Designing an FM8 Gritty Acid Bass

This tutorial shows how to create an FM8 Gritty Acid Bass using four Operators, the Noise/Saturator, the Filter, and an LFO. Adding more depth, the LFO is one of the key components to this sound. The FM8 Gritty Acid Bass is a great foundation to continue developing your own unique synth sound.

Start the FM8 Gritty Acid Bass by enabling and assigning both Operator F and Operator E a Soft Square Waveform. For both Operators, soften both the Attack and the release just a bit, and bring out the Release to get rid of any unwanted clicking sounds. Operators C and D should be assigned a Sawtooth Waveform, with the Ratios slightly out of tune with each other.

Turn on Operator X, and turn the Asym all the way up. The gain should be dropped to 62 and the the Level should be set to 85. Activate Operator Z(the Filter) on FM8 Gritty Acid Bass and set the Filter Cutoff to 77. Resonance 1 should be set to 81 and Resonance 2 should be set to 66. Mode 1 should be set to 67 and mode 2 should be set to 90.

Now in the FM Matrix of the FM8 Gritty Acid Bass, set both Operator F and E to output at full. Operator F and E should also be set to self-modulate at a level of 22. Set Operators C and D to self modulate at 27, and then route them both to fully modulate Operator X (Noise/Saturator). Route Operator X to fully modulate Operator Z (the Filter), and route Operator Z to modulate both Operator F and E at level 60.

To finish the FM8 Gritty Acid Bass, inside the Modulation Matrix (Mod tab) set LFO 1 to 19 and route that to modulate Operator Z. Then insert a Shelving EQ to the Effects, and boost the high to get a sharper sound. Depending on the sound that you’re going for, you may opt to forgo the Shelving EQ all together.