Fully automatic for grunge bass

Dubstep, D&B, Grime, UK Bass, Grunge ... the list could go on. But the styles have one thing in common: almost willy-nilly wobbling, sometimes fanfare-like basses, which hit the listener and really breathe their soul into the sound. The best thing about these dynamic subs is that they can be used in almost any style. 1 FM synth as a base

We‘ll build such a bass using the FM-4. Although the process is quite complex the first time because of the many modulations, the synth then permanently creates new sounds and nuances, so you don‘t have to start from scratch for each track. Three oscillators form the basis, with number two and three modulating the first. 1

2 FM matrix

How much one oscillator influences another is determined in the 5x4 matrix. There, in the first row, we set the value to 141 in the second column and to 217 in column three. We set all other cells to 0. That doesn‘t sound nice at first, but we‘ll take care of that now with lots of movement. Load two LFOs at the MODULATORS.1

3 Two LFOs

Connect the first with a Random waveform to the Mod control of the second oscillator. This determines in percent how much oscillator Two affects One (at 141, it‘s a range of 0 - 141). The second LFO also randomly affects Mod 3. This already adds a lot of punch to the sound. But there is more! 1

4 Even more LFOs!

We load five more LFOs with random waveforms and connect one each to LFO 2 Rate, LFO 2 Tilt (mix between up and down sawtooth), Oscillator 2 Level, Pan(orama), Cutoff of the Noise module and Oscillator 3 Level. That was the complicated part, now it gets easier: Behind the synth, we load a low pass filter. 1

5 Add effects to it

There, we also load a random LFO for the Cutoff control. Behind the synth, we place a Reverb with Low Band Split at 300 Hz, so that the bass part doesn‘t get any reverb. The Reverb Time can be as long as two seconds. Behind it, we load a Saturator and a Peak Limiter, which only catches overloads. Okay, that‘s really it. 1

6 Best-of parts

Now just pick a pitch, record MIDI clips with long notes, duplicate several times and record the output on an audio track to pick out the best parts. The obvious styles to use are the ones mentioned in the introduction, but if you cut the audio tracks into small bites, you‘ll also find good loops for 4/4 beats.