Captain Pikant

Poll Results

The results are in! 808 State's "Pacific State" beat The Knife's "Heartbeats" by one single vote (24 vs. 23 votes, both rounded to 13%). Both are heading into the transcription queue :) To be honest there were a lot of really interesting patterns among your recommendations, so don't be surprised if a few of them turn up as well ;)

Today we're continuing post-production of the next video. Currently we're photoshopping a drum machine onto a monkey...

All the best
Captain Pikant &...

Devo - Big Mess (Drum Pattern No. 91)

This is my drum pattern transcription in the style of "Devo - Big Mess". Devo may not be doing so well in the ongoing pattern poll but we already had this pattern in our pipeline. Due to reasons yet to be disclosed. Maybe an end jam. Maybe not. Who knows ;) Take a listen, it's one hell of a catchy song and the pattern features an insanely energetic tom fill. It's also the only song we know of that has a metronome running in the background. Ideal for rhythm practice!

Difficult...

We want your favourite tom fills

Hello everyone! We're working on a few new scripts and we were wondering if you have some suggestions for interesting tom fills. We already transcribed a few classics like Michael Sembello's "Maniac" or Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" but we're curious what your favourites are :) Leave us a comment!

Drum Patterns Explained: 15 Step by Radiohead

Hello everyone! The newest Drum Patterns Explained episode is about "15 Step" - one of the most interesting and unique drum patterns we've come across yet. We received many requests for Radiohead songs - but even if Radiohead is not your cup of tea, this video will show you how to break away from the 4/4 time signature and it contains lots of little tips and tricks on how to sculpt a beat.

We took this as an opportunit...

Pattern Poll

Thanks everyone for sending in your pattern recommendations! Now it's time to cast your vote - which of these patterns should we transcribe?

Note: We have already transcribed the first few bars of Aphex Twin's Flim, so voting for this pattern means we will continue working on it :) As mentioned before due to technical reasons we couldn't include every pattern in the poll, so we had to limit it...

Captain Pikant hits Major Milestone - Two injured, three in the hospital

Hello everyone! In the wake of our Kraftwerk video our little YouTube channel has grown to an amazing 50.000 subscribers!!! We'd like to take this opportunity to thank you once again for making all this possible. Almost three years ago we started out as two people in a basement making videos for our own personal enjoyment - and today we still do, but our videos get watched by a lot more people ;) 

Everything we do is funded exclusively by you. We have no sponsorships or affiliate l...

Call for Patterns - Your Suggestion for the next Drum Pattern Poll

Hello everyone! It's time again to throw your suggestions into the hat - which drum patterns should we transcribe?

Until the 30th of April 2023 add one comment under this post containing one single suggestion:

• Artist Name - Track Title
• A link to the track (e.g. YouTube)
• Only one suggestion per person

Example:
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
2023-04-23 16:04:54 +0000 UTC View Post

Outkast - B.O.B. (Bombs over Baghdad) (Drum Pattern No. 90)

Update 2024/01/13: Added missing quadruple substeps in variation 7

This is my drum pattern transcription in the style of "Outkast - B.O.B. (Bombs over Baghdad)". This is the runner-up from our last drum pattern poll (the next call for patterns will be this sunday) and a hot candidate for a "Drum Patterns Explained" episode! It's an awesome uptempo beat that features a fe...

Berlin - Take My Breath Away (Drum Pattern No. 89)

This is my drum pattern transcription in the style of "Berlin - Take My Breath Away". There were so many good entries in our last pattern poll that we just had to do the runner-up as well. And since it was a tie it won't be hard to guess the next pattern ;) Oh and another pattern poll is coming soon!

Difficulty rating: 🐇
2023-04-12 16:08:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Features + bugfixes we suggested in the new Donner B1 firmware

We're very happy to report that following our recent review of the 303-style Donner B1 bass synth the manufacturer has just released a firmware update in which they implemented a few of our suggestions:

• Legato slides (more authentic 303 behaviour)
• The editing offset bug is fixed - modifying sequences is now much more pleasant.
• A safety to avoid losing unsaved changes: When trying to switch to a ...
  2023-04-09 11:30:15 +0000 UTC View Post

WAV samples from our Kraftwerk video

Since not everybody has access to a Syntakt and ours was already warmed up we decided to sample the sounds from our previous post so you can use them in any sampler. The Robots bass can of course not be accurately captured in a single sample because there is a lot of interaction with the filter happening.

The Syntakt presets from our Kraftwerk video

We are already busy working on the next "Drum Patterns Explained" episode, but today we found some time to save and export the Syntakt sounds from our Kraftwerk video as presets for you. You can load these into your Syntakt with the Elektron Transfer app. Here are some additional remarks:

CP ROBOTS BASS: Automate the filter envelope depth to make the filter "sing" a overtone melody in addition to what the bass plays.

CP ROBOTS CLICK: Overlay these...

Four Tet - Love Cry (Drum Pattern No. 88)

This is my drum pattern transcription in the style of "Four Tet - Love Cry". Thanks to your fellow Patron type inference for recommending the song! The original is of course played by a human, but I adapted it to two velocity levels (accent/no accent) and made a LinnDrum version for the sound sample :) A very hypnotic two-bar groove that doesn't get boring.

Difficulty rating: 🐇🐇
Listen to the origin...

Drum Patterns Explained: Kraftwerk

Hello everyone! We apologize that it has been a while since our last release. But we hope you agree that the time was well spent. To do these pioneers of electronic music justice, it needed a longer video instead of six individual episodes of "Drum Patterns Explained". And it didn't feel right to simply show the drum patterns out of context, so we went all out and did microcovers for all six of them :) It's thanks to your support that we're able to devote this much time and love to a topic - ...

Kraftwerk - Computer Love (Drum Pattern No. 87)

This is my drum pattern transcription in the style of "Kraftwerk - Computer Love". Maybe all these Kraftwerk drum patterns are leading up to something. Who knows...

Difficulty rating: 🐇
Listen to the original 🎧

Kraftwerk - The Robots (Drum Pattern No. 86)

This is my drum pattern transcription in the style of "Kraftwerk - The Robots". Is it possible to have too many minimalist drum patterns?

Difficulty rating: 🐇
Listen to the original 🎧

Kraftwerk - Spacelab (Drum Pattern No. 85)

This is my drum pattern transcription in the style of "Kraftwerk - Spacelab". All right, let's see where this is going.

Difficulty rating: 🐇
Listen to the original 🎧

Kraftwerk - The Model (Drum Pattern No. 84)

This is my drum pattern transcription in the style of "Kraftwerk - The Model". Okay, three drum patterns by the legendary electronic music pioneers in one day. This can't be a coincidence.

Difficulty rating: 🐇
Listen to the original 🎧

Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express (Drum Pattern No. 83)

This is my drum pattern transcription in the style of "Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express". Wait a minute... Two transcriptions in one day? Something must be afoot.

Difficulty rating: 🐇
Listen to the original 🎧

Kraftwerk - Radioactivity (Drum Pattern No. 82)

This is my drum pattern transcription in the style of "Kraftwerk - Radioactivity". Hey, didn't we already have a Kraftwerk transcription last month?

Difficulty rating: 🐇
Listen to the original 🎧

The font in the "thank you" section

Recently some commenters on YouTube have been asking for the font we use in the "thank you" section of our videos. To make it short: That's actually not a font, it's my handwriting. I draw all of these by hand, every single one's different :) Currently I use a 2mm chisel tip calligraphy marker. I've tried out a lot of them and the one I like best is actually a no-name brand I once picked up at a discount-store chain.

In the picture you can see the newest batch of name tags. I usually ma...

Polyend Play Cheat Sheet

Update 2023/08/06 1.2: New firmware 1.4.1 features, separate pad keyboard and piano roll sections, updates to smart fill, variations, MIDI chord inversions. A big thank you to Sébastien Barré for your input on the Cheat Sheet!

Update 2023/03/09 1.1: Added notes on randomization

We currently have a Polyend Play in our studio and of course I made a Cheat Sheet for it :) The concept of this machine is quite interesting and different from your regular groovebox or ...

A very good day for all Digitakt users out there

Elektron has just released firmware 1.50 for the Digitakt. It introduces a load of awesome features that I honestly never thought would be implemented in the existing hardware:

• Sample rate reduction (on the second filter page)
• Machines (like Syntakt, Rytm or Cycles). There are four of them and they all offer different ways of playing samples. Assign a machine with FUNC + SRC.
• Oneshot machine: The good old Digitak...
  2023-03-01 14:59:31 +0000 UTC View Post

Duke Dumont - The Giver (Original Mix) (Drum Pattern No. 81)

Update 2024/05/28: Completely reworked transcription and more accurate samples

This is my drum pattern transcription in the style of "Duke Dumont - The Giver (Original Mix)". Thanks to our patron "Tonight's Special Guest" for recommending this song!

Difficulty rating: 🐇🐇🐇
Listen to the original 🎧

Synthstrom Audible Deluge Cheat Sheet

After many many hours of work the Deluge Cheat Sheet is now finally done :) It's truly amazing what this machine is capable of. We're pretty happy with the scope we selected for the Cheat Sheet - it's not bloated and gives you a good grip of the Deluge workflow with the newest firmware 4.0.1. The Cheat Sheet is based on the classic Deluge with the numeric display but of course also works with the newer OL...

Kraftwerk - Autobahn (Drum Pattern No. 80)

Many of you have asked for it: Here's my drum pattern transcription in the style of Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" - a true classic of electronic music. This is based on the single edit, which runs at 4:35 and is easier to digest than the 22:48 minute album version. The rhythm is a bit uncharacteristic for Kraftwerk as it contains swing.

Starting with this transcription we're trying out a slightly optimized layout. It's a bit more condensed and should save you some paper and toner when printing...

Status Update

Hello everyone! We wanted to let you know that we are working hard on a pretty time-consuming video right now. It involves analysing quite a few drum patterns and also doing research through books and documentaries. And there are also a handful of mini-jams involved! The video will be accompanied by at least 5 drum pattern transcriptions, which will be released after the video this time so we don't spoil the surprise :) There may be one smaller video coming first, but that's still TBD. As alw...

Orbital - Halcyon + On + On (Drum Pattern No. 79)

Here's Orbital's "Halcyon + On + On", the winner of the last drum pattern poll. For sanity reasons I promised myself not to go hunting for specific samples. Against better judgement I then ignored these plans and spent the last few days finding what I believe to be the exact sounds used by Orbital!

If you're familiar with the song or have a good ear for sounds then I'd be very grateful if you cou...

Donner B1 Review

Hello everyone! The Donner B1 review is ready. We selected a few nice 303 patterns to test drive it and The Intern even made a transcription of "Raga Bhairav" which is included in the video.

While programming the patterns we noticed something odd that we haven't seen mentioned elsewhere yet... If you've watched our How to 303 on a Syntakt video or you have studied our 2023-01-27 17:06:32 +0000 UTC View Post

Donner B1 Syn Bass Cheat Sheet

Update 2023/08/21 1.2 (for firmware 1.1.0): We're happy to report that Donner has implemented another two of our suggestions: There's now a song mode for chaining patterns and you can see the note pitches on the pads. Other changes: Shortcuts for clearing/randomizing/changing the length of a pattern have been moved from PATTERN to PLAY, in edit mode a few functions have become momentary instead of latching (octave switching, gate length, ratchets) and when entering a series of steps, modi...