Boom-Bap

The "boom": layered kick (Drum Sampler + Operator sub)

A boom-bap kick is thick and mid-forward, not a club sub. Usually it's a kick sampled from a break with a second, cleaner kick underneath for weight.

1. On a Drum Rack pad, build an Instrument Rack with two chains: chain 1 a Drum Sampler loaded with a kick cut from a drum break (look for ones with room in them); chain 2 an Operator sine at a fixed frequency (Osc A Fixed on, ~50–55 Hz), amp env D 150 ms, S 0, R 50 ms.
2. Drum Sampler kick: Punch 30–50% for attack, Decay ~250 ms, Pitch to taste (−1 to −3 st often sits better), Filter HP 40 Hz so the sample's rumble doesn't fight the sine.
3. Saturator Hard Curve 5–8 dB on the pad output: boom-bap kicks are distorted, not clean.
4. EQ: small boost at 70–90 Hz (weight), cut 300–500 Hz (boxy sample room), boost 2.5–4 kHz (the "click" you hear on a car stereo).
5. Compressor 4:1 with a 10 ms attack to let the transient through and an 80 ms release to pump slightly against the sample.

The "bap": cracking snare with 12-bit grit (Drum Sampler + Redux)

The snare is the loudest element in a boom-bap beat. It needs a hard transient, a short body and a bright crack, with the SP-1200 aliasing fizz on the tail.

1. Pick a snare from a break (or a 909 rim-shot style sample layered with a clap). Drum Sampler: Pitch −1 to −3 st, Decay 180–250 ms, add the Noise effect at 15–25% for extra rattle, Punch 40%.
2. Redux: 12-bit, sample rate ~26 kHz (SP-1200 territory). In Live 12's Redux, keep Jitter low and let the downsampling filter stay off for maximum aliasing.
3. Saturator Analog Clip 4–6 dB: pushes the crack forward.
4. EQ: HP 120 Hz (keep the sub for the kick), boost 180–220 Hz (body) and 3–5 kHz (crack); a gentle dip at 700 Hz if it honks.
5. Compressor 6:1, attack 2–4 ms, release 60 ms, ~4 dB gain reduction. The attack lets the first millisecond through, then clamps the tail — the signature "flat" snare shape.

Hats and shakers from breaks (Simpler slices + Velocity)

Boom-bap hats are rarely programmed from clean one-shots — they're sliced from drum breaks so they carry room, bleed and attitude.

1. Load a break into Simpler in Slice mode (Transient). Play only the hat slices on a new MIDI clip; or use Slice to new MIDI track and delete the kick/snare slices.
2. In Simpler, set Fade Out 20–40 ms so hat slices don't bleed the following kick in. Keep Warp off so pitch and tempo move together like a record.
3. A Velocity MIDI effect in Random mode (20–30%) before the Simpler; Drum Buss with slightly positive Transients to put the tick back if the chop softened it.
4. HP at 500 Hz is enough — boom-bap hats keep some lower "chk" which is why they feel part of the kit.

Chopped sample (Simpler Slice, mono, filter-out-the-bass)

The heart of the genre: 2–4 bars of a record chopped into stabs and re-sequenced into a new progression. Live's Simpler in Slice mode is the MPC pad bank.

1. Drop a 2–4 bar phrase in Simpler, Slice mode. Try Slice by Beat (1/8 or 1/16) rather than Transient for even, rhythmic chops; use Transient slicing for stabs and horn hits.
2. Playback Mode Mono: each new slice cuts the previous one, exactly like an MPC without "one-shot" mode. Set Fade Out ~10 ms.
3. Transpose −1 to −3 st with Warp off, so the sample slows and darkens — this is where "that 90s sound" lives. Match the tempo of your drums to the slowed sample, not the other way round.
4. High-pass at 80–120 Hz. The original record's bass is usually in a different key position than what you want, so you filter it out and replace it (next technique).
5. Redux in parallel (60% wet) then light Soft Sine saturation. Compressor sidechained from the kick (2–3 dB GR, release 100 ms) so the kick always wins.
6. Play the slices on Push, quantize at 1/16 with 70–80% strength and groove applied. Record 8 bars of takes and keep the best.

Sub under the chop (Operator sine or sampled bass note)

Once the sample is high-passed, a simple sub follows its root notes. It is short, mono and barely has harmonics — the kick and sample supply the mids.

1. Operator: A sine, B sine Coarse 2 at −30 dB feeding A (2nd harmonic for small-speaker audibility). Amp env A 2 ms, D 500 ms, S 0.7, R 100 ms. Voices 1, Glide ~30 ms for slides between roots.
2. Write the bass as the sample's root motion, mostly 8ths and quarter notes with rests. Keep the notes in C1–G2.
3. Alternative: sample a single bass note from a record (or from your TD-3 with the filter closed) into Simpler Classic mode, loop a steady section, and play it chromatically — it carries the vinyl's tone.
4. Sidechain from the kick with Compressor (attack 1 ms, release 60 ms, 3 dB GR) only if the kick's sub layer clashes; often simply offsetting the bass notes off the kick hits is enough.

Scratches and vocal stabs (Simpler + Beat Repeat + Shifter)

Hook sections are built from cut-up vocal phrases and scratch sounds. Without turntables, you can fake the vocabulary: baby scratches, transformer chops and pitch flares.

1. Load a short vocal phrase into Simpler (Classic, Warp off). Set Loop off. Play it from a MIDI clip in short bursts (1/16–1/8 note lengths) with gate so you get stutter chops; move the Start point per note using clip automation or MIDI note velocity → sample start (Simpler lets you map Vel to Start under the modulation tab).
2. Simpler's LFO assigned to Pitch at 4–8 Hz, amount ±3 st, retriggered per note: a quick "baby scratch" wobble on each chop.
3. Beat Repeat after Simpler: Grid 1/16, Chance 30–50%, Variation 4, Gate so repeats cut dry signal, Decay 5–15%. This fakes the transformer-scratch stutters.
4. Shifter in Pitch mode; draw a clip automation lane on the Fine control: fast ramp from +200 to −200 cents over one 16th for the "rewind" flare before the drop.
5. Pan the scratch hits 30–50% left and right alternately; keep them HP'd above 300 Hz.

Piano / horn stab without a sample (Keys + Roar + Redux)

When the beat needs a melodic stab you can't sample, synthesise one and then process it as if it had been sampled from a record.

1. Wavetable: a brassy or formant-ish table (Collection or Formant categories), Osc 2 same table +7 st at −10 dB for a 5th, Unison Classic 2 voices small detune. Amp env A 15 ms, D 300 ms, S 0.2, R 150 ms.
2. Roar Single stage, Soft Sine shaper, Drive ~10 dB, Tone slightly dark; set the post filter LP 4–5 kHz. A touch of Roar's Feedback section at a low level adds the "tape-saturated horn" bloom.
3. Redux 12-bit then an EQ that removes everything below 150 Hz and above 7 kHz — the bandwidth of an old record through a sampler.
4. Hybrid Reverb Convolution with a small room, 10% wet, so the stab has a "place" like a studio recording.

Variations: Electric with hard mallet, pickup symmetry 50% for a Wurli-style stab; Tension with Pick excitator for a guitar lick.