Resurrecting the Devil
Every now and then, I go down a bit of a rabbit hole with music — usually some daft idea that ends up eating way too much of my time. This one started with a random memory of a track that’s haunted me since the 90s — a Loftgroover tune that was never properly released. What started as me messing around on the Behringer TD-3 turned into a full-blown attempt to resurrect a lost bit of hardcore history.
The Memory
A couple of years ago, I got myself a top-notch 303 clone — the Behringer TD-3. When I was learning to program it, I messed about with an earworm of an acid bassline from my youth — a long-forgotten track by Loftgroover that was never released.
After the Rezerection (Scotland's premiere raving haunt of the early 90s) Event 2 back in 1994, I bought the tapes of the set recordings, and even though I didn't remember it on the night, Loftgroover played a cracking track at the start of his set called I Am The Devil (it wasn't until much later that I discovered the title - but it makes sense when you hear the track). It was his own track, one he played at a few other raves around that time — then it disappeared (as far as I could tell), and I never heard it played out again.
A year or so later, Lofty released the ScareCore EP on his own Redhead label, which included a version of I Am The Devil called the “Event 2 5AM Remix.” Excitement! Was it finally being released? Seemed like it. Until I got the record home… and it was a completely different remix. Still a good version, but not what I was after.
Reading through hardcore forums at the time, it turned out the original was a dubplate that never got released — I assume the recording was lost. Anyway, back to the TD-3 — I managed to program the bassline from my memory of the Event 2 tape, recorded it into Ableton… and then forgot about it again.
Rediscovery in 2025
Fast forward to 2025. I recently changed laptops when old faithful died, and transferred all my old files (which was a bit of a chore) to the new one. I’ve got a habit of starting tracks and never finishing them — I’m into triple digits with unfinished projects — and thought, “New laptop, new me.” Maybe it was time to organise and start finishing (paradoxically) some tracks.
After identifying about eight that were just called “Untitled,” I stumbled across the acid bassline from Devil.
Sometime between recording the acid and the file clear-up (I may need to work on chronology — this story has more time jumps than Quantum Leap), I’d acquired the Lofty tape from Event 2 again (along with a few others from the same night) and acquired a 4 track mixer with tape deck.
Finding that file was one of those lightbulb moments. Now, I’m not a great music producer or musician, but I’ve got a bit of persistence in my arsenal (well, when I’m interested in something… I understand that’s a contradiction given the 100+ unfinished tracks, but when something gets into my head, I’m fairly unshakeable). Possibly some undiagnosed nonsense going on in my brain that keeps my stupid ideas running to completion (oo-er).
So my thinking was: since I can’t buy or borrow this track — and I even went as far as messaging Lofty to ask if he had any tapes with it on — why don’t I try to rebuild it from scratch? Off to Ableton we go!
Rebuilding the Track
The biggest problem (other than my production naivety) was that the tape was about 30 years old, shite quality, had MC XXX and (MC Ribbz for a bit) trying to spit bars over the top (I reckon the BPM was a bit higher than he was used to), and the track itself was mixed in with Rave A Graphixx’s There Is No Other (the good mix!). So… where to start?
The kick, from what I could make out, was a muffled, thumpy 909 with a little distortion, some basic snares and hi-hats — and the claps. I always liked how Loftgroover did claps: echoey, reverby claps that sounded like they were heralding the apocalypse. I managed to get the drum structure fairly easily. We’re off to a great start.
Now, the acid line. When I tried to shoehorn it into the drum track, it didn’t sound good — a bit too clean. I clearly wasn’t twirling my knobs enough when I recorded it all those years ago. TD-3 time again. This time I added a bit more distortion, vigorously twiddled the cutoff, and I think I got the melody closer to the original.
Sampling and Sound Design
The intro — “BRRRR BRRRR… Hi, is this the police?” The MC who came on before XXX talked right over the top of it, but I managed to sample one clean telephone noise — and that’s all I needed.
The female vocal I couldn’t sample because of the MC, but the ScareCore EP had the same sample. Got the record out — job done. The “What? This is Six… Six… Six…” wasn’t on the ScareCore record, but “I Am The Devil” was. So I had to clean up the tape recording and put some distortion on it.
The finished product sounds okay-ish — but it really does sound like I’ve sampled a thirty-year-old, minging mix tape. Tinny and hissy… but complete.
The easiest part — and the bit I’m happiest about — is the telephone riff, which I sampled from the intro and loaded into Ableton’s Simpler to create the melody. A straightforward bit to recreate from the tape and definitely the part that caused the least stress.
From the easiest to the hardest: toward the end of the track, when Rave A Graphixx is getting mixed in (and if you know Loftgroover’s mixing, he cuts between tracks pretty rapidly), it made it hard to properly hear the low, squelchy, evil synthy section.
I had no clue how to recreate it — or what it was made on (possibly a 303 through some pitch shifting wizardry). This is probably the section I’ll get the most criticism for (if anyone actually listens), but aside from the TD-3, I’m shite when it comes to synth sounds.
So, I tried mapping out the MIDI pattern, then loaded up every virtual instrument I could find until I got something vaguely similar. Then I added whatever effects got it closer.
Alright, I’ll level with you — it sounds nowt like the original, and it doesn’t sound like it was made in the 90s. But you can only piss with the prick you’ve got. So that’s what I stuck with.
Finishing Up
Once I had all the parts, I mixed it, remixed it, and over the course of a couple of months, tinkered with it more than I should have. But eventually, I decided enough was enough — time to stop messing about and draw a line under it.
Overall, it was a vaguely enjoyable process, then a crap process, then an okay process, and finally a relief when I decided to stop working on it. Not sure I’ll take on something like this again, but this was one of the only tracks I completely fell in love with but couldn’t obtain. I’ve always been able to get my hands on almost any track I’ve wanted over the years in some way, shape, or form — I’m a bit obsessive (one day I might write my memoirs about hunting down certain tracks for years).
I’d like to say I’m happy with the end product… but I’ve always been my own fiercest critic. Still — fuck it. It’s out there.
DJ Asylum
You can listen to the poorly produced cover version here: Loftgroover - I Am The Devil (DJ Asylum Remake)
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