Slow Techno Production Bible

Kick Design at 100 BPM

The 909 was designed for 130 BPM. At 100, its decay is too short — 600ms of silence between hits exposes every flaw.

Three-Layer Kick Architecture

At slow tempos, the sub tail can extend 200–400ms without interfering with the next hit. But this also means every kick is more exposed — a poorly designed kick at 100 BPM is far more noticeable than one at 135.

Frequency Zones

Phase & Processing

Zoom to sample level — ensure zero-crossings align between layers. Use polarity flip to test. Fade the kick tail rather than relying solely on amp decay — use the filter envelope to close the LP as the kick decays. Add saturation before final EQ to gently tame transients.

Bass as Lead

In minimal techno, bass and lead are rarely separate. The filter cutoff is your instrument — closed it's sub, open it's a lead.

Surgeon literally split the same synth into two mixer channels — one EQ'd for bass, the other delayed by a quarter bar with swept midrange EQ — then performed arrangement by dubbing faders up and down. The bass and lead were the same sound, differentiated only by real-time filtering.

Waveform Selection

The 3 Valid Kick/Bass Configurations

Bodzin's Technique

Bass is "almost always very gritty" with multiband distortion (heavier on low-mids, subtler on highs). Filter cutoff is the primary performance parameter — automated alongside drive, resonance, feedback, glide, detuning, and LFO targets simultaneously. Each creates micro-variation that prevents monotony.

Warmth & Saturation

Multiple gentle stages beat one heavy stage every time. The cumulative effect of subtle processing across the chain creates cohesive analog feel.

Saturation Types

DIY "Sound Heater" Rack

6× Dynamic Tube in series. Vary models (A/B/C), no two identical. Keep everything subtle — magic comes from stacking.

After the 6 tubes: Saturator in Sinoid Fold mode, Drive 0 dB, Dry/Wet 15–25%. Optionally add EQ Eight as gentle LP above 8–10 kHz. Map macros: Drive → all Bias knobs, Tone → all Tone knobs, Saturate → Saturator Dry/Wet.

Radiator Replacement (Ableton Stock)

Saturator in Analog Clip (drive 3–6 dB, Soft Clip on) → EQ Eight (low shelf +2 dB @ 200 Hz, high shelf -2 dB @ 6 kHz) → Dynamic Tube Model B (low drive). This approximates the Altec 1567A tube mixer that Radiator models.

Noise, Hum & Drift

Noise floor as composition: Layer at -30 to -20 dB — felt more than heard. Sidechain to main elements so it breathes. Use Operator (sine at 50/60 Hz + noise osc, very low) or free Izotope Vinyl.

Oscillator drift: Use Diva's Voice Drift knob or Repro's built-in drift. For others: extremely slow sine LFOs (0.01–0.1 Hz) modulating pitch at 0.1–1.5% depth, different rates per oscillator. Route same modulation to resonance and filter frequency at tiny amounts.

Hit Hard = Hit Soft

A track at -8 LUFS with preserved dynamics physically hits harder on a Funktion-One than one crushed to -5 LUFS. The physics are real.

Why This Works

Club limiters: Every club runs limiters. An already-crushed track gets crushed again, destroying transients. Speaker physics: A constantly hot signal keeps cones at high excursion, constantly distorting. Dynamic signals allow speakers to rest, producing cleaner peaks. Human hearing: The ear resets during quiet sections. No quiet = no loud.

Gain Staging Numbers

Sidechain as Architecture

Sidechain compression is structural, not an effect. Standard: compressor on bass, sidechained from kick, 4:1, fast attack, 30ms release, 3–6 dB gain reduction. Advanced: frequency-selective sidechain — compress only below 120 Hz, leaving upper harmonics untouched. Ghost kick: muted kick drives sidechain consistently even when audible kick pattern changes.

Pre-Finish Checklist

• Master peaks at -6 dB, NO limiter while producing
• Kick is loudest peak by 3–6 dB
• Everything below 120 Hz is mono
• High-pass at 35–40 Hz on master
• Kick and bass in the same key
• Phase check: flip polarity on bass, keep whichever sounds fuller
• Bass has harmonics above 100 Hz for small speaker translation
• Sidechain creates silence before each kick
• Spectrum shows energy at 50–150 Hz, not a wall of 20–60 Hz
• Decided: kick owns sub OR bass owns sub — not both

Groove & Micro-Timing

At 100 BPM, a 16th note = 150ms. The same swing percentage shifts offbeats 30% more than at 130 BPM. Use lighter values.

Swing at Slow Tempos

Most minimal techno uses 1/16 swing at 50% — meaning no global swing at all. Groove comes from selective micro-timing offsets on individual hits, not a global parameter. Research confirmed: 10–30ms performer timing deviations trigger stronger physical entrainment than quantized versions.

Velocity Patterns

Hi-hats: descending/ascending pattern on 16ths — 100, 70, 85, 60, 100, 65, 90, 55. Ghost notes at velocity 20–50 on weak subdivisions. Barely audible solo'd, adds movement in context.

Digitakt II Specifics

Conditional triggers: 50–70% probability on non-essential percussion. Lock essential pillars at 100%. A:B format (2:4 = play on 2nd cycle out of 4) turns 1-bar patterns into 4 bars of variation. Combine with free-running LFOs on filter cutoff, decay, and attack for continuous humanization.

Subtractive Arrangement

Build your full loop with ALL elements. Fill the timeline. Then subtract — mute, remove, filter down. It's easier to hear when something is bad than to imagine something good.

The 16-Bar Grid

Typical 7-Minute Arc

0:00–1:00 Sparse filtered intro · 1:00–2:30 Element introduction at 16-bar intervals · 2:30–4:00 Core groove, subtle automation · 4:00–5:00 Tension peak or breakdown, kick drops, filter sweep · 5:00–6:00 Return with full groove · 6:00–7:00 Gradual subtraction back to minimal state

The Rule of Never More Than 5

Never have more than 5 elements playing simultaneously. If you open a 9th track, delete one. One automation per track maximum. Filter cutoff on the bass = your "movement." The track should feel like it's always about to lose something, not gain something.

Reverb & Space

Villalobos: "Dry recordings are timeless, and reverb recordings are always fixed to the time of a technology."

Hood brought Minimal Nation to mastering completely dry. The spatial dimension that defined the album came at the very end, applied by someone with fresh ears. Keep things dry by default. Add reverb with extreme intention.

Reverb Return Processing

High-pass return at 200–600 Hz (prevents mud). Low-pass at 4–8 kHz (prevents metallic harshness). Sidechain return to dry signal — reverb ducks when source plays, blooms in gaps. Pre-delay synced to 1/64 or 1/32 preserves transient clarity.

Dub Delay as Composition

Delay → EQ → reverb → saturation. Remove lows for thin dubby character, remove highs for lo-fi. Placing saturation after delay and reverb mimics redlining the channel on an analog mixer — where classic dub techno warmth actually comes from. Feed ONE hit, delay creates rhythmic pattern. Automate feedback 60–70% for 8 bars, then pull back.

Width Rules

Kick + bass: 100% mono, center, dry. Always. Hats/percussion: slight stereo, subtle delay sends. Pads: wider, reverb sends, but roll off reverb below 200 Hz. Put warmth chain AFTER reverb on return track — makes reverb sound vintage instead of digital.

Frequency & Club Translation

Tracks that sound thin at home sound enormous on club systems. Less low end often = more perceived bass on Funktion-One.

Frequency Allocation

Only ONE element dominates each zone at any moment. Kick and bass take turns — sidechain enforces this mechanically. High-pass non-bass elements aggressively: claps at 300 Hz, hi-hats at 200 Hz+, synths at 80–150 Hz.

Reference with a spectrum analyzer: Load a reference track you love. Compare where energy sits. Match your track to that, not to what your monitors suggest. Excessive sub below 40 Hz eats headroom and creates mud on club systems. Clean, focused bass at 50–80 Hz with harmonics to 200 Hz+ moves the room while staying clear.

The "Between" Sounds

The textures that aren't drums, bass, or pads — the sounds that fill the spaces between — define minimal techno's character more than primary elements.

Filtered Noise Sweeps

White noise → LP filter with ~50% resonance → automate cutoff upward over 8–16 bars → send to ping-pong delay. Automate both HP and LP filters independently for complex movement. Process through long reverb, sidechain to kick for rhythmic pumping.

Resonant Filter Pings

Route a trigger impulse to a filter with resonance set just below self-oscillation. Filter frequency determines the pitch. Result: decaying tonal percussion — snappy and musical. In Diva: crank Ladder or Cascade resonance, use filter envelope as pitch envelope. This is the "Buchla bongo" sound across minimal techno.

Self-Oscillating Filters as Instruments

All oscillators to zero. Crank resonance past self-oscillation. Key tracking to 100% — filter becomes a playable sine oscillator. Modulate cutoff with audio-rate signals for FM-like effects. Ride resonance at the edge of self-oscillation for a "living" filter sound where small automation changes create dramatic shifts.

Tape Hiss / Room Tone

Constant low-level noise through LP at 4–5 kHz on a dedicated always-on track. Makes silence sound full. Sidechain to main elements. This is structural — the "air" that digital production lacks.

Harmony & Theory

Open fifths. No thirds. Hypnotic ambiguity through harmonic stasis.

The Open Fifth

Root + fifth, no third. Without the third, the chord is "chameleon-like" — sounding major where major is expected, minor where minor is expected. In saturated contexts, thirds sound muddy while bare fifths remain crisp. Root + minor seventh (no third) creates suspended, unresolved quality for pads.

Chord Movements

Modal Flavors

Dorian (raised 6th) — brighter minor, groovy. Detroit-influenced. Aeolian (natural minor) — cold, dark. Berlin/Berghain. Phrygian (flat 2nd) — exotic, ritualistic. Dozzy-style hypnotic.

Signal Chain

Cut first, shape second, glue last.

Per-Track Order

Corrective subtractive EQ → Saturation → Compression → Tonal additive EQ. The "EQ sandwich" — cutting before compression prevents resonances from triggering unnecessary gain reduction. Post-compression EQ shapes tone after compression has changed harmonic balance.

Master Bus Chain

HP filter 20–25 Hz (24 dB/oct) → Corrective EQ (subtle moves only) → Optional multiband compressor (2–3 dB max GR per band) → Glue Compressor 2:1–4:1, 10–30ms attack, auto release, 2–4 dB GR → Optional subtle saturation → LP 18–20 kHz → Transparent limiter -1 dBTP ceiling (no more than 3–4 dB reduction)

Soundtoys → Ableton Replacements

Artist Philosophy

Every artist researched — without exception — converges on constraint as creative engine.

"When I didn't have anything, I had to squeeze blood from it. That caused me to really use my mind, which is the most powerful computer in the universe."

— Robert Hood

Hood made Minimal Nation on pawnshop instruments for $100. He traced minimalism to funk breakdowns: "The best part of the record was always the breakdown. I saw what that did to people if you extended that break… Stay in the pocket and watch it put people in a trance."

"Dry recordings can be timeless and reverb recordings are always fixed to the time of a technology."

— Ricardo Villalobos

On soft kicks: "Harder bass drums with long decay don't leave much space in the mix for all the other stuff and details." Tracks that sound enormous in clubs often sound underwhelming at home — by design.

"That thing of when people say 'right then, today, I'm going to make a dark techno track.' That attitude is the absolute recipe for shit music."

— Surgeon

Surgeon split one synth into two channels for the bass/lead duality. He advocates deliberate discomfort: "When you become comfortable — sometimes it's time to tear that all up and become uncomfortable again."

"Creating a repetition in which we feel comfortable. You don't expect annoying elements inside, but rather you get lost in the loop."

— Donato Dozzy

Dozzy and Neel's Voices From The Lake process: after intensive live jamming, they drove 200km in a Mercedes listening through a 9-speaker Bose system without speaking. Then almost entirely reworked the live recording. Willingness to destroy good work in pursuit of the right work.

The Three Recipes

The Rules (All Recipes)

• Pick ONE recipe. Finish in one session. Don't switch synths.
• 8 tracks maximum. Open a 9th? Delete one.
• No presets. Init patch → set values → done (30 seconds).
• Warmth chain on master OR one return — not on every channel.
• Master peaks ~-6 dB. Minimal techno breathes.
• One automation per track max. Filter cutoff on bass = your "movement."
• Arrangement = subtraction. Always about to lose, not gain.

Production Gems

Specific tricks buried in interviews and forums that courses never teach.

The Bodzin Bass Recipe

Bodzin's Glide Manipulation

He changes the glide/portamento amount within a phrase — not just set-and-forget. Some notes slide, others don't. This makes robotic sequences feel human and unpredictable.

Bodzin on Presets

"What's very important is that this synth doesn't save any presets. I have to create any sound from scratch and very much live. This leads to random results, random errors and random highlights."

— Bodzin on the Moog Matriarch

Translation: On your Digitakt 2 and Diva, start from INIT patches every time. Don't load presets. The 30 seconds it takes to build a patch gives you ownership of the sound.

Bodzin on Melody + Sound Design

"A good melody is only half as good with the wrong sounds. With the right sound, that stupid little 3-tone thing becomes a powerful enduring evolving part with character."

Specific Tricks from Felix Lehrer's Workflow

The MusicRadar Minimal Tip

"Program synth patches with short decay times and zero sustain, turning the sound into a series of blips. Decay time can be automated to add interest. A lot of minimal producers get a great deal of mileage out of making tiny, almost imperceptible adjustments to sounds as the track progresses."

Your Gear → Your Recipe

Hood used an Akai XR20, a microKorg, and a Yamaha QY1000. Handheld Japanese electronics and borrowed gear. You have 10× that.

What to Use for Slow Minimal (~100 BPM)

The One-Session Recipe

1. Digitakt 2: program kick + hat + one perc (4 tracks max)
2. Repro-1: make bass patch from init (saw, filter low, glide on)
3. Write 1-bar bass loop, 3 notes maximum
4. Warmth chain on bass, on drum bus, on master
5. One reverb return (plate style) with warmth chain after it
6. One delay return (ping pong or dub)
7. Perform arrangement live in session view → record
8. Edit recording in arrangement view (trim, not add)
9. Total tracks: 6–8 maximum
10. Finish in one session. Export. Move on.

Bodzin's One-Take Method

He performs tracks live rather than building bar-by-bar. His album Boavista came from selecting 25 pieces from a huge collection, editing/sculpting to 17. "Less pondered-over, more direct and immediate."

For you: Stop building 64 bars in arrangement view. Start with 8 bars in session view. Perform variations live with Digitakt 2. Record the performance. THAT is your arrangement. Edit the recording — trim, not add.

Essential Listening

Study these for your specific sound: slow, ~100 BPM, minimal.

What to Listen FOR

• How FEW elements are playing at any moment
• Where the kick's energy sits (not as much sub as you think)
• How dry/wet the mix is (less reverb than you expect)
• The micro-timing relationships between kick, hat, bass
• How filter automation carries the entire emotional arc
• The noise floor — it's always there in the good ones

Hidden Artist Stories

The buried context that changes how you understand the music.

Hood's Actual Gear

Akai XR20 drum machine. microKorg for basslines. Yamaha QY1000 for sequencing. Tiny handheld Japanese electronics and pawnshop instruments for ~$100 each. "When I didn't have anything, I had to squeeze blood from it."

Hood on What Minimal Actually IS

"It's not just about a kick drum, a hi-hat, a bassline or some Morse code sound, for the sake of being minimal. It's about finding rhythm inside rhythms. If you listen closely to some of those tracks, you find other hidden rhythms inside of the rhythm."

Translation: The hi-hat pattern IS a melody. The kick pattern IS an arrangement. The space between hits IS a sound. Stop thinking of drums as "just drums."

Villalobos' "Easy Lee" Story

His wife made him add the bassline. He would have left it as just drums and voice. Sometimes you need someone outside your head. His tight circle is 10–15 people sharing 4 studios behind Berghain. The feedback loop is tiny and trusted.

Villalobos on Groove

"The most important thing about dance, the secret about the dancefloor, is the rhythm. What relationship the bass drum has with the hi-hat, the snare and the bassline in-between — only little differences define whether it is groovy or not."

Translation: Groove is not swing percentage. It's the RELATIONSHIP between timing of kick, hat, snare, and bass. Move the hat 5ms late. Move the bass note 10ms early. Program by feel, not by grid.

Villalobos' Soft Kicks — On Purpose

"His tracks might sound soft at home, but in the night club the story is quite different. Harder bass drums with long decay don't leave much space in the mix for all the other stuff and details."

If your kick sounds "not hard enough" on monitors but the mix has detail and space, it might be PERFECT for a club. Don't judge club music on laptop speakers.

Hood's 909 Approach

Each voice serves a clearly defined role. The kick is not just rhythm — it's the pulse. Hi-hats structure space. Claps/rimshots build tension without overwhelming. He works with subtle variations within static patterns — adding an offbeat, altering velocity minimally, shifting an accent slightly. Alternating higher and lower-pitched kick drums. Using ride cymbals to introduce transitions.

Sources & Further Reading

The actual interviews, forums, and articles this guide is built from. Open in new tabs to go deeper.

Artist Interviews & Profiles

Kick Drum Design

Bass, Saturation & Warmth

Dynamics, Mixing & Club Translation

Groove, Arrangement & Sidechain

Reverb, Delay & Spatial

Filter Techniques & "Between" Sounds

Harmony & Theory

Bass Bible Extension — Filters, Modulation & Multi-Voice

Companion to Section 02. Everything below assumes: kick owns sub, bass lives 80 Hz+, saw or square oscillator, mono.

1. The Filter IS Your Instrument

The oscillator is lumber. The filter is the carpenter. In minimal techno bass, you're not designing a waveform — you're designing a filter behavior.

Filter Types & Their Bass Character

Cutoff Frequency as Composition

2. Resonance — The Hidden Melodic Layer

Resonance creates a peak at the cutoff frequency. At moderate levels, this peak sings — it adds a second pitch to your bass that moves with the cutoff.

Resonance Zones

The Two-Pitch Bass Trick

Set resonance to 50–65%. Set cutoff to a different pitch than your oscillator note. You now have two pitches: the oscillator fundamental and the resonant peak. These create beating, dissonance, or consonance depending on their interval.

3. Filter Envelope — Independent from Amp

Your amp envelope (ADSR) controls volume. Your filter envelope controls timbre. They should almost never be identical.

The Four Bass Archetypes

Envelope Amount — The Forgotten Parameter

4. Modulation Sources — Making the Filter Breathe

A static filter with a static envelope is a dead bass. Modulation makes it organic.

LFO → Filter Cutoff

Shape matters: Sine = smooth, organic, default. Triangle = slightly more linear. Random/S&H = unpredictable but rhythmic (great on Digitakt 2 free-running LFOs). Ramp = asymmetric tension/release within each cycle.

LFO → Resonance (The Overlooked Modulation)

Modulating resonance instead of cutoff changes how much the filter colors the sound without changing where. The cutoff stays put, but the peak grows and shrinks.

Audio-Rate Filter Modulation (Filter FM)

Route an actual audio-rate oscillator (not LFO) to filter cutoff. The cutoff vibrates at audible frequencies, creating new harmonics.

In Diva: Second oscillator → filter cutoff via mod matrix. Start with sine at 50–100 Hz, very subtle. Increase: clean → gritty → metallic → chaotic.

In Repro-1: Osc B → filter mod at ~10–20%. Creates sidebands around your cutoff — harmonics in the 100–400 Hz range where bass needs to live.

Velocity → Filter (Performance Expression)

In Digitakt 2: Lock velocity per step. Create a velocity pattern different from your note pattern. 8 notes, each with different brightness. Instant complexity from a static pitch sequence.

Envelope → Envelope (Meta-Modulation)

Modulate filter envelope amount with an LFO. Some hits are bright and percussive, others dull and subdued — automatically.

5. Multi-Voice — Not Unison, Not Chords

"Multi-voice" in minimal techno doesn't mean unison stacks (trance) or polyphonic chords (house). It means 2–3 voices creating interference patterns — beating, phasing, and timbral complexity from nearly-identical signals.

Technique 1: Micro-Detune (2–7 cents)

In Repro-1: Set Osc B to same octave as Osc A (not -1), detune 3–5 cents. Filter processes both together — resonant peak interacts with beating, creating additional complexity.

In Diva: Two oscillators, same wave, detune ~0.05–0.10. Add voice drift (30–50%) so detuning wanders — beating rate speeds up and slows down randomly, like real analog hardware.

Technique 2: Interval Stacking (The Bodzin Fifth)

Two oscillators at a musical interval — typically a fifth (+7 semi) or octave (+12). The Bodzin bass uses Osc 1 (root) + Osc 2 (fifth above) + Osc 3 (octave below). Not a chord — a composite timbre.

Technique 3: Cross-Modulation Between Voices

Osc Sync: Osc 2 synced to Osc 1 — every time Osc 1 completes a cycle, Osc 2 restarts. Sweep Osc 2's pitch for screaming, aggressive harmonics that track the root note.

In Repro-1: Enable Sync. Osc B slightly above Osc A. Modulate Osc B pitch with filter envelope. Attack = bright metallic edge, decay = settles into root. Sync harmonics live in 200–2000 Hz — exactly where bass needs presence since kick owns the sub.

Technique 4: Parallel Filtering (Surgeon's Method)

One oscillator split into two signal paths, each with different filter settings.

Mix both, automate Path B's level — when up, bass "opens" into a lead. When down, recedes into sub. In Ableton: Send to two returns. Return A = aggressive LP at 120 Hz. Return B = BP + Auto Filter with moderate resonance. Automate the return levels.

6. Three Patch Recipes

Result: massive, evolving bass where the fifth fades in and out randomly per 4-bar phrase (LFO 2). Voice drift makes detuning between oscillators wander. Automating glide time within a phrase means some notes slide and some don't — the Bodzin humanization trick.

7. Sub vs Bass — The Disambiguation

These are not the same instrument. They don't serve the same function. They don't occupy the same space. Treating them as one thing is the single most common reason home-produced minimal techno sounds amateur.

Definitions

Why Sparse Sub Hits Harder Than Constant Sub

Human hearing adapts. A sub that's always present at -12 dB becomes the new "silence" within 30 seconds — your brain normalizes it. A sub that appears for 2 beats every 4 bars is an event. The room suddenly pressurizes, then releases. Same principle from Bible #04 — "No quiet = no loud."

The Three-Element Low-End Architecture

Expanded version of Bible #02's kick/bass configs, now with sub as its own independent layer:

Building the Pro Sub

The Oscillator: Sine. That's it. Below 80 Hz, harmonics create mud, not richness. A triangle wave at 45 Hz has a 3rd harmonic at 135 Hz that fights your bass and kick body. A sine at 45 Hz is pure weight with zero conflict. If you want the sub to "translate" on small speakers, that's what the bass layer's harmonics are for — the sub itself doesn't need to translate. It's for the room.

The Envelope: Not ADSR — Shaped Curves. A standard ADSR on a sub creates problems: linear attack creates a click/pop at low frequencies, exponential decay drops energy too fast, sustain stage makes it constant and kills the "event" quality.

Tuning: Lock to Root, Check Phase. Sub must be tuned to the track's root note. At these frequencies, even a semitone off creates destructive interference with the kick. Tune to the exact same fundamental as your kick (e.g., both at G#1 / 51.91 Hz).

The Sparse Pattern: Less Than You Think

A typical 8-bar sub pattern in minimal techno:

Bar:  | 1 . . . | 2 . . . | 3 . . . | 4 . . . | 5 . . . | 6 . . . | 7 . . . | 8 . . . |
Kick: | X . X . | X . X . | X . X . | X . X . | X . X . | X . X . | X . X . | X . X . |
Bass: | x . . x | . . x . | x . . x | . . x . | x . . x | . . x . | x . . x | . . x . |
Sub:  | . . . . | . . . . | X . . . | . . . . | . . . . | . . . . | . . . . | X . . . |

Two sub hits in 8 bars. That's it. Bars 3 and 8. When they arrive, the room knows.

Sidechain: Sub Ducks for Kick, Always

The sub and kick cannot both push air at the same time. Period. Even if the sub is sparse, when it does overlap with a kick hit, the kick must win.

Sidechain compressor on sub: Triggered by kick, fast attack (0.1ms), release timed so the sub swells back between kicks (150–300ms at 100 BPM). Ratio 8:1 or higher — when the kick hits, the sub goes quiet. In the gaps, the sub blooms.

Or — time the sub to hit between kicks. Place sub triggers on the offbeats or the "and" of beats where no kick is present. No sidechain needed because they never overlap. Cleaner but less flexible.

The "Elusive" Quality — Why Pro Sub Sounds Different

In VCV Rack: The Sub Patch

Trigger source (sequencer, sparse pattern)
    → SHAPEMASTER or Rampage (shaped envelope, not ADSR)
    → VCA CV input

Sine VCO (tuned to root, e.g. G#1)
    → VCA (controlled by shaped envelope above)
    → LP filter at 80 Hz (clean up any aliasing)
    → Sidechain VCA (ducked by kick trigger → fast envelope)
    → Mixer / Output

8. The Cheat Sheet

Don'ts

FREQUENCY MAP — WHERE EACH LAYER LIVES

20Hz ─────── 80Hz ─────── 300Hz ─────── 800Hz ─────── 3kHz ─────── 12kHz ─────── 20kHz
│             │             │              │              │             │
│ LAYER 1     │             │              │              │             │
│ Drone       │             │              │              │             │
│ 30-80Hz     │             │              │              │             │
│             │             │              │              │             │
│    KICK     │   BASS      │              │              │             │
│    sub tail │   melodic   │              │              │             │
│    30-60Hz  │   80-300Hz  │              │              │             │
│             │             │  LAYER 2     │              │             │
│             │             │  Texture Bed │              │             │
│             │             │  200-800Hz   │              │             │
│             │             │              │  LAYER 3     │             │
│             │             │              │  Harmonic    │             │
│             │             │              │  Wash        │             │
│             │             │              │  800Hz-3kHz  │             │
│             │             │              │              │  LAYER 4    │
│             │             │              │              │  Shimmer    │
│             │             │              │              │  3kHz-12kHz │
│             │             │              │              │             │
│ LAYER 5: Movement — broadband, very quiet, filtered noise sweep      │

SIDECHAIN DEPTH BY LAYER

                    Kick hits
                        │
Layer 1 (Drone)     ────────────────────  No duck (lives below kick)
Layer 2 (Texture)   ──╲___╱─────────────  Gentle duck (30-40%)
Layer 3 (Wash)      ──╲_____╱───────────  Moderate duck (50-60%)  ← cinematic pump
Layer 4 (Shimmer)   ──╲_╱──────────────   Light duck (0-20%)
Layer 5 (Movement)  ────────────────────  No duck (too quiet)

                    │         │
                    0ms       300ms after kick

FREQUENCY OWNERSHIP

20Hz ────── 60Hz ────── 80Hz ────── 100Hz ────── 200Hz ────── 300Hz
│            │            │            │             │             │
│  KICK      │            │            │             │             │
│  sub tail  │            │            │             │             │
│  30-60Hz   │            │            │             │             │
│  (transient)            │            │             │             │
│            │            │            │             │             │
│       SUB               │            │             │             │
│       30-80Hz           │            │             │             │
│       (sparse events)   │            │             │             │
│            │            │            │             │             │
│            │            │  BASS                                  │
│            │            │  80-300Hz                               │
│            │            │  (melodic, rhythmic)                    │
│            │            │            │             │             │
│  DRONE                  │            │             │             │
│  30-80Hz (continuous,   │            │             │             │
│  very quiet)            │            │             │             │

SIGNAL FLOW

Clock (Impromptu CLOCKED)
    → Sparse sequencer (e.g., every 2nd bar)
        → Gate
            → ShapeMaster (ENV mode, draw S-curve attack + concave release)
                → VCA CV input

Triangle VCO (tuned to root note, e.g., A1 = 55Hz)
    → Saturation (gentle — wavefolder at 5-10% or tube model)
        → Low-pass filter at 100Hz (12-18dB slope)
            → VCA (controlled by ShapeMaster above)
                → Output / Mixer

PARALLEL HARMONIC PATH (for translation):

Same Triangle VCO output
    → Heavier saturation (wavefolder 15-20% or tube with more drive)
        → Band-pass 100-200Hz
            → Separate VCA (same ShapeMaster, but attenuated -8dB)
                → Output / Mixer

WHAT GOES WHERE — FINAL MAP

Element       Frequency    Behavior        Sidechain       Level (dBFS)    Pattern
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Kick          30-200Hz     Every beat       None            -6 to -8        4/4
Sub           30-80Hz      Sparse events    None*           -10 to -14      1-2 per 4 bars
Bass          80-300Hz     Melodic/groove   Duck to kick    -8 to -12       Continuous
Drone         30-80Hz      Continuous       None            -18 to -20      Always on
Texture bed   200-800Hz    Continuous       Gentle duck     -16 to -18      Always on
Harmonic wash 800Hz-3kHz   Continuous       Moderate duck   -12 to -15      Always on
Shimmer       3kHz-12kHz   Continuous       Light/none      -18 to -22      Always on
Movement      Broadband    Random           None            -24 to -30      Random

* Sub is not sidechained — it's SEQUENCED to avoid kick collisions