Red Means Recording Tracker Jungle Chop
Genre: Drum & Bass, Breakbeat / Jungle · Tempo: 172 BPM · Time signature: 4/4 · Length: 32 steps · Style: Jeremy Blake's Vulpic project, written on an M8 tracker while travelling: a break chopped fast and spontaneously, with the second bar re-cut in a way a drummer wouldn't play, rather than looped unchanged
Open this pattern in the interactive Patchpad (with playback)
The pattern
| Instrument | Steps (1 = start of the bar) | Velocity | Timing and chance |
|---|
| kick | 1, 11, 17, 27 | 60-95 | step 11: early by about 8% of a step, plays 55% of the time; step 27: early by about 8% of a step, plays 60% of the time |
| sub | 1, 11, 17 | 50-85 | step 11: early by about 8% of a step, plays 55% of the time |
| hat-closed | 3, 10, 26 | 35-40 | step 3: plays 70% of the time; step 10: plays 70% of the time; step 26: plays 70% of the time |
| snare | 5, 13, 14, 21, 23, 29, 31 | 55-92 | step 13: early by about 12% of a step, plays 55% of the time; step 21: early by about 17% of a step, plays 45% of the time; step 29: early by about 12% of a step, plays 50% of the time |
| perc1 | 6, 22 | 52-55 | step 6: late by about 12% of a step, plays 65% of the time; step 22: late by about 12% of a step, plays 55% of the time |
| hat-open | 16, 32 | 50-52 | step 16: plays 75% of the time; step 32: plays 75% of the time |
| perc2 | 18, 19, 30 | 45-50 | step 18: late by about 17% of a step, plays 60% of the time; step 19: early by about 12% of a step, plays 60% of the time; step 30: late by about 17% of a step, plays 55% of the time |
Digitakt II
Tracks
- T1: kick
- T2: snare
- T3: hat-closed
- T4: hat-open
- T5: perc1
- T6: perc2
- T7: sub
Settings
- Bar 1 (steps 1-16): the break plays a relatively straight, groovy chop - main snare on step 5, one syncopated ghost kick at step 11, one chop-hit (perc1) at step 6
- Bar 2 (steps 17-32): the same break is re-cut - main snare pushed to step 23 (the '&' of beat 2) instead of a plain beat 2, with an extra ghost snare at step 21 and a rapid two-hit stutter on perc2 (steps 18/19) - a re-edit a live drummer wouldn't play, matching the sourced 'chopping things up in ways a drummer never would' approach
- Perc2 stutter (T6, steps 18/19 and 30): SRC page STRT/LEN p-locked to a very short slice length with PLAY FORWARD, TRIG page 1 micro-timing pushed to +4/-3 so the two hits feel jammed-in rather than grid-quantized, per the sourced fast, spontaneous tracker-writing approach
- Sub (T7, steps 1/11/17): AMP page ATK 0, DEC 110, SUS 85, REL 70, MODE ADSR for a long, driving low tone under the kick rather than a short hit, giving the break real low-end weight
- Snare hits that lead into a main snare (T2, steps 13, 21, 29): PROB reduced to 45-55% and micro-timing pushed to -3/-4 so these ghost hits feel loosely, unevenly placed rather than a fixed roll
Digitone II
Tracks
- T1: kick (ALGO 4, low RATIO C)
- T2: snare (moderate-FDBK FM noise)
- T3: hat-closed (high-FDBK FM noise)
- T4: hat-open (high-FDBK FM noise, long ring)
- T5: perc1 (ALGO 5, mid chop tone)
- T6: perc2 (ALGO 8, short inharmonic stutter)
- T7: sub (ALGO 1, very low RATIO C)
Settings
- Bar 1 vs bar 2 main snare: bar 1's main snare (T2, step 5) sits on a plain beat 2; bar 2's main snare (step 23) is pushed to the '&' of beat 2 instead, with an extra ghost hit at step 21 (PROB 45%) - the re-cut break idea
- Perc2 stutter (T6, steps 18/19 and 30): SYN page 1 ALGO 8, RATIO A 6.00, FDBK 40 for a short, clicky inharmonic tone; AMP page DEC 10; TRIG page 1 micro-timing p-locked to +4/-3 so the stutter feels jammed rather than quantized
- Sub (T7, steps 1/11/17): SYN page 1 ALGO 1, RATIO C 0.25; AMP page ATK 0, DEC 110, SUS 85, REL 70, MODE ADSR for a long, driving low tone
- Ghost snares (T2, steps 13/21/29): PROB reduced to 45-55%, micro-timing pushed to -3/-4, base sound SYN page 1 FDBK 60 (lower than the main snare's FDBK 90) so ghost hits read as quieter and less defined, not just softer copies of the main snare
- Kick (T1, steps 1/17 main, step 11/27 syncopated secondary): SYN page 1 ALGO 4, RATIO C 0.45; secondary kick hits use PROB 55-60% so they don't fire every loop
Syntakt
Tracks
- T9: kick (BD HARD)
- T10: snare (SD HARD)
- T11: perc1 (SY DUAL VCO)
- T12: hat-closed / hat-open (CH CLASSIC / OH CLASSIC, shared voice)
- T1: perc2 (SY CHIP, stutter texture)
- T2: sub (SY RAW, sine-like low tone)
Settings
- Kick (T9, BD HARD): TUNE and TRAN set for a hard-hitting break-appropriate thump on the main hits (steps 1/17); the syncopated secondary kicks (steps 11/27) use PROB 55-60%
- Snare (T10, SD HARD): main snares (steps 5/23/31) at full VEL; ghost snares (steps 13/21/29) use PROB 45-55% and a lower VEL so they read as loosely-placed pickup hits, not a fixed roll
- Bar 2 main-snare displacement: step 23 (the '&' of beat 2 in bar 2) carries the main snare hit instead of a plain beat 2 the way bar 1 does at step 5 - the re-cut-break idea, achieved purely through TRIG page 1 step placement, no extra hardware needed
- Perc2/stutter (T1, SY CHIP, steps 18/19/30): a short, noisy digital tone with fast DEC; TRIG-hold micro-timing set to +4/-3/+4 so the stutter feels jammed-in rather than grid-locked
- Sub (T2, SY RAW, steps 1/11/17): WAV1 set to Sine, TUNE low, DEC on AMP page long (~100) with MODE ADSR and a moderate SUS, for a driving low tone under the kick rather than a short hit
Notes
A break chopped and re-cut bar to bar - bar 2's main snare is displaced onto the '&' of beat 2 instead of repeating bar 1's plain-beat-2 placement, with an added stutter and looser ghost-snare timing - in the spirit of Jeremy Blake's (Red Means Recording) Vulpic project, written fast on an M8 tracker while travelling and drawing on the general jungle/D&B idea that chopping a break in ways a drummer never would can add real interest. An original pattern in that spirit, not a transcription of any specific track.
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