Tighten up slowed drum patterns

[Stephen Frank]

I’ve found some midi that works perfectly for my project. However, the original tempo is faster than I need to use. At my tempo, the hits drag behind the beat noticeably. In real time you don’t notice the lag. I’ve tried to quantize the clips, but the quantizer moves the hits to all the wrong places. So my question is, can I tighten up the play of slowed down clips without physically moving every hit?

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[John]

Have you tried your DAW’s quantization features? Most DAWS allow a percentage of quantize, so you can move notes just a % towards the grid. Play around with timing of the quantize grid, also. Start with smaller increments (such as 1/32 or 1/64. And if you are using swing in your tune, you’ll have to work with that parameter as well.

Another thing you could try is to quantize the MIDI a bit (as described above) before you change the tempo, rather than after. I’m hopeful you can find something that works for you so you don’t have to move individual hits for your project.

[Author]

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