Lesson 11

Record live

Record what you play on the pads in real time, add more on top, and tidy up the timing with quantize.

You’ll need:

A Move that is switched on
The Set with your beat from Lesson 9 (it started as a brand-new Set, which is what this lesson expects)

The idea

So far you have played the pads and heard them, but nothing was kept. Recording changes that. You press Record, play, and Move writes down every note you hit, when you hit it and how hard. When you stop, your playing loops back as a clip.

This is different from step sequencing, where you place notes one by one on the step buttons. Recording is live: you perform, like a musician in a studio. It feels more natural, and it keeps the little human pushes and pulls in your timing.

Two helpers make recording easier:

A count-in. Before recording starts, Move clicks for one bar, so you can feel the speed and come in on time.
Overdubbing. Once a clip exists, you can record again into the same clip. The new notes are added on top, and the old ones stay. That way you can build a part in layers, a few notes at a time.

When you listen back, some notes will land a bit early or late. Quantize fixes that: it pulls each note towards the nearest step of the grid. Below, the lit steps are the four beats of a bar. A note you played just before or just after one of them gets pulled towards it.

1234

Beat 1

5678

Beat 2

9101112

Beat 3

13141516

Beat 4

Quantize pulls each recorded note towards the closest step, so notes played slightly off the beat move onto it or close to it.

Press Note/Session to switch to Session Mode. First you pick a fresh, empty spot for your recording.
Didn’t work?
Not sure where you are? Lesson 4 shows how the views look.
You should see: Session Mode: each row of pads is one track, and each pad in a row is a place for a clip.
Press a dark pad in the row that belongs to your bass track. In a brand-new Set, the bass is the second track. The drawing marks one example pad; any dark pad in that row will do.
Didn’t work?
A pad lit in colour already holds a clip, and pressing it may start it playing. Choose a dark pad instead. If music starts, press Play to stop it.
You should see: The pad you pressed turns white: an empty clip slot is now selected.
Press that row’s track button (the second track button in a brand-new Set). This opens Note Mode on the bass track, ready to fill the empty slot you picked.
Didn’t work?
Tap a few pads. If they sound like drums, this is not the bass track: demo Sets and swapped sounds can differ. Go back to Session Mode and pick a dark pad in the row of a melodic track.
You should see: Move is back in Note Mode, and the pads play the bass sound.
With Move stopped, press Record. Listen to the clicks and count along: one, two, three, four.
Didn’t work?
During the count-in the Record button flashes. It turns solid red when recording has started. Don’t play yet while it flashes.
You should hear: One bar of metronome clicks, then recording begins.
Once Record is solid red, play a short, simple bass line on the pads. Two or three notes, repeated, is plenty. Keep going for about two bars.
Didn’t work?
Hitting a wrong note is fine; you can fix it later or record again. If you’d like to keep hearing clicks while you play, turn on the metronome before you press Record. Lesson 10 shows how.
You should hear: Your bass notes, as you play them.
Press Record again to stop recording.
Didn’t work?
Stop late in the last bar, not just after it begins. If you stop in the first half of a bar, Move leaves that bar out of the clip. Pressing Play also stops recording, but it stops the music too.
You should hear: The music keeps going, and your recording plays back as a loop.
While your loop is still playing, press Record once more. This is overdubbing: whatever you play now is added to what’s already there.
Didn’t work?
When you add to a clip, Record already shows red during a count-in. If you hear a bar of clicks first, wait for it to end before you play.
You should see: Record turns red again. This time you are adding to the clip you just made.
Play a few extra notes in the gaps of your bass line.
You should hear: Your new notes join the loop, next to the ones you recorded first.
Press Record to stop adding notes.
Didn’t work?
Didn’t like what you added? Press Undo. It takes back the last thing you did.
You should hear: The loop keeps playing, now with your extra notes in it.
Hold Shift, then press Step 16. This quantizes the clip. Listen to the loop again: it should sound tighter.
Didn’t work?
If it now sounds too stiff, press Undo to get your original timing back. Sometimes a looser feel sounds better.
You should hear: Notes that were a little early or late move onto the grid, or closer to it.

Try it yourself

Record a drum part the same way. Pick an empty slot in the row of your drum track, then record just a kick drum for two bars. Overdub a snare on the next pass, and a hi-hat on the pass after that. Quantize at the end if the hits wander. Building a beat one drum at a time is much easier than playing all of it at once.

Good to know

Recording only happens in Note Mode. Session Mode is where you choose which slot the next recording goes into.
If you’d rather start recording straight away, you can switch the count-in off. Workflow Settings opens when you hold Shift and press Step 3. Select the Count-In entry and press the wheel to switch the count-in off. Pressing the wheel on it again should switch it back on.
How strongly quantize pulls the notes is also set in Workflow Settings. Press the wheel on the Quantize entry, then turn the wheel to change the amount.