trax.house archive

issue 26 · 2026-08-03 · for people who make house

one more night with Glitch2, now free

Tonight’s session hero is definitely the noise trick from the texture deep-dive. Using a gate with a sidechain to let noise breathe only when the track plays — it’s one of those moves that instantly glues the background to the beat. Also, Glitch2 is now free, which feels like a good excuse to break something on purpose.

◢ learn

The arrangement feels off — check the boring stuff first

Before you tear the whole project apart, this walkthrough points at a few culprits you probably skipped: inconsistent tuners across recorded takes, attacks and releases that drift at lower volumes, and a rhythm section that's just not in the pocket. Nudging the tempo by 1–2 BPM is a genuinely underrated move to find where the groove actually lives.

2 min read · read →

▶ Noise textures that breathe with the track, not against it

A practical session on moving past static tape hiss. The core trick: use a gate with a sidechain input from your kick or a 'pseudo master' group so the noise only opens when the track plays. Tumult gets a nod for its follow mode and custom sample import, but the technique works with any DAW gate and a dusty sample you already have.

watch →

A Deep Palma remix that hit #1 — deconstructed in Ableton

Dilby's remix of 'The Light' is a clinic in understated groove: two kick layers with the top EQ'd out and a click restored on top, a disco clap washed in reverb for atmosphere, and an atmospheric sample pitched down four semitones to lock it into key. Worth a look just for the left/right hat panning trick using Utility's channel swap.

2 min read · read →

◢ the word

RIP Kieran Foster — his classic Glitch2 is now freeware

Illformed Glitch2, a staple from the early blog-house days built on the Renoise framework, is now a free download. It's a multi-effect sequencer that chops, stutters, and mangles audio in real-time — still VST2/VST3/AU, and still a quick way to add unpredictable movement to a static loop.

2 min read · read →
♫ In Rotation
 
Full Intention — Sky's the Limit - Edit
— LarryLuxe's pick
🎵 track of the day

Jamie Vice — Not Tonight (Original Mix)

That warm, filtered organ stab that walks in right after the first vocal phrase and refuses to leave. · today's owner pick — all swagger, zero rush.

📊 The Charts
 
Undeniable: Adam Ten — I Never Knew (Extended Mix)
"I Never Knew (Extended Mix)" by Adam Ten (Defected) has held the Tech House chart for 21 days, much of it up front, still in the front of the board (#3) — one of the week's most inescapable records.
Producers: A record charting this long is a proven template — the release behind it is worth studying.
DJs: Still locked in the front of the board after 21 days on the chart — a tested selection.
Fastest riser: Jody Wisternoff, James Grant, Feiertag — Nomad (Extended Mix)
"Nomad (Extended Mix)" by Jody Wisternoff, James Grant, Feiertag (Anjunadeep) — a ~55-spot leap in 7 days on the Melodic House & Techno chart, into the upper-mid.
Producers: A ~55-spot leap inside a week means real sell-through — study the release behind it, and keep an eye on Anjunadeep's current slate.
DJs: Riding a week-long surge into the upper-mid — catch it on the way up.
Cooling off: Black Coffee, Jimi Jules — Trippy Yeah (Original Mix)
"Trippy Yeah (Original Mix)" by Black Coffee, Jimi Jules (Innervisions) — a ~25-spot slide in a day on the Melodic House & Techno chart, down into the deep end.
Producers: A ~25-spot slide in a day is the market cooling on this record — useful context if you were tracking Innervisions' current slate.
DJs: Losing ground fast — into the deep end in a single day.
Glossary
sidechain — Sidechain is when you route a compressor on your main sound, like a pad or bass, to key off another track (usually the kick) so it ducks out of the way every time the kick hits. In your DAW, drop a compressor on the pad, set the sidechain input to the kick bus, and dial the threshold down until you see it pump — that's the groove feeling. — seen in noizplay releases nyVERB - Algorithmic Reverb Plugin
🎯 Tonight's Move
M1 Piano Percussive Stab with Fake Sidechain via Velocity Accent
Your house piano sits just off the grid like a hand drum—punchy, humanized, with a kick-accented note that breathes without a compressor.
  1. 1. Load a Korg M1 house piano patch and set release to 0 (minimum on/off) so notes cut dead on key release—instant percussive attack.
  2. 2. In your MIDI clip, pull note ends way back to make stabs, then nudge each note slightly off the 16th‑note grid to scatter transients (avoid perfect quantization).
  3. 3. On the single note that lands with the kick, set velocity to 127; lower the surrounding notes’ velocity. This creates a fake sidechain pump on that hit.
  4. 4. Insert TAL Chorus (free) → Erosion → Redux (bit reduction) to dirty up the piano with noise and bit‑crush grit.
  5. 5. Add a Gate as the final insert to clamp any leftover noise from Redux during the gaps.
Stock path: No M1: use any piano sample with a VCA envelope’s release set to zero and a short decay, then run through free chorus (TAL), stock erosion, stock bitcrusher, and stock gate.
Why it works: Zero release converts sustained tones into rhythmic stabs; velocity contrast on the kick‑aligned note mimics sidechain ducking by giving the kick transient the loudest moment, and timing offsets prevent transients from stacking for a looser, human groove.

🔮 Producer Horoscope (for fun) — A hi-hat will slip off the grid tonight; let it.

Coffee, then reverb.

one of these lands every morning.

for working house producers with a track already half-finished.

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