Big Duke
ON V COLLECTION

Big Duke
ON V COLLECTION

One of the many hard-working heroes behind the modern hip hop scene, Big Duke has worked with some of the industry’s biggest artists as a producer and drum programmer, and we recently met him to talk about his creative process, and workflow with Analog Lab and our V Collection instruments.

Big Duke’s credits include Swae Lee, TLC, The Game, Currency, Eric Bellinger, Royce da 5’9”, Scarface, and Snoop Dogg to name a few, so when his clients want a nice synth sound for a hook, he has to deliver every time. He counts on the classic synths and keyboards we recreated in V Collection, and the quick-access power of Analog Lab, to work his magic.

Thousands of presets, infinite possibilities

If he wants to find inspiration in a sound, Big Duke uses Analog Lab to quickly browse through over 6,500 preset sounds, all made using history’s most influential synths and keyboards, to find that sound in his head.

The sounds are organized with tags, so it’s easy to find exactly the kind of sound he’s after. In Analog Lab, you also have quick access to some of the most important parameters of each sound like the filter cutoff, ADSR, and effects, so you can quickly shape the sound to suit the track you’re working on.

The synths that made hip hop

With such a huge focus on sampling, drum machines, and vocals, it’s easy to forget the huge influence that synths had on honing the early hip hop sound.

Thanks to V Collection, you don’t have to go to a museum or AAA recording studio to play them, hear what they sound like, and use them in your music. They’re right there, brought back to life in your computer.

CMI V

Making its hip hop debut way back in 1985, the Fairlight CMI let musicians sample, loop, and re-pitch single sounds for the first time. The original sampling synth was incredibly expensive, and was only available to top studios. Now, all the original early digital grain and character can be yours, with improved workflow, and a huge original library of sounds to play with.

MINI V

The G-Funk samples that formed the core of many old-school hip hop tracks often featured the godfather of modern synths. Samples of Parliament were used on tracks by everyone from Snoop Dogg to MC Hammer, Method Man to De La Soul, and Dr Moog’s 70s monosynth soon became the must-have keyboard for west coast hip hop producers and artists.

DX7 V

The DX7 and DX100 offered something new and exciting back in the 80s: FM synthesis. Zingy metallic drums, percussion, and bass sounds were like nothing anyone had heard before, and hip hop producers loved mixing these sharp new sounds with samples and loops to define their new genre.

ARP 2600 V

The preferred synth of Dexter Wansel, master of that 70s Philly R&B-jazz fusion sound. Wait, aren’t we talking about hip hop? Yes, and Wansel was sampled by the likes of J Dilla, Lupe Fiasco, Pete Rock, Lil B, Action Bronson, and Wiz Khalifa. Nothing says “East coast” quite like the ARP.

Inspired by V Collection? Head to our dedicated page to learn more.