808 From Scratch (3x Osc)

Step 1. Base

Start by opening 3x OSC.

Set your shapes to sine.

Turn all 3 coarse knobs to the left.

Step 2. Sound Shaping

Now that we have our base sub sound, we need to shape it.

Start by opening the gear icon at the top left of your 3x OSC.

Open the ADSR panel.

Shape the envelope according to the example shown here. (Note that the attack and release are NOT at 0 they still need some value to avoid producing artifacts.)

Step 3. Kick

Now that you have the base sub and the correct shaping of the sound, it’s time to add that little "kick" you hear in most 808s. The reason you hear this kick sound is because the 808 is changing octaves very quickly, giving it a nice attack.

Now back to the tutorial!

Step one: Go to the pitch panel in your 3x OSC ADSR panel and shape your envelope like mine. Feel free to alter this in any way you want for different sounds, as this might lead to a more glidey 808. Once you’re done with that, put it into a pattern, place a long MIDI note around 8 bars long, and put it into the playlist. Once done, move on to the next step.

Step 4. Post Processing

Congratulations (insert confetti)! You are now on your way to becoming a pro! (Not really, maybe in like 3 years.) But! Here’s your finished 808.

Start by right-clicking the pattern in your pattern menu and clicking "Render and Replace" from the dropdown menu. Once rendered out, you should see a waveform that looks similar to this:

Now that we have our finished sound, start by dropping it into a mixer track. The effects that we should start off with usually should be:

An EQ
Saturation
Stereo

This is the step when you can get creative because it’s all about the finished sample. Boost some lows, boost some highs, add an RM filter, add a resonator. This is all up to you, depending on your sound style and more.