Orinj Getting started - Part 3 - Create drum and bass tracks

Orinj version 7.0.0

Start a new session

1. Click on the multitrack session view button () in the view toolbar at the bottom of Orinj to switch to the Orinj multitrack view. (If the button is disabled, you are already there.)
2. You will already have a blank recording session. You will see empty tracks. If you want to start a new session in any case, click on File and on New in the Orinj menu.
3. You will see the Audio Format dialog, which will prompt you to select the audio format of your session. Use 44.1 KHz and 16-bit.

4. Click OK.
5. Click on File and then on Save As in the Orinj menu to save your session.
6. Browse to where you want to save your session (probably the same place where you saved your drum loop file)
7. Give your session a name (for example, "my session").
8. Click on the Save button.

Explanation: The recording session is your song. This is where you will build or record tracks with various wave, loop, and MIDI pieces.

Multiple sampling rates (up to 99.2 kHz) and all standard sampling resolutions (8, 16, 24, and 32 bit) are supported.

A new session is ready every time you start Orinj. The default settings for this new session are 44.1 kHz, 16-bit.

The sampling rate and resolution chosen for the session are those that will be used when recording new waves and when sending the session mix to the output device for playback. You can still insert waves with other sampling rates and resolutions into the session. Orinj can use waves sampling resolutions that are different than that of the session without changes and will handle the conversion of waves with other sampling rates.

Insert a loop file in your session

1. Choose a track (say, the first track). (You do not have to do anything in Orinj. Just make up your mind on which track you will use).
2. In the track control panel to the left of the track, type a name for your track (for example, "Drums"). (In the picture of the panel below, type "Drums" in the place of "Track 1".)

3. The track, which you named "Drums", should now be selected. It will be lighter in color than the rest of the tracks. When inserting files, Orinj will insert them in the track that is selected.
4. Click on the rewind to start button () in the player toolbar at the bottom of Orinj. This will move the play cursor (the vertical yellow line) to the very beginning of the tracks, if it is not already there. When you insert a file in the track with the steps below, these files will be inserted next to the play cursor.
5. Click on Track and then on Insert From File in the Orinj menu.
6. In the Оpen dialog, switch from "Wave files (.wav)" to "Loop files (.klp)", since you want to insert a loop file.
7. Browse to where you saved your drum wave file from part 2 of this tutorial and double-click on that file. The wave will be inserted in your session. The file will appear at the very beginning of the track labeled "Drums".

8. Click on File and then on Save to save the session.

Explanation: Naming tracks is not necessary, but it is a good idea. Large sessions could have many tracks and it is easier to work with sessions when tracks are named.

Selecting the track is necessary. The selected track (the one lighter in color) will be the one in which files are inserted. You can simply click on a track to select it. Most operations that you do on a track, in fact, will select that track (e.g., muting, soloing, changing pan or volume).

When you inserted the drum loop, Orinj converted this loop to a wave file. The drum loop was simply a collection of wave samples. Orinj mixed them into a single wave. This wave file is temporary. It will be deleted when Orinj exits. It will be recreated when you re-open the session.

Build a drum track

1. Click on the drum loop wave to select it (click on the orange wave block in the session). The wave will become lighter in color.
2. Click on Block and then on Loop in the Orinj menu.
3. In the Loop dialog, select how many times the wave should be looped (say, 15).
4. Click OK. The drum loop will be repeated to create a longer drum track.
5. If you want to zoom out a bit, click on the zoom out horizontally button () in the zoom toolbar at the bottom.

6. Save your session. Click on File and then on Save in the Orinj menu.

Explanation: A single loop is not enough for a drum track and must be repeated. Having the same drum loop over the whole song may be too repetitive. In your songs, you can use different drum loops, ordering them in different ways. (You can also record a drummer).

You created only 16 (15 plus the original) drum loops. This covers only one measure of, for example, a 12-bar blues song, leaving a couple of drum loops at the beginning to get musicians ready when recording. If you need more, you can similarly loop the last block in the track and make the track longer.

Double-clicking on any of these blocks will open the block in the loop building view. If you change the loop there and then switch back to the session, all blocks will change. All blocks use the same one loop file. (If you do double-click to see the loop in the loop building view, click on the multitrack session view button () at the bottom of Orinj to switch back to the session.)

Add a bass line

1. Name the second track in the session (for example, "Bass").
2. Click on the same second track where the second and third loop meet. This will both make sure the second track is selected and place the play cursor (the vertical yellow line) between the second and third drum loop. With the steps that follow, you will insert a bass line starting there.
3. Click on Track and then on Insert From File in the menu.
4. Find the file "blues Am var 1 bass.mid". It is in the "midi" folder of the installation of Orinj. If, for example, you installed Orinj in "C:\Temp", the file will be in the folder "c:\Temp\orinj\midi".
5. Double click on the file "blues Am var 1 bass.mid" to open it. You will now have a bass line.

6. Click on File and then on Save in the menu to save your session.

Explanation: You inserted a ready bass track. You did not record the bass track (recording is explained in Part 4 of this tutorial).

The bass track that you inserted was a MIDI file. Orinj automatically converted this MIDI file to a wave file, with the help of the Downloadable Sounds (DLS) or SoundFont (SF2) file that you specified in part 1 of this tutorial.

This bass track and the drum loop were designed to have the same tempo.

The volume of the bass track is low because the MIDI files in the Orinj installation were created with MIDI velocity of 60 (see MIDI Note On message). When you create MIDI files, you can use something different for each note. Also, mixing (volume, pan, and effects) is explained in the last part of this tutorial.

Since this is a MIDI file, if you double-click on the block in the session, you will be taken to the MIDI roll view where you can edit the file, before returning to the session.

If you do not have a DLS or SF2 file and you do not want to download one, record the MIDI bass file to a wave file.

1. Switch to the MIDI roll view.
2. Open the file "blues Am var 1 bass.mid".
3. Play the file to make sure it is played through the output sound device that you expect. You cannot select an output device for MIDI playback through Orinj, but you can do so through your operating system.
4. Click on Sequencer, Record To Wave, and then on Input Device in the menu to choose an input device.
5. Connect a cable from the output to the input device.
6. Click on Sequencer, Record To Wave, and then on Wave Format in the menu to choose the format of the recorded wave.
7. Click on Sequencer, Record To Wave, and then on Record in the menu to start recording.

A disadvantage of recording the MIDI file to wave, rather than converting with a DLS or SF2 file is that you cannot choose a DLS or SF2 file. The sound that you will get will depend on the DLS or SF2 file of your operating system or sound device. A second disadvantage is that you cannot double-click on the MIDI block in the session to edit it as a MIDI file.

See also

This completes the third part of the Orinj tutorial – creating drum and bass tracks. The remaining parts of this tutorial are as follows.

Orinj Getting started - Part 1 - Set basic Orinj preferences
Orinj Getting started - Part 2 - Build a drum loop
Orinj Getting started - Part 4 - Record guitar and vocals
Orinj Getting started - Part 5 - Mix your song