Live drums with NI Maschine

02.31 Next, Maxsta moved on to the all-important beats, which he played in live using Maschine Mk3, triggering sounds from London Grit. “I wanted to give it a bubbly rhythm, so I played it all on pads and really felt it out. What you’re hearing here is me having a good time.

“I started with the kick – like, boom, boom… It’s beating at you, you get me? It’s coming for you. Then the clap… It’s simple, just putting them in the right pockets. I’m not trying to do too much, and there are more kicks coming later in the tune. Even with the hi-hat, a lot of times I’ll do the typical [grime] hi-hats, and do rolls and all the mad stuff that you can do; but this one, I was in a place where I started to embrace a bit of minimalism. I went minimal with it, and I feel like when people are skanking to the beat, they’re going, and then it’s like, ‘Come here, come back’, you get me?”