Morph between any sounds with this M4L fader and LFO trick
Chiastic Slide is a free Max for Live device that crossfades between grouped audio tracks with a circular fader, and the curve parameter is where it gets interesting. Zack Steinamp’s video pairs it with a Max LFO to automate random switching — skip to the part where he maps direction and watch it mutate.
▶ Morph Between Any Sounds with a Circular Fader and LFO Randomizer
Zack Steinamp built a Max for Live device that crossfades between grouped audio tracks—a circular fader sets the blend, and the curve controls the overlap. He maps a Max LFO to the direction knob so it auto-switches; at half-note speed it flips randomly, turning a morph into a chaotic loop generator.
◢ learn
▶ The Mau P ‘Just a Little Bit More’ Bass, Broken Down in Serum
The bass from Mau P’s ‘Just a Little Bit More’ starts with a saw wave tuned low, a Moog-style ladder filter, and compression before distortion to keep the tone defined rather than blobby. After distortion, multiband compression reins in the acid dynamics, and the creator walks through the exact envelope and glide settings for that retriggered attack.
▶ Animate Static Chords with Envelope MIDI and Shaper (Stock Ableton)
Build a wavetable pad, then drop Envelope MIDI before the synth mapped to Utility gain—it gives you a long, soft attack with no sustain, way more flexible than a synth’s internal ADSR. After the synth, add Shaper to a second Utility and draw a rhythmic LFO pattern; set depth subtle and rate to sixteenths for a bubbling pulse that stays in time.
◢ free & gear
Dillon Bastan Iota II — a Visual Multi-Sampler That Carries Iris 2’s Torch($60)
If you miss iZotope Iris 2’s spectral selection, Iota II goes beyond with up to 12 playback paths per voice—normal, spectral, resynthesis—plus an auto-emit mode with physics-based gravity attractors. $60.
◢ the word
▶ Kevin Saunderson Teaches a 909 Workshop in Detroit and Online
A free, online and in-person workshop from the Belleville Three co-founder, breaking down the TR-909 and TR-1000. You need to sign up—the link takes you through the registration, and it expires September 11.
Inner City — Good Life
the 909 kick and that stabby piano riff that still runs in every warehouse · pairs with the free 909 workshop from Kevin Saunderson
| ▲ #08 | Franky Rizardo — Shinjuku (Extended Mix) ▲ 2 · 7d · ▶ hear |
| ▲ #05 | Jamback — Positive (Extended Mix) ▲ 1 · 7d · ▶ hear |
| ▲ #13 | Turntables Night Fever — Hold Me Now (Original Mix) ▲ 87 · 7d · ▶ hear |
| ▼ #97 | Chocolate Dice, Loops R Us — Tasteless Sensations (Loops R Us Mix) ▼ 54 · 1d |
| ▲ #13 | Wez Whynt, NutownSoul — Close To You (Main Mix) ▲ 81 · 7d |
- recreate: Envelope follower on a low‑pass filter
- Run a bass sample (or a clean saw pluck) through a low‑pass filter that opens on the transient.
- On hardware they used a Mutronics Mutator; in a DAW, Ableton’s Auto‑Filter with the sidechain set to ‘Audio’ and envelope follower mode does it.
- Cutoff low, resonance around 12 o’clock, envelope amount high — every note squawks and then sinks back into darkness.
- Add saturation *after* the filter so the harmonics don’t just disappear, and manually ride the cutoff for the filter‑house movement.
- technique: Filter modulation as groove engine — The mutating bassline doesn’t rely on step sequencing; it’s a static riff that gets its motion purely from the filter envelope. This inverted the acid workflow — instead of a 303’s slide and accent, you sculpt the tone with a single dynamic envelope. It made filter‑house a blueprint for the next decade of French touch.
- artist: Daft Punk — Daft Punk’s debut album Homework collected the early Soma singles and put the raw warehouse sound on a major. Thomas Bangalter and Guy‑Manuel de Homem‑Christo’s decision to keep the distortion heavy and the mix mono‑compatible taught a generation that grit, not gloss, makes a track feel alive.
🔮 Producer Horoscope (for fun) — Your sidechain compression will pump so hard the kick starts signing the lease.
Now shut the laptop, open your DAW, and make something that rattles the window.
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