Learn · All Quick-Starts · 6 min
ROOT
quick-start.
Turn a melody loop into an editable, in-key 808 bassline and drag it into your session as MIDI.
6 steps · every control name is the real one · Instrument
Feed it audio
Drop a loop on SOURCE (or IMPORT it, or press LISTEN to capture what's playing in the DAW) — ANALYSIS shows the KEY, SCALE, TEMPO and DETECTED ROOTS, with a MATCH confidence in the header. RE-ANALYZE if you change the section; the 808 line is built from these roots.
Generate a pattern
In GENERATOR pick a STYLE (the genre shapes the pattern), set BARS (2 / 4 / 8 / 16) in SUGGESTED 808 PATTERN, and hit GENERATE VARIATION. The PATTERN 1–8 tabs keep several candidates so you can flip between them; SAVE PATTERN stores one.
Shape the groove
Work the generator knobs: COMPLEXITY for how busy the line is, SLIDE for 808 glides between notes, SWING and BOUNCE for the pocket, HUMANIZE for subtle timing/velocity variation, OCTAVE for range.
Edit in the piano roll
Fix anything by hand in the piano roll — drag notes to move, right-click to delete, select notes and press SLIDE to glide them, set GRID (1/8 – 1/32) for quantize resolution and use − ⤢ + to zoom. Play ORIGINAL or 808 from the transport to audition against the source.
Pick the 808 SOUND
Choose CLEAN SUB, DISTORTED or SHORT DECAY from SOUND to audition the line the way it'll sit in the beat; the 808 VOICE panel (ATTACK, DECAY, TAIL, HEAD, CLICK, DRIVE, TONE) fine-tunes it, and MIX in MASTER blends the 808 against the source.
Drag out the MIDI
Hit EXPORT MIDI under MASTER — or grab the strip at the very bottom and drag the pattern straight into your arrange window onto your own 808: right bar, right pitches, right lengths. Your piano-roll edits ride along.
Pro moves
Once it's working.
- SWING around 16–18% is the trap pocket most references sit in — start there before going extreme.
- BLEND takes two or more REFERENCES and fuses their root movement into one hybrid progression — MODE picks INTERLEAVE, SEQUENCE or MORPH.
- If detection misses on a dense loop, feed it a section where the chords are exposed (intro, breakdown) and generate from that. Piano-roll edits persist with the session.
