808 Day Special: Lex Luger builds a trap masterpiece with MASCHINE+ | Native Instruments

Watch as pioneering trap producer Lex Luger (Juicy J, Waka Flocka Flame, Rick Ross, Wiz Khalifa) builds a cinematic trap beat from scratch with MASCHINE and the KOMPLETE KONTROL S61 Keyboard at the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Los Angeles. Luger starts by using the Auto Sampler on MASCHINE to sample sounds from several vintage synths in the museum’s legendary collection. Then he uses MASSIVE to lay down a bell sound for the foundational melody, a cinematic string sound for additional atmospherics, and a ragtime piano for harmonic support. With the foundational elements in place, Luger programs the drums with MASCHINE . Using Note Repeat to nail trap’s signature hi-hat triplets and quantizing individual sounds to tighten up the production, Luger lays down a bounce-heavy 808 and drenches it in reverb and delay for added warmth before programming several more drum patterns to add more excitement to the beat. Making use of the museum’s collection, Luger adds a dark horn sound sampled from a vintage Elka Synthex and a violin sound sampled from a vintage Jupiter 6. Then he removes elements of the track to make space for the artist and brings it all home with a sonic switch-up featuring more hi-hats and a triplet-inflected 808. READ MORE Learn more about Lex Luger and go behind the scenes with a point by point breakdown of his cinematic Sketches track on the blog: REMIX COMPETITION Enter the Metapop competition and remix the song for your chance to win a Native Instruments MASCHINE and the KOMPLETE 13 production suite: 00:00 - Intro 03:05 - Cooking up with MASCHINE 03:29 - Sampling vintage synths with the new Auto Sampler function 03:55 - Recording chords with the MASSIVE “Arctic Bells” preset 05:00 - Adding strings for an orchestral vibe with MASSIVE 05:33 - Recording piano sounds with KONTAKT’s “Ragtime Piano” preset 05:52 - Building drums with samples from his user library in MASCHINE 06:35 - Using NOTE REPEAT to record hi hat patterns 07:13 - Quantizing individual sounds with MASCHINE 08:06 - Fleshing out the drum pattern with snares and 808s 08:56 - Using reverb on 808s 09:22 - Adding METAVERB & BEAT DELAY from the internal effects of MASCHINE 10:16 - Adding reverb to the piano sound 10:40 - Creating a second drum pattern to spice up the beat 11:54 - Shaping a kick drum for a third pattern 12:12 - Matching the pitches on the kick and 808 12:56 - Using a filter to cut the lows out of the sound 13:18 - Adding a dark sound sampled from an Elka Synthex vintage keyboard 14:22 - Adding a violin vibe with the Jupiter 6 samples and more effects 15:35 - Fine tuning the arrangement to make space for the artist 16:25 - Creating a switch-up with triplets and octave changes 17:37 - Duplicating scenes with MASCHINE 18:14 - Adding an 808 melody in key mode with the KOMPLETE KONTROL S61 19:00 - Adding triplets to the 808s 20:42 - Metapop competition details Check out the entire Sketches series here: Follow Lex Luger: Instagram: Twitter: #NativeInstruments #MaschinePlus #KompleteKontrol #Massive #Kontakt #Battery #VSTPlugins #BeatMaking #Maschine Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow us on: Instagram: Facebook: Twitter: For more than 25 years, Native Instruments has been at the heart of musical innovation. We’ve created communities, pushed technological boundaries, and opened new creative horizons for amateurs and professionals alike. Today, driven by our mission to make music creation more inclusive and accessible, NI’s hardware, software, and services including MASCHINE, TRAKTOR, and KOMPLETE bundles, provide fully-integrated solutions for musicians, producers, and DJs of all genres and levels of experience. For more info, visit our website: