Drop A Melbourne Bass Preset In FM8

Learn how to make a Melbourne bass preset in FM8. Melbourne is an up and coming genre originating from out of you guessed it, Melbourne Australia.

Melbourne EDM is gaining in popularity. To my ears it’s a mix of dutch, electro and a pop sound made famous by LMFAO or Will.I.Am. Sometimes a pinch of dubstep is thrown in for good measure. The demo in the video is at 128 BPM and I should have slowed it down to get more of that Melbourne sound. Regardless, FM8 is a great synth for this genre so lets dive in and learn how to make a Melbourne bass preset in FM8.

First, because FM8 is so dry sounding (at least to my ears) I like throwing on some effects at the start. Sometimes I will just throw on a slight reverb or a delay just to spark the creative juices as I’m making the sound. For this particular sound, I think I set out to make a pluck. Didn’t turn out how I initially started, but I like to think that’s how all cool sounds are made in FM8.

To get a Melbourne bass preset in FM8 you have to consider a few things. To get that Dutch sound, Glide/Portamento is your friend. Second, make sure you have some low end action going on in the Operators because there aren’t a lot of sub basses in Melbourne. It’s how its sounds so crisp, light and heavy all at the same time.

Check out the video above to see the Melbourne bass preset in FM8 in action!