Lot’s of Kronos users have been asking me how we added the guitar loops to our Kronos Electric Guitar sound library. Here’s how…

Load your wav file loop into the Korg Kronos workstation via the disk load. Remember that wav files must be 16 bit. Go to “sampling” and choose the next available Multi Sample slot.

Choose Rename MS and give it a new name. Lets name it “Drum Loop 1”.

Choose page 2: “loop edit”
Go to top right and choose the arrow and scroll to “time slice” and choose it.
That will get you to the “set sample tempo” page:
Beat = how many 1/4 note beats in the loop (1 bar = 4 beats – 2 bars = 8 beats etc.)
Source BPM = must match the tempo of the loop. If you know how many 1/4 note beats are in the loop just set it to the correct amount and the BPM will automatically fill in the correct tempo.

Choose “ok”. That will bring you to the time slice page.

Note the “sensitivity” parameter is set to 25. For most loops it’s OK to leave it at 25. However some loops require you to lower the sensitivity. If you find that your loop has a “gap” in it (Usually one measure) then you need to lower the sensitivity parameter. Usually lowering it to about 10 should work, however we have used loops where it had to be lowered to as low as 3 to get it to work right. Experiment to find the correct setting for your loop. Remember that the higher you set the sensitivity, the more slices your loop will have and the more you will be able to change the tempo of the loop without affecting the pitch.

Choose “save”. That brings up the “save samples & ms” page.

The top section should be the same: Beat & BPM that you already set at the “set sample tempo” page. Do not use the time stretch function or change anything over there. The “save with” parameters must be set as follows: Check program and choose the program slot where you want to save the time sliced loop data. You must also save the program and set it’s category to “drums”. Then it will be visable to the drum track parameters. You can do that later.
Check “seq event” and “pattern” Below you can keep the song, pattern and meter the same unless you already have something else stored in the song or user pattern memory. The meter should stay at 4/4 unless your loop happens to be in another time signature.?Leave the RPPR settings as is: C#2 – Track 1
Choose “save”. That brings you back to the time slice sample page. Choose “exit”

Note that your next available multi sample slot will be filled in with the time slice data. Before moving ahead you should also rename your multi sample. Name it: Drum Loop 1 Time Slice.

Go to “sequencer mode” – Page 10 “Pattern/RPPR”. Hit the start/stop button and if everything has been set correctly you should hear your loop playing. If the loop plays and there is a gap then you have to go back and lower the sensitivity parameter as stated above.

If the loop plays smoothly then first give your drum pattern a name and then choose the arrow in the top right corner of the page and choose “convert to drum track pattern”. Pick where you want the pattern to live and choose “note only”. Leave “all patterns available” blank.

If you have done everything correctly, your sample loop has been converted to a drum pattern and the extra bonus from time slicing the loop means that you can now change the tempo of the loop without affecting the pitch. Note that some loops do this better then others. Large changes in tempo usually affect the sound of the loop.

To get the new user drum pattern into the program or combi that your working with just choose the program that you assigned the time slice data to and the user drum pattern that you assigned the loop to.

After your done, don’t forget to “save sampling data” as a KSC file and also save your new programs/combis as a PCG file. Check out our “working with samples” tutorial for more info.

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