Funky Bass programming

[diggydre]

Hey guys. I have a Moog Slim Phatty, a MicoKORG, and Propellerhead Reason.
I am trying to get away from presets and learn a bit about making my own sounds sounds from scratch.
My question is, can someone give me some tips on how to program a bass like this on one of my synths?



Thanks guys!

[desmond]

That was the least funky thing I've seen in a long time.

Simple synths sounds - couple of oscillators, saw waves, detune them a bit, fast envelopes (fast attack and release) and then the key things are the filter cutoff, resonance, filter env amount and filter end decay.

Mono-legato mode, and waggle some pitch vibrato to taste while performing.

[diggydre]

I had actually figured it out before I saw that you wrote back. I did it in Propellerhead Reason first and then I did it in my Moog Slim Phatty. Here is my Reason screenshot.


Now my question is how would you program the "Flash Light" bass from Parliament/Funkadelic? I hear rumors that it was done by Bootsy Collins with a bass guitar and pedal or something but I really think it was done on the minimoog.

[meatballfulton]

The bass in Flashlight was Bernie Worrell playing a Minimoog.

[diggydre]

The bass in Flashlight was Bernie Worrell playing a Minimoog.

That's what I thought. I would love to figure out how to program that. I saw something abobut it in "Steal This Sound" but even after following their directions using the SAME VST they said to use, and looking at their depiction of it, it wasnt the flashlight bass. It was a cool bass, but it wasn't flashlight.

[desmond]

Well, Minimoog basses aren't that hard to figure out. Envelopes and filters are easy to recreate by ear, you just need to find the tone colour with the three oscillators - ie, the octave tuning, levels and waveforms, but it shouldn't be hard to get close enough with minimal work - these weren't huge efforts of sound design - get something in the ballpark, and then go perform!

[meatballfulton]

after following their directions using the SAME VST they said to use, and looking at their depiction of it, it wasnt the flashlight bass. It was a cool bass, but it wasn't flashlight.

This is a golden opportunity for you to start tweaking that patch until it does sound right to you.

1. Figure out what is wrong with the sound...too bright, too dark, attack too slow, attack too fast, etc.

2. Adjust related parameters (bright/dark is filter and filter EG, for instance) and hear whether it changes the patch for the better.