A “pad” is a modern day drone like the drones on a bagpipe, or a shruti box, or a tanpura. Pads are based on highly ambient modulating string synths droning on the root and/or the fifth of the key. They are very popular in worship music. Of course drone pipes, shruti boxes, and tanpura can be used with Irish Traditional Music (ITM or Trad music) and traditional Indian music, and other types of meditative music.

We can set this up using the Canyon Delay’s looping capabilities. You might think it’s a limitation that the Canyon Delay and looper only has one loop, however it’s common for lots of drone based music to be played primarily in one key. For instance bagpipes play almost exclusively in the key of D. ITM is primarily in the key of D. And, many worship leaders will do an entire set in one key so that that can smoothly transition between songs using pads without ever stopping the drone. You can add variety to the drone using layering and the Undo/Redo function. You can also add layers indefinitely.

[strong]Control Settings [/strong]

MODE: LOOP

[strong]Playing Tips[/strong]

Record your favorite pad or drone into the 62 second loop. Try to record all 62 seconds so that you won’t hear the sound of the reset too often. Make sure that the drone sound isn’t fluctuationg in volume. If it has a distinct rhythm or pattern, then you’ll need to carefully start and stop the recording on tempo and at a good place where the pattern repeats. Remember that you can layer as many times as you want so you can built up your pads/drones. You can also use the Undo/Redo function to remove and add individual notes to the drone. For instance, you can add and remove a major third in the drone.