> Step by step

2. Making a classic Reese bass using NI Massive

1 Creating your own Reese bass is simple when you know how. We’re starting with a breakbeat loop, piano lead and MIDI bassline in a 160bpm project. First, we load Native Instruments Massive onto the bassline track. Open Massive’s Envelope 4 (amp envelope) and set the

Decay Level to maximum to make each note decay more slowly.

2 To get the detuned, classic Reese wobble we’re after, we’ll use two sawtooth oscillators. Set both Oscillator 1 and 2’s Wavetable Shape to Sawtooth, then tune them both down an octave. Turn Oscillator 2’s Amp dial up to maximum, then set both oscillators’ routing to Filter 1 so we can shape them using a single filter later on.

3 Lower Oscillator 1’s Pitch by 50 cents, so that it’s set to 11.50, then tune Oscillator 2’s Pitch up by the same amount (to 12.50) – our boring patch instantly turns into a snarling, menacing Reese. We can give it a smoother sound by setting Filter 1’s Type to Lowpass 4 and setting the Cutoff to around 10 o’clock.

4 To make our patch a bit louder, we turn Filter 1 Volume up to maximum. To finish off, we use Kush Audio’s Omega A preamp to add some much-needed saturation, giving our Reese some slight distortion and extra weight. Although we’ve used Massive for this walkthrough, it’s straightforward to apply these techniques to other synths.