The Tantra trick for Mango Alley-style percussion
The washy, dubby percussion on Mango Alley releases isn't magic — it's Tantra doing the heavy lifting. Today's lead video shows the exact chain, and it's simpler than you think.
▶ That washy Mango Alley percussion sound? It's Tantra.
Run a static kick/perc loop through Tantra, tweak the groove, and you get the shifting, dubby character without endless automation. The video also shows pre-shifted whip transients on claps (every other hit only), panning 16th hats with Utility for stereo movement, and why you should never throw away a hi-hat sample — reshape its envelope instead. The whole chain is in Ableton, no exotic plugins.
◢ learn
▶ A tiny mixer with a hidden compressor per channel
The Sidekick's flashiest features are the effects, but the hidden per-channel compressor (press the rotary, pick A/B/C) is the reason to care. Push it for aggressive punch on a drum bus. Motion sequencing captures only one control at a time — so you can't layer a filter sweep with delay feedback — but using the force pad pressure to open filter resonance gets that DJ-filter feel fast.
▶ A Serum 2 bass for deep progressive house with flanger movement
The patch starts with a triangle wave, unison spread, and a noise tail for pluck. The trick is the FX filter set to flanger, turned way down and modulated with envelope 2 — adds a shifting, liquid quality that sits beneath the low-end. The compressor uses a deep threshold and low ratio for barely-there glue. The whole thing ends up deep progressive house, not techno.
◢ free & gear
A drum pattern engine that blends Grids-style grooves with Euclidean rhythms($14.99 desktop / $5.99 ios)
GRE 2.0 runs a topographic engine (inspired by Mutable Grids) and a Euclidean engine simultaneously, with a per-channel Blend knob. The real surprise is Harmonic Drumming: hold a chord on your keyboard, and channel hits can fire chords, strums, or arpeggios in time with the drum pulse — turning a kick pattern into a melodic part. Desktop $14.99, iOS $5.99 (50% off launch).
A free BBD preamp from an ex-NI developer(free)
Preamble models the input stage of a bucket-brigade delay pedal — drive it into saturation, then use the dual filters on the spectrum display to band-limit the grit and blend it in with Mix. Grab it now and you get an insider discount on the upcoming Buckets delay suite.
◢ the word
An upmixer that folds back to stereo perfectly (and proves it)
AXIS upmixes to 7.1.2 and higher, but its Downmix Lock guarantees the folded-down stereo nulls sample-for-sample against the original on four of five engines. Content below 200 Hz stays locked to the front, so the body survives. For Atmos producers who need a stereo check mix that matches, it's a time-saver.
Free early-digital tape character from Pulsar
DigiTape offers two algorithms: CONTOUR rounds transients and compresses the top end, GRAIN saturates lows/mids and feeds the top with harmonics. Five tape types, automatic gain compensation, and it's free — just fill in a form on Pulsar's site.
SoundCloud's 0% direct sales, Roland's portable JP-8, and more in 5 Mag
The new issue covers SoundCloud letting artists sell music directly with no fees (beta), a Roland Jupiter-8 portable recreation for the synth's 45th, Audacity 4.0 inching closer to DAW territory, and Superstruct's losses amid protests. The Freerange 30-year retrospective and DJ Three profile are the gear-nerd corners. Paywall, $2/month.
Dmitry Molosh — Little Friend
the shaker loop that alternates left and right like a pendulum behind the main groove · pairs with the panning trick in the Mango Alley percussion video
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| ▼ #21 | DE SOFFER, Simon Ellis — Walking On A Dream (Extended Mix) |
| ▼ #82 | Jude & Frank, NIINE — Werk (Original Mix) ▼ 53 · 1d · ▶ hear |
| ▲ #18 | Mike Dunn, DJ Tai — (I'm Sick) I've Been Infected Wit House Musick (Remix) (I'm Sick I've Been Infected Wit House Musick [DJ Tai Vocal Remix]) ▲ 78 · 7d · profile → |
| ▼ #96 | Sam Baroni — If U (Original Mix) ▼ 48 · 1d |
🔮 Producer Horoscope (for fun) — Your low-end is holding steady, but your hi-hats are about to get dramatic — pan them wider.
Now go make something that rattles.
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covered in this issue: serum 2 · pulsar audio digitape