r/synthrecipes • u/BoomieMMII • 1d ago

request ❓ Crisp Distorted 808

FL guy here. I really want to figure out how to achieve this crispy 808 sound that's distorted but not obnoxious, kinda like clipping but it's not? idk It's appealing to me.

Examples

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y0Pr63x_rg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TChT68-qsyo
starting kicks of these

https://youtu.be/wyGBnXYEj8I?t=41

at 0:41

2 Upvotes

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u/steve_duda Xfer Serum Creator 1d ago

I think its not so much the sound itself but the "something else" being modulated by the 808 to accentuate the sub frequency "commanding presence". You want to try RM or AM on the vocals or prominent other sounds e.g. (another bass sound layered with the 808).

Because it's sort of "doing that" in a mix sense, however people are often applying RM/AM or really fast sidechain from the 808 to get that distortion on the "other" sounds.

Instead of some sort of crossmod, you could try distorting the heck out of the mix various ways (e.g. 808 mixed absurdly loud / everything else quiet and a compressor or limiter working overtime at fast settings, keeping the dynamic difference from ever being reality due to a ton of gain reduction when the 808 hits). But I think cross-mod approaches will prove to be more sculpt-able and desirable. SerumFX will allow for this however you have options built in to FL with peak controllers, etc.

1

u/BoomieMMII 1d ago

u saved my life

1

u/justifiednoise 1d ago

Duda obviously answered the question very well, but a super layperson version answer might be -- put a limiter that takes side chain input on the sound you want to give that texture to and use your 808 as the input. The 808 will cause the limiter to pump which will then modulate whatever sound it's affecting with that overloaded speaker kind of sound.

1

u/BoomieMMII 1d ago

Woah this also works! Appreciate you guys