Maschine DnB Thread vol. 2

Hey there,

i found this thread in the forum, but its closed with no reason, so i'm starting a new thread for all the drum n bass heads using maschine

I thought it would be nice to get some feedback, tips or how-tos from people who are interested in the same genre.

And to get things started, i would ask for some feedback:
Click!

I'm a total bloody beginner, this is like the second or third dnb-track i made (don't ask about the other ones, lol).

Maybe you guys could say something about the arrangement and maybe a tip on the sound. That would be much appreciated!

Sry for some spelin miztakez, i iz from germany.
And go easy on me with the track, i'm new to the genre

Cheers,
Jahnick

 

i attempt to do some DnB myself. I really liked your track! I thought it sounded good. are you doing everything in maschine or using a daw? also what synths are you using?
Here's something i made. I'd appreciate any feedback. CLICK the track is really quite for some reason so just remember to turn your speakers back down

 

good luck with beatprogramming on maschine

Sampling is the keyword in Drum`nBass

 

Not necessarily - you don't have to slap an Amen on everything*

*although it does sound good on pretty much everything

 

Hey there,
thanks envy, i left you a comment at SC.
As for your question:
I did my patterns and loops in Maschine, mostly using Massive. The arrangement and mixing i did in Logic.


@ bfusednb:
I know, a lot of people do sampling, but somehow i don't feel like it. I like to start from the scratch and do everything on my own. I don't know why... I mean... There is also someone (a person) who does these Loops, everybody uses

 

Here is a tune Ive been working on that is all maschine for the drums and NI instruments for all the other sounds.

http://soundcloud.com/grinchdubs/grinch-maintenance-required

Ive been trying to use maschine for dnb lately but getting the right sound out of the drums is kinda hard. Here is also another tune I did a while ago but drums arent as good I dont think

http://soundcloud.com/grinchproductions/grinch-sweathers

 

Thanks for the tips Jahnick. I've been wondering if layering my snares and kick would give more umph. Also cuban, i really liked you stuff. The ambiance was cool. I know i dont offer super helpful feedback but overall i liked the sound.

 

I got maschine to make DnB.
After a month or so of down tempo songs and finger drumming I finally decided I was ready to hit the DnB.
This is my first track: LINK!
It was made in standalone maschine with massive and some komplete elements.
Be sure to turn your sub up!
Feedback please.
I'll be posting my second track in a day or 2.

 

Definitely.

 

Yup, layering and resampling are techniques used heavily in DnB. Here's a cool video going over it.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhFfff5ERoE"]Tips: Layering Drums on Maschine like an MPC - YouTube[/ame]


When it comes to DnB drums you should be very aware of the frequency range of your drums.

For your Kick you want one sample that peaks around 90-100Hz and then layer it with another that has more high frequency content, between 1 and 5 KHz. Another way to think it of it is to use one sample of an analogue drum machine style kick (a 909 for instance) and blend it with another more "natural" sounding kick.

You snare is a bit more complicated than a kick. You want one sample that comes through at around 200Hz, another with more mid range content at around 800Hz and one or two more with higher frequency content, between 2-5KHz (and even some white noise).

You should use your Eq's and ADSR's liberally too. If you use one sample for 200Hz (lowend) content in your snare then it's an idea to EQ out the lower frequencies on all your other snare samples (and the higher frequencies of your 200Hz snare etc etc...). Similarly if you have one sample with a strong transient (attack) and another with a nice decay, then it's an idea to use your envelopes to shape the samples accordingly (ie fast attack and decay on the sample with a strong transient and longer attack and delay on the sample with a stronger decay).

Once you've layered your sounds, you'll want to "Bus" them to another channel (or in the case of Maschine a Pad, which you can do by assigning a pad as an "input" instrument and then assigning the outputs of all your layers to that input device), where you can "glue" the samples together with a bit of compression and EQ (and saturation?).

Then simply resample the sounds as shown in the video above.

 

...the stock sounds from Maschine are really good for creating DnB breaks - lots of cool acoustic drum kits and "sampled" & electronic drum sounds. The trick for creating an authentic break really is just sequencing, layering & processing.

I'd be happy to contribute to a Maschine DnB thread in the future (...perhaps a track collaboration...). Meanwhile, if you're interested in the genre I'd humbly like to suggest to take a look at this thread during October. (sorry for hijacking...)

http://www.native-instruments.com/forum/showthread.php?t=173385

@Jahnik - your track is a really nice arrangement and a good basis for going deeper and refining the sounds. Best would be to experiment a bit with the drum sounds (i.e. creating breaks & fills in a seperate project, resample them and incorporate them into the arrangement) & also write some variations of the bassline. Then I'd also focus on the sound design of the bass sounds. But the most important part in my opinion is still to have an arrangement, that's musically working (and this is what seperates good DnB acts from bad ones)

 

I have a question,
Is it kosher to slap a limiter on the master to prevent audio distortion or should I be doing something different?

 

I make mostly IDM/Ambient Hiphop type of stuff but I did a few DnB tracks w Maschine a few years back...would love some feedback. Puzzle factory you seem to know your ****...how could I make these better? Besides shorter

http://soundcloud.com/ctyxfer

 

@ all:
Please keep in mind, that everybody is lookin for Feedback, so it would be nice if you could give some feedback, when asking for some. Like this, everyone gets feedback

@ cuban:
Nice shuffle man! I really liked the vocal sample and the hihat-pattern. Gives a nice groove. As envy already said, the ambiences were nice, too. Everytime i do things like this, it gets to pad-ish and looses deepness...

@ aerux
Sounds great man, i really like the fat bassline, how did you do the movement? Did you automate it somehow? The snare sounds too dubsteppy for me, too much compression, but it hits like a bitchslap
What i really liked was the voice-sample and the pitch automation? Could you say something about that too? Did you do it in Maschine or in a DAW?

@ puzzlefactory:
Wow, that was helpful, thank you! I'll sure check this post again, when i'm in front of my maschine!
But i still got some question: In Maschine you can't see or analyze the Hz your sample is moving in - or can you? If so, how?

@ sonidiom:
Thank you very much! So, more variation of the drumlines and the basses... Got it Now i absolutely feel like there is a lack of variation in my main bassline. But i didn't know how to solve it. With the same sound, but different notation? Or replace the bass? I'll try both the next time... I think soundwise experiment with new sounds (especially bass sounds) comes in the actual process of making. Although i have no idea on what to focus on that
I surely check out your library in Octobre Maybe you could write a post in this thread when its finished?

@ nepotist
A lot of stuff! Sounds absolutely nice to me. Here and there a drumsample i didn't like (Black End, Snare, Sunny Days, Bdrum), but thats just my personal flavor Good arrangement, nice edits of samples and a warm sound.

 

Nice thread

The old forum admin Thomas is really cranky these days and he goes around closing threads that have been idle for six months or longer

It's cool, has some really good elements. This is inspiring me to try my hand at some good old - fashioned - drum - and - bass with Maschine.

(You can thank me for those YouTube links later )

 

Due to the big steps forward in music technology in the recent 10-15 years (thanks NI!) electronic music has become more complex and elaborate. And this is also reflected by the DnB subgenre. So the difficulty with DnB - at least with the Neurofunk/Techstep area I think you're going to - is that it's a genre in which the focus lies rather on the "sound" or the "articulation". (Something that can be said about other electronic music genres, of course)

So, although you've laid down a few midi notes in your sequencer, it very often hardly (for now) reflects what you want to hear, what you have in mind. Because that's the "music" part. You come to the "sound design"/"articulation" part, that completes the idea you're having, when you apply different sounds to these notes and automate parameters like cut-off and add articulations like pitch-bends.

These are probably the two work-modes you should have in mind - writing your music, i.e. the bassline, and sculpting the sound. Of course, within a production of a track you often change between these two modes. Or, if you're just playing around, you should ask yourself in which direction you're currently going.

So, when you have a new idea, you should figure out in which mode you are, i.e. do you have an idea for a cool bassline - then you probably should write it down with all the variations and fills and whatever (and it doesn't matter which sound source you're using at this stage, it could be a simple sine-wave). That's what would be the music mode - to get the thing right musically.

And the sound-design mode would be when you've heard a cool sound in a track and you're trying to recreate it (but don't get caught too much on it!) or you've found a cool articulation yourself by tweaking some parameters, you have processed a sound etc. and you're trying to use it in one of your compositions.

These would be some of the guidelines to have in mind when you're trying to write a DnB track. Most of the time it's either a cool bassline and sculpting the sounds around it or a cool sound and composing a bassline around it. And if you're doing both at the same time then you're probably a) very talented b) very experienced c) both or d) really lucky because you've been kissed by the muse...

 

Gnarly, that old No U-Turn shiz is the stuff. All skunked out! Got me inspired too! Let's bring back the tech-step

 

if you can't program a good beat in Maschine it's time to pack in pal.

Happy to pipe in on a DnB thread - I ned to get back in front of my box
---

hell yeah!
---

thanks Keir - not listened to ed rush in like....ooooh a decade or so....
---
jahnick - bass choice or arrangement of it worth reconsidering, the lines are nice tho IMO. perhaps change those drums up a little, adjust the patterns, scher - wing the patterns a little and/or offset some of the hats to give variation - good effort if new in.
---

nice drop , i llike that weird squawk sound a lot and the bass is great but it is doing something with the low-mid end...i would revisit that with a filter that compliments the sound

 

Posted my second DnB track last night, it’s a bit crazier than the first.
http://soundcloud.com/aerux/blender
Feedback appreciated. Im still very new to maschine.

Yeah I’m having trouble EQing my songs, they always seem to be too bassy, not bassy enough, too trebly or distorted somehow. I spend ages trying to mess with compressor/limiter/maximizer/saturator and I get to a point where it still sounds **** but because I’ve sampled my synths with EQ/FX to lower my CPU load it’s hard to go back. And also I’ve usually changed so much I don’t know which bit will fix it. I think I need to get a spectrum analyser.

Massive performer + Maschine automation with filters and stuff.

Yes it was done using mashcine automation. All my stuff is made in standalone maschine, no DAW used.

 

Anyone on this forums drumming out there entire songs at all send me a pm. That's all I do these days is jungle and DNA drumming. All hits separately. Not like one kick linked with a hi hat and a snare. Maybe 2 on the same button max. Anyways. Post up some vids if ya got some. I will be posting in the future. cheers