Here's a synthy 90's style drum & bass tune for week 2. Once again this started on the MPC and ended up sequenced out in Reaper. I was trying to get more comfortable resampling breaks on the MPC. I traditionally have done chops and edits in Maschine, but I want to branch out to get some more of that inherent MPC feel on drum breaks. I really like how these chops turned out. I'm also satisfied with the bass.

The break source is a Myor sample pack from bandcamp.
Bass and melodies came from MPC plug-in instruments (Hype, Tubesynth).
The female vocal croon is from a Computer Music D&B Allstars sample pack (InsideInfo Vox 21). Shouts to Tim Cant.

There is room for improvement with some engineering work. There is some frequency masking on the synths I wasn't able to work out. The lead melody isn't quite cutting through either. I'm still learning the ins and outs of Pro-Q 4's dynamic EQing, which I hope will help. There will also need to be longer sequence to  make this DJ set friendly. I'd also like to game some more edits and chop variations to honor drumfunk fans. The break has funk but it's still linear and doesn't change at all. I think I can do better with some more attention in that area.

And a hat tip to JudgementAct for reminding me about Valhalla Supermassive. It's on here.

Tags: 90s, atmospheric drum and bass, mpc, reaper, speed at mars bar, week 2 2026, View by:Cakes