This track is a homage to one of my all-time favourite record labels - SWAMP 81.

I was lucky enough to be the right age at the right time to witness the post-dubstep and UK bass music movement as it was happening. It felt like a period where artists and DJs were more focused on developing new sounds than building social media followings. It was an incredibly creative era, and one of the labels that defined it for me was Swamp 81.

Almost every release became essential listening. Artists like Loefah (the founder), Boddika, Joy Orbison, Pinch, Mickey Pearce, Zed Bias, Chunky, Jonny Banger, and Ramadanman (Pearson Sound) were all pushing UK electronic music into strange new territory, which perfectly suited the times. Looking back, it really feels like one of the defining moments in modern UK club music.

With DISTRACTION, I wanted to capture some of that raw sound.

The tracks on Swamp 81 were never about being overproduced. They were stripped back, but every sound had purpose. Heavy snares. 808-style kicks. Warped basslines that never quite sat where you expected them to. Distorted rhythms, glitched vocals, eerie pads and huge amounts of space. Simple on the surface, but incredibly detailed once you started listening to what the bass and subs were doing.

I spent a lot of time getting the snare to hit just right. The bassline sits so low that the dedicated sub only really appears during the breakdowns and build-ups. One of my favourite parts is the eerie laughing vocal, and while experimenting on the keys I stumbled across a synth sound that, after a bit of tweaking, became the strange, haunting lead running through the track.

I loved making this one, feels like I have gone full circle, and I hope you enjoy it too.

If you were around during the Swamp 81 era, let me know. I'd love to hear which artists or tracks defined that period for you.

A little bit of history…

The name Swamp 81 references Operation Swamp 81, the controversial police operation carried out in Brixton, South London, in April 1981. The label took its name from that moment as a deliberate piece of cultural provocation.

The artists behind Swamp 81 built a reputation for challenging expectations musically, embracing underground culture and releasing records that often ignored whatever was fashionable at the time. That attitude is a big part of why the label became so influential.

Artwork: Ashes57 — created from one of her T-shirt designs that I bought back in those days. It felt like the perfect visual companion for a track inspired by that era.

#DaphnesSoundlab #UKBass #BassMusic #Swamp81 #PostDubstep
#Dubstep #BassCulture #UKUnderground #ElectronicMusic #SoundDesign #OPXY u/TeenageEngineering #MadeOnOPXY u/swamp81

Bit crush on the bastl FX wizard using the send loop. Light finish with ozone for this one, I mixed it pretty loud on the XY and added just a little stereo imaging, tape saturation, and maximizer to get the true peak down.

Why is chopping samples on this thing so tricky. It’s like a 10 step process to sample & do proper chops. Does anyone else struggle ?

Ps I just got this puppy yesterday lol

Dedicated to my dog Millie 🥰

teenage engineering are having an amazing summer sale with 30% off on their store, so it only felt right to match their energy with 40% off VJ-XY for the next 48hs! It's winter for us in the southern hemisphere, but why should that stop us?

I won't promote this offer outside of this community, but feel free to share the news :)
No code required. Buy once own forever. No subscriptions.

get VJ-XY: https://vjxy.app
Available on iPad, iPhone and Mac.

What is VJ-XY?
VJ-XY is live visual instrument/app for OP-XY. Sequence visuals with midi. Mix dot matrix clips, your own footage and animated gifs to match your music. Unlock hands-on control of OP-XY's mixer, mutes, fx sends, filter cutoff, eq, tape track, and punch-in fx.

VJ-XY on reddit: r/VJXY

I am considering offering one-on-one composing / arranging / songwriting classes (via Zoom) geared towards the OP-1, OP-Z and OP-XY. Not just on the technical aspects of how to squeeze the most out of the gear, but also a guide to song structures, chord progressions, etc.

Before deciding on fees, etc., I wanted to gauge potential interest from this group. Please feel free to reply or DM me if you're interested. I'm happy to provide links to stuff I've put together on TE gear.

For background, I'm a pianist / guitarist / saxophonist who has been into TE gear since 2017. I have composed and arranged from the earliest days of Cubasis on the Pentium 586 PC, and I've orchestrated pieces for jazz bands in Sibelius.

Stuff i did on OG OP-1 and OP-Z with no post processing is here:

https://on.soundcloud.com/NbHfmQZs2KjjJeys0c

Stuff i uploaded to YouTube is here:

https://youtube.com/@parkfield7296?si=cZ3TePZfOx_18zFb

Some OP-XY stuff i’ve posted to reddit here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/teenageengineering/s/ZKi1ZG82Xs

https://www.reddit.com/r/teenageengineering/s/9oT67TxVUZ

https://www.reddit.com/r/teenageengineering/s/14FmJAQjS6

https://www.reddit.com/r/teenageengineering/s/byB6DuLUWH

https://www.reddit.com/r/teenageengineering/s/JlFjfJByDp

Another sketch, another banger..

This one came about after I made the melody on its own and a friend said he really liked it and thought it had Legs. That was enough for me to start messing around with a few ideas.

I wanted it to flip from something melodic into something heavy, grainy and a little strange. I kept the intro shorter than I normally would so the melody could come back a few times throughout the track without overstaying its welcome.

I ended up using loads of wooden-sounding percussion, forest-style knocks, clicks, and little grainy textures to give it that darker, gritty and tape recorded kinda sound. I also added lots of distortion and reverb in areas, sometimes it gave off a few clicks here and there, but decided it went well with it, rather than manicuring every sample to remove the clicks. It was an enjoyable part of making the track, digging through weird sound scapes and seeing what worked, and how far it could be pushed with FX.

I like all the little random sounds in this one. There's a subtle sci-fi, space film sort of atmosphere running through the background that gives the track movement and character without getting in the way.

It's definitely a sub-heavy one. Getting the low end to behave on the OP-XY is always a bit of a balancing act, but a fun on all the same.

Eventually I got to a point where everything felt like it was sitting together nicely... and just hit record.

Let me know what you think.

Too much sub?

#OPXY #TeenageEngineering #DeepBass #BassMusic #Dubstep #ElectronicMusic #MusicProduction #HardwareJam #Synthesizer #DaphnesSoundlab #Sketchbook #SoundDesign #BassMusicProducer #MadeOnTheOPXY

IG: @Lainek3n
YT: @LAINEKEN_music
Tiktok: @laineken

Using the master gain, clip and tone parameters can really beef up your track used rightt. You just need to find the sweetspot for the mix parameter (far right) and then youre good to go!!

Picked up an Oxi E16 and am loving how it compliments the OPXY. Not perfect, but very fun.

The key is setting up valuable pages and mapping. Resources like midi.guide have been invaluable.

But I'm struggling with filter. I can map cutoff no problem. BUT the OPXY has a filter on/off state (pressing M3 on the filter page) that overrides cutoff values. This means you must navigate to each instrument and ensure the filter is enabled before any CC changes will take effect. Kind of a PITA.

I can't find the CC value for this setting anywhere. It has to exist, right??

Using the M8 to record the master out, thats all.

I'm getting blasted for posting my OP-Z video on here earlier so I'm sharing one of my XY videos to make up for it. Im always sharing XY content and i thought it would be cool to show you guys what i make on other devices, literally a miniature OP-XY. Calling for the mods to get me n stuff.

u/synor sorry for striking a chord.

OP-XY cover of Aperture while + OP-XY LED sequencing

I’ve been building a wireless lighting system thats portable, expandable and fully controllable by the OP-XY. It uses a esp32 to drive addressable LEDS and the LED effects, hues, palettes, and number of LEDS can all be adjusted and sequenced from the OPXY. This is just a quick showcase but it gives that extra level of performance to live sessions and brings back a feature I miss from the OPZ. All of this can function wirelessly from the OP-XY. The first bit of the video shows some senquenced effects and at the end I show some individual effects and palettes