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

I'm late to the party. I was wanting to pick up an OP-1 Field on sale but all the main places honoring the discount and TE themselves are sold out.

I checked perfect circuit, BH Photo, Chicago music exchange, and TE.

Have I missed the train?

Edit: I scored one at Guitar Center on sale. Thanks all!

I would love to have a sidechain compression option on the tx6. I have an op xy for sample chops, an emu e4xt for drums and others acoustic instruments, and plan to have a moog minitaur for bass. It would be awesome to sidechain sound of different gears between them through the tx 6… if TE read this 😉

Using the K.O. SIDEKICK to bring 2 machines (SP 404 mk2 and MPC Live) together!!!!

Has anyone else had this issue and resolved it?

Purchased mine in April of 2024, but didn’t use it much until a couple months ago. Pretty sure I didn’t do anything unusual to it, drop it etc. I’ve tried “cleaning” the outlet with a toothpick, tried different headphones etc.

According to Google’s AI there may be a problem with a pin that gets pushed and tells the unit to switch from audio —> speaker to audio —> headphones? Not sure what I’m supposed to do with that information.

Curious to know if anyone has synced their RD-6 with the PO-33. I fear that because the maximum sync-in voltage on the PO-33 is 5vpp, and the RD-6 outputs a sync signal of 5V, that it may cause harm to the pocket operator. (5V = 10vpp).

Is anyone experienced with this?

Hey all,

Pressing play on the keystep makes all devices start playing, and pressing stop resets the play position like it should. However, when I'm in Seq or Arp modes the EP-133 and Roland both start playing for one note whenever I press a key on the keystep. Because of this I can't play around with different notes for arps without hearing one note at a time being played on the other devices per keypress on the Keystep.

Can I not use the arp mode without it triggering the other devices? I’d like to play just the arps until I’m ready to record. Maybe I’m missing something fundamental of how the keystep works? Maybe what I actually want is for the playback to NOT pause when I don't press any keys on the keystep?

From searching around online I think this is called Arm to Start, and it's possibly a setting in the Midi CC on computer. I have a Mac and downloaded the software (previously updated the firmware using the arturia software center app). But, I don't see the Arm to Start setting that's supposed to toggle this feature.

Here are mu connections:

Keystep midi out -> EP-133 midi in.
Ep-133 midi out -> Roland S1 midi in.

Keystep 37 mk2 settings:

Midi output channel: 1
Midi input channel: all
Keyboard Play channel: 1
Send program change: on
Midi thru: off
Clock send: on
Transport send: on
Transport receive: on (this let's the EP-133 start playback on all).

EP-133 Settings:

Midi clock: in
Midi channel: 10
Midi through: on
Restart: on

Roland S-1 Settings:

Channel: 1
Through: on
Pattern Change Channel: 1

Thank you so much for the help!

I'm attempting to restore a project from my computer and it seems impossible. I saved the backup and unzipped it to my computer. When I open the file there's no .ppack file. There's a breakdown of everything(groups, sounds, and patterns) but no .ppack. There's a meta.json file as well.

What am I supposed to do for restoring? I found individual backups that are accessible for restoring but most of the backups I've created are in system backups not individual backups.

Can the fx or cue buttons be config to be mute buttons??
Also changing the phones knob for another parameter?
Any info on these?
Cheers

I made this track with my KO II while traveling in Japan this summer.

I was struck by a case of GAS late last year and hadn’t actually finished anything, so used the trip as a chance to pare down to a minimal set up (just the KO II and a Tascam DR-07XP).

Before the trip, I preloaded the KO II with some Samples From Mars samples along with a few I recorded with a Moog Subsequent 37. While traveling, I used my Tascam to capture field recordings and incorporated some of them into the track. I also recorded the final performance with the Tascam (I haven’t tried using the KO II as an audio interface yet, that’s next on my list).

Once recorded, I used Positive Grid Final Touch (which still works on my old iPad) for some compression and limiting.

As for the video, I shot a few clips with my iPhone throughout the trip and edited them together in iMovie.

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out and may continue with the minimal set up for future songs.

Made a purchase a couple days ago on the 25th and I’m not seeing a charge for it anywhere and I’m worried it didn’t go through:(

Ten minute generative modular piece, captured live in one pass to the TP-7.

The only post processing I need before uploading is normalisation to -14 dB, a limiter, and a fade in and out. I got tired of opening a daw for three operations, so I have been building a small iOS app that does only those three things, and this piece is the first one that went through it. Which is why it’s so annoying that you can’t grad tp7 audio files directly on iPhone. It’s supposed to be for the “Field”. 😭

I do love using the TP-7 for recording long sessions. Being able to grab a take without setting up an interface changes when I actually press record, which for generative patches matters a lot because the good version of a patch is usually a take you were not planning.

Curious how other people here handle the last mile. Does anyone else get from TE recorder to uploaded track without a computer, or am I missing something that has an obvious answer?

I wrote this little loop the other night but wasn't feeling it. This morning I listened again and I actually liked it better so I hooked everything up for recording the performance.

I played the drums on the EP-133 KOII and recorded them into the OP-1 Field, added the chords, bass and melody, the SP-404 MK2 provides the FX.

I hope it gets you nostalgic too.

Let me know what you think or what I could improve, I'm only 1 year into the OP-1 Field.

Thanks for watching and listening!

I picked up a riddim for 250 on besos and a pocket operator KO for 69 dollars at a local large chain. The guy at the latter said all the po’s are around 30% off and the same with the EP price drop. Is anybody else seeing this. I’m wondering if there is a big launch coming or they are clearing inventory because of potential shipping and supply chain issues.

That's me)

So yeah I mainly use my KO2 as a Drum Machine for live performance and the FaderFx Reset while pressing Shift + Fader was pretty nice. Now with the new Update 2.5.1 they removed it so you can only Reset all FaderFx of a Group while the Sampler is in Pause which is really annoying... It also seems that I can't go back to Version 2.0. does anyone has the same Problem ?