KVR Audio

surreal · Post by **surreal** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:00 pm

Hi Gents and Ladies

I would like to replicate the sound of the bass on the Song of Beyonce-Love on Top. Please help!!

Kwurqx · Post by **Kwurqx** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:51 pm

My guess. An FM bass. Sort of a variant of the (in)famous Solid/Lately bass patch (with the feedback turned up).

The original Lately Bass is a TX81Z patch that uses a non-sine waveform operator. This is not available on the DX7. But you can get close with just the DX sines...Solid Bass.

You can get pretty close using the excellent free Yamaha DX7 emulation Dexed.
https://www.kvraudio.com/product/dexed- ... l-suburban

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LcJsiNkpb4

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:55 pm

Something to do with twerking on a keyboard.

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:58 pm

Aloysius wrote: ↑Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:55 pm Something to do with twerking on a keyboard.

You're mixing up Beyonce & Miley ...

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:59 pm

My bad.

surreal · Post by **surreal** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:42 pm

Thank you for the replies sofar.. I thought it would have been more analogue than fm or digital but let us hear what others have to say..

Kwurqx · Post by **Kwurqx** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 10:06 am

surreal wrote: ↑Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:42 pm Thank you for the replies sofar.. I thought it would have been more analogue than fm or digital but let us hear what others have to say..

Haha....what is this preoccupation with analog?

It's not about the means but about the goal. It's result that counts, no matter how it was achieved, right?

There's a reason why digital synthesizers were invented and why the are heavily used. Many synthesis techniques and features only exist in the digital domain.

Maybe you can get close with a pulse (at the right pulsewidth and, maybe some pwm) and some overdrive/distortion.

There's even the option to use analog FM. Though in most cases it's not even FM but PM in "FM" synths, like Yamaha's "FM" implementation.

FM and PM both require super stable and accurate oscillators/frequencies/ratios. FM also suffers from DC offset issues. The required accuracy and stability is the digital domain's strongpoint. The lack hereof is also the main reason why it is seldom found in analog gear.

surreal · Post by **surreal** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 12:55 pm

Ok cool, thank you

CHOOS · Post by **CHOOS** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 1:41 pm

It's a simple patch with 2 saws. the "normal" low frequency + another saw one octave lower to give it that rumble.

I've a charlatan preset attached (If you're on windows, let me know if not)
but the steps are as follows:
Osc 1 =Saw
Osc 2 = Saw One octave lower
2-pole filter set at around 350 Hz (charlatan gives Hz but do this by ear in other synths)
Add a little filter attack like a pluck just to give it that initial burst of a few higher harmonics
Short decay, just enough to not make it sound like it stops abruptly.

GL

surreal · Post by **surreal** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 1:54 pm

Thank you very much for the patch will check this out when I get home from work. Thank you very much for your effort Choos

Kwurqx · Post by **Kwurqx** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 7:49 pm

CHOOS' solution shows that there are indeed more ways to skin a cat. And also by using a free synth: Blaukraut's (pretty basic but excellent) Charlatan. The 2-pole filter apparantly leaves enough high frequency content for the attack part. Again, no need for complicated and/or expensive synths.

There are many more excellent free synths available. I use them a lot. Hardly any need for commercial synths. Good news for those "on-a-budget". Really worth checking out the top 10 or 20 of free synths.
https://www.kvraudio.com/plugins/window ... st-popular

Kwurqx · Post by **Kwurqx** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 8:45 pm

I should have listened past the first bass notes that really sound FM-ish to me. The slide/portamento at around 0:40 (and further on) is definitely not FM. So...ignore my FM guess.

CHOOS · Post by **CHOOS** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 7:33 pm

hahahah no problem. It does have that classic analog sound so I assumed it would've been just a "basic" patch but the original does sound really nice. Maybe Diva or Retro can get even closer. Or maybe Fathoms upcoming new analog Osc.

As soon as I saw in SPAN what the waveform looked like It confirmed what I though about the 2 different octave saws. From there it's a matter of finding the right filter cut-off etc

Kwurqx · Post by **Kwurqx** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:04 pm

Actually just checked with Charlatan 2.0. And man, it's bass is tight. It does this one spot on. With the glide and all. Synth1 and Noisemaker and some other free ones don't even come close. I'll try some others, just for the fun of it.

Might even step of the free stuff and fire up the mighty Synthmaster. And Fathom. See how the fare.

Had MOscilloscope in line. That tight waveshape doesn't move/shapeshift at all. Totally phase synced on each note. That 12 dB/oct filter just sort of bents the bottom half of the saws a little. Very nice filter indeed.

And I also remember why I never used Charlatan much. Somehow the knobs do not react well to my mouse movements. They seem to have a life of their own. Can just use it with the DAW's default sliders interface (no GUI). Must be doing something wrong...

Listening to the first notes only I was fooled by the high frequency content in the attack. You need either a superfast attack a lot of cutoff modulation range and a fast filter....or FM feedback. But with FM (Dexed) you can just emulate the low bass notes part. As soon as you go up the keyboard you hear that typical FM behaviour.

Kwurqx · Post by **Kwurqx** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:56 pm

Antti's ASynth has that fast and tight bass but....no mono legato.
https://www.kvraudio.com/product/asynth ... electronix

Others I tried lack the modulation range and/or the tight frequency and phase sync between both oscillators needed here. And the filter characteristics vary wildly.

Bass of Beyonce love on top