Waldorf Attack 3 Techno Drum Preset Guide: Kick, Snare & Industrial Drum Design
Learn how to create powerful techno drum presets in Waldorf Attack 3. Step-by-step guide for designing punchy kicks, industrial snares, driving hi-hats, and warehouse-style percussion for peak-time techno production.
This guide focuses on dark, driving, warehouse-style techno drums — punchy kick, industrial hats, and rumbling percussion.
🥁 1. Industrial Techno Kick (Deep & Punchy)
Oscillator
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Wave: Sine
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Pitch: Low (around 40–50 Hz fundamental)
Pitch Envelope (IMPORTANT)
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Amount: High
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Decay: Very short (10–25 ms)
👉 This gives the classic techno “thump”.
Amp Envelope
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Attack: 0
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Decay: 300–500 ms
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Sustain: 0
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Release: Short
Distortion
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Drive: 20–40%
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Add subtle clipping for grit
Optional
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Slight lowpass filter around 8–12 kHz
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Boost around 60–100 Hz in your DAW EQ
🔥 Pro tip: Layer a second voice with noise + very short decay for extra click.
🥁 2. Dark Warehouse Snare / Clap
Oscillator 1
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Noise generator
Oscillator 2
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Triangle wave (low level)
Filter
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Bandpass
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Medium resonance
Amp Envelope
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Short decay (150–250 ms)
Distortion
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Moderate (adds aggression)
👉 Add slight reverb in DAW for space.
🥁 3. Driving Techno Hi-Hats
Closed Hat
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Noise oscillator
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Highpass filter (5–10 kHz)
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Very short decay (50–120 ms)
Open Hat
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Same noise source
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Longer decay (300–600 ms)
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Slight stereo spread
🔥 Add subtle LFO to filter cutoff for movement.
🥁 4. Industrial Percussion
For metallic percussion:
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Oscillator: Square or triangle
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Add FM if available
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Short decay
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High resonance filter
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Add distortion
This creates that Berlin warehouse vibe.
🎛 5. Techno Groove Pattern (Basic 4/4)
Kick:X - - - | X - - - | X - - - | X - - -
Closed Hat:- X - X | - X - X | - X - X | - X - X
Open Hat:- - - X | - - - X | - - - X | - - - X
Snare/Clap:- - X - | - - X - | - - X - | - - X -
Tempo: 128–135 BPM
🔥 Advanced Techno Tips
✔ Slight swing (52–55%)
✔ Automate distortion during buildup
✔ Layer rumble (send kick to long reverb → lowpass → sidechain)
✔ Use subtle saturation on drum bus
✔ Keep kick mono
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