Random Jam #4 [funky hip-hop w/ Digitakt, 0-Coast, Volca FM, Keystep & Ditto X4]

This is another attempt at live-looping hip-hop. Once again the Digitakt is the brain of the setup, it records MIDI notes from the Keystep and controls the Ditto X4 pedal that loops the guitar. The Digitakt sets the start and end of each loop and switches between them. It also handles all the drum sounds. One cool thing I mess with was recording the drum pattern with Trig Conditions. If you place trigless trigs with P-locks on your grid beforehand, the notes that you will play over those trigs will retain the P-locked settings. That way you can play something live and still use Trig Conditions, that's why the beat has some minor variations through the track. I feel like this unpredictability counterbalances the repetitive nature of live-looping pretty well! It's not perfect though, I had to add a missing snare in the DAW later because it felt weird.

Otherwise there's nothing special here, the 0-Coast is on bass duty and the Volca FM plays the bell sound. The rack on the right is a guitar processor, I found it in the street a few days ago! I was so happy, aha, it sounds kinda cheesy but it has a lovely 80s vibe to it. It makes the harmonizer effect on the chorus and you will probably hear a lot more of it in upcoming jams! The pedal on top is a Celmo Sardine Can compressor, I use it pretty much all the time.

Everything was recorded and mixed in the DAW where I added some reverb and delay. Some minor edits too. The whole thing goes through Kramer MPX, Ozone 5 and L3 Ultramaximizer for mastering. I recently watched that Red Means Recording about LUFS and realized my music was usually pretty low for the Youtube platform. This time I went a bit heavier with the maximizing so let me know if that sounds overly compressed or anything. :)

Anyway, I screwed up a few things and the overall rhythm is sloppy as usual but I hope you'll still like it! Thank you for watching, we're getting close to 1k subs which is sooo crazy to me. Thank you for the support and all the kind words, peace!

Aldo

[Aldoistaken]

Hey guys, you can now find most of my Youtube stuff on Spotify! Here is a link to my Random Jams playlist : My music is also available on iTunes, Apple Music, Tidal, TikTok and pretty much everywhere else. Love y’all<3

[MarcadamiaNut]

I'm fully jealous. Of the talent, of the gear, of the ability. Inspiring.

[JC-bfzm]

The "sloppy" rhythm is what keeps it approachable and relaxed.

[trashculture]

Great, relaxed track with lots of hard work gone into it. Very nice.

[jmcbeady]

Your guitar playing is exceptional. I hope that you put out an album, because i would buy it.

[haiderxyz]

thats so jam, could listen to it while doing almost anything

[ChanseMacabre]

This is far and away the best of the Random Jams so far! Your minimalistic stuff is great as well, and I'll always be happy for more of it, but this direction is also working very well for you. :)

[IvarTryti]

This is awesome. You're so on point with the live looping. This has got to take a lot of practice! Keep it up, man!

[perkitoperk]

how can you be that awesome? can't stop listening, and when I watch... can't stop watching!

[liamgamingil]

that hi hat or something so amazing cant stop hear my hears love you

[SyncdAlien]

Very mellow groove, enjoying it! 😍😍😍

[samshrimpton]

This is awesome dude! I was sold as soon as you played the beat in, then the guitar and that acid like bass! I love your solo Digitakt vids, it’s why I originally subscribed...But this was really something! Only listening through a phone speaker, but mastering sounded good to me. Nothing wrong with the rhythm. Its full of character 🤘

[couleurves]

Works great! J'adore la progression dans celle-ci, ça passe parfaitement d'une partie à l'autre et ça nous amène un peu partout. Vraiment super, ma préférée je crois!

[gonzalochristobal]

beautiful, and thanks for the descriptions!

[joshuawilliams]

Absolutely love your videos! Keep up the great work :)

[hydralisk]

You deserve more recognition, man. Nicely done!!!!

[tekton]

That's a lot of nastiness you have going on there. I love it!

[smalltownsavouries]

Just reading up in your description, that's amazing you gained over 40K subs in about 5 months. Wow, congratulations!

[owens]

This is amazing!!! Lots of inspiration here for my DT setup! :)

[KenithCopeland]

i saw synths, groove boxes and a guitar, instant like and subscribe. set up is similar to mine except your doing fantastic work while im still sounding like a bag of cats