As most sub-bases are mono, there is a shortage of tips & techniques for creating stereo sub-basses. Therefore, here I will walk you through how I made a patch in FM8 and why I chose the settings I did. It is meant to be used in a booming Hip Hop or Pop production but could also be used in Dubstep or House music. In short, the key to a good synth bass is subtle movement. Each parameter should be finely tuned by ear to your liking after making these course adjustments.
The patch sounds like this…
OPERATORS
1 Sine wave carrier (F)
– Firstly, route 100 percent into Z (low pass filter). Low pass filtering is a hallmark of good synth sub-basses.
– Secondly, Turn Key Sync On. This will make the cycle of the waveform start at the beginning of each trigger.
– Then, Push Velocity up to 27 percent. This will make the synth more sensitive to differences in velocity while recording, or after drawing in velocity values.
1 Sine wave modulator (D)
– Modulating carrier (F) by 60 percent. This will create a desirable amount of side-bands (added frequency content).
– Ratio of 2. This means the frequency of the modulator will be twice that of the carrier no matter what note is played.
1 LP filter (Z)
– Route to output 95 percent. We don’t want to overdrive the filter, but we want it hot.
– Cutoff around 1 kHz. We need those characteristic side-bands to be there when that modulation sweeps in, but we want to cut them off at about 1 kHz for more control and a better mix.
– A little bit of resonance. This provides clear separation in the mix, and the bass gets distinct.
ENVELOPES
Carrier
Attack – logarithmic, 50 ms.
Decay – 25 ms.
Sustain – 90%
Release – logarithmic, 250 ms release.
Modulator
Attack – smooth, logarithmic 800 ms attack.
Decay – none.
Sustain – 100%
Release – logarithmic, 150 ms.
Filter
Attack – immediate.
Decay – none.
Sustain – 100%
Release – logarithmic, 450 ms.
MODULATION
– Active LFO.
– Triangle or sine wave contour, whichever you prefer.
– Eighth note rate (Sync on).
– Modulate amplitude of Modulator by 100%. It will be interesting to automate this parameter after you’re done with the patch.
– Delay by the duration of modulator attack (about 800 ms in this case). Having the modulation sweep in at the climax of the envelope of the modulator is a common effect in bass synths.
MASTER
– 2 voices, detuned and panned out about 25%.
– Set polyphony to Mono. This does not mean the output will be mono, it just means you can only play one key at a time.
– Turn up the analog quality by about 30%. This will add some natural-sounding warmth to the noise floor.
FX
Short, bright and dry Reverb. It is important, but you should barely be able to hear the decay. As a result, it should just provide a sense of space to the low-mid range.
POSSIBLE CONTEXT
