Crate Diggers — Sample-Based Hip-Hop — Patreon Exclusive MIDI & Chord Preset Pack

Could you produce an entire album from just one chord preset?

Last month, with the Crate Diggers https://www.patreon.com/musicianparadise/posts/crate-diggers-161538875 chord presets, we explored the harmonic language molded by sample-based producers. But the story doesn't end there. The chords forged in hip-hop production labs have come back to the live music domain — transformed forever.

This month's pack is about that return trip. Soul Lab is inspired by Amp Fiddler, August Greene, BLK ODYSSY, and Matt Martians — artists who bring ideas born from technology back into live soul, jazz, funk, and hip-hop.

In 1990, I got my first drum machine — an Alesis SR-16. (Yes, I'm that old. And yes, that little box is still being sold today, 36 years later. Lol.) Within a week of programming it, I realized something: I was no longer limited to what a human drummer could physically play. I went completely wild — stacking its internal sounds, sequencing them at maximum speed, building soundscapes like nothing I'd heard before.

And mind you, the SR-16 had very limited sound editing. Definitely not a sound design tool. Oh, how I wish I could find those recordings...

🎶 Why This Matters

Human creativity plays chess with its own inventions — every move invites a counter-move.

Early drum machines and samplers tried to reproduce the role of a drummer. Then producers discovered these machines could do the impossible — and programmed patterns seemingly no human could play: jungle, breakbeat. Then along comes Jojo Mayer, who reverse-engineers those patterns back onto an acoustic kit — and now a whole generation of drummers plays "machine music" with two hands and two feet.

So no, technology doesn't flatten creativity. It dares us to abandon the path of least resistance — copying what we've heard before — for the path of discovery. It changes what we thought humans could do.

The same thing happened to chords. I love how hip-hop producers reimagine the work of jazz artists: they sample a brief moment from a record — something that could easily go unnoticed — then flip it, rearranging the rhythm and the chords into a sound nobody had heard before.

And then musicians with open ears and open minds started paying attention — players humble and sensitive enough to learn from a technology-driven culture. Karriem Riggins, Quest Love, Robert Glasper? There's the full cycle: harmony passes through the machines and returns to the live-music domain, carrying newfound beauty.

The artists behind Soul Lab didn't fear the tech — they drew that beauty from it:

• Amp Fiddler — the Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist who handed J Dilla his first MPC. If anyone embodies the bridge between live funk and the beat lab, it's Amp.

• August Greene — Common, Glasper, and Riggins as a supergroup: live jazz musicianship built on Dilla-inspired beat sensibility.

• BLK ODYSSY — Austin neo-soul that treats the studio like an instrument.

• Matt Martians ("Dent Jusay" produced by Tyler, the Creator) — The Internet's co-founder, whose The Drum Chord Theory is basically a thesis on this whole subject.

These presets are the most characterful representation of the modern approach to soulful harmony. In every preset, you'll find something to push you off the path of least resistance and into the discovery zone.

Special thanks to Cherif Bouchelaghem and Reese Jackson for their invaluable suggestions on this pack.

🧠 Theory in Under a Minute

Compared with some of my denser packs, these progressions use fewer changes, which makes them perfect for immediate experimentation.

Here’s an exercise I recommend: challenge yourself to create as many unique chord progressions as possible using just one preset.

• First, don’t just play the default pad order, which follows the chromatic scale. Try rearranging the chord sequence in different ways.

• Next, remember you’re not required to use every chord in the preset—remove some to simplify the progression.

• Then, experiment with how many beats each chord lasts within a bar. Adjusting chord duration is a powerful, often overlooked tool.

Pro Tip 💡: imagine you had to produce an entire album from one preset. How about that? Constraints are fuel for creativity — you'll come out the other side of this exercise a much better musician.

💾 What You Get

20 MIDI & Chord Presets inspired by Amp Fiddler, August Greene, BLK ODYSSY, and Matt Martians.

Formats: Standard MIDI · Expressive Chords (M4L) · Scaler · MPC Pad Perform · Ripchord VST · Xfer Cthulhu

Want more progressions in this lane? I'd recommend the pack inspired entirely by Robert Glasper → Chord Vision

https://www.patreon.com/musicianparadise/posts/chord-vision-141504435

🔮 Coming Next...

All of these collections begin with suggestions from our Patron community. I'm keeping track of every request and working hard to bring as many of them to life as possible — so feel free to remind me if there's an artist, project, or harmonic style you'd love to see explored in a future pack.

I already have an incredible list lined up — much of it I would never have discovered without your recommendations.

More harmonic gems are on the way. Stay tuned.

Much love! Thank you for all your support ❤️

— MP

Recommended Listening

August Greene - Aya

https://youtu.be/zhDIuG52ocU?si=4CPGGX8K1l_X3upn

Amp Fiddler - Grandma's Radio ft.Soundboy

https://youtu.be/54ePhHaJ0QE?si=qDMfWWDunztM3FrG

Amp Fiddler - No Politics feat. Neco Redd, Andrés & Bubz Fiddler

https://youtu.be/SMgVfVPB4AA?si=AaOQ2VUXYDd5sLnf

BLK ODYSSY - ORANGE WINE

https://youtu.be/ataJ3O--XCA?si=Ad22xxRMUuP1JYH3

Matt Martians - Alotta Women / Useless

https://youtu.be/oBz9PoW-4RA?si=9rBBGUhVlHhKG9fo...

Editions 1 through 15 now live under one roof — click here to access the full folder.

Best move: download it once and just drop each new release in as it lands, so the whole Vault stays organized in one spot.

This month's drop:

🎹 Actual Truth MIDI Chords

A fresh folder of 20 MIDI files transcribing the chord progressions behind Herbie Hancock's most significant work — collaborations included — from exquisite '60s jazz to '70s electro-funk gems.

💿 Crate Diggers MIDI Chords

20 MIDI files of chords pulled straight from the records — Q-Tip, MF DOOM, Common, Dilated Peoples, Westside Gunn and more!

By Request — June 2026

Community picks this month:

• Pharrell Williams, Pusha T, Malice — E.B.I.T.D.A — the Neptunes rabbit hole goes deep!

• Lyves ft. Jalen Santoy — Certain Things — darkest R&B chords

• Ivan Lins (George Benson) — Dinorah, Dinorah — stone-cold classic

• Chris Brown — Yo (Excuse Me Miss) — all the harmonic parts

• Asuka Sakai — Garage Talk (R4: Ridge Racer Type 4, Direct Audio) — the MIDI race just started!

Each transcription zeroes in on the core harmonic DNA — the part that makes the progression actually work.

What's Inside

MIDI files across multiple genres, all named the same consistent way:

Artist – Song Title – Genre & Style – Key – BPM

Carefully transcribed voicings, real voice-leading, ready to study, sample, or build from. These files focus on the essential harmonic progressions — built to help you analyze harmony, spark new ideas, and reshape concepts into your own sound.

A Note on Copyright

Chord progressions themselves cannot be copyrighted, but songs can. If you're creating covers or remixes for commercial release, credit the original artists and handle clearances accordingly.

Thank you for being part of this. Your support is what keeps the Vault growing. Hope this edition gives you plenty to dig into.

🎹 MP...

What’s the one-note shortcut from the major scale to Neo Soul?

Everybody’s first Herbie is the same Herbie. “Cantaloupe Island.” “Watermelon Man.” "Chameleon." These were the tunes we could play all day long back in the day—funky, friendly grooves that made me feel like a jazz musician before I’d earned it. I loved them. I also completely underestimated the giant hiding behind them.

It took me years to understand this. Behind these joyful tunes stands one of the deepest minds in modern music — and the deeper I dug, the more impossible the task of creating such a collection started to feel. How do you bottle a giant?

You don’t. The man did everything. Lightning-fast bebop lines. The floating modal beauty of Maiden Voyage. The harmonic engine of Miles Davis’s second great quintet, right next to Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams. Then he plugged in and out-funked half the planet with Head Hunters and Thrust. He won an Oscar for scoring 'Round Midnight. He still appears to be acting in…sci-fi blockbusters (Luc Besson's Valerian, 2017).

So I’m not going to pretend this pack sums him up. What it does is hand you the part of Herbie’s world that resonated with me — daring chord voicings, quartal harmony (chords built on fourths), gospel-inspired movement, diminished-scale colors (1T - 1/2 T scale - check the beginning of “MP ActualTruth-BinaryScale_Ab” preset to hear how such harmony sounds), rich extensions (like 9ths, 11ths, 13ths), unexpected resolutions , and the constant feeling that harmony can always go somewhere new. The stuff that genuinely rewired how I hear music.

🎶 Why this matters

And that’s where the name comes from. The actual truth is, the music we listen to every day—hip-hop, R&B, neo-soul, even house—is built on a jazz foundation. You might not notice it, but it’s there. Jazz is often labeled “music for musicians,” yet many of its ideas eventually return as the source for the next wave of pop culture. Herbie’s whole career is proof. Don’t be surprised when some of these chords sound strange the first time. That’s not a mistake—it might just be what the future sounds like.

🧠 Theory in under a minute

A lot of Herbie's harmonic language — and much of the neo-soul, deep house, and R&B that followed — comes from a deceptively simple scale. You might know it, but probably don't use it as Herbie Hancock does. Let me show you a shortcut that punches above its weight: the melodic minor scale.

The wild part? It’s just the major scale with one note moved. Take C major (C–D–E–F–G–A–B) and drop the third: E becomes E♭. Done. C melodic minor = C–D–E♭–F–G–A–B.

A classical pianist probably told you to play it one way going up and another way coming down (natural minor). Forget that — jazz plays it the same in both directions, and that single E♭ unlocks colors the major scale or natural minor simply can’t give you:

• Cm(maj7) — C–E♭–G–B — instant noir. Pure James Bond tension.

• E♭maj7♯5 — E♭–G–B–D — lush and unstable, in the best possible way.

• And the big one: the altered dominant. Play that same C-melodic-minor scale starting from B and you've got the B altered scale (a.k.a. Superlocrian). Voice it like this — left hand B–A, right hand E♭–G–D — and you've got a B7alt that's begging to resolve. (Pro tip: wiggle the top note between D and C for that classic ♯9–♭9 move).

Best part: this works in any key. The altered dominant is often found on the 5th degree. Want to land on CMaj7 or Cm7? Build it on G: left hand G–F; right hand B–E♭–G–B♭. That G7alt dropping into C sounds like instant magic. You won’t find these moves in a classical textbook. But you’ll find plenty in jazz, 90s R&B (basically built on this sound), neo-soul, funk, hip-hop, and in this pack. This sound is a big part of what makes jazz sound like jazz.

💾 What you get

22 MIDI files & chord presets inspired by Herbie's catalogue — his solo landmarks plus his collaborations with Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter. (Two of these fils come from our free NSL pack; they're rooted in Herbie's work, so it made sense to put them in here.) Heads up: these presets are big — MPC users, don't forget to check Bank B!

Formats: Standard MIDI · Expressive Chords (M4L) · Scaler · MPC Pad Perform · RipChord VST · Xfer Cthulhu

Explore More Jazz-Inspired Chords

https://www.patreon.com/collection/662319

🔮 Coming next

I think this might be the start of something bigger—a Jazz Giants series. If modern harmony came out of one laboratory, this is it. There are plenty more giants worth exploring. If you want me to break down more advanced theory, say the word. I’ll keep it as simple as it actually is.

Until next time — go put an E♭ where an E used to be, and see what happens.

Thank you for all the support,

MP

Recommended listening

Thrust — Herbie Hancock (1974)

https://youtu.be/ffzjh7nl3Lg?si=aNp4vAzNlwlsIheP

Head Hunters — Herbie Hancock (1973)

https://youtu.be/3m3qOD-hhrQ?si=HqOwQjqgTfLh4L5b

Maiden Voyage — Herbie Hancock (1965)

https://youtu.be/EWC5x9G45yo?si=v2fwT6FWopZEJK8G

Empyrean Isles — Herbie Hancock (1964)

https://youtu.be/J2Uf5FkeD3s?si=8ZITRImtxTIPlJf4

Speak No Evil — Wayne Shorter (1964)

https://youtu.be/fvRkGglLe-U?si=NHxQtdJYVEDNogek...