Introduction - Lesson 1 - Lesson 2 - Lesson 3 - Lesson 4 - Lesson 5 - Credits
sYnCHAoZ' Skale Tracker Drumming Tutorial
Lesson 5 - Finishing touches

Wrapping it up and adding the final spice

Let's review again: We know how to configure Skale, how to load, manage and organize instruments, how to create basic drumtracks, how to create and manage song-patterns and how to save and load our songs.
So what else do we need? Basicly nothing more - we can produce a nice and dynamic sounding drumtrack which can easily be used as backing tracks for live play or guitar recordings. So in this last lesson all we are going to do is add a little spice to our drums, giving them an extra touch of 'realism' - and we will learn a little about using the volume-string as well.

Just in case you have been playing around and experimenting with your drumtrack from last lesson we're going re-load our latest saved drumtrack. By now you should know how to access the module loading procedure, so I am just going to tell you to load the module "Tutorial Drum 3.skm".
Once the song is loaded and you're ready to start, continue ever vigilant onwards with the steps:
HINT: Real-life drumplayers cannot strike each instrument of the drumset with the exact equal power and velocity on each hit - this is especially true with the hihats and ride cymbals, which produces a very overall dynamic and 'alive' sound. By slightly altering the volumes on the digital hihats and ride cymbals in our sampled drumtrack, we can imitate these 'unsteady' drum-strikes as if they were real drums played by a real person. Even though the listener might not actually be aware of the volume changes, his ears will still percieve the slight volume fluxations making it sound a bit more natural. The same rule of corse applies to all parts of the drumset, however the volume fluxations in the kickdrum and snaredrum are usually so small that it would make no difference, unless of corse they are played in rapid succession, such as is done with blastbeats or grind.
We're now going to make some volume changes in our Open Hihat track and the Ride Cymbal track.
1. Make sure that you are in pattern 00, then jump track 3 where the Open Hihat is located.
2. Now using the left/right arrow keys on your keyboard move your edit-marker into the volume-string (the string marked number 4 on the below picture).
Once you have your edit-marker in the volume string, you will notice that it contains 2 fields that you can move back and forth in - this is because the volume-string is a two-numbered string.
KNOWLEDGE: The volume-string can be used to define an instant-appliable hex-volume value from 00 to 80 (directly linked to the current value of the volume setting in the Mixer section) for each individual instrument on each individual line of each individual track. The value of 00 in the volume-string equals no volume change, thus the instrument will play at it's default volume as specified in the Mixer and Instrument Edit sections. The maximum value of 80 equals to the maximum current volume of the instrument as specified in the Mixer and Instrument Edit sections - so basicly it's the same as 00. Advanced users can also define this value in the effects-string with the hex-value Cxx, however unlike the volume string, the Cxx volume value in the effects-string is slightly different - C00 equals a volume of 0 for the current instrument, thus it is completely mute and will not produce any sound. This will however not be covered in this tutorial.
3. While still in the first field of the volume-string of track 3, scroll down to line 04 where the first Open Hihat note is, activate recording mode and type-in the value 65 in the volume string (type "6" in the first field of the volume-string, creating the value of 60, and then scroll up one notch and move to the second field of the volume-string and hit "5"). Do the same on lines 12, 20, 36, 44, 52 and 60. Now play the pattern and check it out.
4. Stop playback, go to pattern 01 and jump to the first field of the volume-string of track 3 where our Ride Cymbal is located.
5. Activate recording mode and enter the volume value of 60 (you only need to type "6" in the first field, Skale then automatically adds a "0" to end of it, making it 60) on lines 12, 20, 36, 44 and 52. Check it out and comfort yourself that the ordeal is now over.
HINT: Notice that we only apply the volume changes to every second note and not all of them. Changing the volume of every second note gives the illusion of a drummer hitting the cymbals in a dynamic fashion where he strikes the first one hard and the second slightly softer. Entering more varied volume-values will increasingly make it sound even more dynamic, but be careful not to overdo it - giving a note a volume value of ex. 20, and the next note full volume will make it sound very awkward. Knowing and understanding which volume values should be used is a matter of experience and experimentation.
Congratulations, you've now completed the sYnCHAoZ' Skale Tracker Drumming Tutorial! From here on you're on your own. Remember, there's nothing you can't do as long as you have the will to try. I learned it all that way - experimenting and imitating. I suggest you play around with the given samples and create some new drumtracks on your own to really get a feeling for it. You can always refer to this tutorial if you get stuck or forget a certain feature/procedure. I have also made a small example drumtrack and included it in the drum package (sdtp_v1.zip) called 'Example.skm' for you to study and listen to - it uses the same samples as those we have been using in this tutorial. I wish you good luck and happy tracking ;)

Introduction - Lesson 1 - Lesson 2 - Lesson 3 - Lesson 4 - Lesson 5 - Credits