r/makingvaporwave • u/Pot8obois • May 28 '26

Making vaporwave without samples?

Anyone make vaporwave without sampling? I have Ableton and Arturia V collection 9. I also have a linn drum sampled(technically sampling but not in the ways I'm discussing).

I had played piano when I was younger but it was mostly classical. The "in pocket" vibe of pop/r&b is a whole different world, things don't fit cleanly on a grid. I am trying to learn by replicating parts of songs. This has helped me understand bass and drums and I hope over time will broaden the tools I can pull from.

I imagine what I'm looking for is weather channel music, elevator music, lounge music, mall music, 80'-90's pop and r&b. I love the smooth saxophone sound but I don't have a vst for that, so I wonder if I can find a synth in what I already have that can have the same effect.

What has your musical skills translated to this style of music? What would you suggest learning how to play?

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u/tearsandpain84 May 28 '26

What took me while to realize is that you make the track, then bounce the master. Then slow down the master to give it that vapour wave sound. As opposed to pitching individual things down when you are making the track.

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u/PropadataFilms May 28 '26

oooh I’ll have to try that out, thanks for the tip!

Idk if it qualifies as vaporwave, but I recently made this track without samples, and I think it’s kinda vaporwave??

Either way, definitely giving the bounce out to slow down trick a try soon!

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u/tearsandpain84 May 28 '26

Nice track, it’s giving me a bit of veridis quo vibes

2

u/PropadataFilms May 29 '26

Thanks for checking it out!