Currently, Swing Percent values above 50% make every second position in the quantization grid get delayed by the chosen amount. e.g., “1:::and:::2:::and:::3:::and:::4” becomes “1::::and::2::::and::3::::and::4”.
It would be a very nice feature enhancement if we could choose Swing Percent values below 50%, which would make every second position in the quantization grid get be pre-delayed. e.g., “1:::and:::2:::and:::3:::and:::4” becomes “1::and::::2::and::::3::and::::4”.
You can do this on the Roland TR8S (turn the shuffle knob counterclockwise), and you can do it on the Elektron Octatrack and Rytm (shift all the “swing steps” to the left), and you can of course do it with DAWs.
This “Negative Shuffle” or “Negative Swing” is musically useful for some styles and genres.
3 Likes
I’m pretty sure that feature is already available in the Swing effect menu. Parameter 3 maybe?
No, the “Grid” parameter defines the resolution at which “second points” are identified on the grid, but each “second point” is still only delayed (in other words, moved forward across the grid) by the >50% amount specified by the Percent parameter. For example, at Grid = 1/16, every second 1/16th note will play later; at Grid = 1/8, every second 1/8th note will play later; etc.
What I’m requesting is the ability to pre-delay (so that they play earlier than their grid positions) these “second points”.
Ok, let me fire this thing up, and take a look. Somewhere in this thing, there’s a swing parameter with 50% as a default, but the parameter is in the middle of the indicator bar. I haven’t tried advancing it to less than 50%, but it does sit in the middle of the indicator, which under any other circumstance, would denote that there is room to move in either direction. Let me get back to you on this.
I too have observed that 50% is in the middle of the indicator, and I have also tried turning the knob left 
It does nothing when you try to turn it left of 50%.
It seems like an incomplete feature implementation, especially when <50% swing aka negative shuffle is musically useful and available on other hardware sequencers.
4 Likes
Well sh*t, looks like we’ve both been hoodwinked! It’s funny, I was just talking with Jurgen Michaelis at NAMM about how wonderful said feature is in my XBase09, and while it may not have seemed significant at the time, it’s an AWESOME tool for coming up with some pretty interesting grooves and ideas. Very few machines actually have this.
1 Like
great way of indicating swing in text. Good idea in terms of feature enhancement too.
1 Like
perhaps using quantize and swing?
could you clarify what you mean and why you think this would work?