Atera is a Techno House track from 2006.  Like many Biotic tracks, it features a driving, tribal beat with lots of percussion, vocal stabs and a thick bass line.  What balances is out is the gentler sound of the Rhodes keys which give it a splash of a down-tempo vibe.  The track took a while to complete and went through a few revisions, partly to fine tune the crowded low-end, but also due to the marriage the softer and harsher elements which also made it difficult to market.  Subsequently, the track wasn’t shopped much and ended up rotting on some disc.

Aside from the drums, the foundation of the track is the simple pulsating bass played by the Photone Synth (see screenshot), a child of the previously mentioned Reaktor software.  Interestingly, the sound used for this part was not a tweaked sound or a preset, but the raw generator tone with no filters or processing applied.  I’ve always liked the basic sound of this synth and have used it on a few occasions. Reaktor and Absynth were used for the remaining synth sounds.  The TubeVST plugin was used to fatten up some of the sounds and give them a more airy tone.  The Focusrite ComPounder was used for this purpose as well.

In addition to the MP3 and WAV versions of the completed track, included is the midi file for the main bass line, if you’d like to use it for something or simply get a kick out of playing it in your midi player.  Lastly, I’ll be adding the BPM field for all tracks shortly.  For now, this one is at 135 beats per minute, a common tempo for Biotic tracks.

Download: Atera (mp3)Download: Atera (wav)Download: Atera Bass Line (midi)