Anyone know what drum machine Roger used in Zapp in the early 80's? my guess is DMX??

In general, Roger's drum machine was named Lester.

Is there a particular album or track you're thinking of?

yeah I know Lester did live drums and on early albums, but they did use a drum machine in the early 80's, just wondering which one.

I'd say that any of the majors would be contenders. DMX certainly, but I also hear Linn in there, especially on some of the kicks. I also hear lots of Syn / Simmons toms. Given the close connection with the P-Funk crowd, the claptrap might also be part of the mix.

Hopefully someone with some first-hand knowledge will chime in... Zapp's long been one of my favorites and I'd love to learn more.

This is in no way confirmed but I am pretty sure he used the Sequential Tom "Contemporary Cartridge" on Computer Love. It has all those sounds including the scratch. It sounds VERY similar.

I also think he may have used on of the Sequential Keyboards of that time (MAX, Multi Trak or Split 8) for the bassline. Someone will probley correct me but that bass and drums sounds like it could have been done on those two. Those synths and the TOM came out in the same year as Computer Love so its possible

Hmm interesting, do you have any samples of the TOM "Contemporary cartridge"??

+1

OP - there's a segment in the West Coast Theory documentary, where producer Fredwreck talks about working with Roger, and spoke about the technique Zapp used to get their clap sounds, on tracks like "More Bounce". I don't remember exactly, but had something to do with recording live claps to tape and messing with the tape speed, as well as dubbing over with new claps that were offset a little, creating a wider clap sound.If you can find it online its a good watch.

here you go
WCT - YouTube

Appreciate the link. I'm mixing a song right now for a Hip Hop group it has that Zapp "More Bounce" & "So Ruff So Tuff" vibe & we've been on this mission w/ the claps in the song. Me & the producer were just having a conversation last night about how they got the clap sounds on those records. Makes sense that tape speed manipulation was used. Fortunately nowadays for us we have tons samples that we can use. Crazy to think about the older artists had to do so much to get their sound.

Yeah they had to use their imagination and skill instead of just using a sample...

Very true. Even tho we used samples, at least they were loaded into an MPC-3000 & recorded thru some Vintech mic pres as opposed to simply loading them into some kind of software sample module & just keeping it all in the computer. Makes a huge difference for the better IMO. On a side note, I did use Steven Slate's Trigger to add 3 more claps from my sample library. That plug-in is a real game changer. Would hate to mix w/o it. The ability to instantly layer another sample or multiple samples on top of the client's original sound is amazing. Saves so much time from sitting there wrestling w/ EQ & compression & chasing your tail trying to get an unsatisfying drum sound to sound right. Sometimes what the client gives u just ain't cutting it by itself.

I'm also in a sort of experiment to discover what might leads to the P-funk clap.
I already tried the trick as mentioned in the link that sebas81 posted.
I recorded lots of live claps.. pitched them down.. but ain't getting near that typical sound.
There's a noise part in it that is so damn alive.. sometimes off-beat, and it's even like it's filtered and the cutt-off frequention is different every slap.

Anyway.. After recording too many tracks of my own bloody handclaps.. noises and other fx I'm somewhere between a hiphop clap and disco slap.. heh
In my soundcloud below is a little jam with it

I thought the P-Funk clap sounds were from the Clap Trap?

I'm sure there's the clap trap in some P-Funk stuff. FWIW my client brought in his clap trap. We plugged it in & were going to use it on the record I mentioned above. It was kool but nothing amazing. We went thru the Vintech 473 mic pre into Apogee Rosetta converter & then digitally (optical ADAT lightpipe) into Pro Tools HD. No compression or EQ or anything.

He was playing along to the beat & I was tracking it but at the end of the day we decided that it just didn't fit in our song. Mainly because the record called for more live sounding layered claps anyway & like I mentioned above we had a ton of great & authentic claps in our sample library. We found a combination of em & blend that we liked & it was a wrap! Even layered w/ other claps, the trap just sounded too thin, paper-y, & electronic no matter how he played it or tweaked it..

Just my 2.

Cheers

I like this man!

As with emulating anything, you'll never get it exact, but that's the best part because then you always end up with something new and original.

What synths did you use in this?

guys,

could it be there is something else mixed in besides claps and snares?
or a combination of claps from different drum machines?

I don't know what they used, but I know sometimes if I take a drumbreak and put it under my drum machine sequence at the same tempo, and then reverse the drumbreak, it sometimes gives that thwat sound on the 2's & 4's like the zapp claps.

Considering he said they experimented with tape effects, its possible they messed around with playing the tape backwards and recorded it under the main drum track.

yeah,

it could be anything. which year did this clap-ish sound first start to appear? is it on their early work as well? maybe that will tell us what gear etc to exclude?

That's the story indeed.. I really thought it was simple when I started..Though these experiments can give some cool sound adventures.. :D glad you like it

I did use a Moog Source on the basses en leads, a Teisco SX400 on the brassy synth stabs.. and a Roland JP8 on some leads and the sweeps and FX.
There's also a Rhodes doing some chords and some funky guitsrs and a Saxophone recorded in it.
I didn't listen it for quite a while, but the clap is not even close, though some elements are usable..

The famous P-funk clap sound was mostly heard in the early eightees so they could've been using a drumcomputer also.
But i'm sure it's a mix of things and lots of live claps.. Also some tape fx, (tape compressing, distortion.. maybe recorded backwards.. )
For example Atomic Dogs contains some vocals recorded backwards..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuyS9M8T03A

does anyone know where you can get that scratch effect thats in computer love? its like a chesy over digitized scratch i wanna put that in a song im producing! thanks!

doesn't sound like actual scratches but sure does sound like they used... maybe just sample the 'fresh' part and pitch bend it?

The first 3 albums were live drums w/live handclaps.

After that it was usually DMX, and later linn9000 I believe.

That is not scratching, it's a synth patch.

Claptrap was not around until the early 80's. P-Funk was around long before that.

I have a claptrap and I feel it is the most versatile clap synth ever, along with the clap channel on the vermona drm.

Don't forget...it's not just claps on that song. It's claps + snare + tambourine.


All the songs are different. Name a specific one.

No. "Computer Love" is obviously an Oberheim DX.



The claps on the first 3 albums are all real handclaps.

After that, it was mostly oberheim DX.





nOPE

The clap you hear in "More Bounce" is a combination of real claps, snare, and tambourine.

I think theres also reverb, like ambience verb. There is lots of samples. Let me know if u need some homie.

A good trick for lively thick claps:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CO0SStig...d=2ze33ngtazfp