Massive Tutorials
Drums in NI Massive with OhmLab - Part 4 (of 10)
The Fourth in a 10 part series of tutorials by ΩhmLab using NI Massive exclusively to create every component of a complete song. In this part he uses Massive to create drums.
Part 1: Creating a unique background element with NI Massive
Part 2: Harmony, Rhythm with atmosphere
Part 3: Synth creation from scratch
Over to Chris…
Welcome back to the 4th installment of this ongoing series of ten tutorials where we are building several instruments and sounds from scratch within Massive which we will then turn into a song.
This time around we will be creating some drums (or something close to drums) so the walk through will have many small things to take notice of. Make sure you keep an eye out for subtle changes in both sound and settings, especially towards the end. This is a long one!
We will again begin by selecting a few waveforms to generate our sounds that we will transform into drums later in the tutorial. Letʼs start with the OSC 1 panel, where you will select Sin-Square from the drop down menu. I am also adjusting the pitch value down to -64.00.
On to the OSC 2 panel, where I chose to use the Roughmath I waveform. I also picked the Bend – from the second drop down menu (shown in the close-up image below).
And for the OSC 3 panel I went with Colors from the FX/Chords category. As you can also see in the image below, I went ahead and set the Pitch value of the OSC 2 panel to 36.00 and the Pitch value of OSC 3 to 12.00.
Now moving on to the MODULATION OSC panel. (I may also make small changes to this later on, so make sure you take a close look at the images included towards the end of this walk through.) Start by setting the Pitch value to 64.00, then set the Phase, Position and Filter FM Modes to the number 2 Oscillator. I set the Position knob to high but left the other two turned all the way down for now.
As you may have guessed this is not the typical way I approach creating beats in a program like Massive, but I want to provide some consistency through out this series and allow you to follow along easily. So you need to have faith and use your imagination as to why some of these choices are being made right now and that it will all come together in the end. I know these sounds sound nothing like drums right now, but thatʼs OK! 🙂
Moving on now to some filters. Go ahead and start with the FILTER 1 panel and select the Lowpass 4 filter from the drop down menu. I cranked the Cutoff knob to full and the Resonance knob to about 1/3.
Now for the FILTER 2 panel, you will want to go with the Double Notch filter and set both the Cutoff and Resonance knobs somewhere around 1/3 for now.
Letʼs go now to the FX 1 tab and pick Tele Tube from the drop down menu. Adjust the Dry/Wet knob to about 1/3 to start.
Moving to the FX 2 tab, select Delay Synced from the drop down menu and set the Dry/ Wet knob to about 1/4 and the Damp knob to right around 2/3.
Letʼs also turn on the EQ right now and make some very slight adjustments (see image below for settings).
Alright, now comes the part of the tutorial that is rather particular and you will not see/ hear the results right away so just make sure you follow along. It doesnʼt need to be exactly the same, you just need to understand the relationship between the different tabs that we will be making changes to and how they affect the individual sounds we have created up to this point. Once we begin adding the new envelopes, performers, etc to the various oscillators, filters, etc the beat will come to life. So away we go!
Beginning now with the OSC tab, just set it up to look like this image. Click on the Rate box, adjust the Up and Down Pitchbend values to 2.00 and -2.00 respectively.
[audio:https://www.aphotoofhongkongaday.com/massive_synth/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Tut4.10.mp3|titles=Tut4.10]
Now on to the KTR OSC tab. The changes you make here will be to the boxes to the far right of the panel. Please refer to the image below.
[audio:https://www.aphotoofhongkongaday.com/massive_synth/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Tut4.11.mp3|titles=Tut4.11]
And for the KTR FLT tab, again the only changes will be to the boxes at the far right of the panel.
[audio:https://www.aphotoofhongkongaday.com/massive_synth/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Tut4.12.mp3|titles=Tut4.12]
Now the VOICING tab. There will be several changes made here. Adjust the Voicing values to 16 (Max) and 2 (Unisono), click the Monorotate box, click the Chord box on the far right and set the Mono slider to the far left.
On to the Envelopes! As you can see, there are audio clips included with each image of the different Envelope tabs. For consistency sake I have left the fully extended note in place, but I encourage you to simply tap your keyboard keys to get the larger effect of these changes. They are incredibly subtle when the notes are simply held. Once we get to the Performer tabs, there will only be one audio clip to accompany the four images, this is because the Performer parameters havenʼt been assigned to anything yet. This will come in the last step of the walk through.
Letʼs start now with the 1 Env tab. Simply adjust the knobs to match the image below.
Moving to the 2 Env tab, you will want to do the same. Notice that I have set the Loop value to 1.
And for the 3Env tab, again just follow the image below. Notice this time the Loop value has been set to inf.
Lastly, we move to the 4 Env tab. And as you can see, I have turned the Loop value back to Off for this one.
Now, for each of the next four tabs, we need to set them up as Performer panels. You can do this by selecting Performer from the drop down menu at the far top right corner of the panels. You will want to set all four panelʼs Ratio setting to 1 over 8 and click the Sync and Restart boxes. In the first three panels (tabs 5-7 PERF) you will adjust both the Amp Mod and the XFade Seq sliders all the way up. The fourth panel (8 PERF) you will actually want to slide them both all the way down. Now draw in the actions you desire. I have made some rather minimalistic selections to keep with the theme of this project. Feel free to change your up a bit, if you like.
And for the very last step in this very long and involved tutorial! This is where all the magic happens and everything comes together. As you can see in the image below, I have applied the various Envelopes and Performers across several panels. I have also created 8 MACRO CONTROLS to further manipulate and fine tune the sounds. You will also notice some adjustments I made to several panels, sliders, etc.
Take a moment to match your screen to the image, and do not hesitate to play around until you find the sounds you like!
Download the preset for this sound here!
I hope you enjoyed this installment of the series.
Stay tuned for part 5! It will be coming your way very soon.
Cheers!
ΩhmLab
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More about Chris / ΩhmLab
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