sub-bass line with synth1 or superwave p8 or triangle II?

2nice

2nice

Active member
wzup yall. i'm trying to put a sub-bass line (an extra octave lower than most basslines) in addition to the bass that's already there, for about 12 of my beats. i'm looking for some advice on techniques to do this...

i already have a bass in most beats... usually from my keyboard sampler using samples of a novation bass station synth (LP-filtered saw wave usually). for each bassline, the set of notes comes out to a pretty standard low-octave range for basslines. sometimes my tracks have a boomy LP-filtered 808 kick but usually the sustain isn't *all* that long on it.

so i'm trying to put a sub-bass beneath that stuff, an octave below the bass-station stuff, for each of these 12 or so beats. the sub-bass won't be an exact note-for-note doubling of the existing bass. it will be more sparse, and it also will be arranged to come in an drop out a few times over the course of the song.

i have a few softsynths to do this with, and would rather do it with a softsynth than with an extra, deeper pitch on the bass station samples. the softsynths are synth1, superwave p8, and triangle II. any suggestions on how to tweak these for very low-octave bass? should i try to keep lots of the upper harmonics in this sub-bass line or should i LP-filter them down a lot (or even use a sine wave)? do you find that saw or square is better to work for with a sub-bass line? any EQ tricks to make the sub-bass playable over lots of speaker systems, or should i just focus on filtering it right?

thanks, any advice is much appreciated.
 
Last edited:
i think u should use synth1, use a sine or square wave with maybe a small bit of saturation. then eq it using the synth1 eq. fix the volume & filter envelopes and pull back your cutoff a bit
 
use a sine way in any of the synths you mentioned. you'll get a smooth low rollin bass depending on how you play it.
LevLove
 
hey thanks for the advice yall. i also just saw this on another site which looks helpful:

rather than using a sine wave, use a lowpassed saw wave. i don't know what people are talking about when they mention a "warm sine" because a sine is just one frequency, no more. if it's got some harmonic distortion, it's no longer a pure sine, and that's probably what you're seeing on analog synths or processed waveforms.

the important thing to remember is that the first harmonic (harmonic just above, or double, the fundamental) is absolutely essential if you want a "thick" and "present" sub. a sine wave a 30Hz will sound weak on anything other than the valve system, but a waveform with a fundamental of 30Hz and a prominent harmonic at 60Hz will sound pretty huge on any good system. saw waves have all integer harmonic partials, so that's why they make such good starting points for sub tones. square waves sound "hollow" because they have every *other* harmonic partial... so your square wave at 30Hz also has components at 90Hz, but not at the all-important 60Hz.

if in doubt, use a spectral analyzer, and look for that peak in the 60-80Hz range. if there's a big gap there, your bass won't hit.
Click to expand...
i'll probably try to use a saw wave in synth1 and filter it with a sharp cutoff just above the first partial... in the quoted example, just above the 60Hz partial. i have a spectrum analyzer to use for this.

i could also try 2 units of synth1, each with a sine wave, but one a full octave above the other (in that 60-80Hz range where my bass station lines already are), and just manipulate the volume balance between the two synth1 units.
 
Last edited:
sry about the bad pic quality but i couldnt upload a png on imageshack.
anyway try that settign and play about with the filter env amount and saturation. let me know what you think :)

View attachment 22101
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top