Chopped break

Break 4 + fills

Break 4

Break 3

Break 2 Filtered

Break 2

Break 1

Evolving Bass Hit

This instrument can be modified to suit whatever style you want to go for. Again, starting with the midi input, the impact of this hit comes from the note length difference (the long followed by the short) because of the filter envelope (mentioned later). If you want a dirtier, more harsh sound, go for intervals between the sub and the square wave such as augmented 4ths or 7ths, which really clash but can be used in your favour.
This hit is made up of the square and the sub, both following the same midi note pattern. Within the square patch, make sure the only oscillator switched on is a square wave. Assign an envelope to the cutoff, and the same envelope to the resonance, and adjust both of these parameters within the filter, making sure the attack and decay of the envelope are slightly up so that you can get an idea of the effect this will have on the synth. EQ out the low end of this channel to allow room for the sub bass.
Use the same sub bass patch settings as the 'Evolving bass' for this synth.
To customise this sound:
 - play with the cutoff and resonance of the filter
 - assign the pitch parameter to an LFO
 - blend the second filter and add the same envelope settings, switching between the two filters

Swung Dissonant Tone

This hit is made up of 2 different sounds - the saw, and the sub bass. Both of these can be made in pretty much any synthesiser, whether it is hardware or within your DAW.
After making the note (with desired pitch bend) in the midi editor, head into the synth editor of the saw sound and begin by shutting off all but one oscillator (set the the saw wave). Make sure the glide parameter is set to the right level to get a deep drop.
EQ out the bottom end of this channel, so that you don't get any phasing issues when adding in the sub bass sound.
To create the sub, have one oscillator running once again, this time set to a sine wave. Set the pitch of the oscillator either 1 or 2 octaves down, depending on the pitch of your note. Don't forget to also set the glide level to the exact same as the saw, so that the two notes move in sync.
EQ the sub bass so that only the bottom end cuts through, this way you won't get any unwanted resonance or clashing between instruments, and it will also give you more room when you drop this sound into a mix.
Tips for making this sound your own:
 - adjust the resonance and cutoff of both instruments until you find your preferable sound
 - add modulation effects such as phasers or flangers to the saw channel, to give it more impact
 - adjust the levels of both instruments together (ensuring neither of them clip)

Buzz Drop

Basic Break Syncopated

Reversed Click Beat

Basic Break

Reversed Hat Break

Basic Break Tambourine Chop

Flanged break

This, like other hits in this playlist, is made up of the main patch and a sub bass track, which both follow the same midi pattern.
The sub is a simple sine wave oscillator set to -12 or -24 semitones, with a low cutoff and resonance, barely any other form of filtering (other than a high cut on the EQ).
The Instrument above it is made up of 3 different sawtooth oscillators, one left untouched, one tuned -5c and one tuned +5c to avoid phasing issues. Rather than assigning the cutoff to an envelope or an LFO, I went into the automation window and put in almost random points for both the resonance and cutoff, which gives it the gritty and uneasy effect.

Messy Resonance Hit

Rolling Bassline

Unlike the others, this sound is only made of one patch, a simple sine tone. The pitch is set to an LFO which makes it wobble, and the resonance and drive are set high. The cutoff is assigned to an envelope. There is also some high bit depth distortion which can barely be heard, but really allows the sound to cut through a mix. The loop can be used to fill gaps between a big noise at the start of a bar and silence at the end, and can be used to bring each bar together. However, when doing this, make sure only one sound plays at a time (either by automating the volume or by adding a side chained compressor to whatever the other sound is), because 2 sub bass patches working at the same time can sound horrible.

Wobbling Sub Pattern

This drone is taken from an old vinyl. To get the best quality sound directly from the record player, hook up the output of the record player to a phono pre-amp, making sure it's correctly grounded, and go from there to an interface. You can then record straight into your DAW, and use the sample with the vinyl noise. When using this particular sample, it would be wise to EQ out some frequency range to make space in your mix, as the noise is very harmonically rich.
In the way of experimentation with this sound, there is loads that can be done:
 - Side chain compress the channel to a kick and/or snare bus, which can make a funky rhythm for a drop. This also means that you don't have to worry as much about the mix, because the of the nature of the compression effect
 - Place the sound into a sampler such as EXS24 or Kontakt, where you can manipulate it and create a melody from it

Vinyl Drone

A simple but powerful effect, which can be used in almost any context. To recreate this sound, take any sample into a Controller, and the virtual disk is spun backwards. Different samples will create different outcomes, so try a few different ones. This works best just before a drop.

Backspin

This is made from a hi hat bank, with a sound playing almost every 1/4 beat. It works really well over any of the breaks, and just adds a layer of texture to the mix.

Jumpy Hats

Sampled from Pendulum's 'Granite', this sound is a tiny cut of a fast arpeggiated synth, with a stereo delay effect made by repeating the sound on 2 different tracks panned hard left and right. To experiment with this, try using different rhythms/playback speed, or automating the amount that the samples pan.

Telephone

This sound starts with an Alchemy preset of a simple saw wave, with the midi pitch automated down as the note progresses. The sample is then bounced and copied onto two channels panned hard left and right. These are routed through a bus, which has various reverbs, giving it its size and impact, and also compression to make sure the sound doesn't clip. The sub bass is then added, following the same midi pattern. Cut out the low end of the saw and the high end of the sub to make sure you don't get any phasing issues between the two, and then route them both through another bus, with a limiter placed at 0dB.
This sound works better with a silence before it kicks in at the start of a bar, which adds even more to its 'massive' character.

Massive Melting Saw Hit

This loop leans towards a lighter mood than most of the others in this pack. The chord sequence can be used effectively in a breakdown, or middle section of a track. If placed correctly, you can use its contrast to some of the darker sounds in the pack to have an impact on the mood of your song. It's made up of lots of triangle and sawtooth oscillators, with a fast attack and slow release, and a slow moving LFO assigned to the pitch. There is also an envelope assigned to the cutoff, which makes each chord trail out.

Dreamy Chord Prog

Chord Riser

Organ chord progression

Dreamy Bass

Snare Buildup

This loop is made using VSTs, and putting the midi data in manually. Playing around with note velocity is what makes this loop sound very realistic. There is loads that can be done with this, such as:
 - playing with a large reverb, making a rhythmic pad/noise instrument
 - adding an automated low/high pass filter in a buildup section

Massive Cymbal Buildup

Demo Track

My Original Creative Project is based on a sample pack, specifically for the modern drum and bass scene set around the ‘Roller’s’ sub-genre.

The project stems from my initial idea of creating a bank of sounds for myself when I produce music, after noticing that different artists can be recognised by looking into their individual sonic palettes, motifs, and repeated loops or sounds. Having used websites to write music such as Splice, I got used to using other people’s samples. I have always seen this as a massive aid, or ‘cheat’ when working, so decided that creating my own array of sounds would be a way of getting past this block. My project aims to make it easier for, and also give bedroom producers ideas to create music, and finish tracks.

Technically, this project was a big chance for me to improve on areas that I’ve not properly explored. I originally wanted to record live drums to use as breaks, replicating old equipment and techniques to create a completely custom-made pack of breaks. Instead of doing this, I spent a lot of time learning how to realistically imitate these loops using drum programming, and then used filters, noise and mixing techniques to make them sound authentic. I also spent a lot of time in synthesisers such as ES2 and samplers like EXS24 and Ultrabeat, and created a lot of sounds from listening to existing tracks and trying to reproduce sounds they used. In this respect, the project has helped me gain a lot more of an understanding of my DAW and branch out into other techniques and software.

Stylistically, I wanted my project to be unique, as the lack of content within this genre on the programmes I was using was part of the reason behind the scheme. Originally I wanted the build to be based solely on 'Roller's', and whilst this still remains the predominant sub-genre, i also ended up touching upon some 'grot', and some festival style loops as well. The only major part of the project I would’ve done differently would’ve been to change my style of work, in that I would’ve written the songs first, and then taken samples from them, rather than building songs using samples that I went though and built individually.

To sum up the project, it has really helped me build upon my skills as a producer. Whilst I didn’t get as much quantity as I would’ve liked to, or as much as professional pack would contain, but I feel that the quality/originality of my content is what makes it so useful to me.

Rollers DnB sample pack

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