maytrax #
a prodigy-shaped techno track with juno-reactor / matrix-soundtrack
energy. the rhythmic spine is breakbeat-driven big-beat techno —
not 4-on-the-floor — with a layered distorted 909 kick underneath.
over the top: hoover stabs (already in pop/hippyhayzard/synths/ hoover.mjs), acid 303 squelch, orchestral hit accents (brass /
flugelhorn / church bell, already sampled in pop/hellsine/samples/),
and jeffrey vocal shouts on the drops.
the lane question: can the early-90s rave/big-beat/film-action sound (matrix reloaded "burly brawl", prodigy "firestarter", juno reactor "god is god") be reconstructed bottom-up from AC primitives
- a small palette of already-licensed sample sources, without sampling the films themselves?
why "maytrax" #
phonetic riff on matrix. the film score (don davis + juno reactor) isn't sampleable for release — every track ships to distrokid, so any borrowed audio would have to clear with warner. instead this lane rebuilds the textures: detuned-saw hoover stabs, sanskrit-vowel formant chops, taiko-shaped distorted 909, brass-hit punctuation, breakbeat under it all.
ingredients #
| element | source |
|---|---|
| breakbeat | inline (programmed amen / funky-drummer chops) |
| 909 kick (drive) | inline (pitch-enveloped sine through tanh) |
| hoover lead/stab | ../hippyhayzard/synths/hoover.mjs |
| acid 303 squelch | inline (saw + SVF lowpass with envelope on cutoff) |
| orchestral hit | ../hellsine/samples/brass-strong-e2.wav |
| flugelhorn accent | ../hellsine/samples/flugelhorn-asharp.wav |
| bell punctuation | ../hellsine/samples/church-bell.wav |
| vocal shouts | ../hellsine/samples/jeffrey-vocal-*.wav (sliced) |
cc0 reference samples (taiko, sanskrit chants, big orchestral hits)
land in samples/ as they're auditioned.
usage #
# render the bed to out/maytrax.mp3
node pop/maytrax/bin/maytrax.mjs
# with overrides
node pop/maytrax/bin/maytrax.mjs --bpm 140 --out ~/m.mp3
conventions #
- bpm: 138–142 (prodigy classic;
firestarter=140,breathe=137) - form: intro (4 bars) → drop (8 bars) → break (4 bars) → drop (8 bars) → outro (4 bars)
- key: F minor (matrix-noir flavor; works with hoover detune)
- mp3 out lives in
out/maytrax.mp3, scratch wavs inout/.maytrax-*.wav
status #
scaffold + minimal bed. vocal score lives in maytrax.np (placeholder).
not yet released; not yet in pop/RELEASES.md.