Very kind of you to say 
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Just catching up and bummed to see the impact of the troll but glad to see the recent talk of a comeback. @BLKrbbt thanks for running the last three battles as it motivated me to finish/release my own music for the first time in years (really since my last band before moving to Seattle over 10 years ago) and each theme also took me down memory lane. The most important thing is your mental health, so take it easy.
My entry this go around was scene #6 and was based off of Event Horizon. When I heard thriller, I immediately thought of seeing the midnight showing of that movie on a stormy night with co-workers after a late closing shift. We knew very little about the movie going into it, and every one of us came out of the theater that night scared absolutely %@&^less.
All of the track was done on a Digitakt with V1.50 other than a bit of final (probably over) squashing. Samples were direct clips from the movie through Dante Via, a bass preset from Digitakt factory content , and a couple drum breaks. I didnāt realize it until the re-watched the film, but the Prodigyās Diesel Power plays in the credits and Orbital did part of the scoring with Michale Kamen. As a result the two break choices are The Fuz and Da Boog (used in Diesel Power) and Hot Pants (used in Orbitalās Halycon).
I used pretty much every machine and feature in the 1.50 update and here were some thoughts:
- Len based sampling makes it super easy to trim sections cleanly - Use the 1 shot; place the sample on beat one with the desired length; trim the start if needed; adjust tempo til the clip loops cleanly; resample to the length
- Repitch - load the cleanly cut sample; set your new desired tempo; resample for a new pitched/clean break; Slice away with the new sample.
- Werp - I must be missing something because I just donāt get along with this machine. It did the mangled vocals between sections, and sounds very harsh/tremolo-ey. This machine also felt like there are some bugs lurking in it because at times it seemed like the sound characteristic changed in ways I couldnāt explain.
This update also made me wish again that there were better monitor controls in the sampler. In the end of the track, when it descends into chaos, I really wanted to crush the drums to multiple degrees. I tried to length based resample the breaks through a RML Electron Fuzz and monitoring was a non-option because of the feedback. The process was a lot of trial and error until I was happy, and it was way more work than it should have been.
Also, because these competitions are all about learning and constructive feedback hereās a link to the dt backup in case anyone wants to explore the project for DT V1.50 learnings.
Iām under no delusions that Iām going to make money off of a random DNB track using uncleared samples so have fun. If you end up remixing the track or making something new with the sample set let me know.
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This was a moment of epiphany for me when I was learning sampling in the beginning. Adjusting tempo to get things to match.
But since then, I got better at chopping, and havenāt needed to adjust bpm much. Now I go in with a plan and set my tempo before hand.
(Edit: Iām not saying YOUR bad at chopping, I saying I was relying on changing the whole composition to accommodate my lack of good chopping techniques. I think your tracks sound great. Keep doing what your doing!)
Iām glad to see the same workflow Logic.
I think also, that the battles are important to maintain a thriving forum. So in the future, I want to maintain the integrity of the battle in its current format. And Iām glad I cancelled the present battles because the conversation detoured away from production and got corrupted by negativity.
Conversely, I respect peopleās time and Rm effort that goes into creating tracks for the battle, so next time I am going to handle off topic discussion better. The focus on battle threads needs to stay on production and voting.
A couple off topic posts is fine, but once in carries into the next day, then it needs to be managed.
Despite the cancellation, a lot of good came from this ordeal. It set a standard to operate the format, and allowed everyone to be heard, for good and bad.
Now when these issue come up, we have an archive of discussion to shoo off the naysayers to, and we can stay in our little corner of the forum with our drum and bass.
Or whatever people submit. It could be future bass. They might not get the votes, but Iād put it in the playlist. More the merrier.
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I didnāt take it that way. I should clarify that the technique I mentioned is how I tighten the chop at the sampleās base tempo (i.e. not yet stretched or re-pitched). From that point, I butcher as needed for my desired track tempo.
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Zero-crossing may explain. Audio chunks are not equal.
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I recently saw a video by Marlow Digs, who was just mentioned, that he disregards sample tempo completely.
Thatās interesting, but the caveat is that he only uses small samples.
Iām a fan of loops. I use them like big samples, that I chop and switch up, so keeping the base tempo like you say is also important.
Thatās whatās cool about sampling. Like any art, say drawing for example, itās all about the approach. Some use rulers, and some go free hand.
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@dhunterrr @braken @sasquatchfuzz @BLKrbbt @sezare56
You guys I ran out of hearts so here you go if they disappear
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First off, awesome job!
Secondly, my little bass secret regarding the OP-Z is using the stock sine wave which the OP-Z generates whenever you great a new sample track on a melodic track
You get the sine wave by having an empty plug slot, press track + the empty plug slot and hold it in. Voila, you now have a great bass patch.
See audio example here.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ-3K8whAr0/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=
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I donāt think it was that. I was globally adjusting the seg or bar parameters back and forth to see what I liked on those speech tracks and it seemed like somehow the adjustments were locked with the track sounding different for the same settings. Iām also fairly certain I didnāt accidentally record automation or locks because this happened multiple times through the writing process.
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Incredible track!
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Really appreciate all the Artists sharing their approach here. Iām very much a learner when it comes to composing, recording and releasing so getting little insights into your ātoolsā and workflows is great 
My entry was Scene #10
I tend to go all in with the theme and wanted something edgy and disconcerting so I built the whole track, with the exception of the drums, out of samples from the trailer for the 1955 Ealing Studios classic, The Ladykillers with Alec Guinness.
This was all done in Logic Proā¦some of the voice samples are pretty vanilla but the melodic sections took some chopping, reglueing, time stretching and occasionally reversing. A few train whistle samples and string samples helped keep up the edginess.
Ironically, making it sound like nails on a blackboard also made it a bit wearing to work on for more than short periods of time!
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Truly the artist must suffer for their art!
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Cacophony is soooo tasty in moderate amounts on a track before you unleash clarity/consonance but hoo doggies it can get miserable and fatiguing when looping on the segment to work out transitions.
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Madness. It sounds incredible as-is! Seriously good work.
Unrelated:
Idk how to set it up and where things landed in earlier discussions, but is it possible each battleās submissions could become a free release? Theyāre always so good. Even like a zip folder on a Google drive would be incredible.
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While I do have a folder with everyoneās tracks, I think in light of what went down, Iāll leave that in the hands of the producer.
Just to protect myself.
If after the reveal, the producer wants to add a download link with the post vote run down, that would be a wonderful idea.
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Despite the fallout, this was a fun battle. Thank you again @BLKrbbt for running it!
My entry was Scene #8, sampling the title theme of It Follows.
Background:
I built this song on my M8 using:
āthe Disasterpeace sample
āa (re-chopped) drum loop from nuphoryās Digital Dreams 2 set
āa kick sample @Sleepyhead was kind enough to share in a previous hiphop battle
āsnare, hats, and crash from Orange Treeās JazzFunk Kit
āFake 303 from M8ās in-engine synth (Saw Square + resonant lowpass)
After BLKrbbt mentioned Carpenter as the original inspiration, I tried and failed to build a track around Christine. I remembered It Follows at the last minute and found it much easier to work with.
Mix and master are bad, with the amen and bassline frequently drowned out and the open hat getting really harsh. Itās also too repetitive, even under 2 minutes, and the outro sample is out of sync with the rest of the track. I do overall like my bassline, melodies, and the layered kick-snare pattern. The crunchy SRR on the metal perc sometimes works, and I want to play with it more
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I have mine set to free download on soundcloud if you wanted to snatch them
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Initially named Warp. Changed to Werp on purpose to avoid Ableton Warp comparisons.
Rotate the p = Werd
Sorry for off topic, cancel me too if you wish.
Well, cancel battles and wars doesnāt seem a bad idea anyway.
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no one was canceled. On the contrary, the discussion was given its own thread.
And consequences were meted out for harassing behavior.
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I gotta tell you, I love Alec Guinness.
And i would have loved to do the thumbnail revealā¦ its perfect!
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