Making a Hard Electro Bass with FM8 (+ Explaining the VST)

It’s always nice to come up with a new sweet synth sound, but getting there is half the fun with FM8! This video shows you how to create a solid electro bass.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hso_BboRHbU[/youtube]

Touching on a lot of the basic features that you need to be familiar with no matter what kind of sound design you are attempting, it also focuses on what kind of effects are used to achieve some of the more popular bass and lead synth sounds in music today. Beginning with an introduction to the navigation, touching on the browsing system, loading and saving sounds, CPU monitor, voicing, master controls, etc he quickly moves into the real lesson, making a hard electro style bass instrument.

He breaks down the oscillators and how they work on their own and with each other, as well as a brief explanation of the difference between carriers and modulators. Also discussed are waveforms that are available to you, activating oscillators, adding feedback and routing the sounds. Next topic is ratios, so you quickly gain a basic understanding of how FM synthesis works at its core.

Some of the effects covered in this NI FM8 video tutorial are overdrive, cabinets, shelving EQ, tremelo and more. Going more in-depth in his sound design lesson and walkthrough of the synth he then shares a bit about the portamento (or glide), voicing, the step sequence arpeggiator and a few other goodies on his way out.

In the end, this tutorial is a great view for anyone looking to gain a better understanding of how FM8 works in general, and for anyone looking to design themselves a nice electro bass!

Cheers,
ΩhmLab