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Sub, stab and swing

Learn music production by playing it. A free crash course in synthesis, music theory and rhythm for making dub, minimal techno and cumbia, in 15 lessons.

Tap a genre to start its loop, and tap it again to stop. The bar at the bottom of the screen stops anything that is playing. Use headphones or proper speakers: most of this music lives below 100 Hz, where laptop and phone speakers go quiet.

Or play the pads. Keys 1–4, Q–R, A–F and Z–V play them while the pointer is over the pads or a pad has focus.

Go in order. Sound first, then theory and rhythm, then the three genres. Each lesson builds on the one before it.

Play as you read. Hearing a minor 9th chord teaches you more than reading about one. Fourteen of the 15 lessons have an instrument, a player or a quiz; the last is a plan and a glossary.

Track your progress. Mark a lesson as done at the bottom of its page. Progress is saved on this device.

15 lessons in 4 parts

0 of 15 lessons done

Start the course 01 How sound works

Sound and synthesis

What a synthesizer actually does, knob by knob, and how effects and mixing turn sounds into a track.

  1. How sound works A tone generator that names every pitch
  2. The synthesizer A playable synth, knob by knob, and a bass synth
  3. Effects and the mix Delay, reverb and dub sounds to play

Music theory

Notes, intervals, scales, chords up to 9ths, 11ths and 13ths, progressions and rhythm. Only what you need for these three genres, but all of it.

  1. Notes and the keyboard A keyboard that names every key you tap
  2. Intervals Every interval from any root, by ear
  3. Scales and modes Major, minor and the modes in any key
  4. Chords: 7ths, 9ths and more Triads, 7ths and 9ths, built and played
  5. Harmony and progressions Progressions to play in any key
  6. Rhythm and groove Program a beat and drag the swing

The genres

History, ingredients, sound recipes and a step-by-step build for each style, with a groove to play.

  1. Dub One drop, steppers and delay throws
  2. Minimal techno Loops of different lengths that drift
  3. Cumbia and Latin rhythm Clave, güiro and cumbia bass

Make it

Put it all together in a step sequencer with a dub desk, train your ears and follow a four-week plan.

  1. Groove machine A step sequencer with a dub desk
  2. Ear training Interval and chord quizzes
  3. Practice plan and glossary Reading: a four-week plan and the terms

Taking it to your MPC

Program in layers, in the order of the lessons: kick and hats first, then the timekeepers (shaker, guacharaca), then the parts that talk (congas, percussion, bass), then the space (stabs and delay). Give each articulation its own pad. A conga's open tone, slap and heel are three sounds, not one sound at three velocities.

If you can, swing the hats and percussion while leaving the kick straight. For polymeter, if your setup forces one sequence length, program the odd-length loop across the full sequence, or record it to audio and loop that. And record your delay throws as you play them. The happy accidents are usually the best part.

Brizm

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