Exploring Bass Synth

Maschine’s 2.6.8 update added a 303 and 101-inspired monosynth to the software’s inbuilt toolkit. Let’s take a look…

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Bass Synth’s interface may not look very much like a Roland classic, but its sound engine has a distinctly acid-friendly feel, thanks to its combo of a single oscillator with a resonant filter. A basic modulation envelope – with just a single delay control – allows for squelchy filter modulation.

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The oscillator can morph continuously between a sine wave (far left setting) and square wave (far right setting) via triangle and saw waves. The sine mode will give a clean, punchy bass tone, and as you turn this toward the right it will add more grit and midrange harmonics.

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For classic acid house bass, increase the filter resonance and filter modulation. Adjust the cutoff to suit your bass pattern. The Decay control can now be used to dial in the length of those distinctive acidic filters sweeps.

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Glide between notes helps give that authentic acid feel. The Glide Time control dictates the length of these, but by default Glide is turned off completely – the switch to turn it on is tucked away on the Advanced parameter page. Try automating Glide off/on to add it to just a few notes in your pattern.

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Turn up Bass Synth’s Drive dial for a bit of authentic added grit. A few insert effects will help polish your sound – a short delay, analogue-style compression and tape or vinyl emulation will give a proper vintage house feel.