New Aphex Twin Video + Guide on Drum Shortening Techniques

We're starting 2024 with a bang! If your New Year's resolution is to make more music then you can find some inspiration and new ideas here - even if you're not into Aphex Twin's music. In this video we'll analyze 6 of our favourite AFX signature moves that you can also use to spice up your own beats - whether it's in your drum machine, your DAW, or any other sequencer.

Here's a list of all drum pattern transcriptions from the video:

• Aphex Twin - Alberto Balsalm (excerpt)
• Aphex Twin - Blackbox Life Recorder 21f (excerpt)
• Aphex Twin - T.69 Collapse (excerpt)
• Aphex Twin - Minipops 67 (excerpt)
• Aphex Twin - Heliosphan
• Aphex Twin - 1st 44 (excerpt)
• Aphex Twin - XTAL
• Aphex Twin - Tha (excerpt)

As mentioned in the video here's a quick guide with some more ideas on how to shorten drum sounds on different equipment. If you're a Patron then you can also find this guide with helpful illustrations and additional tips in our new Drum Machine 101 Book :)

Case 1: Note length is actually supported

On devices or plugins where note or gate lengths for drum sounds are natively supported you can comfortably program them into the sequencer. Often this feature has to be explicitly turned on though. Indicators for this option could be:

• One Shot: either set to "Gate" (e.g. Ableton's Simpler) or deactivate (e.g. TAL-Drum)
• Obey Note-Offs
• AHD Amp Envelope Hold (e.g. Digitakt and Syntakt): Set the hold stage of the AHD amp envelope to "Note". Check that the decay doesn't interfere (keep it short).
• Switch Amp Envelope to ADSR (e.g. Syntakt): Switching the amp envelope from AHD to ADSR will implicitly activate awareness for note length. Check that the release doesn't interfere (keep it short).

Case 2: Sample length is automatable

If a drum sampler supports automation per step (a.k.a. parameter locking or motion recording) and either the sample length, sample end point or sample hold time are among the automatable parameters then that's a precise solution that doesn't require any additional setup. You can simply trim individual samples as needed on any given step.

Case 3: External gate

If you have an external gate (hardware or plugin) that is able to react to MIDI notes then you can retroactively upgrade a drum voice with note length awareness. Route the sequenced notes to the gate as well as the drum voice. A played note will then both trigger the drum voice and open the gate. The gate closes down when the note ends, which cuts the sound short.

If you don't have a MIDI gate but plenty of patience and time on your hands then you could also manually draw volume automation curves to cut the sounds short.

Case 4: Decay is automatable

If the decay of an instrument is automatable then this can be used to achieve a similar effect. With some instruments it is downright impossible to get those ultra short sounds though - even at the minimum decay setting they still sound "natural" and do not end abruptly enough.

Case 5: Prepare samples with different lengths

If you can choose samples per step then you could prepare a few versions of a sample, each cut to a different length. This is a highly inflexible solution though, especially considering that you might need different lenghts of samples for different song tempos.

A low resolution alternative

The previous cases all assume that you want to make precise changes to the note length in the range of less than one step on the sequencer. If muting the sound in time with the grid of the sequencer (e.g. In 1/16th increments) is precise enough for your needs, then here are a few more ideas:

• If the drum voice is fully velocity sensitive and its loudness dynamic ranges from 1 (practically silent) to 127 (maximum oomph) then place a step with minimum velocity where you want the sound to stop. This should be inaudible and thereby mute the voice.
• If you can freely assign choke groups to your instruments then put a second instrument into the same choke group, but turn its volume all the way down so it's inaudible. Every step you place on that silent instrument will now choke the drum voice.
• If you can choose samples per step then use a dummy sample that contains only silence or an empty sample slot to choke the track sound.
• If you can automate / parameter lock the track volume per step then turn it down to 0 until it the sound has decayed or another drum hit is triggered.