anyone using FL Studio to make wobbly basslines?

[trait]

Alrighty!

First off, if you want to get solid sounds, you can't just look for an easy way. That "technical jargon" is what it's all about. It's like trying to be a baseball player and when someone trys to explain the physics of swinging a bat, and trys to show you better methods you say "I just want to hit a ball man". Learn what synthesis is, practice it, explore! That's half the fun, no? Pros like tipper, Vibesquad, they know their shit backwards and forwards. You can struggle through it and guess it through or you can learn it and start getting it right every time- and then make it amazing instead of good. Not to harp, but your results are pretty much going to be what your process is, and if your process is crap then..well, you get the idea. Sorry if I'm pressing on anyone's collar!

Secondly, I've been trying to get wobbly sounds myself. I also use FL.

Have you looked at sytrus? I find, to get a -thick- bass sound, you really only need two operators though I use three or four sometimes in a chain, self modulating and modulating other operators, to add a bit more to it. Set the ratio (it's near top middle / right on every operator) to 1:4- that is, set the CARRIER (the operator that's being modulated) to 1, and the MODULATOR (the operator that's doing the modulating (in this case, operator two)) to 4, or 3. Only add a little modulation- not a lot at all really. Play it at C3 / C4. That'll give you a nice thick sound.

Now, to get it to "wobble"- reroute op 1's signal to the filter, and then turn up the filter's output. Mute or completely turn down op 1's straight output.

Now, go to the first filter. Tweak it a bit so it sounds decent, so you have the sound you want to start off with. Click the cut box, and then the env box, on the bottom, so you're looking at the cutoff envelope. If you know what a saw wave looks like, mimic that with the envelope- that is, draw a saw wave with the envelope (make sure the "tempo" box is clicked, so it's tempo synced, that way if you look at the rythym right, you can sync the wobbles to the BPM). If you don't know what a saw wave looks like, wiki it- it's a very basic sort of waveform that you should know along with Triangle, Square, Sine, Noise, blah blah.

See, this is where knowing what you're doing comes in handy. Sytrus has a lot of options- sometimes I put the first filter through a second filter and make it have a sloooow attack on the cuttof, so as the wobbles go with say 16th notes, they change from beat to beat to add a little flavor.

Now, I should mention two things that I noted from above posts.

1) It really doesn't matter what host you use, as far as I'm concerned it's mostly up to preference. Yea sure- ableton 7 is way more suited for live performance and looping and syncing than FL is- I use both, but each for a different reason. FL has a live mode but it's really not very impressive, though you can still work it. I use FL for composing and sound design simply because I'm more used to it and then I export loops to .wav and import it into ableton, sync it up, whamo. Sure, certain hosts come with better synths, but there are free plugin synths that are similar to sytrus. All it is is an FM / RM synth with superb envelope / LFO control and a clean interface. If you learn how to use FM synthesis well, you can mimic it in other synths.

2) I would suggest NOT using pure sine waves if you're going to be doing filter work. The reason is very simple if you know anything about wave forms and audio in general- sinewaves are pure pitches, which is to say that they <b>don't create overtones</b>. A filter filters out...overtones. Now, though if you're using an FM synth and using two sine waves on your operators you'll get overtones, you'll get a richer overtone structure using a nastier shaped wave. Richer overtones means the filter will sound out more. With a sine wave the filter wouldn't sound really, until it hit the pitch that the sine wave is at and then it would simply filter the whole thing out.

I'm sorry if I sound condescending. It's a simple formula- do things the right way to get the right results, don't try and skip ahead. Be disciplined. I've been self taught about these things for two years now and I'm just starting to go to school for it- it's slow going but if I want to get my degree I have to do it the right way- wade through all the bullshit in the beginning (and hey, I know I don't know everything so I'll learn a thing or two if I pay attention to the basics) and eventually I'll get to things more on my level, and eventually get my degree. I can't just skip through classes, I have to do it the right way. It's like this with anything in life- fix problems AS they come up, don't wait for later. If you know what you're doing, the key to success is simple: diligence, attention, work.


anyway! Sorry about the lecture. I wish someone had told me these things earlier so it's best to say them for better or for worse- I have the best intentions in mind.

Let me know how that goes! I'd love to hear advice from anyone else as well =).

[-dubson-]

i think the whole wobble thing has been mentioned a fair bit since 2006

[trait]

Oh, right.

I saw that it looked recent in january and didn't really see the year >_>.

Good show.

[shapesinthehall]

this shit is cool to know

[echo wanderer]

http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=27368