Breakcore Visuals

[Quinton Hebenstreit]

Breakcore music always got me intrigued, the same with Drum and Bass, but Breakcore goes a level more complicated in the sense of drums. There are a lot more tricks applied, such as short repeated slices where the pitch goes up, or stretched or filtered or bitrate reduction. Often other kind of drums are used, mixed in, like hardcore or stabs.

I can't comment on which DAW is right for you. NS2 and FLSM would be my choices. FLSM isn't AUv3 compatible (yet, it's on the roadmap though), but FLSM not only has Slicer but also has an IAP with old school breakbeats that can be used in Slicer. But NS2 is AUv3 compatible, and if you're on an iPad, you can use the Splat-To-Clat drum rompler which has both drum kits and drum chops.

Yes, Sunfox has the traditional tracker approach. Maybe something wizardry can be accomplished with midi when used as AUv3.
Beatmaker 3 can do pitch on a sample in the timeline, but never explored a way to put effects driven by midi.

I thought the slices could be played back individually. But like I said, Splat-to-Clat in NS2 should cover your breakcore sample needs and loops. I just used it to produce Drill. That said, Drambo is always a great solution.

Cool! Plenty of vids on Youtube about it. The set up is a little confusing as you have to download the sounds in standalone mode once you purchase the app, but once the sounds are downloaded, you're good to go. Pro tip - Splat to Clat does utilise long presses to access various functions, which I think is handy so I don't accidentally access menus when tapping out a beat.

I have watched some video's. It's a good drum app with lots of tweaking possibilities, but i think i'm going to route where you can trigger slices in a loop (Drambo, sEGments etc.). Or maybe i should dive into JammPro again.

I want to dabble with glitch-hop and similar stuff, and was thinking of ways to make changes between different bass sounds.
Before, I did cuts on the sequences and waves. But you just gave me the awesome idea to keep all sequences and waves full and experiment with cutting the levels... That way I can experiment more before commiting

In AUM, when you have set-up multiple channels, Go to menu >> Midi Ctrl >> Channels.
Tap the channel you want and tap channel controls. There you can assign CC's to channel controls.
Tap the volume and switch from CC to Note and also assig a note to it. You can also set the volume when the note is played.
Open Atom as a Midi instrument, and in the midi-routing matrix of AUM, connect Atom to MIDI Control.
In atom you can play a note that was assigned to the volume control.
Every time that note is played, the volume goes up.

I have tried Loopmix and see how far i could get. I found it too limited in what i had in mind. It is at it best for drum/percussion grooves on top of a base drum pattern (4 on the floor). I "mis"-used it with drone loops in combination with a midi-sequencer that triggers the notes under the Remixes section to get more randomness. The output was too cold and some fx (FAC Alteza for example) glued it all together.
Maybe Turnado could be a good option instead of Effectrix. I should examine what can be controlled by MIDI.

Breakcore is a genre of music born from a mixture of Hardcore, Gabber, IDM, Jungle, Digital Hardcore, Hardcore Punk, Grindcore and Industrial. Breakcore is characterized by the usage of heavy kick drums, deep bass, odd time signatures, "scattered breaks" put in a random rhythmic fashion, and diverse samples ranging from popular songs to classical music played at high tempos (180-300 BPM).

Whether Breakcore has its own distinctive aesthetic or not remains a complex question. Older Breakcore songs and album covers are very diverse and have no clear distinct sense of design, although new-generation Breakcore (and also Atmospheric Drum 'n' Bass) artists often take influences from Y2K Futurism anime, manga, and music and are very heavily edited in a style similar to Glitchcore, Old Web, or Animecore.

As the early days of Hardcore Techno (or simply Hardcore) began to settle in Europe, Breakcore as a genre began to take more concrete forms in other parts of the world. Inspired by new labels such as Addict (from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA), Peace Off (from Rennes, Brittany, France); Sonic Belligeranza (from Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy) and Planet Mu, (from London, England), the genre began to take a new shape, adding in more elements of mashup and IDM to the hardcore and drum n' bass sounds. Each of these labels began to put aspects of their own social and aesthetic scenes into their music, allowing for an even broader definition of what was possible in music. In Notes on Breakcore, Society Suckers explained that Breakcore grew out of the mid-1990s Acid House Rave culture and disdain for Neo-Nazis and their attempt at co-opting Early Hardcore (more known as Gabber in the Netherlands).

In Europe, the Breakcore genre was solidified by raves and club events such as Belgium's Breakcore Gives Me Wood, featuring local acts such as UndaCova and Sickboy; Breakcore A Go Go, in the Netherlands, which was run by FFF and Bong-Ra; as well as Anticartel, in Rennes, the seat of PeaceOff, and later, Wasted, in Berlin and Bangface in London.

Breakcore has been subject to changing and branching. Many newer Breakcore artists (such as Mochipet and later Venetian Snares) focus on melodic progressions (to classical music composition) and complex drum programming while other artists still focus on distorted and cut hardcore breakbeats, other than dark-edged musical influences (such as heavy metal and industrial). The artist Venetian Snares has produced breakcore blended with elements of classical music, in its later phase. Other artists such as Shitmat, Sickboy, DJ Scotch Egg, and Drop the Lime take another direction towards mash-up, happy hardcore, and rave to make a lighter, more humorous sound. The rise of chiptune music has also blended with breakcore with artists such as Tarmvred.

The UK Free Party scene has also expressed a large interest in producing and distributing its takes on breakcore, with crews and labels such as Life4land, Hekate, Headfuk, and Bad Sekta helping to push the scene and sound forward, as well as bringing over several international artists to play at their parties and club nights. Breakcore is steadily gaining in popularity, and aspiring artists are found scattered across the Internet.

In Breakcore: Identity and Interaction on Peer-to-Peer, sociologist Andrew Whelan notes that Venetian Snares has become "synonymous with breakcore such that alternative styles are being sidelined." He adds that breakcore is the best example of a music genre whose development is intrinsically linked to online and peer-to-peer distribution.

The most defining characteristic of breakcore is the drum work, which is often based on the manipulation of the Amen break and other classic jungle and hip-hop breaks, at high BPM. The techniques applied to achieve this differs from musician to musician, some preferring to cut up and rearrange the breaks, while others merely distort and loop breaks or apply various effects such as delay and chorus to alter the break's timbre.

Melodically, there is nothing that defines breakcore clearly. Classic rave sounds such as acid bass lines, Hoovers, and Reese bass are common, but breakcore is mostly known for sampling sounds from all over the musical spectrum to accommodate the frantic and fast-paced nature of the rhythm section. Around the turn of the century, more and more breakcore musicians began employing traditional synthesis techniques to compose elaborate melodies and harmonies. There are a growing number of musicians who make use of recorded live instrumentation in their music. These musicians include Istari Lasterfahrer, Hecate, Benn Jordan, Ruby My Dear, Qatros, Venetian Snares, and Igorrr.

According to Simon Reynolds of The New York Times, breakcore is "purveyed by artists like DJ/Rupture and Teamshadetek. The music combines rumbling bass lines, fidgety beats, and grainy ragga vocals to create a home-listening surrogate for the bashment vibe of a Jamaican sound system party. Others within the breakcore genre, like Knifehandchop, Kid 606, and Soundmurderer, hark back to rave's own early days, their music evoking the rowdy fervor of a time when huge crowds flailed their limbs to a barrage of abstract noise and convulsive rhythm. It's a poignant aural mirage of a time when techno music was made for the popular vanguard rather than a connoisseurial elite, as it is today."

c80f0f1006