The Big Elektronauts Hip-Hop Thread: production tips, sharing our music, feedback and inspiration

Man, thanks for this review and the kind words!

Over the last few days I’ve been trying and mostly failing to write a little firmware for my RK-002 so that I can do more with my Zoom Sampletrak. I have no idea what I’m doing.

I have managed to add control over pad level via velocity. For those that don’t know, the Sampletrak’s MIDI is very dumb. The pads don’t respond to velocity. But you can change the pad level via polyphonic pressure. My Digis don’t send that. They only send channel aftertouch. So I wrote a program that adds the polyphonic pressure message.

This is a little beat I did playing around with this. I sequenced my Sampletrak from my Digitone. And now things like the different levels on the horn or the drums don’t need their own pad.

This is relevant to no one but I think it’s cool. Even if I can’t work out the rest of what I want to do, this makes the Sampletrak more useful.

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Always good to hear a Doug track. :sunglasses: It’s cool that you’re hacking your Sampletrak. I wish you luck on your endeavors.

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currently listening to @Sleepyhead’s catalog on spotify and feeling like i’m in a rut. piano practice has been going well. that stuff is really making sense, and developing a practice routine has been fun, if a little challenging.

hoping to use a long plane ride and vacation time to make some beats over the next couple of weeks.

did anyone listen to the new black thought/danger mouse release? not sure how i feel about it just yet.

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@Doug dope track! I love the st sound, it also really matches your sound.

@rockpapergoat thanks for listening! Sampling some of your own piano playing might be a great way to make some new tracks!

I checked out the black though/dangermouse project a bit. I like the overall vibe a lot, but I have yet to really dive in. What do you think about it?

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I just had a listen to strangers and wowee that’s a proper banger, straight up and down, no messing, I don’t really keep track of what’s cracking on the scene these days but that’s going straight in my daily playlist…

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ha! my playing isn’t good enough to sample, but knowing more about chords and voicings means i can play in short phrases that actually sound okay.

production seems tight on “cheat codes.” i need to give it a closer listen. on first pass, none of the tracks really stood out for me. when something’s really good, there’s usually a track or two (or more) that i might want to keep on repeat. let’s see if any of these end up on repeat.

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Jesus I’m proper glad you guys clued me up on this album… No gold teeth is another stand out for me… just perfect… :muscle:it’s just very satisfying to know that there’s producers and rappers out the keeping real Hip Hop alive in a sea of mediocrity…

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yeah, that one’s solid. listening to it again right now, even…

first beat I’ve made in awhile…life is hard and depression is real, but this one helped me escape for a bit. also, I still love Ableton lol hope y’all like it

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Real nice vibe man. Lovely melody. Sounds kinda hopeful/reminiscing. I can relate to the depression and shit being hard. It’s nice we have music to sometimes take us out of it. Big up!

@Sleepyhead my free Spotify account was playing up and every other tune on your new album was silent. What I heard was great though and looking forward to a proper uninterrupted listen soon! Incredible sound you get from just the one machine.

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Your album is dope ! Love that vinyl flavour ! You sample only vinyl?

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Thanks! Lot’s of vinyl but also lot’s of youtube. I used to be ‘elitist’ and sample vinyl only, but right now I sample everything that sounds good (or weird). Most tracks do have something straight from vinyl though, like some drums or horns, I just love the crackling sound!

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That’s great, there is a very nice relaxing atmosphere throughout the album

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My nephew told me that I listen to old people’s music. For him nineties hiphop is ancestral…
So I made a remix of one of the biggest rap hits of the summer :thinking:

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Haha I like your boombap stuff better but this is sounds good as well! You did the 808’s justice.

I’ve had younger people tell me my music sounded oldschool, but then they all approached me when griselda got big saying I was ahead of my time before :joy:. Just saying your sound might actually become young people’s music again sometime in the future without having to change anything :wink:

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A little boom bap for a Thursday. Took a break from the SP-404 and just chopped up some samples in Logic and did this in the box. It’s a bit too polished (which usually what happens when I have all the DAW options in front of me). So I may go back to recording straight into the four track next time. Anyways, cheers :slight_smile:

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Yes I will never get tired of boombap, and as u said fashions are cyclical :wink:. And even if boombap is doomed to stay an old man thing living in the past, I don’t care :laughing:

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soundcloud appears to be having problems. this looked like it uploaded, but i can’t play it.

ANYWAY… here’s a thing i whipped up.

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Love that mate, stripped back beats are definitely my m.o. nicely done :+1:

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