Ableton Forum

so im wondering how to get those really melodic yet super distorted, on the tail end it seems, bass sounds. I know he wobles em a bit too but im more interested in the synth part of it. im pretty sure he uses an x-station which has its own synths plus is midi capable so im not sure if thats part of it. Also im wondering in general if anyone has tips on composing a song thats more musical than repetative EDM. i still like dirty hard basslines but... ne ways thanks for any help.

trilian

There is nothing that dissapoints me more than thin bsaelines.., I guess it al depends on the budget you are prepared to spend..

what is trilian? im going to lookit up myself but, thanks. Yeah I have rokit krk 8's and a 10s also 2 technics m5g's and a rane ttm56... I'll spend money.. im just curious if u can only get those bass sounds like pretty lights using the synth that comes on the x-1 or if there is a way to get that deep melodic distorted bass other wise.

trilian sounds cool, but is it all stock sounds or do u just plug it into ableton then do whatever the hell you want with what u record?

Also in songs like Meat off the bone by ben samples where the room is just like filled with bass but it dosnt seem to have any note per say... its just like bass on the ears.. im not sure i havent tried to make it happen myself yet but i feel like it might be a kick with alot of sustain so it holds for like the length of a full note. if anyone can do me a favor and preview some ben samples tracks or pretty lights tracks, or if you've heard them id like to know what i should start looking into... im not even really sure what bpm's to start at, i feel like 98 is too low. but that really hard bass with lots of sampling and dope trippy leads is the style i want to pursue, the more i use ableton the more i feel like im guna end up using it to launch clips.

Do you have any example tracks with bass sounds that you want to emulate?

He has a DSI Mopho and a Virus TI in his studio...

so he dosnt even use a computer program at all to make his basslines then?

There's nothing really 'special' about any of the synths mentioned IMO. You can get really close, if not emulate it perfectly, just by using instrument racks and operator. What you need to do is take a synth and just explore how it makes sounds. Just pick one whether it be a VST like the minimoog or a native Live instrument. Then, find a sound you want to emulate, analyze it, then try to get there, possibly using more than one instance of the synth and layer it. Maybe you get there... maybe you come up w/ something else really cool and original.

I'm not so much interested in the sound of the synth as I am in the way that they are played. I'm not sure if he's using some kind of step sequencer and then modulating it because it doesn't sound like he's just playing riffs on a keyboard. He also uses a lot of arps with weird shuffle settings on them.

Im interested in what you mean by layering synths.. how do you do that? i feel like analog is more confusing than operator... I dont want to emulate pretty lights or ben samples as much as i want to learn how to play electronic music melodically. I want my wobbles to be part of a break down after a dirty melody and drum beat that shakes the room. i've been thinking i should learn to play the keyboard properly. Any suggested reading about music and composition, building chords and playing arpeggios... thanks guys.

bedroomDJ wrote:Im interested in what you mean by layering synths.. how do you do that? i feel like analog is more confusing than operator... I dont want to emulate pretty lights or ben samples as much as i want to learn how to play electronic music melodically. I want my wobbles to be part of a break down after a dirty melody and drum beat that shakes the room. i've been thinking i should learn to play the keyboard properly. Any suggested reading about music and composition, building chords and playing arpeggios... thanks guys.

Take some lessons, I'm taking guitar lessons which has helped me immensely w/ my theory knowledge.

I agree that operator is an easier synth to learn, so why don't you stick w/ that. Get an instance, select it, the hit ctrl-g to group it to an instrument rack. Then add a couple more operators and now you're layering. Figure out what you want out of each layer and then work to make that sound. A very simple bass could be a sub w/ a sin wave tuned way down, mid grit, and some top end wobble for a nasty full frequency synth all your own. Glue them back together w/ an EQ, compression, or filter and you're off.

Oops sorry wrong person.

Thank you for the crash course on layering synths. so for a full range bass synth you need at least three layers? is there a point where ur adding to many layers like 5 or 6?

Also to use compression, from what i've looked at, you have to side chain it to somthing. is that not true? the EQ8 is fun and easy to tune sounds with, and i've seen cool things with side chaining a gater as well. I saw a video where a guy muted a track with kick drums repeating and side chained to that. i also feel like i saw a different more logical technique to side chain but i forget what it was.