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ok I'm a total beginner to production, and I'm currently 'stuck' trying to make a track with an lfo driven bassline. I use massive to create the bass I want and assign the lfo to the filter cutoff as normal, and then set the rate blah blah. but the bit I'm unsure about is the next part, actually making a rhythmic and varied bass pattern from this sound. It might sound stupid but the way I currently go about it is by duplicating the 'massive' tracks on cubase and then setting a different rate on each track. I then input midi notes on each track, however the end result sounds kinda disjointed/out of time. I was just wondering if there is another way of going about this process in cubase and how to really spice up the bassline. The kind of result I am trying to achieve can be heard at 0:33 of this track:

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any advice would be appreciated, it is not so much the 'sound' I am after but really how to effectively create varied lfo driven basslines with vst synths in cubase.

does massive support automation?

Automate the LFO rate / depth...


Is massive like albino, where you cant seem to automate fuck shit?

link and lfo to the lfo rate on your filter cutoff lfo?

Basic A wrote:link and lfo to the lfo rate on your filter cutoff lfo?

my brain can't handle that sentence :S

and I don't really know what automation is/how to use it/if it exists on massive

EDIT: just tried puttin an lfo on the lfo rate, but then I can't sync, and also it doesn't give me the exact control i want

All I can tell you is what your hearing, is automating the lfo rate...

Best of luck from there

Alternatively clone your instance of massive, copy and paste your midi line onto the new instance but in a seperate pattern, and then in the second instance change the lfo settings - then sequence using the seperate patterns. (Btw I havent used cubase, so the terminology for what im saying may be different than from FL studio).

SesG wrote:Alternatively clone your instance of massive, copy and paste your midi line onto the new instance but in a seperate pattern, and then in the second instance change the lfo settings - then sequence using the seperate patterns. (Btw I havent used cubase, so the terminology for what im saying may be different than from FL studio).

yeh thats what I'm currently doing, messing around with 2 tracks/2 rates. but it doesn't sound smooth at all. it sounds like 2 separate synths even tho its perfectly synced and quantized.

you can automate the rate in massive but not the ratio

press on the sync above the restart button and also enable restart and you can automate the rate amount....I use this all the time you van make much more loose/ original and dynamic wobbles instead of the standaard 1/4 1/8 etc....but the have to automate by hand and set the rates by hand....it's like drawning with wobbles:)....and use the amp knob for nice effects

i dont dabble with wobbles that much, but you could try the old bounce different LFO rates to audio trick, and then cut and arrange the audio. cos then if you are recording the same 4 bars or whatever the wobbles should all start in the same place making them not out of sync and shit.

yea. will probly do that. it just makes reshaping the sound effort cos then i gotta go back and redo the midi and bounce again. also its hard to experiment with melody when u gotta record everything separately..but yeh, thanks for the replies, will go back and see if i can get a decent sound going with this bass

if i remember rightly, there's an option in massive to reset the lfo when you press a new note. i fully can't recall what it's called but i think that's what you need. sorry i can't be more help but i know it can be done.

ITS EASY TO AUTOMATE A SYNC'D LFO IN MASSIVE

The parameter names that you need to modulate are "MODULATOR # NUM" and "MODULATOR # DEN". These control the sync'd LFO numerator and denominator, respectively. I assume you're using FL, so the way you would control them is to go to the top left corner of Massive, click the arrow, click Make Editor Thumbnail, go to the browser, click on it, find the parameter, and then right click and Link to Controller or create an automation clip or whatever.

Ehemmm... cubase...

Basic A wrote:Ehemmm... cubase...

my bad

in Cubase it's the same as automating any other parameter, just create an automation lane with the little plus in the bottom left corner, and then open the menu and choose the parameter.

just create an automation lane with the little plus in the bottom left corner, and then open the menu and choose the parameter.

ah. not at my desktop right now but will check that out later, didn't know that existed.

You could always record 5,6 or even 7 "basslines" at different LFO rates, automate, bounce, chop and rearrange.... for variation.

jaydot wrote:You could always record 5,6 or even 7 "basslines" at different LFO rates, automate, bounce, chop and rearrange.... for variation.

Good idea, I never though about that method.

Another suggestion if your different lfo speeds aren't working out. Is to add a little bit of portamento.

In Massive it's the Glide knob in the OSC tab. Try it out and see if it makes things a little smoother. I'm new at this myself, and I'm having troubles making a nice 'wobble' breakdown.

I've not used it much yet but try "performer" mode in the LFO section. You can make a pattern and change its speed should give you a nice bassline if you mess around with it enough,

not too keen on what I've seen of the performer. it gives quite an 'obvious' sound. u can clearly hear sub focus' use of it in that borrowed time vip with tc. but yeh portamento is smoothing up note transitions. I really need to bounce my track cos atm its a big mess and hard to work on...