programming dubstep?

[prodeucer]

I know how to program drum machines and synths but I'm not sure yet how dubstep is any different. Is it 4/4 (for easy editing) but how are the quantizations etc goes? BPM varies but is 140 standard minimum?

Obviously I'm late for the party with dubstep...lol.

 

[scrapheaper]

As a very, very rough starting point, I would say average tempo for dubstep is 140 and typical rhythmic features are snare on beat 3.

However, I think you're thinking about this the wrong way. There are thousands of generic dubstep artists out there...try and be innovative and stand out from the crowd. Take ideas from other genres, or do something entirely new.

 

[bandcoach]

you could do worse than go back to the roots of reggae and reapply some old ideas to your take on dubstep

essentially:

• off beat skank played by any of guitar, keys or horns,
• snare on 3 only,
• 8th note hats with variations
• 4 kicks to the floor or other evolving patterns
• sparseness/minimalism of the early dub plates (lots of space and little in the way of evolving lines for the other instrumentation),
• evolving, riff-like bass passages
• add your own ideas as well

then think about ideas from classic rap where space/minimalism is used for maximum effect

 

[Nystagmus]

I know how to program drum machines and synths but I'm not sure yet how dubstep is any different. Is it 4/4 (for easy editing) but how are the quantizations etc goes? BPM varies but is 140 standard minimum?

Obviously I'm late for the party with dubstep...lol.

140 is a good BPM to start with. And remember that the slower parts are effectively 70 BPM, so they'll fit right into 140.

If you use FL Studio, be sure to play around with setting patterns up to be 64 beats long instead of just 16. It gives a much higher resolution that also allows for some of the triplets/tuplets and 32nd notes. Go to project settings and make sure the math of the meter multiplies into 64 beats. Like 8x8.