Accent and Slide: the two switches that make an acid line | fade.fm

Episode 9 of Acid from Scratch, a beginner series building one acid techno track in a browser tab. Our 303 pattern is eight notes, one on every other step. They all land with the same weight, so the line ticks instead of moving. In this lesson we add the two things that turn a sequence into acid: accent and slide. Accent is a switch on a single step. Turn it on and that one note hits harder: louder, and brighter, because the 303 opens its filter a little further just for that note. Slide is the other switch. Instead of starting the next note cleanly, the 303 bends the pitch into it and carries the sound straight through. That bend is what people call a glide. The rule that catches everyone: a slide glides into the NEXT step, so the next step has to be switched on. Slide a note into an empty step and nothing happens. So before each slide we give it somewhere to go, by moving a note one step earlier so the two sit side by side. What we do, one change at a time: listen to the 303 on its own with the drums pulled down, and hear why it ticks accent step 1 so the bar has a beginning, then switch it off and on to hear it try a second accent halfway, then move it late so the loop tugs forward set the accent knob by ear: enough punch, not shouting move the C to step 4, then slide step 3 into it and hear the pitch climb move the high A to step 14, then slide step 13 into it, a bigger climb prove the rule by sliding a note into an empty step and hearing nothing change accent everything on purpose, hear the mush, then go back to the keepers bring the drums back and run the full loop Everything happens in the app at a normal pace so you can follow along in your own browser tab. Tempo stays at 132 BPM with swing at 57 percent. The 303 is Open303 running in the browser. Next episode: an automation clip that sweeps the filter cutoff across sixteen bars. 0:00 Intro 0:25 Where the line stands 1:34 What an accent is 3:03 A second accent 4:31 How hard they hit 5:05 Giving a slide somewhere to go 6:13 A second slide 7:36 Slides that go nowhere 8:27 Too much, then the keepers 9:20 Wrap-up Open the finished project → https://fade.fm/s/CeQedHNG Start where this episode starts → https://fade.fm/s/TY5tQDk8 #fade.fm #acid techno #303 #tb-303 #acid bassline #accent and slide #music production for beginners #browser music #groovebox #open303 #how to make acid #techno tutorial #beginner producer #make music online #acid from scratch