What's the best-produced 808 you've ever heard?
I’m studying 808s even after learning more they still feel like one of the hardest parts of production to comprehensively understand. Maybe it’s because 808s don’t feel like normal instruments to me. They feel half musical and technical. I can make them work, but they still feel weird every time I try to really understand them.
What song has one of your faveorite 808s, and why does it work so well?
It could be the tone, slide, distortion, rhythm, mix, or how it sits with the kick.
If you have any videos, synth tips, or methods for making 808s in Serum, Vital, Sytrus, flex, 3xosc, or another synth, drop them too.
I love ULTRA VIOLET - Thouxanbanfauni, produced by Black Mayo.
Kinda feels sub heavy, has a softer attack, holds long enough to fill, and is saturated without sounding destroyed. It also sounds well on every system I've played it on, especially cheap speakers. It's kind of cheating because the beat is already one of my favorites without the 808.
For Vital to sound similar to that song specifically, I would start with a sine wave or triangle wave, pitch it to the sub range, add short pitch envelope for the knock, keep the attack slightly soft, use longer sustain/release, then add light saturation or distortion after the oscillation. Personally I like the triangle waves more, yet I believe that is a sine wave used in the song.