Ableton Forum

Hi Guys,

I hope someone can help...
Im getting a problem with bass fluctuating in volume. I noticed it when I tried to back up a 4/4 kick drum with a sub beneath. the volume fader of the kick channel is constant with no fluctuation, whereas the midi track (with massive on it) fluctuates several db's on the fader and creates a sound similar to phasing cancellation/distortion, over a cycle of about 8 beats. There are no filters, LFOs etc on the instrument. I get this with a few instruments I have, but curiously not Operator, which provides the same volume for each note.
Ive had a look on the forum and couldn't find anything similar. If you know of anything please let me know.

Any thoughts?

perhaps your frequencies are competing for the same space? EQ or sidechain..

Since it's happening in Massive and not in Operator it sounds like it might just be a difference in the internal working of the two synths. It might be that the oscillators in Massive are free-running and those on Operator are not, meaning that in Massive the oscillator wave is running continuously and every time you play a note it might start at a different part of the waveform generated by the oscillator, which might give subtle or not so subtle changes in the sound or volume, whereas Operator might be retriggering the oscillator waves every time a note is played. Probably Massive has a setting for this that you can enable at will (can't check if this is the case right now). Many synths will have an option to retrigger the oscillators or not. In this scenario you need to have retrigger on if available.

A failsafe workaround is to simply record the synth bass as audio and use that to play alongside your kickdrum. That should give you the same volume and exactly the same wave every time.

Thanks for the tip!
Yes it is an issue about retrigger as it turns out. Theres a an option on the OSC tab in Massive that allows restart via gate, which solves the issue. I havent found a work around for the TAL Bassline yet but at least I know the cause of the issue.

Many thanks guys!!

What people tend to do with Analog synths which don't have oscillator resets is to sample the output and create a sampler patch from the patch. That way you can retrigger the same sample at the same point and achieve the consistency you're looking for while getting the sound you want from that particular synth.