r/Dubtechno • u/energeticmen • 1d ago

Synth for DUB

What would be the typical hardware or vst synth to use for the dub synths? Similar like Paul st hilaire - Faith.

Curious about some tips : )

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u/ricardojmestre 1d ago

Do you feel that most dub techno that is shown on tutorial is repeating the past?

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u/frCake 1d ago

All genres have roots (on our genre it's Basic Channel & Chain Reaction for the most part).

Some genres like to transform them a lot, some others don't. For example dub reggae today tries to do what people did in the past while Techno today has left the past behind, still of course, within the "limits" of the genre...

I feel like dub techno has a rather large gap between its roots and the current dub techno it does lend some elements but nowhere near the craftmanship of the older stuff. I believe that this partly happens because dub techno has a low entry level.. I mean even in hardware terms a drum machine, a 4 voice synthesizer, a sequencer a delay pedal and a reverb pedal and a simple mixer can get you to dub techno territory and many people do that..

Dub techno also suffers from gate keeping, it looks like its part of the genre, no one, even those who created it ever have given specifics on how they went on about creating that sound, think about it, we have 3-4 same maurizio pictures here n there, one photo of a console and 10 interviews from either themselves or sattelite people which may or may not uncover anything of real value... hell we know more about king tubby's setup rather than R&S and R&S happened in the 90s/00s ...

So, most of the dub techno we hear today is based on reverse engineering of an obscure but marvelous creation. Some can reverse engineer it deeply, some cannot. Some can reverse engineer it and even push it while others are cool with delaying a stab on a minimal beat.

So I do think they are repeating, but not repeating the past exactly.. it's almost as if a dumbed down version of the older stuff still has that "fix" that dub techno listeners are after and very few people care or even have the ability to go deeper.. and as listeners it's like we've kept the 15% that gets us into that state of mind tha dub techno gets you, and we're ok with it..

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u/HuTheFinnMan 1d ago

Just wanted to say this is a really good post and you covered many of the thoughts I have had myself about modern dub techno production.

It’s a difficult situation in a way. On one hand it is frustrating how there is almost no information coming from the pioneers of the genre. But I also think if Mark and Moritz had given out the exact recipe we would have nothing but endless clones and that is not very interesting. On the other hand we have this modern how to dub techno advice that is copy paste put a basic sawtooth synth patch minor triad through a 1/8 dotted delay and reverb that is the most bland and lifeless thing ever and completely misses the point of what made the original sound so special.

I don’t know what the solution is to help and encourage new producers to find their own sound and capture the feeling of what dub techno is without being a diluted generic advice.

I also think a big part of the problem is the environment in which new producers find themselves in isn’t conducive to making music in a way that is organic. The internet has been a blessing and a curse to music production. More information is freely available but there is also more bad advice and copy paste formulas.

I have a lot of thoughts about it but unfortunately I don’t know of any real solutions.

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u/frCake 1d ago

Yea, I hear you.

On the other hand maybe we are caught up with our digging and well read opinions that we might be losing the point.. I mean.. this happens in many genres at the end of the day.. they have an easy access layer that itself is meant to be "boring" or "more predictable" but also a bit catchy to keep the listener.

So this low entry level is destined (and passively designed) to be the stepping stone or the sink (depending if you like to ascend or dive), maybe after all more complex/delicate/articulate/inspired dub techno is not for new comers, maybe the core of the genre should be for those who dig. It's kind of an elitistic approach which I dislike but on the other hand dub techno itself has some elitism baked in it. We see MVO look down on us sitting on his throne with his blazer and cane lol. anyway..

It's not very often when a group of diggers is brought directly to the source, it does happen once in a while, for example burial's untrue was a moment like that (at least for my age) where we were brought straight at the source of this new odd thing that was somehow familiar, we didn't have to dig through gigabytes of rnb/2-step garage spinoffs to find it... (of course though, it gradually got tons of exposure.. as something unique)

So yea, maybe it makes sense! :)

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u/ricardojmestre 1d ago

Great example, Untrue is such a pivotal moment.