Page 1 of 2
Basslines these days! re-sampling?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 5:24 am
by elyhess
Hey everyone, i just have a quick question. I was just wondering what people are doing these days to create there bassline, I'm somewhat interested in re-sampling but i hardly understand it, what do people use for resampling these days? I'm a logic user and the built in sampler is esx24, like i guess i was just wondering, is it a common method for creating basslines? What artists often use re-sampling to create their basslines? Any good tutorials out there explain some cool techniques to use when resampling?
I guess i just dont fully understand, and i'de like to know if its a common method in creating cool basslines

Re: Basslines these days! re-sampling?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 5:48 am
by subfect
I resample quite a bit these days, mainly for really deep, dark, neurofunk bassline stabs. I also realized last night while people do frequency splitting - as applying FX to the entire frequency spectrum can give you really messy results. hehe
As for tutorials - check the stickies top of the forum

Re: Basslines these days! re-sampling?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 6:53 am
by cmgoodman1226
elyhess wrote:Hey everyone, i just have a quick question. I was just wondering what people are doing these days to create there bassline, I'm somewhat interested in re-sampling but i hardly understand it, what do people use for resampling these days? I'm a logic user and the built in sampler is esx24, like i guess i was just wondering, is it a common method for creating basslines? What artists often use re-sampling to create their basslines? Any good tutorials out there explain some cool techniques to use when resampling?
I guess i just dont fully understand, and i'de like to know if its a common method in creating cool basslines

More than likely all major producers resample at least to some extent. As a general rule I resample everything to save cpu. It's just not practical to have a ton of different effects being on on the same sound at once. Also, resampling can enable you to get some really unique sounds. I'll give you an example:
Soundcloud
Now second and third sound both come from the same original sound, which is the first one. They were both just resampled in different ways. When I made the first sound, I heard that the sound had potential, but on it's own, it's just annoying and really boring. Now for the second sound, I added a bunch of tube distortion and saturation, and then a lot of convolution reverb with a long tail. Then I resampled it. From there, I actually cut off the tail so the only sound I was using was the reverberated sound, not the dry signal. Then I added some more distortion and eq'd and resampled again: and viola, the second sound was born. The second sound isn't so much a bassline sound, but I wanted to make something that sounded somewhat like one of those factory alarms you hear in the movies (the track I put it in is called "evacuate" so it makes sense). In order to make the third sound, I took the finished second sound and resampled a few more times, each time adding a few subtle effects, more distortion, exiter, reverb, etc. After a few rounds: viola! the third sound was born.
Now you may hate these sounds and that's fine, but I show you only to let you see the kind of changes that can come from resampling. The third sound is nothing like the original, but they are, just affected in different ways. Try taking a sound that you like, and resample it a few times. Each time add just a bit more distortion (use different kinds as well) and some other effects, notch filters, phasers, chorus, etc. The trick is to add just a bit of every effect each time rather than cranking everything up on the first go. Also try modulating different parameters of each effect you put on, like the amount of distortion, or the cutoff of a notch filter, or frequency of a phaser. Try experimenting with wierd things. Turn the feedback on a flanger way up and then resample that and then treat that like a totally new synth sound in and of itself, further resampling to try to get something usable.
For me personally it's so much about trying different things and not always knowing where I'm going to end up. A lot of times I just start doing random things with sounds and I end up with gold, and then other times I have a set plan for a sound and it winds up sounding like shit. Anyways, resampling is good.
edit: and I don't always separate the mids and the highs through frequency splitting, but I ALWAYS filter out anything under 125 hz on my basslines and then add a straight sub underneath.
Re: Basslines these days! re-sampling?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 7:11 am
by highgain
Okay so we've created a patch with potential then then we resample / split / effect / resample
Once you've got a great sounding sample, how would you load it into a sampler (say the one in ableton) to use as a new instrument without stretching it all out of wack when we move 3-4 keys up from the original?
Re: Basslines these days! re-sampling?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 7:29 am
by cmgoodman1226
highgain wrote:Okay so we've created a patch with potential then then we resample / split / effect / resample
Once you've got a great sounding sample, how would you load it into a sampler (say the one in ableton) to use as a new instrument without stretching it all out of wack when we move 3-4 keys up from the original?
I couldn't tell you as I use FL studio. But usually when I do anything like that where I'm going to be changing the note of a sample I use NI's Kontakt for all that. But search youtube because I guarentee there's a tutorial on how to do exactly that. Or you can search the forum for the "ableton Q & A".
Re: Basslines these days! re-sampling?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 1:11 pm
by JFK
subfect wrote:I resample quite a bit these days, mainly for really deep, dark, neurofunk bassline stabs. I also realized last night
while people do frequency splitting - as applying FX to the entire frequency spectrum can give you really messy results. hehe
As for tutorials - check the stickies top of the forum

Hahahaha totally misread that as "White people"
Re: Basslines these days! re-sampling?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 7:45 pm
by [asterisk]
highgain wrote:Okay so we've created a patch with potential then then we resample / split / effect / resample
Once you've got a great sounding sample, how would you load it into a sampler (say the one in ableton) to use as a new instrument without stretching it all out of wack when we move 3-4 keys up from the original?
Couple options.. A lot of people prefer the variation that occurs with heavily modulated and effected "Re"samples when pitching them up and down. To account for the higher rate of playback when pitching them up, just sample a single note for a long time so you'll still have plenty of length regardless. However if ya want a similar sound in each key then you could resample multiple files in the keys you want and then load them all into your sampler and adjust the zones so each one responds to midi input at the correct place on the keyboard.
Re: Basslines these days! re-sampling?
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:19 am
by Dystinkt
depends man, i dont resample anything tbh, i can usually wrangle the sound i need out of albino with a few fx on top
Re: Basslines these days! re-sampling?
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:28 am
by elyhess
Definitely something i want to try! can really get some big sounds, should i just use Logics default sampler?
Re: Basslines these days! re-sampling?
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:30 am
by subfect
logic's default sampler is awesome

You're talking about the exs24 yeah? Learn that shit!

Re: Basslines these days! re-sampling?
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 2:30 am
by elyhess
subfect wrote:logic's default sampler is awesome

You're talking about the exs24 yeah? Learn that shit!

Awesome!

Re: Basslines these days! re-sampling?
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 6:56 am
by highgain
[quote="[asterisk]
Couple options.. A lot of people prefer the variation that occurs with heavily modulated and effected "Re"samples when pitching them up and down. To account for the higher rate of playback when pitching them up, just sample a single note for a long time so you'll still have plenty of length regardless. However if ya want a similar sound in each key then you could resample multiple files in the keys you want and then load them all into your sampler and adjust the zones so each one responds to midi input at the correct place on the keyboard.[/quote]
going to muck around with this and see which one works for me cheers!
I've got to the point of creating patches I like and knowing how to bounce/split/effect/bounce but my workflow now is to have 8-9 different instances of massive until I get my finished drop programmed then to do all that resampling to effect them and EQ.
I figure being able to have the final bass sound as a one sample and being to play that would be more ideal because I could get even closer to the final sound than before. I'd really like to improve on my workflow and my overall sound with something like this

Re: Basslines these days! re-sampling?
Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 9:09 pm
by Lobomarino
Does anyone know how to do this? I dropped in a full octave of the same sample and it still sounds funk when I move up or down a few steps...
Thanks!
Re: Basslines these days! re-sampling?
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:35 pm
by sunny_b_uk
learn how to use your synths good and proper first, resampling comes after because you have generally know what your doing when it comes to resampling!
the idea is to use modulators like phasers and flangers to twist up your sounds and then saturating + distortion to change up the timbre with EQing and more EQing. it isnt easy at first and you will probably end up with cleaner better sounds if you learn all you can with synthesis rather than resampling

Mid range freq splitting
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:12 am
by motox2121
Hey guys, last night I was resampling one of my basslines, I frequency split the mids at 250hz and 4khz, I put seperate effects on the highs / mids. I came up with some very interesting sounds on the high end using different processing(flangers / phasers etc), but I found after resampling my mids about 15 generations of different distortion / EQ etc, I lost a lot of the punch compared to the dry signal. My question is how do you guys get that super dirty sound without sending it in a negative direction? I tried using both camelphat / ohmicide using light settings each bounce. I still got a cool sound It just sounded kind of weak and less full than my original sample. What are some settings that have given you guys some good results in your midrange? I may just be going to light too many times, I seem to get better results using more distortion once or twice.
Re: Mid range freq splitting
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:59 am
by IC0N
motox2121 wrote:Hey guys, last night I was resampling one of my basslines, I frequency split the mids at 250hz and 4khz, I put seperate effects on the highs / mids. I came up with some very interesting sounds on the high end using different processing(flangers / phasers etc), but I found after resampling my mids about 15 generations of different distortion / EQ etc, I lost a lot of the punch compared to the dry signal. My question is how do you guys get that super dirty sound without sending it in a negative direction? I tried using both camelphat / ohmicide using light settings each bounce. I still got a cool sound It just sounded kind of weak and less full than my original sample. What are some settings that have given you guys some good results in your midrange? I may just be going to light too many times, I seem to get better results using more distortion once or twice.
Experiment. If you resample and resample and it comes out crappy, you might just need to start over. For me, EQing after each bounce helps. And sometime using a transient shaper. But its pretty much all experimenting.
Re: Mid range freq splitting
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 4:32 am
by motox2121
yes obviously thats the best way, I was just wondering how many times do you typically bounce for each fx (if doing each one seperately). Is it a 2-3 times type thing or do you put your dry/wet so low that you have to bounce 10+ times to get a noticeable effect? I just keep hearing that its so much better to do small amounts and bounce more often and wondering if that's really the right way to go
Re: Mid range freq splitting
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 4:41 am
by joshisrad
Do whatever works for you. Personally I am not gonna bounce 15 times to distort it. 1-3 times is what I like, and that's if I choose to distort the bass further than what I've done when I created the patch initially. I've never heard anyone explain the theory behind WHY you should do small amounts lots of times, and I've never found it "better" than when I do a bit more distortion all at once. Whenever I hear someone say "lots of instances with very small distortion, never big amounts of distortion!!!! bad!!!" and no explanation, just sounds like something people don't actually understand but repeat ad nauseum because they heard Reso say it.
Re: Mid range freq splitting
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 5:20 am
by bl0rg
resampling a million times will not necessarily give you the best, phatted, cleanest sound.
to be honest the bass in my sig has no resampling... and i think its brilliant.
Id focus more on stereo imaging, delays, short chorus etc...
Re: Mid range freq splitting
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:37 am
by motox2121
thanks guys thats the perfect reply i was looking for! I always had better results with more distortion at once i just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong haha.
So do you guys use chorus / flangers etc on your MID band? I split mine @ 4k and I mucked with the highs in that manner getting a much nicer sound. Do you guys do any chorus / delays / stereo spread etc. the lower mids at all? Can it be done without muddying? I usually don't do anyhting more than a small dimension expander in the initial patch in massive but I may be missing out on this... I normally just do some light to moderated distortion using camelphat, ohmicide, or standard ableton overdrive/saturation.
Any other suggestions I should try for processing my lower mid range band?
In what way would a transient shaper benefit me in this situation? I own the Shaack Transient Shaper plugin, normally dont use it for basslines. Are you looking to add/remove attack/release/drive? Or is it just meant to preserve the transients after the distortion?
Thanks for the replies guys I appreciate it!