Sabrepulse — Getting started with LSDJ tutorial (mirror at Adventure Kid)

A beginner's walkthrough of lsdj by sabrepulse that builds one small song — bass, lead, kick, snare and hats — screen by screen. Adventure Kid mirrored it because the original "seems like it is falling off the internet"; the text is undated and uses the pre-8.1 ENVELOPE field. It is the wiki's second beginner course beside s-infu-getting-started-with-lsdj.

Key claims#

• Structure in one sentence: the song screen holds chains, chains hold phrases, phrases hold notes, and instruments tell notes how to sound. Parameters are changed by holding A and pressing a direction; SELECT+direction moves between screens. Tempo (Project screen, SELECT+UP from Song) set to 140 BPM.
• Bass (PU1): A,A creates chain 01, then phrase 01; C3 on rows 2, 6, A, E. Put phrase 01 four times in the chain, then clone the copies — SELECT, then B, then A on the phrase number gives an unused number with the same content — "the backbone of working quickly and efficiently". Phrases of C, E, A and B notes make the progression. Instrument BASS: envelope from the default A9 to something "short and punchy" like D3; duty 50 % ("a good low bassy sound").
• Lead (PU2): instrument 01 LEAD1, envelope C2, duty 25 %; melody C6 E6 C6 F6 C6 D6 C6 A6 every second row. C07 on the first note turns it into a chord ("try a couple more"). O panning L on rows 1, 5, 9, D and R on rows 3, 7, B, F — between the notes rather than on them, which "gives a better stereo effect" and leaves the note rows free for other commands.
• Kick on the same channel as the bass: the wave-channel kits' kicks are "really weak and not very loud", so a PULSE instrument KICK (envelope F1, duty 50 %, table 00) plays C5 on rows 0, 4, 8, C between the bass notes — kick, bass, kick, bass. Table 00: P F1 in the first command row bends the pitch down; K00 near the bottom (second-to-last row "to avoid clicking") kills the tail. Credited as "a carbon copy" of a recipe on the LSDj wiki.
• Snare and hats (NOI): SNARE — noise instrument, envelope about C3, a snappy LENGTH, shape (the tutorial says "sweep") EF; on rows 4 and C. HAT — envelope A1 or A2, length and shape untouched, before and after each snare.
• Closing advice: read the manual, the LSDj wiki and mailing list; if LSDj is too hard, learn the basics in a DAW first.

Practical takeaways#

Clone instead of re-entering; pan on the empty rows; a pulse kick interleaved with the bass beats the kit kicks for loudness; PF1 + K00 in a table is the whole kick recipe.

Notable quotes#

"…forget about the wave channel for sampled drums and create an analogue kick drum using a pulse channel."

Pages touched#

sabrepulse · lsdj · tracking-workflow · instrument-design · channel-interleaving · stereo-panning · chord-arpeggio