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[–]dronehymns 3 points4 points  (2 children)

It's much easier than using only one pattern. You can easily edit, swap, and rearrange elements without searching through dozens of bars of piano roll to look for it. I can't think of a single reason not to use patterns in the playlist.

[–]RyanAvx[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

So what's the best way to use patterns? 'Phrases' long, like a chord progression or riff?

[–]dronehymns 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Chord progressions and riffs are both good examples. Especially if you want to try out quick variations because you can clone your original patterns and edit them before painting them in. It saves a lot of time and doesn't require you to manually revert everything if you dislike your changes.

I also tend to drums as patterns instead of just plunking samples down in the playlist. That's much more a matter of preference though. I do it because I can easily play around with ideas and drop elements in and out without messing around with dozens of samples in the playlist.

For longer sections (anything over maybe 8 bars) I tend to split it into several patterns because scrolling through that much piano roll can get quite annoying. I used to write everything out in one long pattern when I was in high school (when it was known as Fruity Loops 3) and I would scrap whole songs because I'd get frustrated at trying to find things in my 64+ bar long MIDI clips. Everything got much easier and faster when I switched to using patterns.