NI Massive Hard Electro Bass Synth Tutorial

We are producing sounds in a time when the oh-so popular mid-range bass synth is taking center stage and blurring the lines between a support and a lead instrument. With countless artists reinventing the hierarchy of modern music instrumentation a sound such as this NI Massive hard electro bass synth is right at home playing somewhere in between. Heavy and rough in the lower octaves, bright and sharp in the higher octaves and a strangely attractive delivery all combine to make a very nice and flexible synth that can be used in music ranging from dubstep and electro to techno, pop and even rock. Let’s take a look at how it was made.

Starting with the main oscillators, a Formant-Square wavetable is loaded into OSC1 and set to run in Bend+ mode, with the pitch just shy of two octaves. Next, a default Square-Saw I wavetable is loaded into OSC2 and set to run in Bend- mode, with the pitch value dropped just a bit more than one octave. And then a Sine-Square wavetable is loaded into OSC3 and set to run in Formant mode, with the pitch value offset by 0.11. This is the core sound of our NI Massive hard electro bass synth.

An LFO is set up with a Fall 1 curve and assigned to modulate pitch value of each of the main oscillators by -0.10, as well as the Intensity parameter of OSC3. This same LFO will be used in a few more places in the synth as we progress.

Next a Lowpass 4 filter is loaded into the Filter1 panel, and the Cutoff parameter is modulated by the LFO we just set up. A Scream filter is then loaded into the Filter2 panel. Pay close attention to the routing mode, amp sliders and output mix of the filter panels, as this is a big piece of the how the sound comes together and becomes an NI Massive hard electro bass.

Some gentle phasing is introduced to OSC1 via the Modulation OSC panel, and the pitch value is modulated by the same LFO.

Some Metallic Noise and some Feedback are now added to the mix.

The total number of Unison Voices is increased to two and spread out with both the Pitch Cutoff feature, which provides some more phasing, and the Pan Position feature, which provides more stereo width. The synth is also set to run in Monophon mode with a Legato Triller trigger. This allows for gliding between notes. The amount of glide can be adjusted on the OSC tab.

Now a Classic Tube is added to the FX1 tab to give the sound some drive and an edge. A Synced Delay is added to the FX2 tab to provide more depth and stretch out the sound a bit. And the EQ tab is turned on and used to shape the sound.

Lastly, a Sine Shaper and a Parabolic Shaper are inserted to add more grit and enhance the distortion of this NI Massive hard electro bass.

Below is a short audio sample of this NI Massive hard electro bass synth in action along some rhythmic elements to give you a better idea of how it may sound in a mix.

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Cheers,
OhmLab