Good Korg Volca Analog Bass Alesis V Dissertation Example

[Dissertation: Chapter 3]

Chapter 3: Drum and Bass Creation

3.1 Instruments and MIDI controllers
The following are sample of instruments and MIDI controller that are used to integrate a gear containing instruments used for drum and bass creation. A MIDI controller, through MIDI commands aids in the creation of tone for drum and bass. This is created through a generation of MIDI data when one presses a key on the MIDI synthesizer. The keyboard, when connected to a drum machine, can control the device. For instance, a full drum set can be created from the MIDI drum pads. As the result, MIDI controller acts as a joystick that is used to control the other devices to produce sound. In which case, by sending a MIDI message one can be able to signal a drum to play while also playing other device such as a Moog synthesizer. Drum acts as a third party hardware that allows MIDI controller to yield audio. A figure of MIDI controller is as showing below.

161 MIDI Keyboard Controller
Korg Volca Analog Bass is an instrument that helps in creation of bass. The volca bass has presence of three oscillators that aids in creation of huge bass sounds. The instrument also has a 16-step sequencer responsible for creation of accompanying grooves. With a MIDI controller, the Korg Volca Bass can be integrated with the drum and other parts of the gear thereby giving out the sound for drum and bass. For a live performance, a Volca Bass is connected to a MIDI controller to facilitate going live. Upon having this system set, the sound produced is normally huge, punchy and powerful thereby adding vibe to the plaid drum and bass (Belle-Fortune, 2004, 56).
3.2 Samplers
A sampler is defined as an electronic musical tool that takes the form of a synthesizer but utilizes sound recording, instead of producing its own sounds. These sounds are usually recorded or loaded and then sampler program is used to play back in the process of composing music. The stored sounds are therefore called samples. The samples are loaded on a digital memory to facilitated quick access of the data. Consequently, from this explanation, it comes out that the sound produce by the instrument can be loaded by the user in form of samples, which can then be played back as drum and bass.
The sampler for drum sound works by taking the form a keymapping system. The system spread out the recorded or loaded sound over a particular key ranges. The resulting side-effects from this process are usually known to facilitate speeding up and decelerating drum loops. Drum hits, usually branded as single “one-shot” sounds usually require phrase sampler, which are more optimized for producing the sounds (Belle-Fortune, 2004, 56). . A good sample for this case is Akai MPC60 Drum Machine produces as the first non-rack mounted prototype produced.
Figure showing Akai MPC60 Drum Machine
The significance of samplers is that they are best suited at offering filter and modulation coupled by processes taking the form of synthesizer. The modulation usually results from the low frequency oscillation. When put together, these features of a sample allow modification of the original sound, created by the drum, in various ways. The polyphonic capabilities of the samplers also make them suitable in playing at different notes at the same moment. Further, with the multitimbral feature, the samplers can also play back various sounds simultaneously thereby they come out as important instrument for creation of drum and bass.
3.3 Breakbeats in Drum and Bass
Drum and Bass normally features fast breakbeats that fall between 150-180 beats per minute (Belle-Fortune, 2004, 56). This range consists of heavy bass and at times sub-bas lines. The genre is combination of sampled breakbeats of syncopated nature. The feature also comes out clearly in form of greatly edited percussion of breakbeat. The emergence of breakbeats in Drum and Bass can be contributed to the late 1980s whereby the use of breakbeat for production of hip hop had become dominant in making of breakbeat hardcore sound. Usually, most of the drum and bass tracks are normally made of at least one sampled breakbeat together with a methodology for transition from one break to another after development of each bar. As the result, this makes us to reach a conclusion that syncopate breakbeats acts as the most popular element because the created high-tempo helps in differentiating the dance track from techno.
3.4 Techniques (Effects, Beat positioning, Downbeat preservation)

The techniques applied in drum and bass depends on the use of effects, beat positioning and downbeat perseveration.

Beat positioning is achieved by tightening the breakbeat through utilizing amplitude envelopes. The envelopes acts as temporal separators of segments contained within the sequence. The following is an image showing envelope tightening:
In part A, the figure depicts playing of the breakbeat at original tempo, with each envelope ending after the start of the subsequent event. In part B, speeding up of the tempo has been achieve, but the actual lengths of note does not change because there is no change in pitch and measure location of the samples; resulting to an overlap of the note events. Part C presents a suitable solution, with truncation of the note events when the subsequent one start. However, the drawback her that the released note are not put to play. Part D presents an alternative approach whereby there is utilization of the shorter note lengths and envelopes in making the events to be compatible with each other.
In drum and bass, there is always that urging need to preserve the dominance of downbeats while maintaining the original funk in the process of resequencing. The preservation of the sections is essential in keeping the original funk intact. In this way, the preservation process can be seen as a way of maintaining the originality of the break. It is way of deviating from how the sound was played but still affording to make it have that feel of the same.
The other technique related to beat position is the use of clean break. In which case, the presenceof classic loops for a sampled breakbeat normally require some process to make them fit well in the DnB’s context. This call for the need for clean break to ensure that timestretching and frequency content is at par. Noise reduction and width plugins are some of the ways to achieve proper beat positioning. Timestretching is a technique used in creating melody because it functions as an adjustment to the samples’ length without the need for adjusting the pitch.

Chapter Summary

The chapter has presented an exploration of the major techniques that have been essential in dance and bass creation. There is also a presented section for analysing the implication of breakbeats in dance and music. The chapter shows that drum and bass normally features fast breakbeats that fall between 150-180 beats per minute (Jones, 2013). This range consists of heavy bass and at times sub-bas lines. The genre is combination of sampled breakbeats of syncopated nature. The significance of sampler as a tool is also presented. The significance of samplers is that they are best suited at offering filter and modulation coupled by processes taking the form of synthesizer. The chapter also shows the use of resequencing in break beats to maintain that natural feeling. Further, envelope-tightening diagram is also presented to describe beat positioning. Other techniques include clean break, noise reduction, time stretching and width plugins.