My Secret Digitakt Shaker Technique (Humanising Shaken Percussion Grooves)

[@SlenterendeBeer]

SH-KAA. Shhhu-Taa. Tushashukata. SHKTAA. Shka. Shaker.

[@OscillatorSink]

Shhkatah

[@shualiko]

You had me at the Zappa quote!

[@machineagevoodoo2106]

3 years later, big cheers to you sir - gap filler ftw!

[@thewistfulsnail]

Although I don't have a Digitakt, this technique is genius! I try so hard to humanize my synths

[@in_10z]

I just got my Digitakt the other day and I was using similar technique with the LFO to try to get my hats humanized, but not nearly as clever as yours. Thank you! Perfect timing for my learnings!

[@OscillatorSink]

My pleasure - I hope you're enjoying your time with your Digitakt!

[@MarkMcCubbin]

A video on shakers...I guess I'll check a little bit of it out. Three hours later, can't stop playing with my Digitakt and shakers.

[@OscillatorSink]

Haha, welcome to my obsession!

[@lundsweden]

Its nice to get drums a-grooving, shaker and cymbal parts are a "secret sauce" to get some groove, but not a secret anymore! I also like adding shaker sounds into almost any style, there's something nice about the style. Some people overdub acoustic shakers over their electronic beats, which I might try out!

[@gordonthespeed4499]

Just used this technique for claps, worked a treat, cheers!

[@iszyman]

Super useful. Thanks! 👏

[@ryanjones8674]

Bravo! I’m heading straight to my Digitakt to do this right away!

[@danf1518]

Great tips, thank you for sharing sir!

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks for watching!

[@IvarTryti]

Thanks for the tutorial! The retrigger trick is awesome! I've used retriggers for triplets, but never thought of using it to play normal 16ths over two steps. Also thanks for showing how the LFO Hold mode thing works, I'm definitely gonna make use of that. Maybe I'll replace some hihats with shakers on future tracks, too :P. Great tutorial!

[@OscillatorSink]

Yes!! Welcome to the League of Fabulous Shakers!

[@1111undici1111]

Thanks for the tutorial man, awesome work!

[@OscillatorSink]

You're very welcome!

[@diegotasis]

Great video, powerfull tips.

[@OscillatorSink]

The shaker is always powerful.

[@SteveMc870]

Cooler than anyone would expect a video on shakers to be. Thanks!

[@OscillatorSink]

Hey, shakers are the best! Thanks for watching!

[@doctorfly7]

this was the video i didn't know i needed! thank you!

[@kenb7540]

Smart work. Love the OR logic you can apply for the trill step (trill OR ordinary) using re-trig on previous step. Clever.

[@EkssperimentalSoundsStudio]

Just watch all your digitakt videos and want more! Specially tutorials and tips and tricks, great stuff!

[@OscillatorSink]

Hopefully I'll do something soon - just need to cross some other things off the list!

[@TotalBikeForever]

This is so useful. Always struggle with this kind of sound in Ableton/Logic so it's amazing to hear how well the Digitakt can handle it.

[@OscillatorSink]

With the right sampler or midi processing, you should be able to achieve similar results in your DAW - I have a feeling that Ableton should be pretty good for this kind of thing (but don't ask me how - I'm a Reaper user primarily!)

[@timt6626]

This is an amazing idea, will try tonight. Thanks for all the inspiration you offer.

[@OscillatorSink]

Enjoy the groove friend!

[@umonox]

Cool Idea using the Retrigger as a Gap Filler for a Probability Trig. Will definitely make use of this one day! ;-) Cheers

[@OscillatorSink]

Yeah, I love that trick. I use it in a different form here too: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXfHiIt-e7Kqh9U

[@zip753]

I'm surprised that it doesn't mess up the swing that you have going on, or maybe I just don't hear it that well :)

[@Th0rZ666]

Waiting for the "Shukata" branded merch drop now....

[@mitzycasanova9041]

Making the sample play in forward and reverse would be a cool addition to this too.

[@trickfall8752]

Wow, I can't wait to try this out. What a great technique.

[@OscillatorSink]

Have fun with it!

[@trickfall8752]

@@OscillatorSink Thanks I had a blast and it really got my mind going on using the LFO for different things than I normally do.

[@ianproshkovskyi4859]

Amazing to know this feature! thanks a lot!

[@mikehydropneumatic2583]

Great Zappa quote. Don Buchla had a module called "source of uncertainty".

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks! I've always liked that one.

[@mauromantovani5937]

Awesome trick!

[@stickysappy]

thank you so much! answered all the questions i had

[@tobyclbain]

Great video - thanks so much!

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks for watching!

[@johncitizen8828]

Really nice tip. Thanks! One pointer that became obvious as I tried to replicate your shaker movement - the outcome is (obviously) quite dependant on the shaker sample chosen. Some of my initial shaker samples were already quite short/tight - so I was unable to get the sliding attack with those. Thanks again, I'll be using technique on loads of tracks - always trying to get the best upper perc grooves I can achieve.

[@OscillatorSink]

Yes, you're quite right - I usually just use looping noise samples - with a little filtering and this articulation they usually do the job!

[@johncitizen8828]

@@OscillatorSink I'll have to try that, too! Do you apply some filtering modulation and resample to capture a 'whoosh' attack, and then apply the technique from the video above? In any case, I was eventually able to get wide array of textures in my shakers - from thick and grainy mid-range ones, to high-pitched small egg shakes adding a bit of top end spice.

[@OscillatorSink]

@@johncitizen8828 I'm pretty certain that the sample is just a straight up noise sample - you can do the filtering in real time on the DT.

[@loopop]

Nice one!

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks loopop!

[@IAmRickMagic]

Epic mate thank you

[@VictorSteiner]

Brilliant little trick! Thanks!

[@OscillatorSink]

👍

[@tothefinlandstation]

You might be selling me on getting a Digitakt, too. Have to save up more for it than for the 2S you convinced me to buy.

[@OscillatorSink]

If you gel with the workflow then the Digitakt is a truly inspirational instrument. The newest firmware is a really big deal too, making it even better!

[@izraelservantofalmightygod]

This digitakt thing is growing on me. Quite interesting way to sound design. Thanks for sharing your tips and tricks. Very inspirational.

[@OscillatorSink]

It has very much grown on me. One of my favourite instruments I own.

[@politesociety]

Could have taken it one step further with advanced scale mode and made the shaker track 14 or another non-16 step length so that your retrigged steps shuffle through the pattern. As long as master length is set to inf or something long.

[@7177YT]

so awesome thx!

[@gatorgoforth3097]

You are the only other person I have seen rank the shaker as a number one instrument. I believe it is actually a difficult instrument (along with tambourine) to play tightly with a band. It is of utmost importance in a band because it provides the subconscious groove that everyone else adds to. If the shaker is off the crowd will feel it, but won’t necessarily pinpoint the shaker, just feel off. I equate it to this: there is a canvas. The shaker is the thread count of the canvas. The rest of the instruments paint their color atop that canvas. I totally agree with you that the shaker played live, that every shake is unique and nuanced. I hear a new universe being created and burning out right as a new one is birthed. Also you’re the only other musician that I’ve heard refer to the Zappa “eyebrows” approach. That’s how I treat every sound. If it doesn’t make my eyebrows raise I scrap it. You got a new subscriber!

[@OscillatorSink]

Your clear love and dedication to all things shaken is appreciated.

[@MIKExMASSACREx]

Wow this is golden!!!!!!

[@churchofaggressiveaudio6498]

Fantastic tutorial!

[@OscillatorSink]

Cheers friend!

[@hajikelist]

brilliant as always - definitely like the perceived unpredictabilty, makes the pattern more interesting.

[@OscillatorSink]

Thank you!

[@robotriddims]

love the retrig to replace the trill when it doesn't happen, I had not thought of that!

[@OscillatorSink]

Yeah, I'm a big fan of that trick. I talk about it in another context here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXfHiIt-e7Kqh9U

[@alpenjon]

Great input man!

[@els1f]

Shakers make the world go round 😁 old drum and bass musicians would take a tambourine/shaker loop and pitch it to match the tempo. It would never be perfectly on time, therefore it would be more human. Seriously, hand percussion of all kinds is my favorite thing. Now that the world is in our computers, the boundaries are the places where the computers can't yet replace us 😄✌️

[@tovermoran4360]

This is great. Add second LFO to amp decay? And if only we could add per-step modulation to micro-timing..

[@goodpal7444]

That is one great tip. Thank you!

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks for watching!

[@theedxqboi]

Thanks for the tip! Really useful at the moment.

[@OscillatorSink]

Have fun with it!

[@tomislavprimorac5838]

Similar human feel can be achieved putting a random LFO for decay. Or even motion recording it with your hands.

[@Noizedas]

Genius. Thanks 🙏

[@ProfessorSynth]

Excellent tip, thank you.

[@OscillatorSink]

Thank you!

[@VasiuMusic]

Thank you, bro! Really cool tip!

[@OscillatorSink]

👊

[@jazzjeffjazzjeff]

Great ideas, thanks so much!

[@OscillatorSink]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@nomadvideomachine]

This is great!

[@trendhopper1]

Verry usefull tsjutsjorial! Maybe a little lfo on the filter for timbre variation? And maybe some swing ... You got me inspired! Thanks a lot Mr. Sink!

[@editablebeats64]

it's trill city up in here!

[@OmriCohen-Music]

You should make yourself Shakshukah now! It's the perfect meal for this kind of sounds... But seriously, it's a small thing that can liven up a track. It also works great on percussive melodic lines. I think that it's the first thing I look for in a module\instrument, if I can modulate its envelope. One of the things I wish I could do with the Neutron...

[@OscillatorSink]

Aaaand now I'm hungry! Thank you for the culinary inspiration!

[@weisland2807]

that's a real nifty tip right there! going into my mental memoirs :) thanks manne!

[@OscillatorSink]

Cheers buddy!

[@michaeljones570]

really cool.

[@OscillatorSink]

Thank you!

[@michaeljones570]

crazy thing about human energy: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJPEoHykjpqan9E

[@bktm42]

You should check out the "Kayamb", great shaking instrument from the island I'm from (Réunion). I think you'd like it very much :)

[@MrRexBaron]

Man, always inspiring and useful videos .. cheers.

[@OscillatorSink]

Thank you for checking them out!

[@Depuratumba]

very useful information on this video, I use most of these techniques myself - but I never thought of using 1/8 retrigs to fill for conditional trig gaps. great idea! thanks for sharing :)

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks for watching!

[@rupertlake7274]

Thanks!

[@tobyb8511]

Terrific stuff, really thoughtful, not just how to make shakers sound "proper", but ideas to take elsewhere ... your previous MonoSynth and Randomised Sequencing have also been stimulating. As a fan of shakey things, I've used Shimmer Shake Strike by Session Audio as a VST, but this is a fun alternative. Keep playing!

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks for checking it out. I'm glad you've taken stuff away from the videos!

[@maarzt]

"whats missing is the eyebrows" :) :) thanks for bringing some FZ into this. a big presence in my musical appreciation life.

[@OscillatorSink]

Me too. And he is, of course, infinitely quotable.

[@maarzt]

@@OscillatorSink if you can, watch the new Zappa documentary just came out it might be streaming here or there. some very amazing moments.

[@neilloughran4437]

great!

[@BrunoWiebelt]

cool trick, congratulation thx

[@OscillatorSink]

Thank you for checking it out!

[@drewhenry784]

great video, great tips! keep em coming :)

[@OscillatorSink]

Will do!

[@anton.che.musica]

Shaker wizard! 😁 Thank you!

[@OscillatorSink]

That's what they call me!

[@MilesKvndra]

Awesome idea for making use of the retrigger. Great video, thanks for sharing! 🤘

[@gordonthespeed4499]

Great video! Noob question here, if I make changes to the shaker sample how do I save that specific sample so I can pull it up for any project, would be good to not have to do all of these steps every time. Obviously there are some steps that have to be done like the retrigs etc,Cheers!

[@OscillatorSink]

On the Digitakt you have two different things you can save - a sample, which is the raw sample, but none of the settings and a "sound" which is a sample plus all of the settings. Section 9 in the current version of the manual explains how to save and use each of them.

[@gordonthespeed4499]

@@OscillatorSink thanks man!

[@ruz8099]

LOVE!!!!! does it also work with closed/open hi hat variations?

[@ruz8099]

ps: thx soooo much...i've been really exploring ways to reproduce this human touch in the shakers but never knew what parameters of the lfo to apply...

[@OscillatorSink]

Yes, definitely hihats - but try it with the decay instead of the attack for that. Great for those "half open" grooves.

[@headfullofsnow2001]

Great video. Love the drum sounds used in this video. Any ideas on what kit it is or the source of the drums? Cheers dude

[@OscillatorSink]

They're just factory sounds from the Digitakt, couldn't tell you which one though, sorry!

[@sfxElrick]

@Oscillator Sink that is a great tip, have you try to set the LFO to modulate the start point of the sample ?

[@OscillatorSink]

Yeah for sure! With the right sample, it's an amazing trick. I'm using it a lot in this jam here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/noXVgJyNbZmIjc0

[@uhuhmazn]

Sample start has been what I've been using to give it a more 'shukata' feel to shakers.

[@amigara_]

Minipops 67 is the perfect example of a good shaker carrying a song. Wowee.

[@OscillatorSink]

Absolutely, it holds everything together defines the whole groove of the song!

[@amigara_]

Oscillator Sink Agreed. Fantastic tutorial. Super informative and inspiring, outside of shakers too!

[@lukeplayin]

Hey Man, That's a great sound, do you think you could do something similar on Volca Drum?

[@OscillatorSink]

It'd be harder to have it randomised, but you could motion sequence the envelope Attack, maybe with an odd number of active steps. You could do the faster shakes using slice as well.

[@lukeplayin]

@@OscillatorSinkCool! I'll definitely try that! :)

[@loamyyy]

completely deadpan "its trill city up in here" hahahah

[@grommet123456]

lol i can't over how the captions keep saying "dick attack"

[@musacha1978]

This looks and sounds really awesome! I'm trying to reproduce, but unsuccessfully... What sample is used for the basis?

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks! It's just one of the factory noise samples. Load one that you like up, then set your amp envelope sustain to zero and the decay and release fairly short (around 20 perhaps?).

[@musacha1978]

@@OscillatorSink Thanks!! Going to give it a try!

[@musacha1978]

@@OscillatorSink Pfff...I'm still getting a too hard of an attack😞. It keeps sounding like an hihat. Also the retrig just sounds like a loud double hit. Not as smooth as yours... I think you have put a swing into the pattern as well? What am I doing wrong...?

[@OscillatorSink]

@@musacha1978 have you tried increasing the attack time on the amp envelope - put the attack to the mid point of how you want it to sound, and make sure your lfo depth is less than the value of the attack parameter otherwise it'll go back to zero and turn into a hi-hat. There probably is swing for feel, but won't affect the behavior of the patch.

[@OscillatorSink]

If you're not comfortable with shaping sounds using envelopes, I have a video all about that which you might find useful: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXvVZHeemrGLjq8

[@dublplus]

Did you record your own shaker and sample it into the digitakt? Or just a stock shaker? If you do sample direct into your digitakt, what kind of microphone do you use?

[@OscillatorSink]

This is just one of the stock noise sources - not a Shaker sample at all!

[@dublplus]

@@OscillatorSink I guessed as much. Seems like a great trick for livening up rigid percussion.

[@InkyDaCaT]

Thank you as always....you are so responsible for many brilliant ideas...that said....Im gonna say..OK so last night Geosynth's (Jamie's) 😂talk he blamed you for idea for his thumb nail to video?....now I understand why....very happy bank holiday?? Cheers?!!😂 😎

[@OscillatorSink]

Well ,he should blame Bo because he was the one that goaded me into it ;)

[@InkyDaCaT]

@@OscillatorSink 😂 oh how the space sheep are LFO lead....😂its a new groove..😂 i give in lol

[@donaldpriola1807]

Random waves are the best. Thanks for this cool little tutorial!

[@coronelsakura2841]

Kool-a-Shaker ❤

[@InkyDaCaT]

Omg just watching properly and YES YES YES THEY ARE AWESOME!!! MINE TO😉 any party anywhere😂 yep love em so the egg ones well if you dance with one😂 best instrument until some one invents my MIDI SHOES😬😕please genius'😂

[@JonathanRCross]

MIDI Shoes lol. What's next, sample flip heels?

[@InkyDaCaT]

@@JonathanRCross Well Mr Cross...I have Ken Flux and Aturia thinking about it😝.....midi shoes...for people who can dance😂🍻

[@JonathanRCross]

@@InkyDaCaT bluetooth enabled LFOafers ? That impact the cutoff on the synths of the person performing live on stage! What a mod matrix

[@JonathanRCross]

Shuffering Shuckataaaa--sh!

[@kelvinstephenson571]

Sorry no time for a comment. _runs off to find the shakers folder buried somewhere_

[@OscillatorSink]

Shake it off.

[@Noizedas]

🍯🍯🍯

[@SuperSimple90]

[@OscillatorSink]

👍

[@crolodon8024]

This is a good video but I hope anyone that’s owns a Digitakt has already been using these techniques, using the LFO, probability, and retriggerer for variation are core functions of the machine. Sounds good on a shaker, Digitakt can groove so hard and so easily.

[@turfoid7899]

Shakaar

[@julianhigginson5946]

Its a mystery why we spend so much time trying to make a robot play a real re sampled instrument in a way that feels human ? I my self have poured years into doing this only now I’m I questioning it. I remember loving the idea of sequencers banging away and during the rave era it really worked on me and many others but now I just want feel like in the 70s and before. Funny how I used to think music pre 80s was so sloppy now I can’t enjoy sequencers like I used to.

[@AOC_dawlesspuzzle]

i work with volume LFO

[@OscillatorSink]

That can work well too

[@monomakes]

Nice, but not so secret ;)

[@bobz1736]

Love Eggs ???

[@OscillatorSink]

You see what you want to see

[@station2station544]

Chicken shake!

[@station2station544]

chicken shake

[@OscillatorSink]

100 percent.

[@cold00n]

3:49 - Skip intro blah blah

[@OscillatorSink]

Yeah, you're right, the context around the whole thing is worthless. The reasoning for wanting to achieve this effect is meaningless. Sorry for wasting your time.

[@officialvisaural]

That loop gives me Dorian Concept vibes

[@solongyouth]

Brilliant video, thanks so much.

[@OscillatorSink]

Cheers!