Pro 808 Help

NYJ

New member
I have a song in A minor.
When i play the 808 in the key of A.I don't like the sound.But when i play in the key of C,it sounds perfect.Is this ok,or is my 808 out of tune some how?

please keep in mind that i already tuned the 808.
 
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There's more to stopping clashes than just making sure you use notes from the same key.

It depends on which notes the rest of your track is playing specifically.

Post an example, otherwise we can't tell
 
Does A minor have C in it? Yes, yes it does. And even if you played it in an off-scale note, it wouldn't be out of tune, it'd be out of key. Still not necessarily wrong, but it might sound odd.

But all that said, if it sounds perfect, what's there to worry?
 
Generally, the best keys I have found that work best when making 808 style tracks are anything between E & F#, maybe G. This is because if you play an 808 at A it's generally going to be loud af and have lots of resonant frequencies. If C & D are your tonic and you intend on using them a lot in your sound they are generally too low and are going to be inaudible on most regular speakers. There is a more technical explanation for all this but i'm too lazy to explain why using a sub with a fundamental of like 30 something hz is not really the best idea. 42 hz is bangin' though. Do a sine wave sweep between 20 hz and 500 hz and you will hear how the loudness changes as the frequency changes. Find the frequency that is just right, like the 3 little bears type shit.

Basically, try writing your song in E minor if you want some nice subby 808's.

Cheers,
Chris
 
Short and simple. Check what key your 808 sound is on. Its probably not on middle C, so you really think you're playing A but you're playing C. If you use FL Studio (use Edison to check the pitch) if you use Ableton (Use Tuner) Logic Pro has something similar in the utility plugins
 
One thing with 808s is that transposing samples changes the harmonic content. So, a sample that sounds great playing one note doesn't sound so great on another note.
 
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