Groove Templates

A groove template is a freely defined quantization grid. You can apply a rhythmic pattern on all selected MIDI events or Audio objects with Groove Templates. This allows you to make static MIDI patterns more lively, quantize on existing audio drum loops, or implement special metrics like dotted grid values. For MIDI objects, the velocity and note length can optionally be changed by the groove template in addition to the position. It is also possible to define a rhythmic pattern for drawing in MIDI notes.

A Groove Template enables a freely-definable grid. Usually it has a length of one to four bars and is repeated cyclically. However, the length of the groove templates is basically freely definable. So you could also create a grid based on the bass drum track of an entire song, and then use the MIDI drum pen to draw in a bass that plays exactly to it. The length and start of the groove template are always set to whole bars.

You load the Groove Templates from the Grid Quantize vakue menu on the toolbar. They are located there below the regular grid values.

In the MIDI Editor, you can create new groove templates by yourself by selecting the MIDI events to be used as templates and then choosing the Edit menu > Create Groove Template from Selection command. The groove template is quantized to whole bar boundaries. So when you create a groove template, make sure it contains enough notes for a whole measure. Or set a corresponding time signature beforehand via tempo marker, for a template with e.g. the length of 2 eighths set a 2/8 time signature first.

In the file selection dialog you can give your Groove Template a name. Subsequently the Groove Template is immediately active and appears in the grid quantization list.

Additional to each note start position both the note length and velocity are saved in the Groove Template. In the Quantization Settings dialog, after selecting a groove template, there are two additional options, Groove Velocity and Groove Note Length, which determine how much these values from the groove template are included in the quantization. The parameters Swing and Offset are not available when a groove template is used.

You can also create groove templates from audio objects by selecting the audio object you want to use as a template and opening the Audio Quantization Wizard (menu Object > Quantize > Extended Audio Quantization and in the wizard, run the function Detect Transients and click Create Groove. If you select a range beforehand, only the AQ markers within the selected area will be considered for the template creation.