Wavetables and digital bass
If you own NI’s original Massive, load up its Brutal Electro preset, play a few low notes and tweak the synth’s macros. This wavetable patch was infamously overused in dubstep circles in the 2010s, and you’ll recognise its thick, modulating character
A wavetable synth’s oscillator is a collection of single-cycle waveforms, scanning through which can create harmonically-complex tones. Older hardware wavetable synths had a ‘stepped’ feel when sweeped, but modern plugins now provide smooth scanning between wave types for unique harmonic textures. Massive isn’t the only wavetable synth – its follow-up, Massive X, updates the concept, while the likes of Kilohearts Phase Plant, Arturia Pigments or Ableton’s Wavetable all offer a more contemporary take.
Many modern ‘bass music’ artists, the likes of Skrillex and Noisia among them, have attributed part of their bass sound to FM synthesis, a digital type of synthesis famous for complexity and dissonance. Made popular in the early ’80s by the realistic bell and piano-like tones of the Yamaha DX7, FM synthesis uses the frequency of ‘modulator’ oscillators (or operators) to modulate the frequency of ‘carrier’ operators. NI’s FM8 and Ableton Operator are stalwart FM plugins, while Tracktion’s F.’em is probably the most powerful FM synth going. FM has made a resurgence in hardware, too, with the likes of Elektron’s Digitone and Korg’s Opsix both being powerful machines for bass design.
All sounds are made up of multiple sine waves, or harmonics, and additive synthesis combines large numbers of these ‘partials’ to create harmonically rich and interesting synth tones. NI’s Razor is a staple additive synth plugin with subtractivelike parameters, integrating features like filtering and reverb at a deeper harmonic level. Logic’s Alchemy and Arturia Pigments also have capable additive engines.
These modern takes on bass aren’t entirely confined to the analogue realm, though. Novation’s Bass Station II, Korg’s Monologue and Arturia’s Brute range are all hardware synths capable of cross-modulation with enough grunt to spew out nasty bass patches for days, with the bonus of hands-on control and tweakability. Hybrid analogue/digital synths, meanwhile, such as UDO’s Super 6, Arturia’s Mini/MicroFreak and Korg’s Minilogue XD, all offer the combination of analogue grit and digital complexity.