Swing and the Groove Pool

Your beat is perfectly in time, every hat on its line, and it still feels like a machine counting. Why does the same pattern bounce when a drummer plays it?

Part of the answer is swing. In this lesson you'll add it with a groove, control how much you get, borrow accents from a groove too, and then write the result into the notes.

The idea: push every second note late

Count sixteenths: 1 e and a, 2 e and a. Swing leaves the first of each pair alone and delays the second. The hats stop sounding evenly spaced and start to lean: long, short, long, short.

A groove is a small file that stores that kind of timing pattern, often with a velocity pattern on top. Live applies it to a clip while it plays.

Here is the same two-bar beat at 94 BPM with the 606 Core Kit, first straight, then with the Swing 16ths 61 groove:

AStraightBSwing 16ths 61

0:00 / 0:05

Same notes. Every second sixteenth arrives about 35 ms later.

The number in the name is the amount. At 50 the pairs are even, so nothing swings. Around 66 the second note sits where a triplet would, which is a heavy shuffle. 61 is in between.

Put a groove on a clip

Live's grooves are in the browser, sorted into folders such as Swing and Style. The plain swing grooves are here:

1. Browser
2. Grooves
3. Swing
4. Basic

Look at the note editor: nothing moved. A groove works on playback, so the notes stay on the grid until you commit, which is the last section.

To try grooves quickly, click the Hot-Swap button above the clip's Groove chooser, then step through grooves in the browser while the clip plays.

Global Amount goes past 100%, up to 130%, if you want to exaggerate a groove. Once any clip uses a groove, the same control also shows up in the Control Bar.

Shape it in the Groove Pool

Each groove in the pool has its own controls. They change every clip that uses that groove.

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• Base is the grid the groove is measured against. Leave it at 1/16 for sixteenth-note swing.
• Quantize straightens the clip's notes to the Base grid before the groove is applied. At 0% the notes keep their own timing; turn it up for a played take that's a bit loose.
• Timing sets how much of the groove's timing you get.
• Random shifts each note by a random amount on every pass.
• Velocity applies the groove's accent pattern. Negative values flip it, so loud steps turn quiet.

Want different settings on two clips? Drag the same groove into the pool again. Live adds a copy with a number on the end (Swing 16ths 61-1), and each copy keeps its own settings.

Here is the copy at Timing 50%: half the delay, a lighter lean.

Swing 16ths 61, Timing 50%0:00 / 0:05

Grooves can carry dynamics too. The Style folder's accent grooves are mostly about velocity. Below, Rock Fatback Accent 16ths runs at Timing 0% and Velocity 100%, so the timing stays straight and only the loudness of each hit changes:

Rock Fatback Accent 16ths, Velocity 100%0:00 / 0:05

Random is easy to overdo. At 60% the beat stops sounding human and starts sounding unsure:

Random turned up too far0:00 / 0:05

Commit when it's right

While a groove is assigned, you can still change it or switch it off at any time. When you want the swing in the notes themselves, click Commit, the arrow button above the clip's Groove chooser. Live moves the notes to where the groove was playing them and sets the chooser back to None.

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Commit when you want to edit the swung notes by hand, copy the clip somewhere the groove isn't, or stop worrying that a change in the pool will alter it. Until then, leaving the groove live keeps your options open.

Summary

• Swing delays every second note of the grid. The number in a swing groove's name is how far: 50 is straight, 66 is a full shuffle.
• Assign a groove by dragging it onto a clip or its Groove chooser. The notes don't move; playback does.
• If you hear nothing, Global Amount is probably at 0%.
• In the Groove Pool, Timing sets how much swing, Velocity how much accent, Random how much wobble, and Quantize straightens the notes first.
• Commit writes the groove into the notes and clears the chooser.

Practice

Swing a straight beat

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Program two bars of kick, snare and sixteenth-note hats, all on the grid. Apply Swing 16ths 61 from the browser's Grooves, Swing, Basic folder and make sure you can hear the difference.

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Drag the groove onto the clip, then check two things: the clip's Groove chooser shows the groove, and Global Amount is at 100%. If the clip still sounds straight, Global Amount is the usual reason.

Target: Swing 16ths 610:00 / 0:05

Find your swing amount

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With the same beat looping, move the groove's Timing between 0% and 100% and stop where it feels right. Then try a heavier groove, such as Swing 16ths 66, at a lower Timing and compare.

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There's no correct number. Lighter settings (Timing 30 to 60%) suit house and pop; heavier swing suits hip hop and shuffles. A heavy groove at low Timing and a light groove at full Timing can land in a similar place, so pick by ear.

Example: Timing 50%0:00 / 0:05

Accents from a groove

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Set every hat in your beat to the same velocity. Add an accent groove from the Style folder, set its Timing to 0% and its Velocity to 100%, and listen to the hats. Then try Velocity at -100%.

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At 100% the hats get a loud and soft pattern without moving in time. At -100% the pattern flips: the steps that were loud turn soft. If the whole beat feels too quiet afterward, lower Velocity to 50% or so.

Target: accents only0:00 / 0:05