> Step by step

Making a classic Hatcha and Lost-style bass with Dune CM

1 Add Dune CM to an instrument track in your DAW and begin by clicking the Bank B button in the central window to bring up an initialised patch. In the Osc 2 panel, click the sine oscillator shape, and turn the Osc Mix knob up to 50% so we can hear the oscillator we just activated.

2 In the Osc 1 panel, click the Sel oscillator shape, and drag up on the waveform display below to set the waveform shape to 48, a big, bassy, pulse-like wave. Let’s add some filter movement and lo-fi processing: set the filter type to LP12+Bitcrush, Filter Cutoff to 45%, Reso to 100%, Key Track to 50%, and Env to 8%.

3 In the Filter Envelope panel, set the Attack to 44%, the Decay to 36% and the Sustain to 0%. This quick opening and closing filter cutoff movement gives the patch a push at the start, but the pulse oscillator is too loud and overbearing. Turn the Osc Mix up to 74% to make the sine oscillator more dominant in the mix.

4 We’re getting a slight click at the start and end of the sound which detracts from its punchiness. This can be remedied by setting the Attack to 7% and the Release to 20% in the Amp Envelope panel. Now let’s add more punch to the sound’s attack with some pitch modulation.

5 In the central panel, click the Mod Matrix 1>12 button and set the second row of the matrix to Source: Mod Env, Amount: +12 and Destination: Osc 2 Semi. This gives the sine oscillator a kick-like percussive punch at the start of the sound. We can control how long the pitch modulation takes with the Decay knob in the Mod Envelope panel…

6 …set the Decay to 30%, tightening up the pitch movement, making it really punchy. Currently, the saw oscillator doesn’t follow the same pitch movement at the sine oscillator, so let’s fix that by setting the third row of the modulation matrix to Source: Mod Env, Amount: +12 and Destination: Osc 1 Semi.

7 We don’t just have to stick with the one type of pitch modulation – let’s get an LFO modulating the oscillators’ pitch as well. Set LFO1’s waveshape to saw, and activate its Reset button. This causes new notes to retrigger the LFO from the start of the waveform, giving us a consistent movement.

8 Set the fourth and fifth line of the mod matrix to Source: LFO1, Amount: +1 and Destination: Osc 2 Semi and Source: LFO1, Amount: +1 and Destination: Osc 1 Semi respectively. Now LFO 1 modulates the pitch of both oscillators. Try experimenting with different LFO 1 Rate values to hear how it affects the sound.