We gotta ruskie up some fundage for this homie stat! Cough!
3 Likes
Thanks guys for the votes!
It’s an honor.
Congrats @Yabba and @wumpushunter.
Thanks @Doug for hosting!
Each time a pleasure to participate.
Sounds cliche but I didn’t expect this beat so well received. But it was great fun when I created it for sure
8 Likes
Congrats @Unifono, @Yabba and @wumpushunter, well deserved win and podium finishes!
Shout out to @doug for hosting and also for making the beat I gave 3 points!
I really liked doing this battle as it forced me to make something unlike the things I usually make. Also: the tracks you guys made for this battle were very different, and I enjoyed listening to everything.
My track is nr 10. Thanks for the votes and feedback! As usual, its done entirely on the AR mk2, both the intro beat and the main track. The main beat took me some time to complete, and after that I felt like an intro was missing, so I did the intro beat in like 10 minutes, using an lfo mod on the sample which I manually modulated using perf mode. Way more spontanious and weird than my usual stuff, so I really liked doing this one!
Peace!
7 Likes
Congrats to the winners. I got one vote for second place and one honorable mention, so I’m gonna claim a “W” on this one (#18)!
9 Likes
Surprised and delighted to have made someone’s favorite and another couple’s HM this go round.
Breakdown for Beat 4:
Songs Sampled:
–“Politicians in my Eyes” by Death: 4-bar guitar/drum loop, 4-bar snare run
–“N.I.B.” by Black Sabbath: Bass Riff, Tambourine
–“Dramatic Theme (from More)” by Pink Floyd: Guitar Licks
–“Guitar Solo” by Fehiman Uğurdemir
–“Radar Love” by Golden Earring: Snare hit
Entrant Samples:
–Kick 1, Ride, Impulse Closed Hi-Hat
Assembled on my M8.
This went through a couple false starts (a Crimson/Queensryche combo, a failed speed metal tribute) and only got finished at the last minute. I don’t know if Death was influenced by Sabbath, but they fit together so nicely. I combined a reversed ride and resonant high-passed snare to get that balloon popping sound.
My comped guitar solo is a mess, but I do like the first couple bars. More than anything, though, I think the biggest problems are that the beat leans too heavily into rock and its mix is uneven.
EDIT: Realized going back over my track for this write-up that I screwed up the doubled snares in the final chorus. Instead of the pattern I meant for them to have, they just repeat the bridge roll and then cut out in the last 4 bars. Doh!
Personal lessons:
- Start earlier
- Start learning real EQ work
- Start exploring the detailed editing that I admired in other beats and that trackers are supposed to be good at
6 Likes
Because of all the inspirational side samples that were provided, this time for beat #2 i changed up my regular m.o. Where i would normally program a beat and use loops/chops from a song for bass and the melodic parts, this time i chopped up the break beat, and used single note / smaller samples for the bass and instrument parts. I used op-1 for the sampled instruments, and the sp404 to sample and arrange the phrases. (Envelope and loop points are better on op1) The only sample lifted from a song was the pink floyd guitar.
Thanks for all the constructive feedback. I learn a lot everytime, and have so much fun participating.
Already looking forward to the next one!
8 Likes
For mine I used the start of @eerieacid
sample for the piano.
I used guitar stabs and chords from one or two tracks that my bad, slip my mind, I was going through the thread and randomly snatching bits.
And I used a long chop from the Turkish guitar solo.
Also used led zeppelin vocals from whole lot of love.
And the bass run that was posted as a snippet.
For the drums I used the kick/clap Doug posted layered with the snare from the Pussyfooter drumbreak snippet I posted.
Hi-Hat was from one of Rhoslugs snippets.
And I used the bicycle sound posted as a snippet, my bad again for not remembering by who.
All made with Digitakt except for the guitar solo which I put over the finished mixdown beat in Ableton as an afterthought.
5 Likes
I was wondering, for the digitakt users did the new update influence how your track came out?
3 Likes
As you should. Your beat was glory incarnate. Well Met.
And yes, I will continue to heap praise upon you whether you like it or not. Lol.
2 Likes
Me personally, As it was a new function I reduced the sample rate on everything 
That’s pretty much all I did, I haven’t even used any of the new machines yet as I haven’t found a use for them.
4 Likes
Oh snap, Yabba’s post reminded me. I forgot to add I sampled BAT CHAIN PULLER, shared by @flippantminister. I also took the drum loop from “Sample 3 – Drum Break from the intro to “Younger” by the Mountain Goats (played by Jon Wurster” submitted by @sleepside.) Arranged in Audacity like it was 1998 just because even though I got hella gear (blessed).
3 Likes
I used the Small Faces as main sample, the dutch rock golden earrings for the sustained guitars and the famous whole lotta love guitar solo.
I pitched them around by ear till they somehow fit together. I chopped and rearranged them with serato sample.
I used ableton for mix and arrangement. I had to eq them quite a bit to not clash too much. I made two of the samples mono, since the small faces sample already covered so much stereo field.
I layered two drumbreaks posted in the original thread, and used a one shot bass sample in ableton simpler in order to play the bassline with my midi keyboard.
6 Likes
Heres the playlist updated with the names of the producers.
Sorry my name is in the track name, its unavoidable when dealing with Soundcloud.
Great job everyone! I love this playlist!
9 Likes
Man, I thought I caught every Younger sample. Nice job on processing. Sounds like your own
1 Like
Oh crap I’ve been traveling for the past few weeks and missed the voting. I don’t think it would have changed the top three though so it’s all good. Thanks for the votes! Surprised my beat made the top three.
I was traveling without any gear other than a laptop so I made this beat with Ableton. Since many of these samples have already been used in well-known tracks, I wanted to stay away from anything like the previous famous uses of that Hendrix (Digital Underground/Shock G) and Sadness Theme (Dangermouse, among others) or anything else that was overly recognizable. Re the Russell Simmons sample – I hear the criticism of that for sure; if I’d known about that I wouldn’t have used it.
8 Likes
Congrats to @Unifono, @Yabba, and @wumpushunter, on making the Top 3 
tracks, and really @everyone! You all made such fantastic music. Listening through the list again (thanks @BLKrbbt), I’m finding more songs that I like than before. I think after the initial “DAMN” shock value of the first few listens, and taking a break helped bring out a lot of wonderful elements you all used in your tracks that for some reason were blurry at the time. 
My beat was number 9, and big thanks to @1-2, @Yabba, and @Unifono for providing the samples in my track. That was like my 3rd-4th stab and it came out a bit late/rushed. Also, kept experiencing some weird sample phenomena on OT that was making me lose focus, where the beat is much faster when played back on monitors/speakers, but through headphones it sounds “correct.” It’s happened before, and I can’t figure out what the cause is. Have any of you ever experienced this before?
I seem to have honestly forgotten a lot of important historical events in the hip hop world 
I had 0 recollection of the severity of Simmons’ actions (thought it was money related/ tax evasion), and I regret uploading the sample. However, to those that did use that sample, you did an outstanding job with it for what it’s worth! 
Not trying to get anyone or myself canceled over someone else’s actions/words, including my own.
Lastly, thank you @doug for setting up this fun challenge, and also for bringing attention to a good cause. I wish the best to @bloodmoneyperez’s family, and sending more power to your family/the medical staff in your child’s speedy recovery. 
9 Likes
To be completely honest, it’s probably the reason that I didn’t use my Digitakt. Something about having a slice mode that’s not a real slice mode has been bothering me more than it should. I tried using the slice mode on that Scorpio break but the slices were off and I got annoyed. So I decided to switch things up and give the MPC Beats software another shot. And that’s what I used to make my beat.
The main sample for my beat comes from a few pieces at the very end of Sadness Theme. I chopped and pitched that a bit and did my usual filter stuff. The drums are from that aforementioned Scorpio break.
I chopped those up and also layered the kicks from my Bob McGrath sample in with the drum program. I really liked that part of the MPC software. I also used that Skull Snaps break for those cymbals. And there’s a little vocal sample from that Van Halen record that you can hear at the beginning of the beat and it pops up throughout. I liked how that sounded.
I also used a few bits from the Turkish guitar solo. And I just chopped and retriggered those.
I wound up having a pretty good time learning the software. It turns out it’s super light on the CPU so it runs without any issues on my old tablet computer, which is very nice. I’m going to incorporate it into more of my stuff.
It also made me appreciate my Digitakt more. The sequencer on the MPC is better at some things. For example, there’s no piano roll on the Digitakt. You can also record track mutes. But not being able to do little things like parameter lock a change to the amp envelope for a specific step or have different track lengths is annoying coming from the Digitakt.
It’s also a lot of set up on the front end. I think that it’s great that I can make drum programs and have them ready to go when I start working. But with the main chops, I had to set up each slice, then copy the slices I wanted to pitch and reverse, and then make my pattern. With the Digitakt, that would have all been the same step since I’d be using parameter locks.
8 Likes
Congrats @Unifono @Yabba & @wumpushunter
Excellent beats & well deserved wins amongst some strong competitors.
I really enjoyed the change of pace in this battle and would have liked to be able to spend a little more time on it. Always interesting to hear everyone’s takes on the sample material and the different styles in play. Agreed that it was tricky to make a guess of who did what, felt like a fun mix up. Thanks @Doug for hosting and keeping us on our toes
4 Likes
slightly ot mpc tips for doug
You may already know some of this but there can be many ways to achieve the same thing in the mpc, many features so find what works best and forget the rest to streamline workflow
*I’ve only used the hardware, not the software so this might not apply the same but I assume should be similar
You can have different track legnths, just not down to single step resolution, and have to extend the pattern to not reset at the 1 so quickly. Double or even quadruple bpm for finer resolution
Agreed on the p lock/ step workflow differences. Wish mpc had them but you can do similar things in realtime
I love that you can record in the mutes, you can do the same with envs, filters, fx, almost any parameter except sample start (velocity mod for work around) or reverse I think.
For setup chop sample first and then convert to pgm using slices if you want to freely change later or w/ pad parameters if you want overlaping slices or duplicated pgms w/ different slices from the same sample. Then no assigning is needed, just use 16 lev tune for playing in pitches if you don’t want to permanently pitch a sample in edit
Reverse would still have to be copied, but with 128 pads you could just copy a whole bank and reversed them all at once or even duplicate the pgm and reverse all pads at once if you don’t need to choke between pads
Not as in the moment fast as p locks but with 128 pads of 4 sample layers each plenty of versatility just in a single pgm
Copying variations to the extra pads works nicely but for some things I have found quicker methods, like exploding a track or copying and using delete except note and then using velocity instead of volume changes, duplicating pgms for variations, or if you were wanting to p lock the attack parameter, using 16lvl on attack and just playing it in
If your wanting to use mpc for a step sequencing type workflow I’m not sure because I don’t mess with that as it seems so weak in that area, but for real time, polyphony, high track count, long seq legnth and many other things there are some nice benefits
I hope any of this helps at all
Really enjoyed your track btw
2 Likes