Good oscillator choices for bass sounds?

krisp14u · Post by **krisp14u** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:12 am

Veqtor wrote: LOL reason sounds like shit hehe
Software is killing electronic music.

consumed · Post by **consumed** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:28 am

Veqtor wrote:
elemental wrote: 99% of the time its done in Reason or with Albino or whatever...
LOL reason sounds like shit hehe
Software is killing electronic music.

then you'll really like this: mp3s are killing kids ear cells

kids prefer the 'sizzle sounds' of mp3s over higher quality recordings
http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/03/the-si ... music.html

elemental · Post by **elemental** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:55 am

VanEck wrote:To those that are recommending wave folders and such for Dubstep bass... which modules do you recommend? Are you using the Doepfer A-137 or something else?

A-137 is too brittle sounding IMO for this... STG Wave Folder hits the spot every time.

elemental · Post by **elemental** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:05 am

krisp14u wrote:
Veqtor wrote: LOL reason sounds like shit hehe
Software is killing electronic music.

In fairness - it has also opened up music making to a lot of people who would otherwise not be able to afford the hardware.
Most of which has been bad, but some of it has been amazingly good.

D/A A/D · Post by **D/A A/D** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:09 am

elemental wrote:
VanEck wrote:To those that are recommending wave folders and such for Dubstep bass... which modules do you recommend? Are you using the Doepfer A-137 or something else?
A-137 is too brittle sounding IMO for this... STG Wave Folder hits the spot every time.

In VCA mode?

brandon daniel · Post by **brandon daniel** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:23 am

D/A A/D wrote: The morph out on saw gives just just enough harmonic content to a sine for some "cutting" bass tones.

SHHHH! You're giving away the secret!

brandon daniel · Post by **brandon daniel** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:27 am

Oh, just realized we're talking dubstep wobble.

When I step up to do that (for instance, here), it's usually the NM G2 as a tone source, coupled with a modulation generator in the G2 to make the tempo-synced but switchable division LFOs. That all runs into the modular where the real mayhem happens.

knobgoblin · Post by **knobgoblin** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 7:42 pm

My bass patch is usually two M15s followed by the wasp HP. The HP sound goes thru the wave multiplier and then into another LP filter, usually from the morphing filter. This is then mixed with a clean sine wave from the lower tuned M15 before going into the VCA. Use an LFO with a sync input and have the gate trigger the sync on the bass M15 and the LFO. Put the LFO into filter cutoffs and various other parameters. You get a nice clean sub bass mixed with the nasty distorted wobble. Compress and EQ to taste.

recapitation · Post by **recapitation** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 8:40 pm

my best bass synth is the ms-20, and what i learned from using it is that, although it sounds counterintuitive at first, use a high pass filter (or two) in front of your low pass! dial the high pass way down near where your bass sounds are and crank up the resonance. you can have it follow the keyboard, an envelope, or just stay stationary. it doesn't matter what oscillator(s) you're using, they'll totally kill. so i second the wasp motion. having multiple oscillators detuned is also nice, but pretty much everyone knows that definition of "fat" thanks to the minimoog.

as for the mp3 quality post, i agree in thinking it's a pity when people can't tell the audible difference between mp3s and uncompressed audio because it indicates their ears aren't picking at the details of sounds. but i was getting into listening to music right around the time filesharing became popular, and i have a lot of good memories listening to 128kbps mp3s. after that, i went through a period of time where i reacted negatively to them after perceiving the quality difference and went for only high quality. but after that i realized that there are a lot of good aspects to compression in general, including 128 mp3s--the mix will sound a lot more "together" in some cases, like all sounds are in the same environment. the hi-fi digital era can be characterized by sounds that have way too much of a frequency spectrum, and as a result don't sound like they're in the same environment in the final mix. in actuality, i think it's the narrow frequency spectrum of a cassette or mp3 that is more pleasing to listen to rather than all sorts of disparate sounds not quite coexisting, or having too much harsh and uncompressed high end and midrange to them. i prefer the way things were mixed back on tape in the earlier eras of analog recording, cymbals and midranges were a lot more de-emphasized in favor of bass and some treble areas, and loaded with compression (either intentionally or by design) so everything sounds like it's coming from the same "room" or space. mp3s actually seem to tap into this in some regard. it's funny because it seems like the more recordings accurately reproduce live audio, the less "natural" and "organic" they seem to sound, which suggests that recordings are their own aesthetic thing and should be treated as such. of course, after the enos and so on, that's not a big revelation, but sometimes unlikely things like mp3 compression are candidates for creativity to this end...

wetterberg · Post by **wetterberg** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 8:49 pm

recapitation wrote:use a high pass filter (or two) in front of your low pass! dial the high pass way down near where your bass sounds are and crank up the resonance. you can have it follow the keyboard, an envelope, or just stay stationary. it doesn't matter what oscillator(s) you're using, they'll totally kill.

TOTALLY. This is a great sampling technique, too by the way; got a kick with absolutely no bottom end; add a resonant hp at the fundamental, bam. Instant goodness.

recapitation · Post by **recapitation** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 9:37 pm

i think high pass filtering is the most underrated aspect of synthesis, by far. i haven't really gotten into using dedicated bandpasses, because i feel like a hp/lp combo is basically a kind of band pass, but i'm sure there's some good stuff that can be done with bp too.

also, if you want to make great bass sounds, i think high resonance is really important, if your filter can't self-oscillate, that's a big restriction. i don't think subtlety is a useful thing when you're trying to make bass sounds.

VanEck · Post by **VanEck** » Fri May 01, 2009 7:13 am

Loving this thread. Using HP on bass and high resonance are definitely not typical things I associate with bass synthesis. I always turned down the resonance and instantly go to the LP on instinct. Also my LFO's almost always went right for the frequency, not amplitude, which is something I need to experiment with.

Veqtor · Post by **Veqtor** » Fri May 01, 2009 9:07 am

Bandpass that bass!
Especially if you're making gnarly neurofunk basslines.
Here's something to try out:
Use a nice sawtooth, run it into a comparator toghether with a slewed sequenced signal, mix the output with the original. Apply some distortion, run into a sequenced multitype filter. Take the bandpass out clean, run the lowpass through a waveshaper. Mix them toghether. Take the mixed signal and run it through several parallel bandpass filters, run the outs into phasers, flangers, distortion, whatever. Mix all of it toghether, compress, add a suboctave sine. Profit

knobgoblin · Post by **knobgoblin** » Fri May 01, 2009 6:16 pm

Last night I threw together a little something to show the Dual M15 Bass patch I was talking about...

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/518773/M15%2 ... xample.mp3

I've modded my pair tho, replacing the sync resistors with a pot, so I can go from nice soft sync, to ridiculous hard sync, which this patch shows a bit of.

VanEck · Post by **VanEck** » Fri May 01, 2009 8:00 pm

knobgoblin wrote:Last night I threw together a little something to show the Dual M15 Bass patch I was talking about...

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/518773/M15%2 ... xample.mp3

I've modded my pair tho, replacing the sync resistors with a pot, so I can go from nice soft sync, to ridiculous hard sync, which this patch shows a bit of.

That shit is sick

NV · Post by NV » Fri May 01, 2009 8:27 pm

elemental wrote:A-137 is too brittle sounding IMO for this... STG Wave Folder hits the spot every time.

I agree. I don't have quite as much experience with the A-137 as the STG WaveFolder, but I think the A-137 is much more oriented towards the harsher, screaming uses of waveshaping, whereas the STG WaveFolder is much more capable of hitting those deep grinding timbres.

D/A A/D wrote:In VCA mode?

Personally I think the STG is better on all accounts when you recalibrate it to bring the unity gain to zero on the gain control. Utilizing it as a VCA certainly has it's uses, but I feel that the WaveFolder truly shines once you diminish that function in favor of more extreme folding.

kraku · Post by **kraku** » Sat May 02, 2009 10:23 am

knobgoblin wrote:http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/518773/M15%2 ... xample.mp3

Nice gnarly sounds. I also like the track. Nice minimalistic stuff done with good taste

Norman_Phay · Post by **Norman_Phay** » Sat May 02, 2009 10:45 am

Totally with everyone on the HPF thing - I discovered it when I was playing my DDD1 drum box through the Frostwave resonator - T turned the HP reso up, and slowlt dialled the filter freq upwards, expecting to hear IDK exactly, but HOLY CRAP at the bass BOOM I got! Essential technique, discovered by accident.

Kent · Post by **Kent** » Sun May 30, 2010 12:41 pm

Please go here for further EURORACK Oscillator discussion

Steevio · Post by **Steevio** » Sun May 30, 2010 2:26 pm

elemental wrote:
There is enough wobble in the world!! Lets give it some wibble

+1000 for the Wibble !!!!!!

dubstep wobble bass was old in 2005, i cant believe people are still flogging the arse off it.

edit
sorry that was out of order.

i've been getting some nice bass sounds out of three different oscillators, a Z3000, an RS95e and an MFB osc2.

locobitch · Post by **locobitch** » Mon May 31, 2010 3:04 pm

Do you think that 2 VCO are recommendable for making nice basses ?

wetterberg · Post by **wetterberg** » Mon May 31, 2010 3:23 pm

locobitch wrote:Do you think that 2 VCO are recommendable for making nice basses ?

you can't really put it that way. I find the cleanest "punchiest" (god I hate that word!) basses are often single oscillator. Just a clean osc through a good filter, that's all you need.

Steevio · Post by **Steevio** » Mon May 31, 2010 6:32 pm

locobitch wrote:Do you think that 2 VCO are recommendable for making nice basses ?

i like to use two sinewave oscillators to make bass, an octave apart.
its nice to have a touch of the first harmonic added to a deep sub.

there's not as much attack as filtering a more complex wave from a single VCO, but you get very clean bass.

vedicspaceprogram · Post by **vedicspaceprogram** » Mon May 31, 2010 6:59 pm

The E 340 Cloud Generator saw tooth sounds amazing for bass and bass drum.

anselmi · Post by **anselmi** » Mon May 31, 2010 10:51 pm

locobitch wrote:Do you think that 2 VCO are recommendable for making nice basses ?

it dependes of the kind of bass you are after
most known monosynths used for bass like the SH-101 got an oscillator plus an square sub 1 octave below the main oscillator
I still use this kind of technique in other synths to get that deep...you can replace the square wave with a sine for a les raw and more "rounded" bass end...also a triangle is a good compromise between sine and square

my other all-time bass synth, the korg polysix got the same architecture or 1 oscillator plus an square sub, this time without control over the subÃ‚Â´s level, but well ballanced nevertheless

most deep dub, techno and minimal basses are just clear sine waves that are hard to sepparate from kicks by ear...lot of people like basses that way...more "deep" than "fat"

anyway if you got a good combination of oscillator and filter you can get excellent basses with just 1 source...I recently hear for some of the excellent vermona perfourmer demos and this thing really shines at bass even using just the more simple architecture of 1 oscillator and 1 filter

MOD WIGGLER

MOD WIGGLER

Good oscillator choices for bass sounds?