Grid Editor Question Onbeat & Offbeat

[Shootie]

Every time I try to figure this out I give up. What is the definition of “Onbeat” and “Offbeat” specifically when it comes to EZDrummer 3’s Grid Editor. I put an image below that is sensible to me to be the typical definition, though it seems people can disagree on it. What is Toontrack’s definition?

If you draw a 16 or 32nd note roll out in EZD3’s Grid Editor and use the Select Menu> Exclude, you will see the area I’m trying to make sense of. Any selections it makes here are confusing to me. Can anyone help me understand why these types of selections are made? How can these selections be explained?

From the manual:

• Exclude: Exclude can further refine a selection by removing Onbeats or Offbeats from the group of selected notes.

Thanks for your time!

EZD3 Tutorials | EZBass Tutorials | Toontrack themed FB Group | Toontrack themed Discord Group

Topic

[pianomanuel]

In you have to “tell” the program where the default downbeat is. Most initialize at 00.00… so check that, everything else will superimpose on a grid, in common time will work out perfectly.. so follow the chart 1234, or 1+2+3+4, the + sign would be true upbeat, forget rolls for now.

so

what’s the use…

if you have midi info e.g. a rock pattern 4/4 you may need to edit at the note level.

in a typical drum set this ability to filter and edit may be a quick tool to use. For instance, your data may not be quantized well, or too much prior tweaks that need to be cleaned up, such as a normalizer or other edit. Having said that, apply this to uneven sections or tracks

I am unsure of any specific question, other than just getting a real world situation.

so you can select all of the offbeat notes or sounds like Tom 1, but keep everything else selected exclusively, you can then adjust time or delete similar to a copy paste operation. While keeping the fader level, you can clean up the offbeats, 4, 8, 16, 32 Grus are still are unchanged. So this is a little macro enabling specific edits according to what Toontrack allow.

– Robert

 

Operating system: macOS Sonoma (14)

[Bear-Faced Cow]

Any theory aside, think of Onbeats and Offbeats as the stronger and weaker parts of the beat. Me being a guitarist, it can be likened to the down stroke and up strokes when using a pick. The strength of certain subdivisions depend on the resolution of your beat. For example, if you had a bar of 16th notes, you’re playing them as CHUCK-a CHUCK-a throughout. Excluding the Offbeat 16th notes would exclude the “a” part (IOW, your upstrokes), leaving you to work with the downstrokes. Excluding the Onbeat would exclude the downstrokes, or CHUCK.

This is really a simplistic way of thinking about it, but it is easy to apply in the rock and funk world.

jord

---

Jordan L. Chilcott

Web Site: https://jordanchilcottmusic.com/

[Shootie]

pianomanuel wrote:

In you have to “tell” the program where the default downbeat is. Most initialize at 00.00… so check that, everything else will superimpose on a grid, in common time will work out perfectly.. so follow the chart 1234, or 1+2+3+4, the + sign would be true upbeat, forget rolls for now.

so

what’s the use…

if you have midi info e.g. a rock pattern 4/4 you may need to edit at the note level.

in a typical drum set this ability to filter and edit may be a quick tool to use. For instance, your data may not be quantized well, or too much prior tweaks that need to be cleaned up, such as a normalizer or other edit. Having said that, apply this to uneven sections or tracks

I am unsure of any specific question, other than just getting a real world situation.

so you can select all of the offbeat notes or sounds like Tom 1, but keep everything else selected exclusively, you can then adjust time or delete similar to a copy paste operation. While keeping the fader level, you can clean up the offbeats, 4, 8, 16, 32 Grus are still are unchanged. So this is a little macro enabling specific edits according to what Toontrack allow.

– Robert

 

Operating system: macOS Sonoma (14)

I appreciate you taking the time! Your explanation/example did help me see the patterns a bit better.

EZD3 Tutorials | EZBass Tutorials | Toontrack themed FB Group | Toontrack themed Discord Group

[Shootie]

Bear-Faced Cow wrote:

Any theory aside, think of Onbeats and Offbeats as the stronger and weaker parts of the beat. Me being a guitarist, it can be likened to the down stroke and up strokes when using a pick. The strength of certain subdivisions depend on the resolution of your beat. For example, if you had a bar of 16th notes, you’re playing them as CHUCK-a CHUCK-a throughout. Excluding the Offbeat 16th notes would exclude the “a” part (IOW, your upstrokes), leaving you to work with the downstrokes. Excluding the Onbeat would exclude the downstrokes, or CHUCK.

This is really a simplistic way of thinking about it, but it is easy to apply in the rock and funk world.

jord

As always Jordan, I appreciate you taking the time! I am getting a better vibe from this at this point.

EZD3 Tutorials | EZBass Tutorials | Toontrack themed FB Group | Toontrack themed Discord Group

[Bear-Faced Cow]

No problem, my friend. It always seems easier to me when I relate things to my main instrument. 😀

jord

---

Jordan L. Chilcott

Web Site: https://jordanchilcottmusic.com/

[Author]

Replies