> Step by step

11. Create an 808 kick drum sub

1

Begin by loading ZebraCM and turning off the second oscillator – we won’t be needing it. Set Oscillator 1 to a Single voice and its Wave to 3. This will give you a triangle shape, which is fairly similar to a sine wave. Turn up the Volume of the first oscillator.

2

A certain amount of harmonics can make for a nice, warm sub, but right now it’s too much. We can use Oscillator

1’s Filter to pull back most of the buzzy harmonics, but don’t get rid of all of them – set it to -70 to bring us almost all the way down to a smooth sine wave sound.

3

For this sound, we don’t need the main filter, so let’s take it out of the picture. Turn the Cutoff all the way up and lower the Keyfollow parameter. The filter isn’t actually bypassed – it’s just opened all the way. Disable the link to Envelope 2, as we’ll be needing that in the next step.

4

In order to ensure a well-tuned sub, set Oscillator 1’s Detune to 0. Next, to get that diving sound we’re after, let’s link the

Tune to Envelope 2 at a Depth of 24. The pitch is now controlled by Envelope 2, and it’s currently giving us a lengthy fall that might be useful as an effect. (Check the audio download from FileSilo: 06EightStep4.wav.)

5

For a faster ‘dive’, let’s work on Envelope 2. Set the Decay to 34.5, so that the pitch falls much faster. This will make it sound a bit more like a kick drum. Also, set the Velocity relationship to 0 so that your fine-tuned envelope is not affected by how hard the notes are struck.

6

Next, let’s take a look at Envelope 1, which is controlling the volume over time. Our goal is to smooth out the sound but retain some punch. Increase the Attack to 20 to soften the kick-like attack, and raise the Sustain to 67 to make the sound a little less percussive. (Audio: 07EightStep6.wav.)

7

Just a couple of finishing touches and we’re done! Increase the Release of Envelope 1 to give the volume envelope a tail at the end, and set the Mode to

Retrigger. When you use Retrigger rather than Legato, only one note will play at a time, but the notes will retrigger rather than blend. (ZebraCM patch from FileSilo: 808 Kick Sub.fxp.)