PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

I was watching a Victor Wooten clip on Youtube and thought I should go build a bass patch. It's not exactly slap bass sounding, but has similar characteristics and can be played in a similar way, but also can do what you'd expect a typical synth bass can do while playing in lower velocity. So I'm going for a synth bass with an expanded vocabulary, rather than straight up slap. This time around I used synthmaster's FM, but the structure is a rather generic osc1->osc2->osc3 structure. (osc 1+osc 2)->osc3 might have also been ok. OSC 4 (just a sin) is added at the end to fatten things up.

this exercise was just taking it through the paces to see how it does in different contexts. One problem I ran into was the legato mode. I needed some EGs that retrigger and some that respect the legato to try to do a hammer on type thing but alas I couldn't figure out how to do it. Not sure if synthmaster can do it.

Synth structure wise, it's the normal slap FM (pluck osc + general string osc + carrier) but with a whole bunch of modulation going from velocity to Decay time and Sustain level. I have 4 ADSR and all Decay time and Sustain level is modulated I think. So in weak velocity the decay is super fast, which makes percussive shorter notes in the grove feel even tighter. (I strive to play tight in the first place)
I would have liked to put in a curve shaper for each Velocity modulation going into Decay and Sustain to shape the response but that's a modular thing... Don't think I've seen any synth that does that. (velocity curve remapping for each mod connection)

I'm not a bassist as in playing a physical bass, but the language of bass fascinates me. On the synth bass side, I think there are specific instances where the synth bass sound can stand up to become the main player, but most often I don't think the dynamic characteristics aren't there (or enough of it). Anyway, this is sort of a bass awareness month for me.

Bass can be main player both sonically and compositionally, Jaco could make it sound like a whole ensemble, but he's not around anymore so take for example the Korg M1 based Seinfeld theme. Going further back the classic DX7 slap bass was made famous by Aha's 'Take On Me' amongst others, and that via its melodic counterpoint with the verse melody. Then it hits the chorus when it 'takes on' the more traditional stab bass role.

Successfully counterpointing the bass and main melody can be a great base for a hit.

Right, the line being interesting and effective is a prerequisite. Not enough of that happening in general.

Thanks! Do you have some other tips for other iconic FM sounds? I'm really keen on especially the Megadrive synth (which can be emulated by Genny), but FM synthesis seems so overwhelming as a beginner. What kind of things/algorithms are good to experiment with, when doing FM ?

Heres a link to some DAS F07 presets which include the famous Slap Bass

https://www.scopeusers.com/ScopeRise/is ... CC_F07.pre

You can use that as a starting point if you have F07 - full article with algorithm diagrams here. https://www.scopeusers.com/ScopeRise/is ... 7_mast.htm

@Admin - is DAS F07 available anywhere - can't see it in shop https://sonic-core.de/product-brands/digitalaudiosoft/

Thanks dante! I don't have the DAS of any Scope stuff, just here for the knowledge. Website seems kinda undone by the way, previews are missing..

Yes the previews are missing because I discontinued that SoundCloud account after they complained that I had a cover version of Bryan Adams ‘Run to Me’.

Anyway try this one :