Rarandomizing audio regions without snapping to grid

[nwarren1981]

Hi,

I have cut up some kick and snare samples from a drum loop and was hoping to use protools quantize feature to randomize where they are currently placed on the timeline. I normally use tab to transient to cut each snare and kick but this time I left a bit of space before each drum hit and just manually cut them in slip mode as. I am now wanting to randomize each drum hit slightly. Is there a way to randomize the drum hits based on where they currently lie on the grid instead of being forced to snap them to a grid first (1/8, 1/16 etc) in the process?

Thanks, Nick

[albee1952]

Since no one else has chimed in, here are some thoughts:
#1-(most importantly) what are you hoping to achieve? To me, randomizing a bunch of single drum hits would end up sounding like tossing a drum kit down a flight of stairs
#2-Assuming you are trying to create a drum performance or pattern I think there are many better ways to accomplish. Most of the major drum plugins are really fast and efficient for this purpose(my "go to" choices are Toontrack Superior Drummer 3 and EZDrummer 3).
#3-if you have the exact sounds you want, find a sample player VI that will let you load your "one shot" sounds in and then you can program a drum performance with a midi keyboard/trigger, the built-in midi keyboard(and Avid feature I have seen, but not used) or by importing midi loops(which can be found online for cheap or free)
#4-I understand that some hate drums that are locked to a grid(but I'm not one of them). You can still make things feel more "real" by having other instruments be looser than the drums. You might also be able to use Beat Detective to extract a groove from a "wild"(not locked to a grid) performance and then force that groove onto your drums.
#5-if you keep each sound(kick, snare, hat, etc) on its own track, you could use the nudge command to nudge all the hats later by maybe 100 samples, or pull the snares later. Best to experiment on this to find what gives you the feel you are looking for(personal taste matters)
#6-If you are new to this stuff, give yourself some time to gain experience in straying from the grid(without going too far) and try not to view the grid as the enemy. I have heard many a killer song that is locked onto a grid, and more than a few that were so sloppy that I couldn't stand to listen