The Hypno Acid sixteenth loop

bass-mid · dirty · 132 BPM (126–140) · A minor · 2 bars · 32 steps

Hypno AcidBassAcid line in sixteenths, one key at a time

Every patch on the KORG minilogue xd

The technique

One bar, repeated, with a different turn in the second bar. The root on beats one and three, the octave on the last sixteenth before beat two, and the seventh below the root on the "and" of two. That is the hypnosis: the same three moves, over and over.

One key at a time. The sound stacks the voices for you, so a second key is a second stack and the line turns to mud.

Sixteenths, never eighths. The gaps are as short as the notes, and a line with room in it is a bass line, not an acid line.

The second bar swaps the third for a fourth and the fifth for the seventh below. Two notes changed and nothing else, so the ear hears the loop and then hears it move.

Never raise the key’s sixth. One raised sixth turns the loop from acid into something that wants a chord under it.

The bar head is the loud one and the octave jump is the other. Everything between is quieter, and the two accents are what the loop hangs on.

The chords

1 chord over 2 bars, in A minor.

DegreeChordNotesBarsUnder the figure
iAmA · C · E1–2●

The figure is played over these chords; supply them separately if your rig allows.

The rules

  • Never the raised 6th, on any chord — over i, the raised sixth turns the loop from acid into a jazz line.

The notes

2 bars in A minor. Each note is in force across the steps shown.

  • step 1·over i Am·A1·degree 1·MIDI 33
  • step 3·over i Am·A1·degree 1·MIDI 33
  • step 4·over i Am·A2·degree 1·MIDI 45
  • step 6·over i Am·A1·degree 1·MIDI 33
  • step 7·over i Am·G1·degree 7·MIDI 31
  • step 9·over i Am·A1·degree 1·MIDI 33
  • step 11·over i Am·C2·degree 3·MIDI 36
  • step 12·over i Am·A1·degree 1·MIDI 33
  • steps 14–15·over i Am·A2·degree 1·MIDI 45
  • step 16·over i Am·E2·degree 5·MIDI 40
  • step 17·over i Am·A1·degree 1·MIDI 33
  • step 19·over i Am·A1·degree 1·MIDI 33
  • step 20·over i Am·A2·degree 1·MIDI 45
  • step 22·over i Am·A1·degree 1·MIDI 33
  • step 23·over i Am·G1·degree 7·MIDI 31
  • step 25·over i Am·A1·degree 1·MIDI 33
  • step 27·over i Am·D2·degree 4·MIDI 38
  • step 28·over i Am·A1·degree 1·MIDI 33
  • steps 30–31·over i Am·A2·degree 1·MIDI 45
  • step 32·over i Am·G1·degree 7·MIDI 31

The grid

Every step below strikes the note in force at that point. The grid is where the figure is played.

  • —1 (vel 120), 4 (vel 110), 17 (vel 120), 20 (vel 110)
  • —3, 7, 11, 19, 23, 27
  • —6, 12, 14, 16, 22, 28, 30, 32 (all vel 72)
  • —9, 25

On the KORG minilogue xd

minilogue xd · Voice

Settings for this voice

Settings for a bass-mid · dirty voice on this box, written here. They are not the preset’s own values: load the preset to hear it as it ships.

Settings

MASTER

  • PORTAMENTO0(0…127)
  • SWING0%(-75…75 %)

    0 is straight; the arpeggiator uses the same value

    EDIT MODE, PROGRAM EDIT, button 7

VOICE MODE

  • VOICE MODE TYPEUNISON

    All four voices stack into one — this patch plays a single note at a time

  • VOICE MODE DEPTH22c(0…50 c)

    Detune between the stacked voices

VCO 1 / VCO 2 / MULTI ENGINE

  • VCO 1 · WAVESAW
  • VCO 1 · OCTAVE16'
  • VCO 1 · PITCH0c(-1200…1200 c)
  • VCO 1 · SHAPE640(0…1023)

    Shape, complexity, or duty cycle of the selected wave

  • VCO 2 · WAVESQR
  • VCO 2 · OCTAVE16'
  • VCO 2 · PITCH-12c(-1200…1200 c)
  • VCO 2 · SHAPE700(0…1023)
  • VCO 2 · SYNCOFF

    Locks oscillator 2 to the phase of oscillator 1

  • VCO 2 · RINGOFF

    Oscillator 1 ring-modulates oscillator 2

  • CROSS MOD DEPTH260(0…1023)

    Oscillator 1 modulating the pitch of oscillator 2

  • MULTI ENGINE · NOISE/VPM/USRVPM
  • MULTI ENGINE · TYPEFat2

    SHAPE sets MOD DEPTH here, on a scale the manual gives no bounds for

    Hold SHIFT, turn SHAPE

MIXER

  • VCO 1740(0…1023)
  • VCO 2560(0…1023)
  • MULTI260(0…1023)

FILTER

  • CUTOFF400(0…1023)

    Set too low and the patch may be barely audible

  • RESONANCE640(0…1023)
  • DRIVE100%

    The filter drive circuit, in three stages

  • KEYTRACK50%

    100% moves the cutoff with the key, centred on C4

AMP EG / EG / LFO

  • AMP EG · ATTACK0(0…1023)
  • AMP EG · DECAY480(0…1023)
  • AMP EG · SUSTAIN560(0…1023)
  • AMP EG · RELEASE240(0…1023)
  • EG · ATTACK0(0…1023)
  • EG · DECAY400(0…1023)
  • EG · INT38%(-100…100 %)

    Negative applies the envelope downwards

  • EG · TARGETCUTOFF
  • LFO · WAVESQR
  • LFO · MODENORMAL
  • LFO · RATE180(0…1023)
  • LFO · INT90(0…511)

    Hold SHIFT, turn INT to invert

  • LFO · TARGETCUTOFF

EFFECTS

  • DEL/REV/MODMOD

    Selects which effect the two knobs below are setting; the other two keep their stored values

  • OFF/ON/SELECTON

    Hold SHIFT, flip to SELECT

  • DEPTH22%(0…100 %)

This block draws on the minilogue xd Owner's Manual E 9, pp.17-41; its values are starting points.