How To Tune 808s

I actually have two questions here:

1) Attached is a link to a production that Lil Jon did back in 2003. He used to do this thing where he would have very hard hitting tuned 808s, but there would also be tuned 808s like you hear in the intro. In the intro to the beat, the 808s are still tuned but I'm not sure how he's getting that softer, less punchy sound. Is this simply done by increasing the length of the attack?

2) On the topic of tuned 808s, is this something that can be done within Maschine? If so, I'd appreciate any links to articles that discuss how to go about doing that.

 

It's not two 808's in this case, after the intro there are kicks on top of some of them.
If you don't want to do the kick trick you can increase the attack a bit or just start the 808 sample playback later, Maschine's sampler has a sample 'Start' knob or you can edit out the attack/transient in the Sample Edit menu by moving the start point to the right... Lot's of ways to go about it.

As far as tunning use any tuner you'd like... I use Guitar Rig's built-in tuner or Melda's Tuner (free), note that "real" 808's have a pitch slope which means it's never really 100% tuned because it starts in one note and ends in another, more modern 808's usually have a fixed constant pitch, depends.

It can all be done in Maschine but you might need an external plug for the tunning part since MAS has no built-in utility tuner.

 

So you're saying that it's basically one kick the entire song, but that when the beat comes in he's adding a dry 808 on top of it, right?

 

What is the difference between a utility tuner and the tuner option in the sampler and in the zone section?

 

The other way around, the 808 is always there and in the drop a kick comes in with the rest of the drums... You can hear both more clearly in the breakdown @3:40; also if you look at the beat's waveform you can see what's happening. Notice how the Kick+808 waveform looks like a combination of the solo Kick + solo 808:

The kick might also be an 808 but a lot shorter; remember 808's kicks were never originally designed to act as a bass line. This might make my previous statement of "not being 2 808's" technically wrong but you get the ideia.

They both sound pretty 'dry' to me, in that era people were not using a ton of saturation/distortion as they do nowadays (Probably a consequence of people listening to music on devices that cant really reproduce sub-bass that much, phones, laptops, etc...)

The tune knob from the Zone will do the same as the one in the main Sampler Menu under Pitch/Env, it allows you to change the tuning of the sample but does not tell you anything about what the pitch of the sample actually is, while a utility Tuner does, visually and in cents not just semitones for precision... it's what guitar players use to make sure the strings are in tune before playing.

Basically, you adjust the tuning knob in Maschine while looking at a utility Tuner to set it at the pitch you want, typically one would set it in C, so you can play the sample and the notes in the Piano Roll match the sample's tunning.

 

Thank you. I understand now.

 

I would 808 kits tuned to C. Then all you have to do in Maschine is change the root note. Makes it easier.