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machinedrum sounds deconstructed
StoreTags: machinedrum, techno, sounds
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Hey, I posted this over at elektron-users.com but I figured I might as well post it here. It's about patterns I did on my machinedrum yesterday while astroid was working on stickam, and somehow knowing I got a "bit" further to where I want to go. So I will explain the synths I used (maybe only of interest to elektron owners), but also comments on what I was thinking when I made the sound.
I'm discovering stuff all the time, but I feel I somehow "got"
something yesterday. I've been doing all this techno, and I was
somehow missing a bit of the sonic complexity of some tracks I liked
it. I tried to do stuff like noisy pads, ambiences on the MD, and
definitely discovered some nice stuff. Also the rest of my sounds have
been getting more interesting, so in order to analyze that and dig a
bit deeper I recorded myself going through the patterns I made last
night and showing the different element composing them. It's alll the
same samples (one vocal sample, a bass, a chord sound) and the MD
machines. I'll try to write down which machine is what in the
different beats.
link
first: TRX-BD - four on the floor, always there
second: E12-SH - simple hihat pattern
third: TRX-XT with LFO on pitch - simple pattern, but "grabbing" sound due to LFO
four: ROM machine with bass sample, highpassed a bit to make room for sub
five: GND-SN for sub, simple melody, 8th notes
six: E12-SD, snare only on the 2, not the 4 (makes it a bit more interesting often to restrain common patterns (like offbeat hihat, snare on 2 and 4))
seven: E12-SH with retrig roll
eight: TRX-OH for slight noise floor (hihats are nicer for noise than GND-NS for me)
nine: ROM machine: chord pattern, housy, makes for housy pattern
ten: offbeat hihat with TRX-SD highpass filtered
eleven: weird vocal stuff, vocal samples are the best. I haven't chagned my 2 vocal samples since june
the foundation has to be the loudest, aka bassdrum (fouron the floor,
ALWAYS), bass line, sub, snare on 2 and 4 (or only 2 for example, like
here), offbeat hihat. The rest works better when it is very subtle. A
noise floor is super great, or for example a pad floor.
link
first: TRX-BD, as always
second: ROM bass, lowpass filtered very much to make a sub sound - very simple pattern, with delay on high muted note
third: GND-SN - simple lfo blub again to make kind of bleep floor
four: syncopated TRX-XT tom pattern, very simple as well
five: highpassed GND-IM sound to make crip snare impulse like sound (copied from richie hawtin)
six: P-I SD snare, weird pattern, works best with hihat coming later
seven: noise floor with ROM sample and BRR
eight: offbeat hihat TRX-CH
nine: hihat pattern with ROM sample cause reverse sound better than with the inbuilt synthesis hats
ten: vocal shout with LFO on STRT
eleven: vocal HHHa for hihat like thing
twelve: subtle chords for padlike effect
link
first: TRX-BD, ALWAYS!
second: ROM sample, bassline, this time more "funk" like with muted notes. I play bass on the side, I inspire myself from the kind of lines I'd play on the bass
third: offbeat E12-SH, slight variations that work well with bassline
fourth: simple 2 and 4 E12-SD
five: ROM reverse hat going "into" the snare. That's a good effect, look for sounds swelling up and make them "go" into another sound, like snare or kickdrum or bass. Kind of merges the two sounds into one for the listener.
six: EFM-HH with looooong DEC, makes for nice rythmic patterns (kind of like LFO). Gives the whole pattern a weird groove, which is wicked if the pattern has to be hypnotic and run for a long while
seven: TRX-B2 for acidy reverse sound, same concept as reverse hat
eight: simple melodic pad thing, works better with chord at the same time
nine: E12-RS rythmic pattern going with melody
ten: single offbeat hat, same concept as putting the snare only on the 2 for example, creates expectation in the listener
eleven: soft delayed chord pad, makes for background ambience and makes an interesting interval with the melody note
twelve: low pitched vocal for attention grabbing
link
first: TRX-BD!!
second: E12-CP for basic clap
third: E12-SH for offbeat hihat with a twist
fourth: TRX-XT for weird tom pattern
five: ROM bass highpass filtered, kind of polyrythmic pattern (but fake)
six: GND-SN very simple sub line, 2 notes, allows for simple "turning the beat around"
seven: E12-SD sync rimshot
eight: weird pattern locked pad and chord, make ambience and chord dub at the same time
nine: low pitched voice for weirdness
ten: louder offbeat hihat (makes for nice contrast when bringin in late while playing live). Also reverb splash
eleven: chord with RTRG, completes the other dub chord and makes call response
link
first: TRX-BD with slight syncopation (oh wowo i brokez the pattern)
second: overly busy bassline with AM, retrigs, reverse. It's based on a simple 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 2 repartition of the bar
third: very faint tom delay sound, can be brought in louder when playing live to make nice transitions
fourth: TRX-XT syncopation low tom sound
five: highpassed GND-IM for hawtin snare
six: syncopated snare, not completely satifised with sound, clap would be better i think
seven: ROM chord for dub
eight: E12-CH complicated retrigger pattern, works best with offbeat hihat at the same time
nine: offbeat hihat with ROM sample
ten: E12-OH going into sounds
eleven: retrigger complex snare pattern, I think this is too much, as the bassline is already overly busy
twelve: very faint ROM 808 cymbal. cymbals have to be very faint, or far and few between
link
first: TRX-BD !!!!
second: E12-CP on the 2
third: E12-SH !!
fourth: simple tom on 2 and 4
five: ROM-21 highpass filtered
six: sub, simple pattern
seven: rtrgrd chord sample, to make pad
eight: low pitched voice for weirdness
nine: ROM chord for dub, comes in syncopated
ten: very faint snare hit in reverb, very very faint
so I think the basic ingredients are: strong techno beat, bass and kick are loudest. All other elements are pretty subtle, and weird sounds work really well. Try to keep rythmic complexity low, but so that the elements present are compelling in their own way (mostly due to "subtle" sound).
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Comments
02/19/08
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atum
i like how you explain stuff. your blog is good for people interested in making their own drum hits.
02/19/08
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DerryGodo
Nice post! It's fun to hear/see what sounds people are getting out of their MDs. I picked up a used SPS-1 in june, and am still in love with it.
Have you found the UW features to be very useful? No UW for me means I end up triggering chords/pads on the computer using the Midi machines, which has worked out well.
02/20/08
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astroid
it was fun listening in passively on these discoveries
02/20/08
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cbit
good stuff. a kind of minimal techno masterclass
02/20/08
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dustmite
nice work pointing out the various elements you used here. cbit is right, "a kinda minimal techno masterclass". thanks for sharing!
02/20/08
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Bantam
Thanks for sharing, although now I have gear envy. Damn you!
02/20/08
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license
this is freaking awesome. I LOVE reading stuff like this.
I'm totally getting the gear envy too. next time I look at the machinedrum or monomachine I'm gonna start salivating.
this is a lot of work but I wonder if you made YouTube videos out of these sounds & explanations - either showing the machine or just putting a solid color frame with text on top - they would get some attention.
02/20/08
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hageir
nice, I'll do mine now
hahahaha
I'll see if I can record some of my minimal stuff for examination
02/20/08
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sweettrip
yeah, inspiring
the battle for the "minimal techno masterclass" is on, LOL
02/21/08
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ricemutt
yeah, I kind of want a drum machine, but damn MD is expeeeensive...
02/21/08
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pierlu001
lol i thought this blog was about your md being broken or circuit bent so that is outputted deconstructed sounds.
nice tutorial
Recent blogs: first blog!
02/21/08
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atum
at what point do you need gear to do any of this? what are you people talking about?
02/21/08
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elronhubbard
gear envy is for poor people.
teehee.
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