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303 Acid Techno Loops :: 5x0F

On this page you'll find a selection of .WAV files - a collection of acid techno samples released under (cc) licence, for use by fellow electronic musicians. All synth lines are played on a modded x0xb0x, using its internal sequencer synced with Ableton Live. All .WAV's are available for download from allmighty soundcloud, to listen to the whole set click here.

Synth

Roland TB-303 revolutionised electronic music forever. Its distinctive sound and its very limited built in sequencer have inspired countless artists aiming for repetitive, hypnotic yet powerful baselines or highly resonant bites created by its unique EG. Since the last original device has been produced in 1984, before MIDI was introduced as a standard (yet the machine stated proudly on the chassis that it is computer controlled), and a demand for them steadily increases, several alternatives have been proposed, with open-source Adafruit's x0xb0x as one worth noting. To learn more about x0xb0x in general, and about this specific x0xb0x and its modifications click here Z0XB0X : http://eqav/Z0XB

x0xb0x was recorded into Ableton Live using line input on Motu sound interface through a digital effects unit made by Boss, designed mainly for guitarists, offering a number of distortion simulators made using COSM technology, and a set of delay effects like programmable chorus, pitch shifter, reverb and quite sweet delay unit.

Three main loops are presented with a demo song, I apologise for using the same techno backing track in each demo, as I wanted to focus on the 303 sound rather than worrying about drums too much. To read more about using those loops in your tracks, scroll here

5x0F A 2011.08.09.techn5G series demo 5x0F L long distorted x0x sequence 2:15

Just listened to the sample on headphones and I noticed there's some noise in it. Sorry about thatâ, thats what you get with analog. Other samples should be cleaner.

Distortion

303 sounds best when run through a mild distortion. It is a very simple synth in terms of architecture, it only has one oscillator and one 18 db/oct filter (some say there is a fourth pole up there). The step sequencer is always quantised to 16 steps but you can get interesting rhythmical magic results by looping a shorter section of the whole pattern. We used a lot of different guitar distortion pedals in the past but those simple circuits often introduce unwanted noise, especially when a few are chained.

Of course another way would be to go digital. Sample the raw output and run it through one of those great distortion plugins, like absolutely amazing Devastator from D16, or great nXtasy by Crysonic, there's a good selection of plugins from Camel Audio, Isotope have got Trash, and if you are desperate there's always Amplitube. Ableton has got its own Saturator and Vinyl Distortion modules but their sound is nowhere near as extreme as you can get with a simplest electric guitar stompbox. The GS-10 is somewhere in between. Its a DSP based distortion, which emulates transistors, or something, and it's a patented COSM technology. It doesn't sound as real or as live as a real stompbox in higher gain settings, but it's great to just flick through presets as if you had a drawer full of pedals, and could dive into 10 parameters in each one algorhythm. It's great to have a programmable chain of EQ, speaker emulation, delay, reverb, chorus and pitch sifter in one, relatively low latency box.

5x0C 11.08.07.techn5F demo 5x0C 11.08.07.techn5F2 x0x samples

You cam run the 303 as a plugin. It's a real shame that Rebirth RB-338 has never been ported to OSX (it does exist on iOS though). But there's a good selection of plugins (and Hardware boxes). There's two plugins that come really close, that's Phoscyon, again from D16, and AudioRealism Bass Line. Both sound really, really good, and can make a lot of sounds that a 303 can make. In some settings they sound indistinguishable, but in others they are clearly different.

A lot of modern synths have computers inside. A VA like Viruss is really a piece of software, running on a DSP in a dedicated controller box. Don't get me wrong, it sounds great, and it's really controllable, especially if you use as you would use a VST plugin. Analog will sound slightly different each time. Even if you can't hear it in successive repetitions of the pattern as it goes, try looping a section in your DAW, you will hear the difference. Also, a highly resonance self oscillation filter needs some fine control sometimes, and the expression is so much finer with an analog knob then then the value is stepping because its quantised to 0-127 values.

Legato effect from above 5x0C comes from a constant envelope mod in x0xb0x

5x0E 2011.08.07.5E x0x sample Demonstration (5x0R as a loop) 5x0E 2011.08.07.5E x0x sample

When playing a 303 through a distortion, with high resonance, the melody that the box is playing becomes secondary. What you mainly hear is how the filter peak travels down with each attack.That makes the trademark squelchy sound that has been exploited in about a half of possible ways during the first Acid Techno wave mid 90'.

5x0R random sounds 2011.08.14 x0x acid random sounds

STRUCTURE

Samples have been recorded at 156BPM, most were edited to match borders of 4/4 better. Most should sync in Live if just dropped on a clip slot. With RANDOM SOUNDS you might have to dive in and select bits you want to use in an audio editor first.

Sometimes a minimal (just a bit more than few ms) timing change can make a huge difference, change of start point of a note and a half can transform a piece completely. How the samples have been supplied is just one of possible options for layout. See demos provided for reference. By moving a start point a bit between the beginning and the end of a sample you can create a dramatically different rhythm patterns.

Experiment with looping of a short fragment of a sample. This is where you can really hear the difference between digital repetitions. Setting your custom start point is highly recommended, especially when using any of the 'random sounds' wav file.

SPECTRAL INFORMATION

Samples contain: from low-mids, strong mids, to low-highs x0xb0x is a baseline synth so there is a hint of bass, but all but 'random' samples have been rendered with high-pass filter at about 150Hz, to avoid problems mixing with real kick and bass lines. Some low frequency has been left and with careful bass boost eq you might be able to restore low frequencies, and use it as a base if you wish, but you might also want to cut it higher at about 400 so sub bass rumble doesn't make it to the subs. Most sounds reside between 400hz and 8khz, so you can use provided acid lines to fill you track already containing kick and baseline tracks. Loops at different intervals than 156 bpm are also encouraged. Even short loops will exhibit differences. Ideally you should be able to move your loop window without changing its length.

5x0L.TECHLOOP short Sherman Filterbank vs Renoise vs x0xb0x 5x0L extended drum loop Sherman Filterbank vs Renoise vs x0xb0x

DRUMS

All demos use the same loop with rhythm section. Drums and bass samples have been programmed into Renoise (one 512 step long pattern), with each track being routed to a seperate track in Ableton Live via Rewire. Levels and SEND levels of each channel were controlled live using Korg NANO controller, SENDS were routed to Sherman Filterbank for filtered distortion. Unfortunately this performance was only recorded as mixed, not multitracked, so drums only and bass only versions are not available.

SAMPLE SET

Please note that all samples have download enabled on soundcloud:

5x0F :: Free 303 Acid Techno Loops with demos (156BPM)

Samples are released under Some Rights Reserved (cc) Creative Commons Licence, meaning that they are free to use as long as you do it for passion. If you use any section of any sample, we'd love to hear about it. Post it into comments or email info@. Also, feel free to sumbit remixes, they will get posted here.