:
Step/Trigger conditions - apply conditions per step to generate endless variations for live use.
Micro Steps - Move every step up to 31 micro steps towards the next regular step