Synthesizing a Kick Drum in Absynth 5

Just about every song needs a good kick drum, and Absynth makes it easy to make a simple bass drum of any style imaginable. This tutorial shows you how to get started.

There are a lot of ways to create drums with a synth, and there are no doubt countless ways to manipulate these sounds once you get the basics out of the way. This video shows how to create a simple kick drum that can easily be transformed into something that will fit a wide range of music genres and styles. Nothing beyond the basics are shown and I would highly encourage you to experiment with various waveforms, filters, waveshapers, effects, etc available to you in Absynth to make this sound something truly unique.

This one starts out with a sine wave loaded into the first oscillator module. The main envelope for the oscillator is adjusted to shorten the delivery and create a more percussive character. A new envelope is then assigned to change the tone of the sound. A second module is added, this one loaded with a Noise1 waveform. As with the first oscillator, the main envelope for the second module is programmed for a short percussive delivery.

At this point a waveshaper is added to the master strip to help change the overall sound being routed from the oscillator modules to the master output. A third module is now added, this one is loaded with a sine wave. And as with the first module, this third one has the main envelope programmed for a quick percussion sound before a new envelope is assigned to the pitch parameter to lower the pitch of this oscillator. As a finishing touch, the second oscillator module is transposed down about 29 semi-tones giving it a lower tone.

We hope you enjoyed this quick and easy video tutorial for Native Instruments Absynth. If you have a request for a similar lesson, or if you have a tutorial you would like to share with the community, just send us a message and we will be happy to follow up with you.. Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers,
OhmLab