Having a bit of a drum and bass fascination phase and I’d love to try and make some… never really done it before. Are there any tutorials etc out there people would advise watching for inspiration? I’ve got loads of breaks but having a starting point showing some ideas for doing those cool cut ups etc would be really helpful.
Hi! Check Ned Rush’s channel out on youtube. Though it’s not strictly “traditional D&B”(more junglistic/drill n bass/breakcore kind of vibe) you’ll get some valuable infos there and the guy is funny as hell. Maybe you should precise what kind of D&B you’d like to make, there are many subgenres in this musical family.
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Cheers! Honestly I don’t know that much about drum and bass. I do like the “liquid” type stuff but I also enjoy the more intense darker stuff. Mainly interested in how to do cool things with breaks in terms of using the OT for now!
Check this vid out then. I’ve been spinning D&B records since the late 90’s, not boasting but I can say I know this music quite well. So if you want some infos about labels, artists etc… I’d gladly help
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Its not too hard really, I would say just slice up a break you like and go from there. Start by using conditionals on different triggers to give your breaks some variation. I really like the OT for drum breaks as its so easy to manipulate them. Layer with kicks and snare to fatten up!
If you have any specific questions, would be glad to help out if I can…I’ll probably learn something too
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I’m relatively new to the Octatrack, but I’ve been producing dnb for well over a decade. IMO the OT is very capable, but the process kind of depends on what kind of dnb you want to make. If you’re into old-school jungle, or any mid-90s style stuff, you really jsut need the right samples; a couple of breaks, some good 808 sub bass sounds, one or two good reese bass samples (detuned saw waves) etc. However, if you want to make something more modern, you’re going to have to invest some serious time into sound design. I’ve been using Bank 16 as a sketchpad for sound design - sample, process, resample, rinse, repeat. This will allow you to create heavily modulated sounds that you can slice up, as well as enabling you to layer things, and use extremely long processing chains without eating up all 8 tracks on your pattern.
The resampling concept will probably be quite helpful for writing cool edits with your breaks. You could load up a break in Bank 16, slice it up, really mess with filtering and modulation and unusual patterns, then record it back in, and use that as a fill on your main break track, for example.
If you do find any good dnb tutorials for the OT, I’d be interested to see them! I’ve not seen much along those lines as of yet. Maybe when I get a bit more familiar with the OT I’ll make one.
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This is why I bought an Octotrack, I’m only just starting out with my Octotrack adventure. There certainly feels like a lot of scope, I’m most interested/confused about how to transition from one beat to another and also whether this can easily by done “on the fly”. Having just started I obviously have a long way to go. I’ve been using a 101 Music Bitbox in my modular set up previously but I figured the Octotrack would be far more suitable for the job.
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