Techno Music question

The Lounge General Discussion
1

Hi guys,

Was just curious how to build simple variations in your regular 4/4 beat.

I am a big fan of Gesaffelstein, and although he is using 4/4 beat somehow his stuff doesn’t sound boring ever!

…and

point 2 > Is it possible to get that heavy bass sound using single cycle waveforms only instead of using a synth ?

GESAFFELSTEIN - PURSUIT

GESAFFELSTEIN - HATE OR GLORY

Thanks all !

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2

Hi,

with Techno, the stuff always appears to be extremely repetitive, while in reality, producers do a lot to create very small (almost subconscious) variations that allow longer listening. A good resource for how this is done is the Dance Music Manual: Tools, Toys, and Techniques by Rick Snowman.

Some examples for House and Techno which can can easily replicate with an Octatrack or Rytm:

  • Detune or filter hihats very slightly (less than 12 cents) on some hits, e.g., on beat 7 and 15 by plocks.
  • Use free running LFO with non-beat sync (e.g., 17) to filter the bass bars.
  • Move some hits (Snare) forward some very small amount (e.g. +1/96th on every second snare hit)
  • Use volume/velocity to vary Hats and Snare loudness
  • use polyrythms, e.g., let the closed hats run 3 bars, but the open ones 2 bars, with velocity/filter variations on at least one of these tracks
  • add some random ghost notes (really quiet) with conditional trigs (works well on snares, but is more a house thing than in techno)
  • plock decay length on hats and bass lines
  • dial in some swing (less than 60%). No really, even in techno!
  • use analog equipment
  • p-lock delay feedback on some steps differently on the FX track and set the FX track length to a prime number
  • plock reverb mix in FX track, dito with a unusual length like 13/16
  • when you really want long patterns without repetitions, prime numbers are your friends. Try setting a track’s length to e.g., 23 and it will repeat only every 23 bars in relation to a straight 4/4 bar.

Basically, vary everything except the kick, and you can get away with many, many repetitions.

Best.

Karsten

10 Likes
3

Great tips.I’ll make note of those.

Man I cannot stand Gesaffelstein’s mixing on Aleph. Is like a fistful of glass shards to the ears. (But for whatever reason these YouTubes don’t sound bad :zonked:) Good energy and arrangements, though, for sure.

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Thank you so much Karsten! Really helpful and for taking the time out to reply in such detail.

Peace and love.

Kirama

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fistfull of glass shards. perfect :slight_smile:

6

Gesaffelstein is electro not techno. Not that it really matters :wink:

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sorry IMHO this is really boring (GESAFFELSTEIN) , not techno , more like mainstream electronic techno is primitive music is boring for people who cant understand it same people who looks for drops and "impressive "parts , techno is about flow and final goal is to make you fall in trance like ancient music .

if you have time check this out I am digging this right now it has techno , electronic and ambient , but let just divide music in bad or good , and for me this GESAFFELSTEIN is really empty and shallow …

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Yes! Well written Rawaddict. I will listen to that Wata Igarishi track now.

P.s. Thanks for nice trix n tips Karsten.

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9

great mix! Any other recommendations? I’m working on a live techno set using two copies of nanoloop and could use some more inspiration :smiley:

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record a bunch of live tweaking and mutes, chop into loops, all the variation you need

11

can you explain more about nanoloop , ? pselodux , glad you like , I really like that mix too, recommendations on this kind of music could be hmm … check out all the same Electronic Explorations but all mixes are different so don’t expect exactly the same music of the podcast above , but of course is related , https://soundcloud.com/rob_booth , now if you really liked that Wata Igarashi mix you can check out https://soundcloud.com/midgar_records and https://soundcloud.com/semantica-records and then you could find something similar to this set , yes really inspiring music also check out this https://soundcloud.com/smokemachinetaipei , hope you find something !!

12

Hello Rawaddict,

I understand where you are coming from with mainstream/ primitive/ boring and Gesaffelstein being empty and shallow :slight_smile:

Its all good man, I dig the Wata Igarashi mix.

But I am not a techno purist and each artist has their own production and style, rather vague judgmental notions of being empty and shallow are highly subjective.

13

I’m mostly using the GBA version, which is 4 channels—two monophonic pulse/FM channels, one chord/unison channel (also pulse/FM) and a noise channel. The sequencer is very similar to Elektron gear, even though it’s been around in some form since the mid-90s… it can do parameter lock style sequencing, independent length per track, independent tempo division per track, conditional trigs (limited to once every bar, two bars, four bars, or the inverse), audio-rate LFOs (again, a little limited but good for abrasive bass sounds), etc etc. Very good for techno. The GBA version can go very far away from the typical chiptune sound, which is what I’ve been exploiting lately:
https://soundcloud.com/0f-digital/tek
There’s also an analog version in the works, which is a cartridge for the original DMG game boy, and uses actual analog circuitry on the cart; I’m very excited about getting it!

tldr: GBA version is almost like having a mini analog 4 in your pocket, but sounds very close to the monomachine.

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14

From the first track actually I would say Gesaffelstein is more influenced by the Industrial genre than Techno. In fact this track in particular:

A lot of Industrial music like Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, early Ministry, etc. are worth checking out even if you just want to do Techno as it may open up your musical palette a bit. If anything you get to hear some interesting beats and synth lines that may inspire.

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Yeah I am a huge fan of Skinny Puppy. I live in Vancouver :slight_smile:

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Yeah I’m inspired by a lot of industrial music, especially the 80s stuff.

The world needs more industrial-influenced techno!

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sorry mate believe me i was no trying to depict your post or anything like that , just expressing myself yes a bit too harsh i think , but IHMO i listened both videos and i cant find this glue that stick to your mind you know of course is subjective but I saw on another post about GESAFFELSTEIN like all the hipster listened to that bla bla bla … and was like ah is this let me check to see whats the trend , never listened to that before , and then I found that is like slower prodigy with a electro house beat and i though talking about boring lol , is just that is like where is the soul and the 5th dimensional feeling maybe is just me that am crazy for electronic music ,dont get me wrong , I am really opened to listen to new things not only “techno” which is a global term where there are a lot of shity music for example I dont want to sound like drum code or Tale of us etc for me is commercial music !!! , and Kirama find something pure these days is kind of impossible everything is recycled from other thing I mean in all music made not just electronic , yes I am really deeply into underground ( trippy , remote viewing , esoteric, ethereal , psychedelic , spacy with a pinch of industrial and a spark of acid) music but not just techno ,I always listen to what people upload here for example , what I am trying to say is there are a lot music everywhere which is not trending and is not boring and is in plain 4by4 , cheers !

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Yeh all good man, its interesting to know different opinions :slight_smile:
and thanks for that link. Good stuff !

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