BASS
FM+ is always my first port of call for basslines (im a big fan of sega megadrive sounds), just experimenting with the envelopes on simple FM ratio settings can give wild bass sounds.
The filter works like a band pass filter with double resonance. Lots of resonance on the HPF will result in a resonant peak at the lower end of the audio spectra, whereas resonance on the LPF gives more empahsis to the top end of the spectra. There is infact only one filter envelope. BOFS, WOFS are the filter envelope destinations, filter base and filter width respectively.
Also be aware that the Key tracking of both the filters is switched on. Key tracking is simply where the cutoff is changed as you go along the keyboard, usually the cutoff is higher (filter opens up) as you get higher on the keyboard. Its in a annoying spot in the kit edit menu at the end of the page, too far away for my liking;I often forget its on and you don’t pass it in general editing.
I really didnt get the filter untll I read in the manual that the keytracking is on, i didnt understand why/how it reacted as it did.
Just tweak and listen, I use very little/or no res on basses, just pull down cutoff and tweak in bofs/wofs and the env and it groowls..... the sawmaskin is good, i think the subosc is cool, can make a deep bass a bit higher up in the scale but use subosc for subpower.
The puls is rather nice for basses, much more delicate than a saw.
Turn off key-tracking for high & and lowpass in the assign-menu. That helped me for creating a good low bass.
You already mentioned my favorites, SID & FM. The other machines are capable too but involve a bit more sound shaping. I remember when we had the “Noise” MnM Lab, I was able to get bass out of it but it took a lot more work.
I get great results by starting with the humble GND→Sin machine. Huge basses can be had.
Yeah, I’m starting to figure it out... if something is too thin...I will run a sine wave bass underneath it. FM Basses are new to me...and I’ve got some good ones. Haven’t been too sucessful with the saw engine yet...can’t get the filter to sound right. That’s probably due to liking analog filters.
Add just a little distorsion to the sound, barely audible. Combined with a fast filter envelope adds a bit more definition to the attack phase of the sound. Distorsion could also be controlled by a triggered single shot ramp LFO.
Here are some bass related observations and tests:
1. Bigger range of usefull bass-tones MnM can deliver a loads of bass, no prblem with that. Most of the time I end up creating too bassy or too low tones for being anything usefull. So, a good signal of lower end of spectrum can be delivered. But the problem mostly seems to be, that they only sound good/thick on a certain range and this range seem to be so small. Compared to simple juno-106, juno wins, because of thickness and usability in a bigger range.
2. What’s the problem I guess MnM produces sweet and clean signals that, in the lower range, produce full energy on a very narrow area. It’s hi-fi and works beautifully in the mid range (it makes MnM sound very detailed and open ended). Thickness of a Juno bass might be related analog parts, which produce a lot more harmonic distortion while driving the circuitry. Harmonic distorition spreads over the spectrum and makes produces bass-tones to have nice overtone-structure, which makes them seem more thick and present. So, when MnM creates clean 50Hz tone, Juno or eqvivalent creates 100hz, 150hz, 200, 400, and so on.
3. How to cure Now you can use distortion on the MnM or use Digipro to create juicy overtones over bass-tones, but use of filter always filters them out. Distortion is build between HP and LP, and when LP is used, it filters the upper spectrum out.
I tried to cure this thing with the compressor effect and thought it could add something. Normally I hate when people tend to offer compressor as a solution to every problem, but it just might work here.
I made bass patch with SAW-machine. Nothing special, just very filtered, just low-end working here. Then I routed it to compressor. Attack and relese to low enough that compressor will distort a little. Dig very deep with treshold and adjust ratio to your liking (it seems to harden the bass). Distorting compressor creates distortion to bass-tone and creates some overtones, while at the same time reduces dynamics to zero. Bass becomes more present and range seems to broaden. At first you might lose some low-end, but then comes the EQ on compressor track. Use it to boost where you want your bass line to have balls.
It’s an old house-music trick. To have punchy low-end you need to compress/limit it to death, so you have no dynamics left. Otherwise they will jump out in a mix and ruine the consistency of low-end in a mix. But you also need to make it rumble, so you insert the eq *after* the compressor. With eq, you can now adjust the amount of rumble and different bassline notes around that will resonate also a little. With this you should have controlled low end. In theory at least.
I didn’t try it very extensively, but it might, again, provide some starting point. I might also be interested to hear what kind of approaches you have found.
There are also some good results to be had by using the Mono’s EQ.
I’ve found the Mono’s filter envelope doesn’t work well for punchy, snappy bass sounds. Try using the Exp waveform on an LFO instead. It’s a lot closer to the envelope shape you’ll get out of an analog, and it sounds MUCH better on bass sounds to my ears.
303 style/Acid Bass:
303 basses cant be done accurately because:
a) There’s no 303-like saw oscillator - SID saw will do just fine though.
b) No filter like in 303 available (MnM has 24dB/oct, 303 has 18dB/oct)
However, 303ish or ‘acid’ sounds are possible; Just use saw oscillator and disable envelope tracking in settings. If you want slides use p-locked portamento. It all depends on what you consider acid…
To make Acid lines with MnM, takes some time at first, because you have a lot of options and you need to find your own workflow. One thing that I’ve found is that you tend to do too normal sequences when you are using MnM sequencer in a normal way. The sequences will end up missing the 303ish style. One great way to go around this, is to program simple melody to ‘Arp-slot’ and trigger it different ways from the normal sequencer; this way you will get more interesting 303 lines.
More bass tips:
- For basses remember to disable filter keytracking. - For layering fat sounds use the track trigger (you can set T1 to trigger also T2). - Digipro (or other synth) with arp and delay directed to internal reverb with threshold can create some fresh sounds. - SRR works as a low quality lowpass filter, you can combine it with the real lowpass with high resonance get those progressive house filter sweeps. Boost highs with the internal eq to emphasize the SRR. - delay times work with power of two minus one, 2^N - 1. For 1/4 note, use 63, 1/8 = 31, 1/16 = 15 etc - LFO times work 2^N, 64=1/4 note (with multipliers you can get large LFO time range)
- positive delay send → ping pong delay, negative → stereo delay (panned sounds will have delay panned to same position)
- and yeah, slides are essential for fx and build up sounds 
My favourite MnM machine at the moment is definitely the DPRO BBOX. It’s really excellent for sharp, heavy basses when retrigged with a very short loop. With a total of 24 retrigged drum sounds you end up with a fantastic potential for different tonal characteristics. True, you’re back to MD “stone age” lock programming of note values, but it sounds so cool that it’s totally worth it. shot ramp LFO.
Try the following:
- Load the BBOX to a part - Enter random notes in a 16 note pattern, something suitable for a bass line - Tweak the retrig time to a short value, giving the effect of a note - Tweak AMP decay time, lower the low pass cutoff frequency, and add a short envelope to the filter to get an attack. - Apply slight LFO to the SYNTH - PITCH parameter to get movement to the sound. - Add a slow square wave LFO to the RETRIG TIME - this will give you alternating “notes”. Alternatively you can manually change all the locks. Which reminds me - there should be a lock offset function in the MnM! - Experiment with the notes in the pattern, add some delay, tweak until it sounds right!
Dubstep bass: The wobble= Sine, Distortion, LFO to pitch and/or filter, parameter lock LFO speed. You could also try that on the fm machines.
— tIB 2009/01/12 01:51
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