Dubstepforum.com

I am hitting my head against a wall trying to figure out how to design a bass sound that can be played for longer, sustained notes. I've tried all sorts of things, but I can't seem to get the warmth and harmonics necessary to create a bassline that can play sustained 1 to 2 bar notes. The tune in my signature is an example of the note progression in my bassline, but the bass sound itself feels lifeless and out of place. What are some things I can do try to liven up this type of bassline? Is there a particular FX chain that plays to sustained notes? What waveforms would you layer, etc? Any tips would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

I take it you have messed with the envelope???

A/D/S/R

sine wave, slightly FM with different stuff with different ADSRs, so it is alive n such.

FSTZ wrote:I take it you have messed with the envelope???

A/D/S/R

Just uploaded the newest version. The previous one in my sig was outdated.

But to answer your question, I have the attack all the way down and sustain all the way up on the amp envelope in going for the "wall of sound" approach.

Thanks FSTZ

turn the release up a bit

FSTZ wrote:turn the release up a bit

Will do, thanks. Are there particular waveforms or wavetable positioning that you use? For example, do you layer a square one octave over the top of a sine sub and low pass/eq to taste? I'm still relatively stuck.

What I most recently have tried to do is detune saw waves with a sine sub, scream filter them, throw a little tube distortion over the top, split frequencies and put chorus on each band, and send the signal to two auxiliary channels -- one panned left and one panned right. This gives me a relatively wide sound, however as you can hear, it still sounds a bit elementary IMO.

I've also tried to make use of phasing, but I don't think I'm doing it right.

you could try to put a bit of delayed movement on the top end of the bass? so the dynamic changes towards the end, just before the next note hits.

Use a preset.

nowaysj wrote:Dont use a preset.

Fix'd....

But seriously man hoovers are nice for ravey tunes that need sustains (played to fuck though)...

Reese/reese derivatives...

How long you sustaining shit?

Just use a nice evolving bass patch (envelope on volum, pitch, cutoffs, ect help this along)... and throw some very subtle modulations on it for movement... Movement accross the whole of its sustain is going to be key in keeping it interesting...

See new soundcloud, 2 bar bass bursts, but they move and modulate n go crazy accross those bars, but stay subtle enough that it doesnt lose the big long sustaining feeling... get it?

uhh, just hold the key down. or am i missing something here?

narcissus wrote:uhh, just hold the key down. or am i missing something here?

if patch isnt right that wont be very interesting now will it?

narcissus wrote:uhh, just hold the key down. or am i missing something here?

Tylerblue wants to have an interesting synth so that they can do that without taking away from the actual mood of the song, if you just hold down any synth the sound quickly becomes boring.

aksys wrote:

narcissus wrote:uhh, just hold the key down. or am i missing something here?

Tylerblue wants to have an interesting synth so that they can do that without taking away from the actual mood of the song, if you just hold down any synth the sound quickly becomes boring.

Bingo. The patches I've tried thus far don't have enough modulation nor interesting harmonic overtones. I'll slap some modulation on top of whatever patch I can come up with to give the sound some decent movement. At this point it's just about getting a decent layered sound. I suppose I'll start with a good hoover/reese?

Basic A wrote:
How long you sustaining shit?

1 to 2 bars for the tune in my sig

detuned waves, pulse width modulation, that kind of thing will give sustained notes a bit more interest, especially if you are talking about subs as it gives it that nice phasey sort of movement.

I think even though the reese gets a lot of use it's still probably going to be a great option for what you're looking for. I think the reese bass, although played out a bit, still sounds good. I've never actually disliked a song just because someone is using a sound I've heard many times before. If it sounds good then it sounds good.

Today I put a Square LFO on the send to a low pass filter, made this smooth bass with some really sweet jitter in it as well

surge has become my favorite plugin at the mo. its better than massive for bass i reckon! tweak tweak tweak that shit bruh! chea

slow, un-synced lfos modulating some elements of the sound. this is one of my favourite techniques, one i use for pads all the time.

for example, in massive, you can attach 4 different lfos, one to the wt pos, one to intensity, one to ring mod, one to phase, then use the first one again on filter cutoff, second on res, etc, what have you, sky's the limit. the sound never gets boring. they don't even have to be wide ranges of modulation. hours of fun.

Recessive Trait wrote:slow, un-synced lfos modulating some elements of the sound. this is one of my favourite techniques, one i use for pads all the time.

for example, in massive, you can attach 4 different lfos, one to the wt pos, one to intensity, one to ring mod, one to phase, then use the first one again on filter cutoff, second on res, etc, what have you, sky's the limit. the sound never gets boring. they don't even have to be wide ranges of modulation. hours of fun.

This. ADSR can work but it limits you to "up at the start and then down again".... LFO modulation gives you many more options. Turn the rate way down, and very subtly modulate stuff like filter cutoff, WT position, pitch, etc. Use a different modulator for each parameter. Don't sync it. The key is to keep it subtle - you want it to be only very slightly noticeable. You can also try playing around with different LFO patterns - random/step/noise patterns are nice for this when the rate is fairly slow. Or even modulate the rate with another, slow, sinewave LFO.

Don't forget you can loop the sustain phase of massive's adsr's.

I find presets are overmodulated, that's why I thought you'd like them.

You can also layer up a separate voice if you want more high end harmonics.