programming a 303 is the easiest thing in the world! its only got 1 oscillator, 1 filter and thats practically it!

you can set the oscillator waveform to square or saw. square produces a more honking kind of acid. saw is slightly grittier and less bassy. distortion and drive up to around 2/3 for a harsher, raver kind of acid

the key to a good acid line is the arrangement of the stabs and the accents combined with high resonance and low cutoff. the resonance produces that laser like high pitched screetching quality - you want alot of that. some 303 type synths like audiorealism bassline have a basic envelope which determines how long it takes for the acid stab to literally 'decay' in volume as long as the stab is held. longer decay makes the stab longer and blurs it partially with the next stab.

you can make accents by just raising the note velocity of a particular note. do so at key beats to add abit of punch ('accent') to your 303 line. then just automate teh cutoff so that it rises gradually, squealing till it becomes unbearable. paul maddox does that in pretty much half his tracks so id check out some of his acid lines for inspiration.

lastly you can make 303 type acid lines in practically any synth that has a saw/square wave oscillator. ie. pretty much all of them. but they all have slightly characteristic sounds, some more suited to certain types of acid than others. i like using vanguard for acid cuz the distortion and the oscillators are very gritty and the resonance can go unbearably high - very good for making hollow, harsh hardcore type acid drills. muon tau is much bassier, smoother and less harsh than vanguard and is better for acid basses. audiorealism bassline is widely considered the king of 303 clones and its got a creamy kind of quality that sits well in alot of styles of music.

I think Derivative explained it pretty well, but there is one thing that should be added; layering.
Make several 303 sounds and put them upon each other.
A great tip is to use a sine in one of the sounds that you layer, it will make the 303 sound much better.

Also, you can make 303's the easy way.. reFX Vanguard is great..


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Thanks for the info, I'm just confused how to create patterns. Guess I'll stop being a lazy bastard and read the f*%#@ing manual lol

303 lines are mainly rhythymic. typically in hard house and freeform type music it will only be a single note played in 1/16 stabs which an accent up an octave or down an octave. in techno its typically more organic - it can move up and down any conventional scale with the slide function on and the distortion fairly low to get these smooth, wobbly, wandering kind of lead sounds. a good example of this is the original wipeout soundtrack by cold storage (aka tim wright). he must really like his 303 because hes got at least 1 in every track (in some of them, the last 3 or 4 tracks in particular hes got more - im refering to tentative [which has some insane 303 wobbling] up until the last track, operatique). actually, most of his work is a 303, a 909 drum machine and alot of exquisite vocals.

Thanks Derivative you have cleared somethings up for me!! I'm going to play around when I get home, try some of your tips, hopefully post a sample thats worth posting.

You or anyone have any sort of sample to post??

yea ill get some samples going later. ive only got the bassline demo though so it'll fade in and out - thats normal. ill put up some vanguard hard acid too.

check this link out. Shows ya how to program diff acid sounds
http://www.energyuk.net/music/produ...id=2&criteria=*

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Thanx for the link, elipse. Nothing totally new to me but nice to get some more details.

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quote:

Originally posted by tripudio I'm new the tb-303, just wondering if anyone knows of a tutorial on how to program this thing, to create some nice acid lines. Thanks

Are you using a real 303 or a simulator? The real deal can be a MAJOR pain, especially if the key contacts are dodgy.

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yeah, are you using a real 303 or a software emulation?

one of the most entertaining ways to use the 303 involves setting its pattern length to something shorter than the usual 16 notes.

quick and dirty: plug in a series of notes that fits tonally with your track. randomly plug in octave/rest/slide/accent for them. set the pattern length to something between 7 and 15 notes. start sequencer. play with knobs. tweak rest/slide/accent settings. crank trim knob on mixer to full blast. look up at clock and notice eight hours has gone by, the sun has come up, and there are three voicemails on your home phone asking you why you havent shown up for work yet. not that i'd know.

I'm using audorealism bassline, would love to own hardware.