The Detroit Funk Aeolian machine loop

stab · bright · 128 BPM (122–134) · C minor · 4 bars · 64 steps

Detroit Funk5.1Detroit techno chord stabs

Every patch on the Moog Muse

The technique

Nothing lands on a beat. Every stab sits in a gap the kick leaves: the "and" of one, the "and" of two, the last sixteenth before four, and the "and" of four. Put a four-on-the-floor kick under it and the two never touch.

Three notes per stab, close together, and every voicing carries its ninth. The ninth is what stops four plain chords sounding like a practice exercise. Over the first chord it is on top; over the last it is at the bottom.

The stab is the top of the chord. The root is the bass’s note, and the voicings here leave it out on purpose. Keep the three notes inside one octave and let the bass say which chord it is.

Never raise the key’s sixth while the first chord is sounding. One raised sixth turns the loop from Detroit into house.

Keep the stabs short. The hand comes off before the next beat, and the space between hits is where the drums are heard.

The chords

4 chords over 4 bars, in C minor.

DegreeChordNotesBarsUnder the figure
iCmC · Eb · G1–1●
VIAbAb · C · Eb2–2●
IIIEbEb · G · Bb3–3●
ivFmF · Ab · C4–4●

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 Detroit into house.
  • Enter each chord at least 2 steps after it lands — the bar head belongs to the kick and the stab sits in the gap after it.

The notes

4 bars in C minor. Each note is in force across the steps shown.

  • steps 3–16·over i Cm·G4 Bb4 D5·degrees 5 7 2·MIDI 67 70 74
  • steps 19–32·over VI Ab·G4 Bb4 C5·degrees 5 7 1·MIDI 67 70 72
  • steps 35–48·over III Eb·Bb4 D5 F5·degrees 7 2 4·MIDI 70 74 77
  • steps 51–64·over iv Fm·G4 Bb4 Eb5·degrees 5 7 3·MIDI 67 70 75

The grid

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

  • —3 (vel 112)
  • —7, 12, 15, 19, 23, 28, 31, 35, 39, 44, 47, 51, 55, 60, 63

On the Moog Muse

Muse · Timbre 1

Settings for this voice

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

Settings

VOICE CONTROL

  • UNISONOFF

    Stacks every unused voice onto the first note held, so the timbre plays one note at a time

  • MONOOFF
  • DETUNE20%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 92

    Between voices when poly, between stacked voices under UNISON, between the two oscillators under MONO

  • TIMBRE A VOICE COUNT8(0…8)

    The counts always sum to eight, so setting this sets the other — TIMBRE B gets the rest

    VOICE CONTROL, then MORE

  • DYNAMIC VOICE ALLOCATIONOFF

    Its printed default. On, a busy timbre steals from the other and the count above stops holding

    VOICE CONTROL, then MORE

PROGRAMMER

  • MIDI IN CHANNEL1

    TIMBRE A listens here

    PROGRAMMER, MENU, MIDI

  • MULTI IN B CHANNEL2

    TIMBRE B listens here under MULTI MODE. Both default to 1, so this must differ or the two timbres double on one channel

    PROGRAMMER, MENU, MIDI

  • RECIEVE CCON

    Defaults to OFF, so the box ignores CC until this is set. The manual's spelling

    PROGRAMMER, MENU, MIDI

OSC 1

  • OCTAVE4'
  • FREQUENCY0st(-7…7 st)

    Bipolar, in tune at noon; a perfect fifth either way

  • TRI/SAW0%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 46

    Triangle fully counter-clockwise, sawtooth fully clockwise

  • PULSE WIDTH30%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 47

    A square wave sits at noon

  • WAVE MIX100%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 48

    The slider: triangle/sawtooth on the left against the pulse wave on the right

OSC 2

  • OCTAVE4'
  • FREQUENCY0st(-7…7 st)
  • TRI/SAW0%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 51
  • PULSE WIDTH35%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 52
  • WAVE MIX100%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 53
  • SYNC 2▸1OFF

    Locks oscillator 2 to the phase of oscillator 1

MOD OSC

  • AUDIOOFF

    Sub-audio: eight per-voice LFOs, one for each voice

  • WAVEFORMSINE
  • FREQUENCY30%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 25

    The range of this knob differs with the AUDIO button above

  • PITCH AMOUNT0%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 31
  • PITCH ▸ OSC 1OFF
  • PITCH ▸ OSC 2OFF
  • FILTER AMOUNT20%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 39
  • FILTER ▸ 1OFF
  • FILTER ▸ 2ON

MIXER

  • OSC 185%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 58
  • RING MOD0%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 60

    Sum and difference tones of the two oscillators — inharmonic as they detune

  • OSC 285%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 59
  • MOD OSC10%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 61
  • NOISE0%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 62

    White noise

  • OVERLOAD0%(0…100 %)
  • OVERLOAD RANGELOW

    LOW narrows the drive range for finer control

    Press MORE in that section

FILTER

  • ORDERPAR

    SERIAL, STEREO or PARALLEL — with HIGH PASS this decides bandpass, stereo lowpass or notch

  • LINK FILTERSOFF

    Off, so FILTER 1 CUTOFF is an absolute cutoff rather than the spacing between the two

FILTER 1

  • HIGH PASSON

    Highpass: the knob is fully open counter-clockwise, the opposite of lowpass

  • CUTOFF150Hz(20…20000 Hz)· MIDI CC 67
  • RESONANCE25%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 68

    Self-oscillates into a sine fully clockwise

  • ENVELOPE AMOUNT0(-100…100)· MIDI CC 69

    Bipolar, no modulation at noon

  • KB TRACKING1:1

FILTER 2

  • CUTOFF8000Hz(20…20000 Hz)· MIDI CC 72
  • RESONANCE30%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 73
  • ENVELOPE AMOUNT50(-100…100)· MIDI CC 75

    Bipolar, no modulation at noon

  • KB TRACKING1:1

FILTER ENV

  • ATTACK0s(0…10 s)· MIDI CC 79
  • DECAY0.4s(0…10 s)· MIDI CC 80
  • SUSTAIN0%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 81
  • RELEASE0.3s(0…10 s)· MIDI CC 82
  • LOOPOFF

    Looping, the envelope runs like an LFO

VCA ENV

  • ATTACK0s(0…10 s)· MIDI CC 86
  • DECAY0.4s(0…10 s)· MIDI CC 87
  • SUSTAIN0%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 88
  • RELEASE0.2s(0…10 s)· MIDI CC 89
  • VELOCITYON

VCA

  • LEVEL80%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 7

    Light TIMBRE A or B first

  • PAN0(0…100)· MIDI CC 10

    Bipolar, centred at noon — the screen reads 100L through 0 to 100R

  • PAN SPREAD45%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 9

    All voices sit at the PAN position fully counter-clockwise

  • PAN SPRD MODEL/R

    Press MORE in that section

DELAY

  • CLOCK SYNCON

    Both TIME knobs jump between divisions of the global TEMPO

  • SYNC TYPECOMBO

    Its printed default — every division rather than only straight, triplet or dotted ones

    Press MORE in that section

  • LINK DELAYSOFF

    Off, so TIME-L is the left delay time rather than an offset against the right

  • TIME - L1/8· MIDI CC 93

    Straight, against the dotted right

  • TIME - R1/8 D· MIDI CC 94

    Dotted, so its repeat falls between the left one’s

  • FEEDBACK40%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 103

    Single repeat through to infinite

  • CHARACTER50%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 104

    Noon, where the default DJ-style filter on the repeats is doing nothing

  • MIX30%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 105
  • TIMBRE A / TIMBRE BON

    Two separate buttons, one per timbre — engage the one for the timbre this part is on. Disengaged, this part bypasses the delay on a fully analog path

This block draws on the Muse User's Manual v1.4.0, pp.27-111 and the instrument at firmware 1.4.0; its values are starting points.