Dark psy basslines

[AdrianPsy]

How do you guys make your dark psy basslines?

I can easily make a decent sounding full on bassline but when I go to make dark psy... the bass usually sounds really messy and just doesnt roll...

Help and input would be appreciated on structures and basic synthesis

Cheers

[FRACAS]

if it sounds "messing"??> shorten the note length

IMO dont do too many large jumps pitch of the note ...it will make it roll more and bounce less....

use a simple osc ....ie saw or square ....not a wave osc...

eq is your friend ....mess around with low pass and low shelf levels and freq

use your ears....

what types of synth are you using??? < i probably should have asked that first

[AdrianPsy]

Whoops. I meant messy.

I use VST synths. For my bassline I use Alien 303. It has some pretty good presets, even a darkpsy one... but still doesn't sound right to me.

I generally make my bassline something like this.

K = kick B = bass

k-b-b-b-k-b-b-b-k-b-b-b-k-b-b-b

As you generally do

but it doesn't sound anything like Pondscum and the like...



but yeah. EQ is definately my friend and is a big help.. but sometimes you just need to get the actual synth right first.

[FRACAS]

.........but sometimes you just need to get the actual synth right first.

that is the genral rule .....Start with a good sound ....
Dont try to polish a turd...

[AdrianPsy]

True..

but yeah. See I pulled this track (far from being complete or half done even lol) together in a few minutes... I don't mind the bass, but I just can't seem to get it.. I dunno.. there's something missing. Maybe I just fail

Anyway, ignore the first 10 seconds and the file name

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/3/11/ ... nedark.mp3

[FRACAS]

.. I dunno.. there's something missing.

well the pattern you have there is a simple
k_b_k_b_k_b_k_b

not the pattern you have described before....the other pattern would serve you better to create the rolling sound you were looking for ???

[Chappo]

If you already have k-b-b-b k-b-b-b then maybe your sustain is too high or your decay too long causing the first bass note to play at near full velocity into the next bass note and then the next making it sound like k-b k-b. Try lowering your sustain and play with your decay setting until it sounds like it's rolling along, I don't have a synth here at work to test but i think thats about right.

[AdrianPsy]

.. I dunno.. there's something missing.

well the pattern you have there is a simple
k_b_k_b_k_b_k_b

not the pattern you have described before....the other pattern would serve you better to create the rolling sound you were looking for ???

yeah I know... it was just an example of my still crappy sounding bass... when I do it the other way, ut sounds even worse unless the notes are a higher pitch

but yeah I'll try that out chappo.


cheers guys

[MeowTron]

try shortening your notes to 32's and lengthen some to 16 and maybe mess with how hard you play note....i forgot what word that is right now....starts with a......na .....i forgot that too....arm.....errr...ahhh...velocity thats it yeah mess with some velocity.

get a hi pass filter over your bass and kick too experiment with freqs on each

finally and this is the hardest bit find out what pitch or 'note' your kick is at.
wave lab has a pitch detection thing in it i dunno what other do ..peak does if u use mac or maybe try making your own kick....google...hmm where was i ...? oh yeah pitch try and match your kick and bass with the same pitch or/and/maybe.... google harmonic dissonance then......last but not least get off the fucking internets fucken.

[FRACAS]

.....last but not least get off the fucking internets fucken.

Killah tip !!!
i will not have internet anywhere near my studio.... no music would happen

[AdrianPsy]

Thanks guys.

aha that seems to be another problem of mine. When making tunes, I am constantly talking on msn, posting on forums and whatnot.

Maybe I should stop that

[FRACAS]

World of Warcraft will not help your basslines...!!

[AdrianPsy]

Too true... though I don't play WoW

[S.E.T.H]

ya cant go wrong with Alien 303 thru Xbass (both G-sonique products).

not much frequency on the LPF and just enough decay to give a good length.

heavy saturation too.

[AdrianPsy]

Yeah that's what I've been using. I think I have it all sorted.

Thanks guys.

lol... so I can make my own basses. Now it's on to learning how to make my own leads and synth fx... prog ones in particular.. they seem to have some sort of vibrating feel to them... like a cutoff filter turned all the way up on a 303 but not quite... should I make another thread about this? Or just keep it in here ... I'm looking to create sounds like this and it's bloody hard when I know only the basics of synthesis.

http://www.fileden.com/getfile.php?file ... sounds.mp3

[MeowTron]

sidechain compression/gate.

start with side chaining the kick to your pads and leads use lots of delay + chorus/phaserflange/filter+reverb and sidechain that. use white noise and play with eq have a go ya mug..


p.s i dont like the noise generator in the virus ti does anyone else feel the same? i mean its good but i can't quite get the sound i'm after it sounds ...too.......digital..... i'm going to dig up my old ms 2000 and give that a whirl PPSHH SHH Shhh shh shhs sh hh hh!!!!!!

[AdrianPsy]

sidechain compression/gate.

start with side chaining the kick to your pads and leads use lots of delay + chorus/phaserflange/filter+reverb and sidechain that. use white noise and play with eq have a go ya mug..


p.s i dont like the noise generator in the virus ti does anyone else feel the same? i mean its good but i can't quite get the sound i'm after it sounds ...too.......digital..... i'm going to dig up my old ms 2000 and give that a whirl PPSHH SHH Shhh shh shhs sh hh hh!!!!!!

HM! I shall try this when I get home.

Fucking VSTs shit me lol. They aren't fun for tweaking. I want a real synth.

ah welll

[Gibson_ewok]

U-he Zebra 2 is the bomb diggity !

Ive been using it for almost every sound in my tracks lately..

Can get some mad phat bass out of it

I think that slightly wobbly sound your talking about in prog sounds is possibly really quick slight lfo's on frequency and pitch maybe.. or possibly "vibrato" options within the synths. Or even arpegiation.

Theres heaps of ways to go about synthesising very similar sounds.

[Gibson_ewok]

Wait vibrating.. not wobbling.. and cutoff on the 303

I think your refering to how crisp some of the sounds are ?

Try adding saturation (distortion)

Ive heard saturation add's a slight 5th to what you effecting it with. So maybe thats this slight vibration your hearing..

Personally i think it makes it sound industrially crisp. But i can see how you can hear it as a real quick subtle vibration also.

[FeralBrown]

for bass/drone/lead wobble you need to assign lfos to filter cut-offs... try cross 'em over as much as possible for decent texture without the sound being too "obvious". Kill any sustain. Use only decay for "fullness" in sound.
fiddle with this, and you'll be onya way to making something strange, different, interesting and engaging.

[MeowTron]

chorus-send hipass low freqs