Sound Recipe - Underworld / "Born Slippy .NUXX" Keyboard Chords

Target

The enormous, euphoric-but-melancholic chord signal at the beginning and end of Underworld's "Born Slippy .NUXX": bright digital-poly stabs widened by chorus, suspended in a large reverb, then turned into a rhythm by dotted-eighth delay.

The sound should feel:

• Heavenly and forceful, not soft-focus ambient
• Digital at the core, warm and wide around the edges
• Simple in the hands; rhythmically complex only after the delay
• Huge in the intro, but still clear enough to return over a full 909-driven track

Follows the house method: intention → source → notes → routing → settings → automation → taste checks.

Evidence

MusicRadar's history of the track identifies the chord sequence as E♭ → Dm7 → B♭/D and reports that Rick Smith designed the patch on a Waldorf Microwave, ran it through chorus and reverb, then fed the result to a dotted-eighth delay. An earlier Computer Music recreation reaches the same territory with detuned saw waves, noise, a driven low-pass filter, shaped envelopes, and effects. A DJ Mag recreation demonstrates that the job can also be done on an OB-XA-style polysynth plus delay.

That makes the owned Waldorf Microwave 1 the obvious first reach. It is not just a generic 90s substitute; it is the modern version of the reported source instrument.

Best Sources

These are job-specific choices, not a general plugin ranking. Microwave 1 is the defining source; the other tools preserve its attack while supplying width, pulse, and scale.

Fast Path

1. Set the project to 140 BPM and create a software-instrument track.
2. Load Waldorf Microwave 1 and start from an initialized bright poly patch.
3. Program E♭ → Dm7 → B♭/D as short, confident chord stabs.
4. Add UAD Studio D Chorus for width, then trim the low end with Pro-Q 4.
5. Send to Cascadia at dotted 1/8 and Lexicon PCM for the large digital space.
6. Keep the dry chord present. The delay supplies the pulse; the reverb supplies the sky.

Use the channel-strip configurator above for the detailed Produced Path or the stock Fast Path route.

Produced Path

Use this when the chord is a featured arrangement event rather than a temporary writing sound.

Notes and voicings

Keep the upper voices near one another so the harmony moves smoothly. The slash chord matters: D stays under B♭ instead of the bass jumping down to B♭. Try the chord bed around C3–C5, then move the whole part an octave if it crowds the vocal or snare.

Performance rules:

• Use full, even velocity; this is a declaration, not a delicate piano part.
• Start with one stab per change and let the echo write the intervening rhythm.
• Keep note lengths short enough that the dry chords do not smear, but long enough to excite the reverb.
• Do not arpeggiate the MIDI. The repeats are the arpeggiator.

Starting anchors (taste-check) — Waldorf Microwave 1

Start from an initialized poly patch rather than browsing pads.

Oscillators

• Oscillator 1: saw or a saw-heavy Basic Waves position
• Oscillator 2: another saw-like wave, detuned about +7 to +15 cents
• Add a little noise (10–20%) for the sprayed, breathy top
• Polyphony: at least 8 voices; unison off
• Keep wavetable movement subtle or static — the chord and delay are the movement

Filter and envelopes

• 24 dB low-pass; cutoff roughly 1.5–3 kHz as a starting range
• Low resonance; positive filter-envelope amount around 40–60%
• Add internal filter drive until the stab feels solid, then stop before it rasps
• Amp attack: 0–10 ms
• Decay: 500–900 ms
• Sustain: 35–50%
• Release: 700–1,200 ms
• Filter envelope: similarly quick attack, medium decay, slightly longer release

The goal is a bright front followed by a softer body. If it sounds like a static organ, increase envelope movement. If it sounds like a trance pluck, lengthen decay/release and darken the filter.

Insert chain and routing

Track inserts

1. Waldorf Microwave 1 — source patch above
2. UAD Studio D Chorus — low mix, Mode I or II; widen without obvious wobble
3. FabFilter Pro-Q 4 — HPF around 80–120 Hz; tame 2–4 kHz only if the stab bites
4. Optional UAD Oxide — very light density if the digital chord feels papery; skip by default

Delay send — the identity

At 140 BPM, a dotted eighth is:

60 ÷ 140 × 0.75 = 0.3214 seconds → 321.4 ms

Use iZotope Cascadia on a 100% wet bus:

• Time: dotted 1/8 / 321 ms
• Feedback: 25–40%
• Return HPF: 180–250 Hz
• Return LPF: 6–9 kHz — brighter than the normal dub send
• Start the track send around 15–25%, then balance by rhythm rather than meters
• Keep modulation low; this echo should propel the chord, not seasicken it

The stock route uses Logic Delay Designer with the same timing and filtering.

Reverb send — the scale

Use Lexicon PCM Hall, Random Hall, or Concert Hall:

• Decay: 2.5–4.5 s
• Predelay: 20–50 ms
• Return HPF: 200–300 Hz
• High cut: 7–10 kHz
• Send enough to make the chord enormous, but retain a clear dry attack

The stock route uses ChromaVerb in a dark hall.

Arrangement and automation

• Begin with chords, air, and delay before the rhythm section arrives.
• When drums enter, lower the reverb return slightly rather than shrinking the source patch.
• Automate delay feedback upward on the last stab before a transition, then return it immediately.
• Open the Microwave filter a little for the final return of the chords.
• If the full mix masks the chord, raise its dry attack or clear competing 2–4 kHz energy before adding another layer.
• Keep the 909 kick and bass out of the chord's low end; the chord owns width and upper-mid emotion, not sub weight.

Taste checks

1. Filter cutoff / envelope amount — veiled digital hymn ↔ urgent bright stab
2. Delay feedback — disciplined pulse ↔ ecstatic cascade
3. Reverb-to-delay routing — clean modern separation ↔ smeared 90s monument

Lock the oscillators, notes, and dotted-eighth timing. Those are the identity; the three controls above are the performance.

Variations

• Logic Fast: In Retro Synth, use Analog mode with two saws, light detune, low-pass filtering, a fast attack, medium decay/release, and moderate sustain. Use Channel EQ, Delay Designer, and ChromaVerb. It will not have Microwave 1's grain, but it preserves the musical job while writing.
• Closer historical routing: Feed some of the reverb return into the delay so the reverberant chord is echoed.
• Cleaner modern routing: Keep delay and reverb parallel on separate buses. The exported bundle provides separate returns so either routing stays possible.

Avoid

• Using a supersaw preset: too modern, too continuously bright, and usually too wide before effects.
• Playing a busy rhythm: the delay already supplies it.
• Root-position B♭: loses the D pedal movement that makes the progression ache.
• Too much chorus: turns the attack blurry and phasey.
• Dark dub repeats: this delay is part of the hook, so it can retain more top end than S3 Dub Delay normally would.
• All wet, no declaration: the dry stab must remain audible at the front of the reverb.
• Adding compression by habit: envelope shape and level automation are usually enough.

Adjustment Rules

Practical Summary

At 140 BPM, play E♭ → Dm7 → B♭/D as simple stabs through an initialized two-saw Microwave 1 patch with noise, a driven low-pass envelope, and moderate release. Widen it lightly with Studio D, remove unnecessary lows, then send it to a bright 321 ms dotted-eighth Cascadia delay and a large Lexicon hall. Keep the dry attack proud, let the delay create the rhythm, and let the reverb create the scale.

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