Auto Shift's hidden LFO mode for granular drift
If you've been using Auto Shift just to pitch-correct, you're missing the best trick: turn off the quantizer and it becomes a random LFO. Today's issue has a walkthrough that uses it to push granular beds into unstable drift—stock devices, no sample packs needed.
▶ Auto Shift without quantizer is a random LFO—here it drives a drifting grain cloud
You’ll map an envelope follower to grain spray and pitch, then turn Auto Shift’s quantizer off so it acts as a random LFO—the whole bed drifts without you automating a thing. A second grain delay layer gives it stereo width, all stock.
◢ learn
▶ Wrap four semitones of sine intervals in diode distortion—the bass movement you hear in Chris Lake records
Stack simple sine waves 4 semitones apart, then push them through diode clipping and OTT compression. The amplitude modulation from the interval gives you a wavetable-like wobble without a wavetable synth. The video also shows a unipolar pitch trick on oscillator B for that car-revving effect.
◢ free & gear
Draw delay times per band like an EQ curve—free liquid multiband delay
Wasser lets you paint a delay grid across the frequency spectrum, so you can give your hi-hats triplet repeats while the kick passes through dry. Pair it with a full-band delay for more complex rhythms. Not for drones; best on drum hits with space.
Renato Cohen — Bismuth
none · the owner's pick this week
| ▲ #11 | HotLap — I See U (Original Mix) ▲ 1 · 7d · ▶ hear |
| ▲ #04 | DE SOFFER — Smalltown Boy (Extended Mix) ▲ 1 · 7d · ▶ hear |
| ▼ #100 | Jordano Roosevelt — Satisfaction (Original Mix) ▼ 72 · 1d · ▶ hear |
| ▼ #94 | Maxdal — Clap Your Hands (Extended Mix) ▼ 65 · 1d · ▶ hear |
| ▲ #10 | Argy, 7 SKIES — Murda (Extended Mix) ▲ 85 · 7d · ▶ hear |
🔮 Producer Horoscope (for fun) — Your hi-hat pattern will feel stiff; resample the loop and pitch it down an octave.
Go make something that drifts.
one of these lands every morning.
for working house producers with a track already half-finished.
free · every morning · unsubscribe any time