#ABLETON 808 DRUM KIT HOW TO#
#ABLETON 808 DRUM KIT FULL#

The Roland TR-808 is probably the most influential, iconic drum machine ever made. Reverb on a snare will up your ‘80s quotient, especially if you follow it with a gate.įunky Vintage - Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer Phaser and flange do wild things to a cymbal. Adding a hi–pass filter to your cymbals will draw out a distinct sizzle or, if you need, thin them out a bit so they don’t compete with synth leads or distorted guitar.īut as far as effects go, just pepper in whatever you think could add some useful color and play around with the settings until everything sounds perfect. If you want a really distinct snare drum sound, try applying a bandpass filter and selecting the exact range that you want to sound in your mix. Try placing effects on individual drums instead of the whole track.įiltering works the same way. If you put the distortion effect after the kit, the whole thing will sound rougher, but adding distortion to just what you need it on ensures that you’re dialing in your sound, not blowing it out. This is key for creating a robust, flexible kit and using effects like distortion.ĭistortion will add harmonic complexity (and some heat) to your kick drum or toms. In Ableton Live, you can add effects to just one drum sound at a time, dropping the effect directly on its placement in the rack.

With your snare, clap, and cymbals, you’ll likely want to add a low pass filter or EQ out grating high frequencies that compression will forefront. Set slow attack and and medium release times on your compressor for snappy drums with bite, or dial them both back to simply add some juice and consistency to the sound. Run your 808 through a compressor to fatten up the sound. It’s a godsend for your kick drum and cymbals, which will get a longer sustain. Compression beefs up those simple signals, and makes plain timbres into bold ones. On a waveform level, 808 sounds are incredibly simple. Compression is how pop, techno, and hip hop producers have been getting thunking 808 sounds for decades. Rule number one of 808 plugins: use compression. If you want to try out some of the tips mentioned in this article without leaving your browser, check out this faithful, web–only replica of the original TR–808.

#ABLETON 808 DRUM KIT HOW TO#

When you learn how to tweak your 808 plugin’s parameters and apply basic effects, you’ll get a groove monster that fits beautifully into whatever music you want to make.

Adjust attack and decay on your amplitude envelope.

When layered and fit just right, an 808 can be the perfect touch on a track. As a basic, it's only bland in the wrong hands. Instead, the 808 is like a plain white tee or a pair of blue jeans. Some would argue it has an iconic bass drum tone (and we’ll talk more about that in a bit), but that’s not even something you can really get out of the original machine.

#ABLETON 808 DRUM KIT FULL#

Marshall full stacks have a characteristic high gain sound, Selmer tenor saxophones have a raw harmonic richness, and Hammond B3s have a warm punch when a chord is played just so.

The fact of the matter is that the 808 hasn’t endured because of a distinct, signature sound. The 808 in its most basic form sounds dull, flat, and thin by today’s standards. But the first time you fire up an 808 plugin, you might wonder what the fuss is all about.

There are a lot of great plugins emulating the 808, including the Core 808 in Ableton Live (which we’ll talk about the most here), the D16 Neptheton, and the Audiorealism ADM.

Ableton 808 drum kit