I just published a new tutorial on my Youtube channel. In the first chapter, you will learn how to tune an 808 kick, then, in the second, you will see the steps required to turn a piece of loop into a “synth”.

Phew! Re-reading the above, I realize that it sounds pretty weird. To be more explicit, here’s what it is: know how to find in what key is a kick sample to use it later as bass line. Plus, you’ll see what you have to do, to transform a piece of loop you like into a “synth” that you can use at your discretion and create entirely new melodies.

At first, I take a long 808 kick sample, open it in Edison and use the in-built pitch detector to determine its root key. Before I drag & drop the sample in the channel rack, I set the loop points. Some may ask why I do this? I do it because when I will play the sample with my MIDI keyboard (or draw the notes in piano roll), I don’t want my sample to play its entire waveform. When I release the MIDI key, I want the sample to stop. Also, when I draw the notes in the piano roll, I want the sound to the correspond to the length of note. But of course, choosing to add loop points has its cons: if I keep the MIDI key pressed for a long time, at a certain point the sample will repeat. That’s why I recommend you to work on long 808 kicks, or to find those “sweet” points where, if the loop will repeat, the transition will be smooth, leaving the impression of continuous sound.

Another option to avoid the “muddy” sound would be to uncheck “Use loop points” from “Sample settings” tab, then go through the “Envelope / instrument settings” tab and activate the envelope and set the ADSR as you wish. And on the next tab, you can add some portamento to the bass – a technique widely used in trap music.

In continuation, after I dropped the fresh sample into the channel rack, you will see how to set the root note. We do this because we want the notes to sit properly across the keyboard. After this process, all we have to do is create the bassline. See below the complete tutorial.

FL Studio Tutorial – How to Tune a Sample and Turn It into an Instrument:

The second chapter is about turning a chop into a synth sound. We have to follow the same steps as in the case of bass, except I didn’t set the loop points (the sample I extracted from the loop is short and steep). To give body and presence, I added to it reverb and delay.

But again, returning to the loop points, you can set them in Edison, but only if you have a long sample with uniform body. Just look for the “sweet” points where, if looped, the sound will be continuously, without clicks and pops.

Hoping that I didn’t make you lose your time, until the next tutorial, I wish you all the best and huge inspiration.