Designing a Big Electro NI Massive Sub Bass

I am working on a new NI Massive preset collection that is all about sub bass, and we’d love to hear what kind of projects you are currently working on that need killer subs! We plan on having the new sounds out before the new year, so time is of the essence. We want to know if you’re looking for bone crushing, heartbeat changing, brainwave altering mega-bass, or if you are looking for something a bit more…standard for your music. This particular sub bass that we will be working on in today’s tutorial is meant to work well in many types of electro projects and can easily be tweaked to match your needs. It is actually the bare bones structure of one of the NI Massive sub bass patches that will be featured in the upcoming release, but the next time you see it it will be complete with a full array of Macro controls and more bells and whistles to play around with. It’s all in an effort to deliver sounds that help ensure unique results for all of our users.

*Make sure you start this as a Mono NI Massive session. Sub bass can quickly intrude upon other sounds and make mixing difficult if not managed properly and proactively. 

This NI Massive sub bass starts off with a Sine-Square wavetable loaded into OSC1 with the pitch dropped one octave. Next, a second Sine-Square wavetable is loaded into OSC2, with the pitch dropped two octaves. And lastly, a third Sine-Square wavetable is loaded into OSC3, with the pitch dropped one octave. Notice the differences in Wt-position, Intensity and Amp settings across all three oscillators. This is what provides the balance and character in this NI Massive sub bass, and it’s also the first place to begin tweaking things if you want to make this sound your own.

Next the main Amp Envelope is set up to shape the delivery of our NI Massive sub bass. A quicker attack and/or a shorter release can end up in a sound that clicks, FYI.

Now a Brauner Tube Amp is added to the FX1 tab to provide an edge. Then a Dimension Expander is added to the FX2 tab to add more depth and width to this NI Massive sub bass. And the EQ is turned on and used to accentuate the low end frequencies and attenuate the high end frequencies.

Lastly, a Sine Shaper is inserted to emphasize the grit and edge this NI Massive sub bass offers.

Below are three short audio samples. The first is a simple beat on its own, while the second is the NI Massive sub bass on its own and the third is with the sub reinforcing the kick drum. This sub can also be used to back up synths, too!

[audio:https://www.massivesynth.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Basic-Beat.mp3|titles=Basic Beat]
[audio:https://www.massivesynth.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Sub-Bass.mp3|titles=Sub Bass]
[audio:https://www.massivesynth.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Beat-with-Sub-Bass.mp3|titles=Beat with Sub Bass]

Remember to shoot us a message before you leave if you have a tutorial request, or would like to share one of your own with the community.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers,
OhmLab