My 2 euro cents ,
Generally saying, use a bpm setting between 150 to 170 bpm. Lot of early ragga jungle was in the 160s. Depending on what resolution you want to control your beats in, you can have different bpm / pattern-length ratioās/set-ups.
Iād say, if youāre starting out and donāt want the pattern to wizz at lightning speed before your eyes, begin with the defaults. So, 64 length pattern and 4 lines per beat. When you get the grips with the numbers, you can always switch to double the bpm and pattern-length (or more & using āexpandā in the advanced editor) and create nastier rolls, crazier syncopation.
The easiest thing Iād say to learn drums & bass patterns from jungle tunes or drum-programming period, is either to get a few example .xrns tracks and observe and play around with the placement or analyze samples from tunes you like and try to ārecreateā them in the pattern-editor.
Just sample a (basic)beat track (donāt start out with squarepusher maybe )and cut the sample so it loops perfectly in your pattern-editor (use sync). Then go to the next empty track an place your own samples to match up. You could remove the original loop later on so just your samples remain and build a track. If you repeat this process lots of times numbers will eventually stick.
What I mean with that is that youāll remember patterns. Just like a kick repeating every 4 lines in a 4 to the floor house track (on default settings), with practice after some time youāll dream of the most elaborate patterns without looking at the screen . But, you need to get the basics down and fortunately in Renoise that is very simple.
There are different routes to go and you can mix them freely in a pattern; use hardware & midi to trigger samples, use synced beat-loops, use loops & 9XX offset-command, use smaller loop-parts (divide your beat loops in sections) & use separate hits.
Using synced loops, you wonāt have the freedom of immediate pitching of beat elements without using pitching pattern-commands (1XX & 2XX). A lot of early jungle had snares play around like a melody, so if you want to recreate that kind of sound, Iād use separate hits as well for easy keyboard playing.
When using separate samples: a simple trick to get a nice beat going is to first concentrate on the kicks & snares placement. Then just fill the empty spots with the percussive elements out of a loop. You can be consistent in the placement or just randomly enter in a kit for fun. If youāve used a loop with a lot of different little sounds you can create pretty funky stuff without deliberating on the placement of each percussive hit.
When using the offsetcommand 9XX: You can work with a similar concept. On the default lines per beat and bpm settings, often 900 in a 16 step synced loop (=1 bar) corresponds to the kick, 940 the first snare & 9C0 the ālastā snare. Weāre generalizing here, but you catch my drift
Program in the loop every time a kick or snare should be heard to your taste and itāll trigger the previous said beat-elements from the offset command & values typed in.
Variation example : Now fill in the complete pattern by entering the beat-loop on every step, fill in 9XX on every remaining empty spot for the effect-number and randomly fill in effect-values. If you use increments/decrements of 10 for the effect values itāll all fit in nice and smooth.
To make this more clear, hopefully (EDIT: also check out the ābeat-slicingā tutorial in the Renoise song folder that comes with installing):
When dealing with a 16 step synced loop (=1 bar) on 4 lines / beat setting. This programming should play the sample-loop as if youād trigger it from the keyboard.
00 C-400 ā¦ 900 kick
01 C-400 ā¦ 910
02 C-400 ā¦ 920
03 C-400 ā¦ 930
04 C-400 ā¦ 940 snare
05 C-400 ā¦ 950
06 C-400 ā¦ 960
07 C-400 ā¦ 970
08 C-400 ā¦ 980
09 C-400 ā¦ 990
10 C-400 ā¦ 9A0 kick
11 C-400 ā¦ 9B0
12 C-400 ā¦ 9C0 snare
13 C-400 ā¦ 9D0
14 C-400 ā¦ 9E0
15 C-400 ā¦ 9F0
Now variate the effect values for immediate funk You see how shifting the snares a few steps down creates that syncopated feeling?
00 C-400 ā¦ 900 kick
01 C-400 ā¦ 910
02 C-400 ā¦ 900 kick
03 C-400 ā¦ 930
04 C-400 ā¦ 910
05 C-400 ā¦ 950
06 C-400 ā¦ 940 snare
07 C-400 ā¦ 990
08 C-400 ā¦ 980
09 C-400 ā¦ 970
10 C-400 ā¦ 9A0 kick
11 C-400 ā¦ 9B0
12 C-400 ā¦ 910
13 C-400 ā¦ 9D0
14 C-400 ā¦ 9C0 snare
15 C-400 ā¦ 9E0
You donāt even have to necessarily fill in the blanks:
00 C-400 ā¦ 900 kick
01
02 C-400 ā¦ 900 kick
03
04
05
06 C-400 ā¦ 940 snare
07
08
09
10 C-400 ā¦ 9A0 kick
11
12
13
14 C-400 ā¦ 9C0 snare
15
Experiment with this. Be aware that using different sync lengths in āinstrument settingsā / āsample propertiesā tab influences how the offset command work/sounds. If you exchange the 16 step synced example with the apache sample out of the Renoise instruments folder, which is a 2 bar / 32 step loop youāll hear the difference. Now 920 is the first snare when synced to 32.
Maybe the whole offset bisniz is rather confusing or slightly more time-consuming compared to using other methods. I hardly use it anymore but it never hurts to know.
Personally I rather use separate hits and a combo of synced beat loop-parts using different snap loop settings in the sample editor. Maybe one day Iāll do a video tutorial as this writing takes to much time!
For the bass just use a big ass sub sine wave!
grts
R