Wavelength

Sublevel E

A dark, driving descent built from two riffs in Austin's riff library and a one-line prompt: a D-A-F-E fall and an E pedal that circles F and D#, on a Blooo bass he picked.

0:00 / 3:08 MP3
Key
E phrygian
Tempo
128 BPM
Length
3:08
Tracks
13
Loudness
-14.0 LUFS
True peak
-2.7 dBTP
Loudness by section of Sublevel EIntro -18.1 LUFS, Rise -15.3 LUFS, Groove -13.3 LUFS, Turn -12.9 LUFS, Drive -13 LUFS, Breakdown -17.6 LUFS, Build -15.8 LUFS, Peak -12.7 LUFS, Outro -14.7 LUFSIntro-18.1Rise-15.3Groove-13.3Turn-12.9Drive-13.0Breakdown-17.6Build-15.8Peak-12.7Outro-14.7
Loudness of each section in LUFS, as Wavelength measured it in the final master.

Where it started

Two riffs from Austin's riff library, both from the group g2 and both played on Blooo's Bass: Big One. Riff 3 is where the song goes; Riff 4 is what it stands on.

Riff 3, six bars: D for a bar, A for a bar, F held for a bar and a half, then E twice, and E again with D# just under it. The agent joined it to Riff 4's last two bars to make an eight-bar turn.

Riff 3 Blooo: Bass: Big One
Length
6 bars
Tempo
128 BPM
Grid
1/16
2 times through, 0:23
A2 Ab2 G2 F#2 F2 E2 Eb2 D2 Bar 1 Bar 2 Bar 3 Bar 4 Bar 5 Bar 6 D2 A2 F2
  1. D2
  2. A2
  3. F2
  4. E2
  5. E2
  6. Eb2
  7. E2
  8. E2
Solid notes are the riff as saved; the dashed outlines are the take as played, before editing. The clip plays it on its own sound, 2 times through, before anything else was added.

Where Riff 3 goes

  1. Bar 1 The song opens on it, alone, its filter opening.
  2. Bar 33 The turn: the descent under the beat, the lead answering.
  3. Bar 57 The breakdown: two octaves up on the same patch, with no bass or kick.
  4. Bar 89 The last turn. Its rest becomes the final E at bar 97.
The riff as the agent read it, in riffs.json 
{
  "name": "Riff 3",
  "track": "Init",
  "tempo": 128,
  "timeSignature": [4, 4],
  "quantize": "1/16",
  "notes": [
    {"beat": 0, "dur": 4, "key": "D2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 4, "dur": 4, "key": "A2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 8, "dur": 6, "key": "F2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 16, "dur": 0.5, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 16.5, "dur": 0.5, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 20, "dur": 1, "key": "Eb2", "vel": 0.8},
    {"beat": 21, "dur": 0.5, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.8},
    {"beat": 21.5, "dur": 0.5, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.8}
  ],
  "played": [
    {"beat": 0, "dur": 3.9, "key": "D2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 3.764, "dur": 4.007, "key": "A2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 7.706, "dur": 1.519, "key": "F#2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 11.686, "dur": 8.243, "key": "F2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 23.769, "dur": 0.323, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85}
  ]
}

Riff 4, eight bars: an E pedal in a 3+3+2 rhythm, and every fourth bar F, D# and back to E, the notes either side of E. Its last two bars loop as the bass of every groove.

Riff 4 Blooo: Bass: Big One
Length
8 bars
Tempo
128 BPM
Grid
1/16
2 times through, 0:30
F2 E2 Eb2 Bar 1 Bar 2 Bar 3 Bar 4 Bar 5 Bar 6 Bar 7 Bar 8 F2 F2
  1. E2
  2. E2
  3. E2
  4. E2
  5. E2
  6. E2
  7. E2
  8. E2
  9. E2
  10. F2
  11. Eb2
  12. E2
  13. E2
  14. E2
  15. E2
  16. E2
  17. E2
  18. E2
  19. E2
  20. E2
  21. E2
  22. F2
  23. Eb2
  24. E2
Solid notes are the riff as saved; the dashed outlines are the take as played, before editing. The clip plays it on its own sound, 2 times through, before anything else was added.

Where Riff 4 goes

  1. Bar 9 The rise: the whole riff, under the first sequencer line.
  2. Bar 17 The groove: its last two bars loop as the bass line.
  3. Bar 41 The drive, under the hook.
  4. Bar 65 The build: low-passed to 500 Hz and opening.
  5. Bar 73 The peak: everything over it.
The riff as the agent read it, in riffs.json 
{
  "name": "Riff 4",
  "track": "Init",
  "tempo": 128,
  "timeSignature": [4, 4],
  "quantize": "1/16",
  "notes": [
    {"beat": 0, "dur": 1.25, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 1.5, "dur": 0.75, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 3, "dur": 0.5, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 4, "dur": 1, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 5.5, "dur": 0.75, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 7, "dur": 0.75, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 8, "dur": 1.25, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 9.5, "dur": 0.75, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 11, "dur": 0.5, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 12, "dur": 2, "key": "F2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 14, "dur": 1, "key": "Eb2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 15, "dur": 0.5, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 16, "dur": 1.25, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 17.5, "dur": 0.75, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 19, "dur": 0.5, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 20, "dur": 1, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 21.5, "dur": 0.75, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 23, "dur": 0.75, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 24, "dur": 1.25, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 25.5, "dur": 0.75, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 27, "dur": 0.5, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 28, "dur": 2, "key": "F2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 30, "dur": 1, "key": "Eb2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 31, "dur": 0.5, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85}
  ],
  "played": [
    {"beat": 0, "dur": 1.138, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 1.446, "dur": 0.683, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 2.975, "dur": 0.504, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 4.041, "dur": 0.981, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 5.431, "dur": 0.742, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85},
    {"beat": 8.023, "dur": 0.783, "key": "E2", "vel": 0.85}
  ]
}

The prompt

Make a song using the 2 rifts in group g2.
Given to Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code.

The track

Sublevel E started as two riffs. Austin recorded them on the Riffs page of wavelength serve, the riff library that sits apart from any song, filed them in a group called g2, and played both on one sound: Blooo’s Bass: Big One. Then he gave a one-line prompt. The agent copied the group into a new song folder with wavelength riffs use, which brought the riffs and the instrument they were played on.

Both riffs centre on E, with F and D# as the only colours, so the song is in E phrygian at the 128 BPM they were played at. Riff 4, an E pedal in a 3+3+2 rhythm, is the bass of every groove. Riff 3, a descent from D through A and F to E, joined to Riff 4’s last two bars, makes an eight-bar turn that opens the song, turns it halfway, plays two octaves up in the breakdown and closes it on a held E.

Big One sounds an octave below the notes as written, so the riffs sit at E1. The same patch doubles them two octaves up so the bass line reads on small speakers. Everything else that plays a note is Blooo too: a sixteenth-note sequencer line, a lead with a broken-chord hook, a pad, bells and a noise sweep. A Legend 909 kit carries the beat. Above the bass’s D# beats, no part holds an E, and wavelength lint --harmony found no problems.

Austin named it from a list of titles that could double as a video game.

TimeSectionWhat happens
0:01IntroThe turn alone on Big One, its low-pass opening from 450 Hz, under the Endeavour pad: Riff 3's descent, then Riff 4's last two bars.
0:16RiseRiff 4 whole, with the TD Sequencer's sixteenths opening up. The doubled bass and the kick arrive at bar 13, the hats at bar 15.
0:31GrooveRiff 4 as the bass line, a clap on 2 and 4, the pad pumping under the kick. From bar 25 the Phazed Lead plays the hook and the open hats join.
1:01TurnThe descent under the beat: D minor, A minor, D minor over the held F, then E minor. The lead answers in half notes and a noise sweep falls.
1:16DriveRiff 4 again with the hook four times, bells after each one, kick pushes and clap flams.
1:46BreakdownNo kick and no bass. The turn plays two octaves up on Big One over the pad, with bells and the lead's answer.
2:01BuildRiff 4 low-passed to 500 Hz and opening. Four bars of kick, then none; a snare roll speeds up to 32nds, a riser climbs and a master high-pass thins the mix.
2:16PeakEverything at once, the hook doubled by Oct'ed Lead, a ride on the beat.
2:46OutroThe hook ends, the clap and the sequencer leave, the kick stops after bar 92. The last turn plays alone and its rest becomes the final E, under the pad and the bells.

How an agent sees it

The picture Wavelength draws of Sublevel E: sections and bars, loudness over time, a spectrogram of the mix and every track's notes over its level.
The agent can't hear the song, so render --png draws it: sections and bars, the loudness contour, a spectrogram of the mix, and every track's notes over its level.

Instruments and patches

Austin's sound (Blooo, from the riff library)

The instrument both riffs were recorded on, saved in the song's sounds.json and used as it is.

TrackSoundRole
InitBlooo: Bass: Big OneBoth riffs as recorded. It sounds an octave below the written notes, so the bass sits at E1.
Init HiBlooo: Bass: Big OneThe riffs two octaves up, so the bass line reads on small speakers. Plays the turn alone in the breakdown.

More Blooo

Chosen from Blooo's factory patches by measuring each one first: its octave, its attack and its tone.

TrackSoundRole
SeqMono: TD Sequencer (MW)A sixteenth-note line on each chord, written an octave up because the patch sounds an octave down; its low-pass opens through each build
LeadMono: Phazed LeadThe hook (a broken E minor chord with octave leaps, an F that falls to E) and the answer over each turn
Lead HiMono: Oct'ed LeadDoubles the hook in the peak
PadPad: EndeavourE minor, A minor and D minor under everything, pumping under the kick; written an octave up
BellsPoly: Tiny BellsBroken chords in the breakdown, sparkles at the drive and the peak, the final E
NoiseSFX: Noise DownTwo-bar sweeps into the turn, the breakdown and the outro

Samples and built-ins

TrackSourceRole
KickLegend 909 kit (built-in sampler)Four on the floor; the sidechain trigger and the source of the rumble bus
Clap, Snare, HatsLegend 909 kit (built-in sampler)Clap on 2 and 4, the build's snare roll and fills, closed and open hats, crash and ride
FXBuilt-in FXReverse swells, impacts, sub drops and the build's riser

Mix and master

  • Faders set from each track's measured loudness against per-track targets, with the bass loudest, as in Austin's own 2025 songs.
  • Sidechain ducking from the kick: the pad 5 dB, the sequencer 4, the bass and the doubled bass 3.
  • A rumble bus: the kick through a dark 2 s mono reverb, low-passed, saturated and ducked 13 dB so it only fills the gaps.
  • The build empties out: no kick in its last four bars, the clap roll ridden down, the bass 3 dB lower in its last two bars and a master high-pass sweeping to 600 Hz, so the peak lands 4 dB over it.
  • Master: a gentle glue compressor (1.7:1), a soft clipper and a true-peak limiter at -2 dB, at -14 LUFS. Left and right stay within 0.2 dB in every section.
  • Every track has a level-matched built-in fallback, so the song file renders on a computer without Blooo or the Legend 909 kit; the Blooo patches that sound an octave down keep their octave.
  • One second of silence before the song.

Download the song

The whole song in one file: the job Wavelength renders, the script that wrote it, its notes, every revision and the review comments, in the open song format. Render it, change it, or ask your agent to make it its own:

wavelength render sublevel-e.wavelength
wavelength unpack sublevel-e.wavelength

Tracks whose plugins you don't have play built-in stand-ins, so it renders on any computer; with the same plugins it sounds as you hear it here.

Download sublevel-e.wavelength 8.0 MB · Licensed Creative Commons Attribution 4.0: share and remix it, credit the song.