How To Create Classic Detroit Techno | With Or Without Gear | Thomann

[@Chasing_Thoughts]

This wideo is ticking all of the boxes 🤓

[@nerfytheclown]

...at first glance, yes.

[@NunyaB1s]

Florian!? Is that you?

[@dijjidog]

I'm down for random bad gear references

[@colinrussell2017]

The wuuuurlds most hated audio tools

[@keith303]

great knowledge, great performance, great head nodding/shaking, great aesthetical presentation, this is actually pretty great all the way through ! enjoyed the watch - thanks.

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

Thanks, glad you found value in it

[@chiagozieanyanwu3470]

@@ThomannSynthesizers yeah this is amazing. Great share!!

[@AlejandroGuerrero]

Man this is top of the top of the top in KZbin. Congratulations and thanks for sharing the techniques, the tracks and it was awesome to find than here in Madrid we have good producers, Gracias.

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video. Yes, in Madrid there are some of the worlds best techno artists like Psyk, Tadeo, Svreca, Orbe, Oscar Mulero and many more. You can be proud of your city!

[@compucorder64]

@@ThomannSynthesizers Exactly, I moved to Valencia a year ago. I'm glad that he visits regularly to DJ. He is still one of the best I've seen. Very uncompromising, and very much his own industrial aesthetic. There would be a more thriving scene in Spain. But unfortunately, live music suffers partly because of the noise regulations that have the good intention of making life more livable from noise pollution.

[@i-never-look-at-replies-lol]

I've been making music without gear my entire life. I mean no one can hear it because it's all in my head...but I've been doing it. I've put out a lot of albums up there!

[@compucorder64]

Love the intro music, it reminds me of that very refined techno aesthetic of artists like Kirk DeGiorgio and maybe mid 90s Carl Craig. For rawer, rougher techno, a technique that works well is driving the 909s etc quite hard into a cheapish mixer that lends good colour like the old Mackie 1202. Also, these Akai 950 resampling plugins help a lot too (RX950 etc..). Gets the snares sounding nice and raw, and the rides get lovely and thrashy. As an alternative to sidechaining, pumping is another characteristic movement effect. Getting multiple tracks of a TR-909 pumping maximally through a DBX 160 series gets some classic movement too. The filtering/shaping and distortions that vinyl bakes in, is very much part of the sound for me too. Agree on Soundtoys bundle being a top choice for bundles. Decapitator is great, but there are some other fantastic plugins now, like Empirical Labs Arouser, Softube M.A.S. Overstayer, Arturia Dist TUBE-CULTURE and PSP Saturator. The Arturia Plate is awesome too. The Zero-G, AMG sample CDs are often used 90s sample fodder too. Alesis Midiverb / Quadraverb are still kinda affordable hardware, but I think I'd still prefer Valhalla VintageVerb but maybe with some bit reduction/downsampling/filtering.

[@IhorMedia]

Man, this first track is exactly the Techno I love! Thanks for sharing some thought about it! ✌️

[@fabriciomosoni]

Kid A, Mezzanine and Aphex Twin´s Selected ambient works in the wall :)

[@chrisgilkes1687]

Don’t forget Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children….essential album.

[@fabriciomosoni]

@@sheateeley1 mezzanine? 😑

[@xopenx]

also Yussef Kamaal - Black Focus

[@audioreakt]

Another killer video and what a great jam ! That buchla sequence is mental !

[@karltraunmuller7048]

Also: beautiful videography

[@purposemaker909]

This is dope, really enjoyed it, thank you.

[@milosmilosmilos]

Yussef Kamal on the wall, I already like this guy.

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

Ah I see, you are a man of culture as well!

[@EARART]

Kamal Williams?

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

@@EARART and Yussef Dayes

[@DigitalBard1]

1:30 of intelligent intro. And then music kicks. The first 3 notes had me hooked. Saved and Subbed immediately. Well done sir!

[@noisevector]

Detroit techno and all its nuances. Very hard to grasp or explain. It's a feeling like all music. I would describe it as part of my style with a harder Birmingham edge. Inspired by Mills, Hood, Clarke, Surgeon, Rachmad, Steve Stoll, Umek, Beyer. Etc.

[@mister2628]

Came for some gear tips and ending up dancing LOL.

[@mollyoko]

this lacks that nuanced groove that is key to Detroit techno. work on your music being groovy pls.. way too much drones shit out there.

[@paulburkhart2619]

Thanks for the video, that was very informative! Didn't know that headphone trick. Also, I always skipped by Redux effect in Ableton coz I thought it was some sort of delay I didn't need. Facepalm.

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

Yes, it can be really useful. Especially since they updated it for more precise controlles somewhere in Ableton 10 or 11. Also, glad you enjoyed the video

[@moodykid1544]

first of all 1.you introduced us in equpment 2.explained how it works 3.talk aboute every peac in context give us so much tips for sound designe 4. history of hardware and get inside soundesigne in daw 5.and on end you give homework to practice ears and perception trough tracks and lables 6.and you are so fast and into the point Man you are one of the Jedis

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

Thanks for the kind words. Great to hear that you found the video helpful! Best, Felix :)

[@LondraCalibro9]

superb tutorial, this is the second of your videos I've seen and I'm blown away by how progressive and educational they are. amazing work.

[@triggerhappytube]

very well done and a lot of useful content even for an advanced music producer! much appreciated, thx!!

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

That's great to hear. Thanks for the positive feedback

[@stevekirkby6570]

I learnt something new in music production today: It is essential to get a very funky head wobbling attitude happening. This makes the groove come alive. Without correct neck exercise the music lacks immediacy. Thanks :)

[@Unifono2012]

Really liked the second track. I need melodies in techno 🙃 The jam was nice too though

[@raven-jz6cv]

Dawless one by far what you made has life! The other sounds are common 2021 copy paste releases.

[@danieloberhoff1]

somehow like the analog version a lot more, less teching, little gear, great sound, lots of intuition. especially the part where you pointed out that the melody you get from manually dialing in frequencies gives you "harmonies noone ever did before" in the whim of the moment, and you kinda sounded disappointed when having to move to the piano roll :O). and abusing the poor mackie preamps is just the thing I am looking for :O). keep on hammering :)

[@tehedx]

Nice jam, nice breakdown. I like the use of an old 2nd hand mixer. As you state they usually go for cheap. Knobs, sliders and switches probably have noises, but that doesn't matter very much here.

[@mikeguarino2981]

Thanks so much for that Jungle Jungle download tip!..... Keep making vids, love this channel!

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

You're welcome

[@tomasrybka]

you can just use the stock saturator / drum buss for sound coloring instead of the VSTs

[@digdonik8241]

techo is everything, but this is not detroit

[@strangerting7818]

The best Thomann video so far. Well done Felix, danke!

[@LaKai_derfels]

Aaaaaaalter niiice. Die erste live jam ist ja sooooo krank.

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

Danke, freut mich wenns dir gefallen hat

[@rundtomrasmus]

Really great video! You compiled almost all of the important aspects if you want to get into techno in half an hour - that's fucking impressive :D (I wrote almost only to be open for issues, I didn't think about, because I really think you covered almost all bases!) I have one question, though: Is there a reason, why you used the Max LFO to modulate analog instead of its internal lfo? The disclaimer about the video not being sponsored by soundtoys was beautiful

[@dimitripetrenko9734]

So Usefull, Bro. U making very Good Videos. Thank U a lot.)

[@grambo4436]

Yess! We need this style of techno back the same can be said for trance, house etc.

[@troymcdonald5165]

its not that easy you make it easier thanks again everything i do sounds shit but its me doing it want and would appreciate your skills x i ll keep trying oscillator lfo and the ableton knowledge you provide but it gets expensive does ableton knowledge is free

[@bluepixeldoom]

I feel like I just stole something. Because this tutorial was gold.

[@videoweddings1]

talented boy- thanks for sharing lots of insider knowledge

[@alphanumeric1529]

Well, you definitely have a better grasp of techno than IDM, LOLZERS! Thanks!

[@mt.borracho911]

Excellent and very authentic performance. Token and non my favorites. Also Luke Hess’s deep labs from Detroit. What VCO did you use?

[@warrenc1829]

Absolutely superb from start to finish, extremely professional. I'll be watching each and every video. Thank you.

[@Bezz_Jeens]

How are you doing your sequencing? Just clicking notes into the piano roll? I find it very difficult to get a “sequencer” type sound out of the Ableton piano roll but you’ve really nailed it here.

[@NTRSN-Archive]

The first generation is the best for me .

[@F-Andre]

ich liebe die Melodie typischer 90er Ambient Sound...Da werden Erinnerungen wach

[@ivicai3281]

high quality stuff! thanks for sharing - love your "you should know about" part(s)...

[@nicospuchmusica]

you forgot to explain what the drive auxiliary channel contains !

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

It contains nothing. It‘s just the gain knobs of the channels being overdriven. So the Mackie Mixer is used here as 16mono/8stereo analog distortion. A common practice in the history of the old Mackie mixers in electronic music.

[@nicospuchmusica]

Thank you very much for the response! I don't have that console, so what plugin do you think could emulate the overdrive generated by mackie?@@ThomannSynthesizers

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

@@nicospuchmusica It doesn't matter really. Just try out different Distortion / Overdrive effects and use what sounds best to you for the particular sounds that you want to create. People usually didn't use the Mackie for Distortion because it sounded so great but rather because they didn't have a dedicated Distortion in the first place.

[@OnlyDaFunk4444]

After this 1 I definitely gave a Sub👍🏾‼️ I Vibed with the 1 track(Hardware Funk) the most,,,, but overall, love how you express and explained all the nuances of both.

[@epigon1]

Nice ideas. Will try this night 👌

[@FuZZbaLLbee]

Was missing the pads a bit in the hardware version.

[@dumafuji]

This was really good. Inspiring

[@mybiggrin]

23:39 can anyone see where the tuning is on that sampler mode? I can't. Thanks for the record recs!

[@zg-mzga]

couldn''t you overdrive the trs internally without the need for the mackie?

[@robertsyrett1992]

Man, this series has a lot of good episodes! Love that you used the Buchla in detroit techno.

[@AniMA-vz1gm]

Does anyone know where can I get similar lighting that he has. You can see it around 10:12 like the cold blue ish lighting

[@peterlel7661]

Tolles Video, toller Host :D macht richtig spass und gibt immer neue Inspiration

[@reazallykhan8614]

Detroit techno is simple and agressive at the same time

[@burger659]

the arc angel album was made with Ableton live only !

[@sinepilot]

My head is bowed in respect to your skills and knowledge, Felix. Man, I have a long way to go to get to this level. *sigh* time to get off YT and back to practicing!

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

That‘s a lovely thing to hear. Glad you enjoy the videos. Best, Felix :)

[@ChristopherOrth]

This was just fantastic. Please do more vids like this!

[@alexwa4785]

Gutes Video. Mich würde es interessieren, wie man den tr8 in ableton korrekt integriert. Da gibt es mehrere Meinungen, aber keine ist wirklich zufriedenstellend 😢

[@DanielD.mp3]

great video and i love the record recommedations at the end! nice!

[@geoffknot]

great presentation. give that guy Felix a raise!

[@offworldnetwork]

Nailed it

[@Volpearg]

Really good tracks Felix! Great tutorial. One question: When you are referring to the slices of the sample, do you mean like chopping a breakbeat into, for example, a 3/16 loop, and in every slice apply some envelope of amplitude? Or like a fade of volume on the end?

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video. Yes, I mean slicing a loop into various smaller parts, then sequencing these individual parts and adjusting the attack, decay, sustain, release on the playback sampler. Also try to avoid warping/timestreching unless it explicitly serves the aesthetic you are going for. A limitation from back in the day was that there weren't any nice timestretching algorhythms, so whenever you wanted to adjust the timing of something you would also adjust the pitch and vise versa. This is a crucial part of the oldschool sampling aesthetic and even up to this day, pitching without timestretching usually sounds better and more natural.

[@JosephPritchard-z5o]

U came in so hard with that live jam 😻

[@ArcRunner]

That headphone tip is excellent! TY

[@albionpatterns3986]

What tip?

[@2112jonr]

Agreed, excellent advice.

[@geompon6505]

@ 23:50

[@georgerivera7193]

Great video always learn something, Thank you

[@davidsegaar3450]

Which mackie is this exactly? Looking for a cheap one to overdrive a bit ❤

[@burger659]

the best is the old cr1604.. but any old vlz-pro series do the job

[@yannbzh100]

Great tutorial! thank you I didn't know this technique to feel the bass and the kick with the headphones in my hand, I tried it doesn't work for me with my ATH M60X dj headphones, I'll have to invest in good studio headphones,

[@michaels5166]

An example of LEARN WHAT YOU HAVE and make music...period..

[@ZenMountain]

Great music, but the Buchla is totally out of place there in terms of the specific genre, IMHO. First track sounds more like... Steevio. Thanks!

[@sirmiluch6856]

Finally an actual techno track, not "pluck plack 128BPM" boring trash.

[@karonsmith9740]

Ask The Godfather Of Tencho Juan Atkins From Detroit, Michigan

[@klausgatu1504]

Hi, Can you make an tutorial about how to work with Akai mpc live 2 and Moog Sub 37 together?!?!?

[@Skorpio___]

Nice video! Could you please tell us how is your hardware conection with the pc and the config with ableton!?

[@stephaniamatteagi8732]

Yeah great perf, but the first one isn’t too Detroit, second totally. And no isn’t that easy that it looks 😂 would be amazing ahahahha

[@agua9362]

richtig leckeres Video - THX

[@jasonexecuted180]

Dis live jam is crazy. U goated!!

[@Nemanjab604]

who is this genius?

[@marquezvanroeschen5340]

Best jam I've seen for a long time. Most of the stuff I find on YT is just weak!

[@plasnes2055]

Do you know if theres a more affordable version or a similar synthesizer to the one you showed at 7:50? Anything with that kind of control on the pitches is what I'm looking for. Great video btw, it gave me a lot more inspiration when trying to make my own classic styled techno.

[@MRTM-kl5dd]

in the hardware jam there is a really annoying high frequency that blow my hearing

[@antoineguilbeault8025]

the techno records/ sample packs you should know about is a very nice touch! 👌

[@thedeepblueskys]

Running the individual outs to the mixer is the best advice ever for hardware. I’ve got great results in a Model Samples due to overdriving the individual tracks and in the box too. It’s a cheap way to get into this sound.

[@davidstar2362]

I have a new brother !!! glad To meet you.!!

[@jayhu6075]

I am very glad to find your channel. Learn a lot about different technik so as to use a drum rack with effect. So great is also the explanation . Hopefully more from this stuff. Many thanks.

[@peterlel7661]

Is there a way to create those unquantized sequences inside ableton? maybe a max for live thing or something?

[@shivabreathes]

This is very cool and very well put together.

[@Cybercowboy_69]

Great video as always. It would really help producers as well if you could come up with a video showcasing how these videos are shot, lit and edited. Beautiful as always!

[@habichiblah7534]

Outstanding video. Many thanks, from a grateful customer of yours!

[@andrestahlhofen4353]

Very much appreciated! 🙏 Subbed

[@JuanL-h6n]

Cool!!!

[@DAUBSKI]

Ableton sounds far off, to me.More smooth ...

[@a1o1]

Fantastic - content and production quality on point

[@Mandy-vp6nv]

this is not classic detroit Techno

[@gogotrololo]

ahh gat dangit i hate that I'm dancing the same as he is to this music!

[@landwirtschaft2116]

What's the exact model of the headphones?

[@decapitateallcops3214]

I don’t know much but I think this is far too many sounds to be Detroit techno. Them bellville boys had like 3 machines.

[@tomymeeson1]

@felix_fleer sent you a pm on insta. Do you do tuition or track feedback/critiquing? Cheers ✌🏻

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

Gonna get back to you shortly :)

[@MeeBilt]

Wow! 😮 That made my day! The first Jam was Wicked 😎

[@acidtears]

7:41

[@kiosko33hz]

Gente seria ! This is what demonstration is about. Great job!

[@cfhklhog]

What modular equipment did you use?

[@Andy-Kach]

Great video, I've learned a lot! Also thanks for the music recommendations.

[@alexandercimander398]

Daaaamn, What the hell are you doing?? The first Jam was insane!! How did you create those little bleeps? On top on the main sequence? Are those Super short sine waves?

[@ThomannSynthesizers]

I think the sound that you mean is the modulation oscillator of the Buchla. It's playing very high frequencies (sequenced by the 5 step sequencer) but at the same time there is an analog FM modulation going on from the main oscillator which is playing the bass pattern. Also characteristic for the sound is the percussive short envelope of the sound that is inherent to the Buchla Lowpass Gate + Envelope which have a very distinct organic percussive sound that isn't easy to recreate with most synths. Have look again at the section starting at 7:50min where I go over the patch. So what you are hearing is very high frequencies that are modulated by the frequencies of the bass. This sounds beautiful because it makes the two sounds be related to each other which feels very musical and organic even if the listener can't tell why. The same effect could be achieved with a lot of eurorack modules or software that allow for this kind of audio rate modulation. If you wanted to get as close as possible to this sound you might wanna check out the Verbos Eurorack modules incl. Complex Oscillator, Lowpass Gate and Envelope (the modules are inspired by Buchla) or try out the Arturia Buchla Music Easel VST which I think has all the same features used in this video. Best, Felix

[@alexandercimander398]

@@ThomannSynthesizers wooow thank you for this suuper useful answer! "This sounds beautiful because it makes the two sounds be related to each other which feels very musical and organic even if the listener can't tell why" -> Nailed it, I always wonder how some sounds without a clear pitch are still in harmony with basic notes...this might solves a long mystery for me. "If you wanted to get as close as possible to this sound you might wanna check out the Verbos Eurorack modules incl. Complex Oscillator, Lowpass Gate and Envelope (the modules are inspired by Buchla)" I will start out with (semi-)modular soon. For now I'm fully digitial but I want to get my hands on a DFAM and a Mother-32. I feel like these might be a good starting point for good old techno hehe. Thank you again! Helps a lot! :-)

[@alexandercimander398]

One year later I can definetly say: YES it was the Buchla hehe. I bought the Arturia Buchla Easel V (Vst) and I'm so in love with the amazing sounds it produces - thank you so much!