Learn How To Make a Chill Out sequence in Massive

In this tutorial, learn how to create a Chill Out sequence in Massive. If you’re new to using the stepper, this will show you some great tips and tricks!

After recreating this Chill Out sequence in Massive, you should be a pro using the Stepper!

We’re going to start off by creating a new sound in Massive, and it’s just mirrored to this oscillator section here.

So in the first oscillator slot, I’m going to have this cicada wave table; quite an experimental wave table sound. Then going to put the wave table position (Wt-Position) around to just passed half way. This is acting as more of a white noise on the sound.

In oscillator two I’m going to keep this as a Square-Saw I and taking the pitch down by one octave to -12. I’ll detune this oscillator by 0.4.

Then turn on oscillator three and go for this multiplex wave table in here. Again, I’ll take the pitch down by one octave and detune this to 0.6. Also convert this to bend -/+ mode, bringing the intensity to three-quarter of the way around and pull the Wt-Position to around two-thirds of the way.

Then bringing the amp of all of the three oscillators down to zero.

So oscillator two and three have that detune going on.

So let’s get into some sort of modulation here.

In this first LFO I’m going to sync this to ¼ and use this to modulate oscillator two. So click and drag to the crosshair, this LFO over to the first modulation slot of the amp of oscillator two. So click and drag up and getting that kind of movement on oscillator two.
Turn the amp down on oscillators one and three so we are not going to hear them until we start modulating that amp.

So going to this second LFO slot and convert this into a Performer and hold in SHIFT and click and drag the crosshair of this Performer and drop it into the the first amp box of both oscillator one and three. Then click and drag up, so we are applying some amp modulation on these oscillators using this Performer.

Let’s set this Performer up and sync it and take the ration up to 1/8 and the Xfade sequence, bring that all the way to the top giving this saw tooth wave controlling this Performer. You can actually detune oscillator one a little bit as well.

Now we have a rhythm going on.

Now set up a filter in this first filter slot using a low-pass filter, bringing the Cutoff and the resonance almost all of the way down, but maybe having a little bit of resonance.
Then using the same Performer to control the Cutoff frequency of this filter, so dragging into the crosshair this Performer in the first modulation box in the Cutoff frequency and we could use a macro here as well if we wanted to automate the filter and we could re-name this filter.

Then what we need to do next is to setup some effects in here. So we are going to have a sync delay, which is quite an extreme delay, so a high feedback. Make the dry/wet halfway and the damps right up so we have a nice bit of top-end in that delay. Then the reverb as well, so the density and color up.

Then one final thing for this sound is setting up the arpeggio so setting up a hook in there to convert this third LFO into a stepper, hold SHIFT, click and drag the crosshair and drop it into the first pitch modulation box of the three oscillators. The holding ALT or OPTION, click and drag up so we are applying +12 semi-tones.

Then the pitch modulation, we are not going to have an effect on the sound until we start dialling in some values into the stepper.

So to create that sequence which we had playing at the start was a sort of happy chill out sequence, so I used a minor sale to create that vibe (minor not major!).

So in here I’m going to go +4 semi-tones on steps 5 to 8. Active the snap to grid function so I’ll get exact values in this stepper. This will give like a major key here.
Next do the same for steps 13 to 15 going +4 and in 16 going +9 and bringing the ration down to ¼, so the riff is a bit slower. This is like a major scale in which we are working with there.

That is all I done and on this second sequence sound, this is playing a C2 note and in here

I’ve duplicated that patch and have a C3 note, and adding a bit of width using the iZotope imager and rolled off any low end. So you will hear this second sequence kicking in and gives it a little lift.