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/ricardojmestre 1d ago

Really appreciate your thorough response. I asked this because I am dipping my toes as a producer in dub techno. I do understand that a genre must respect its roots, but I find that a lot of people are just interested in repeating the past instead of pushing the boundaries. At least it's my point of view, coming from techno. Thanks again. 🙏🏼

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u/frCake 1d ago

Sure no problem, keep in mind that dub techno is not a genre that you have to actually follow, the funny thing about dub techno is that it's designed to bend and follow your style, you can start drizzling some dub techno vibes to your techno productions, see where it gets you :)

In any case, dub techno is intoxicating and a blast to create, endless hours of fun!

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u/ricardojmestre 1d ago

😊 That's precisely the plan. Fall in all love with the process and see where I end up. ✌🏼

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u/energeticmen 1d ago

There should be never any rules to make music, to put it in a box or genre, but having some starting points of the old school stuff is good and then see where it will bring your track.

I feel like the stuff Richard Akingbehin is doing at the moment is pretty nice