How to Write Extratone Songs

Want to make music that sounds like a swarm of bees who discovered EDM and then learned to play piano? Welcome to extratone. If you love extreme tempos, speaker terror and sonic chaos that somehow still grooves, this guide will teach you how to write extratone songs step by step. We will cover tempo math, drum programming, synthesis tricks, arrangement strategies, mixing and mastering tips, live performance workflow, and safety advice so you do not break your ears or your neighbor's skull.

Everything here is written for musicians and producers who want to make extratone that feels intentional and creative rather than random noise. You will find simple workflows, practical presets to try, real world scenarios, and explanations for every acronym and term so you never feel lost in techno jargon. Let us rip into it.

What Is Extratone

Extratone is an extreme form of ultra high tempo electronic music. The beats per minute number is so large that individual percussive hits blur into pitched tones. When you trigger a single drum hit repeatedly at very high speed it begins to sound like a tone with a pitch. Producers use that phenomenon intentionally to create melodies from percussion. Typical extratone BPM ranges from about one thousand to ten thousand beats per minute. Some artists go higher. The point is to use rhythmic density as a melodic and textural device.

Quick glossary

• BPM means beats per minute. It tells you how many quarter note beats occur in one minute.
• DAW stands for Digital Audio Workstation. This is your software like Ableton Live, FL Studio, or Logic Pro where you make tracks.
• ADS R stands for Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release. These are envelope parameters that shape how a sound evolves over time.
• LFO means Low Frequency Oscillator. It modulates parameters at a slow rate to create movement. Low frequency here means below hearing range when used for modulation.
• VST means Virtual Studio Technology plugin. It is a software instrument or effect you load into your DAW.

Why People Make Extratone

Creative reasons

• It turns percussive energy into melody in a way that feels violent and joyful at once.
• It explores sound and texture at tempo extremes where conventional musical rules bend into new shapes.
• It makes a statement in a crowded playlist. People either love it or want to call the police. Both are memorable outcomes.

Practical reasons

• It is a way to craft unique timbres without heavy synthesis knowledge.
• It works great for sound design in games, trailers and extreme audio experiments.
• It teaches you control at microscopic timescales which improves your skills in general production.

Tempo Math That Actually Helps

If you are going to make extratone you need a few simple formulas so you can turn rhythm into pitch with intention.

Basic tempo to hits per second formula

Hits per second equals BPM divided by 60 multiplied by hits per beat.

So hits per second equals BPM divided by 60 times hitsPerBeat.

Example explanation

• If BPM is 120 and you place one hit per beat then hits per second equals 120 divided by 60 times 1 equals 2 hits per second.
• If BPM is 120 and you place eight hits per beat then hits per second equals 120 divided by 60 times 8 equals 16 hits per second.

To turn hits into a perceived pitch use this idea

Frequency in hertz equals hits per second. When hits per second reaches the range of audible musical pitch the ear interprets it as a tone. For example 440 hertz is the note A4.

Apply that to BPM

BPM needed for a target frequency equals target frequency times 60 divided by hits per beat.

Worked example

If you want A4 which is 440 hertz and you are triggering 8 hits per beat then BPM equals 440 times 60 divided by 8 which equals 3300 BPM. Welcome to extratone.

Useful reference table for common pitches using eight hits per beat which corresponds to 32nd notes when one beat is a quarter note

• A4 440 hertz at 8 hits per beat equals 3300 BPM.
• C5 523.25 hertz at 8 hits per beat equals 3920 BPM.
• E4 329.63 hertz at 8 hits per beat equals 2472 BPM.

Do not panic if your DAW shows unrealistic BPM values. Many producers keep DAW tempo low and use plugin methods to achieve fast repetition. We will cover those techniques.

Two Ways to Make Extratone

There are two practical ways to make extratone sounds. One uses very high DAW tempo if your software and CPU can handle it. The other uses sample rate tricks or granular engines to emulate super fast repetition at lower session tempos. Both have pros and cons.

Method A: Raise the DAW tempo

Set the DAW tempo to the target extreme number like 3000 or 5000. Program your drum hits at the note value that gives the pitch you want. This is conceptually simple. It shows you exact note alignment and lets MIDI remain clean.

Pros

• Transparent mapping between hits per beat and pitch.
• Easy to edit MIDI note positions as actual note grid aligns.

Cons

• Some DAWs or plugins choke at extremely high tempo values.
• Your CPU use can spike because automation and plugin scheduling are taxed.
• Exporting audio requires care because internal sample timing and tempo translation can produce artifacts.

Method B: Use repetition inside a plugin or sampler

Keep the DAW at a sane tempo like 120. Use a sampler, granular synth or repeat plugin to trigger a single hit rapidly. Many samplers let you set retrigger rates in hertz or use modulation to achieve the target frequency. Granular engines slice and play grains at rates that function like extratone.

Pros

• DAW stability and lower CPU overhead from tempo handling are maintained.
• Granular tricks give unique textures beyond simple repetition.

Cons

• You must convert desired pitch into retrigger rate inside the plugin which adds a step of math or trial and error.
• Some samplers introduce aliasing or resampling artifacts that you must either embrace or tame.

Choosing Sounds That Work

Not every drum sample survives being turned into a tone at thousands of BPM. Choose samples with clean transients and harmonic material that becomes musically appealing when looped. Short percussive hits and clicks are your friends. They provide a clean waveform for pitch emergence.

• Picks for pitched extratone: clicks, rim shots, very short snare samples, closed hi hats, wood blocks and tight toms. Natural instruments with long tails will smear into a wash rather than a defined tone.
• Picks for noisy textures: short distorted crashes, top end heavy percussion and transient rich one shots. When looped at high speed these create gritty harmonic stacks.

Real life scenario

You are in your kitchen at 2 AM and you find a metal bottle cap. You record a single hit with your phone. It is clicky and short. You throw it into your sampler and set retrigger to a very high rate. Suddenly your bottle cap has a melody. That is extratone magic. It costs zero dollars and it will upset your neighbors.

Synthesis and Pitching Tricks

Beyond repeated samples you can use synthesis to design extratone elements that behave predictably. Here are useful approaches.

Oscillator stacks with micro timing differences

Stack many sine or triangle oscillators and slightly offset their phase or timing. When combined at different tiny offsets you get beating and movement that suggests ultra fast rhythmic content without actually firing a separate sample. This is smoother and often easier on speakers.

Granular pitch from grains

Granular synthesis plays tiny grains of a sound quickly. By controlling grain position and playback rate you can extract pitched content from almost any sample. Grain size, overlap and window shape are crucial. Use smaller grains for cleaner pitch. Use larger grains for texture.

Use the sampler loop as an oscillator

Load a short click and set the sampler to loop at different rates. Treat the sampler like a playable instrument. You can map retrigger rate to MIDI note so that a single key plays different pitches as you change notes. This is a way to play extratone like an instrument.

Creating Melodies With Percussion

Melody in extratone often comes from rhythmic patterns and rate changes. A simple approach

1. Pick one short percussive sample that becomes a clear pitch at fast repetition.
2. Decide on a hits per beat value like 4, 8 or 16 so you can predict the pitch range.
3. Use MIDI or retrigger control to play different rates as notes. Map each rate to conventional notes using the tempo math we explained earlier.
4. Write a short motif and vary rhythm, add accents and ghost hits to create phrasing.

Real life relatable example

Think of a sewing machine. When the stitch rate increases it turns into a hum. Now imagine arranging the stitch rate into a tune. That is how you will think about extratone melody. Opposite of a singer humming a tune, you are tuning repetition speed to get a sung line from a tiny click.

Arrangement Strategies That Avoid Tiredness

Extratone can be exhausting. The ear gets tired fast. Arrangement is your tool to keep the listener interested and avoid headache fatigue.

• Use contrast. Alternate extratone sections with slower parts or sparse sections so impact remains meaningful.
• Introduce motifs. Start with one click tone as a motif and gradually layer textures or shift its pitch range. The ear loves callbacks.
• Use micro pauses. A single beat of silence before a blast makes the blast land harder. Silence is dramatic even at mega tempos because it resets expectation.
• Create tension with filtering. Open a low pass filter slowly then cut it abruptly for dramatic reveal. Use automation in your DAW to control this.

Mixing and Mastering Practicalities

Mixing extratone requires care because the sonic energy concentrates in mid and high frequencies and because speakers and ears can distort. These are techniques that keep your track punchy and safe.

High pass to clear the mud

Remove sub frequencies below the region you need. Most extratone energy lives above 200 hertz once pitches form. Use a high pass filter on extratone tracks to avoid low end buildup. That protects kick and bass while keeping tones crisp.

Control aliasing and sampling artifacts

High retrigger rates can create aliasing which sounds metallic or nasty. Use antialiasing resamplers in your sampler or record at high sample rates like 96 kilohertz. Then downsample carefully. Alternatively embrace aliasing as an aesthetic if you want harsh textures.

Use saturation for presence

Soft saturation adds harmonic content that helps the pitched repetition read clearly on small speakers. Use tube or tape style saturation plugins on your extratone bus. Do not overdo it or you will lose clarity.

Transient shaping and multiband processing

Transient shapers let you control attack and sustain. If your extratone is too clicky and not tonal enough you can lengthen the sustain slightly to make the pitch read. Multiband compression allows you to compress the mid band differently from the top end. That keeps details without letting highs dominate painfully.

Limiter and loudness

Limiting extratone to modern loudness standards like LUFS is tricky. The track can sound quieter on streaming platforms because dense mid high energy is perceived differently. Aim for a final master that respects LUFS targets for your distribution while keeping dynamic interest. If you are mastering for a live DJ set you can push louder but test on club monitors at low volume first.

Speaker and Ear Safety

Extratone can physically harm speakers and ears. You must be careful.

• Test at low volume before you crank. High density mid and high energy causes fatigue and can damage tweeters.
• Do not blast extratone near open windows in apartment buildings unless you enjoy angry knocks and police visits.
• Wear hearing protection when exposing yourself to long sessions. Your ears do not heal overnight from repeated stress.
• Use a subsonic filter to remove inaudible low frequencies that waste amp power.

Performance and Live Setup

Playing extratone live is a special skill. You will need a workflow that allows for control without constant micromanagement.

• Use hardware samplers or controllers with retrigger rate knobs for tactile control. Accuracy matters when you hand tune pitch on the fly.
• Design one shots that can be pitched by MIDI notes. Mapping retrigger rate to keyboard positions gives you expressivity.
• Keep an effects chain for the main extratone element and an effects send for ambience. Reverb and long tails can muddy the pitch. Use send return to control blend.
• Have a kill switch or a wide band limiter ready. If feedback occurs you must cut the sound instantly to protect gear and listeners.

Real world scenario

You are playing a midnight basement show. One extratone blast hits and the ceiling fixture starts to rattle. The drummer next to you smiles because the frequency lines up with the tom resonance. You bend the retrigger rate down by a small amount and the room stops vibrating like a washing machine. Live control saved the night and your neighbor did not call for a witch hunt.

Common Creative Techniques

Pitch modulated by envelopes

Modulate retrigger rate or pitch with an envelope for snappy melodic gestures. A short attack with a falling retrigger rate can make percussive pitch slides that sound like a tiny siren.

Use sidechain to create breathing

Sidechain compression is when one signal compresses another based on amplitude. Use a gentle sidechain from a bass kick to the extratone bus so the low end has space. It creates rhythmic breathing even when the tempo is extreme.

Polyrhythms via layered rates

Layer two extratone elements with slightly different hits per beat values. The interference between them generates complex beating patterns. These polyrhythms are interesting even if they are too fast to count.

Humanize with micro timing shifts

Move a small subset of hits slightly off grid to create groove. Human ears notice micro timing even when everything is ultra fast. Use this to inject feel and prevent mechanical sterility.

Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

• Everything sounds like mush. Fix by using shorter samples and tightening envelopes. Add a high pass filter to remove low frequency smear.
• Speakers distort early. Fix by checking levels, using saturation with care, and testing on different speakers. Use multiband limiting to manage problem frequencies.
• Pitch does not read as musical. Fix by cleaning the attack, choosing a sample with harmonic content and using slight filtering to emphasize harmonics that match musical intervals.
• The track is tiring. Fix by adding contrast sections, using breaks, and automating filter sweeps so the ear can rest then come back to the blast.

Tools and Plugins Producers Use

You do not need expensive tools. Many free samplers and plugins work well. Here are categories and a few popular options. We explain each so you know why it helps.

• Sampler Use it to retrigger one shots at high rates. Examples include Ableton Simpler, Kontakt, Sitala and TX-16Wx. You want flexible loop and retrigger controls.
• Granular synth Great for creating pitch and texture from any sample. Try Granulator II, Quanta or Padshop.
• High quality resampler Use this when you record at high sample rates and then downsample. Plugins that do good resampling avoid aliasing and preserve clarity.
• Saturation Use tape or tube saturation to add harmonics. Plugins include Decapitator, Saturn and free options like Soft Clipper in many DAWs.
• Transient shaper These allow you to sculpt attack and sustain. They are essential to make a click read as tone without losing punch.
• Limiter and multiband compressor Use them in mastering to control peaks and balance frequency bands.

Workflow Blueprint You Can Use Tonight

1. Choose a short percussive sample. Record one if you must with your phone. Keep it under 100 milliseconds.
2. Decide if you will run DAW tempo extremely high or use a sampler retrigger. If your DAW chokes try sampler retrigger method.
3. Use tempo math to pick your target pitch. Convert desired musical note into frequency then into BPM for your chosen hits per beat value.
4. Program a short motif of four to eight notes based on your pitch mapping. Keep motif short so it becomes a hook.
5. Layer texture. Add a noise bed or a second extratone element with a slightly different rate for beating and thickness.
6. Automate filters and volume for contrast. Insert a one bar silence or a low tempo break to reset listener expectations.
7. Mix. High pass each extratone track, add mild saturation, shape transients and bus to a group with gentle multiband compression. Test at low and medium volumes.
8. Master with care. Aim for loudness but keep dynamics so the ear does not fatigue instantly.

Creative Exercises to Build Skill Fast

Click to melody

Record a short click. Map retrigger rate to MIDI notes and play a simple three note phrase. Repeat for ten minutes. Try different envelope settings to hear how sustain affects pitch clarity.

Micro break drill

Write a 32 bar track where every 8 bars you insert a break that is either one measure of silence or a slow 60 BPM section. The rest is extratone. This trains you to use contrast to maintain excitement.

Texture swap

Make one extratone motif from a metal hit, one from a glass clink and one from a vocal consonant recorded in your kitchen. Layer them and see which combinations create pleasant harmonic stacks. This will teach you timbre relationships fast.

Copyright and Use Cases

Extratone works well in electronic releases, sound art, trailers and experimental game audio. If you record found sounds check local regulations for microphone use in public spaces if you plan to monetize. Do not worry about genre rules. If your macabre bottle cap melody gets people moving or unsettled you have succeeded.

Frequently Asked Questions

What BPM is extratone

Extratone usually starts around one thousand BPM and goes up to ten thousand BPM or more. The genre is defined more by the effect of repetition turning into pitch than by an exact number. Many producers work with rates where percussive hits become audio frequency tones.

Can I make extratone at normal DAW tempo

Yes. Use samplers and granular engines to retrigger samples at hertz rates that do not depend on DAW tempo. This method is stable and CPU friendly. You will need to convert musical target frequency into retrigger rate inside your plugin.

Will extratone damage my speakers

It can if not handled carefully. High density energy in mid and high frequencies stresses tweeters. Test at low volume, use safe levels when playing live and avoid persistent full band blasts at maximum volume. If you hear distortion reduce gain or use a limiter to prevent clipping.

How do I tune extratone to musical notes

Use the tempo math shown earlier. Frequency in hertz equals BPM divided by 60 times hits per beat. Rearranged BPM equals frequency times 60 divided by hits per beat. Pick a hits per beat value such as 8 or 16 and calculate BPM for the target note.

Is mastering different for extratone

Yes. You must preserve clarity while reaching a competitive loudness. Use multiband compression, careful saturation and limiting. Pay attention to ear fatigue. A good master will sound aggressive but not exhausting.

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