Learn How to Make an Electro Bass Stab in Massive

Learn how to make a solid 303 style bass stab in Massive as well as some tips and tricks for transitioning out of melodic sections.

Making a bass stab in Massive is pretty easy because of all the modulation destinations. Once you have your sound dialed in using the wavetables you want to use, all you have to do is modulate an envelope that has a quick attack and a short decay. That one step will give you the basic sound you’re after.

Johnny uses a Formant wavetable in Oscillator 2 (you could apply this technique to any oscillator) to get a more gritty sound. He then modulates the intensity of the the Skelchy wavetable using the envelope he set up to establish a stabby sound. To get that bass stab sound in Massive, it also helps to apply an envelope modulator to your Cut Off.

Johnny also shows you how to quickly create an uplifter which will help take you out of your more melodic sections and transition into parts of a song that would use the bass stab in Massive. He activates the Stepper function in one of the LFO’s and creates a step ladder shape that will add upwards movement. You can modulate a host of destinations like the Cut Off filter or the waveform amp to introduce the rising pitch effect to the sound.

Check out the video to hear the bass stab in Massive.

Cheers