Sub Bass frendly synths...

[deafmusic]

Hi all...

I am new to these forums and a bit of a noob so excuse me if this is posted in the wrong place etc...

I am attempting to write some music using mainly the Sub Bass frequencies (for my deaf friend) who just feels the low end... and was wondering If there was a particular synthesizer that was suited for playing deep bass sounds and or editing / programing new sounds around in the 20hz - 600hz range...

Thoughts or Favs?

Thanks in advance!!!!

Matt

p.s ... I am writing dance - techno trance style music ... but the synth does not have to accommodate that as i have a microkorg which is making most of the right noises for me in the upper register...at the moment...

[zoomtheline]

Quite a few of the newer analogue have dedicated sub oscillators. DSI Mopho and Elektrons Analog four have two, one for each oscillator. what is your budget? Do you want analogue or VA? Old or new?
Older Teisco/Kawai synths like the 100F, their oscillators go LOW.

I wouldn't know what frequencies they cover though.

[Hybrid88]

Old Roland is pretty good for this, SH-2/09, System 100 etc

[zoomtheline]

Tis true, I use my Sh09 for a lot of low end stuff

[Stab Frenzy]

If you want sub bass then look no further than FM synths. You just need sine waves, and something like a dx7 gives you six of them. I have a friend who did a concert which was all sub bass (between 15 and 35 Hz) and he just used Ableton Operator. The synths people have mentioned here so far have nice sub frequencies with good overtones in the audible range, but if you just want subs then a digital synth will do it better for far less money.

It's also worth noting that the microkorg has really great low end and you should be fine using it for everything you require.

[Tiger Jackson]

^The microkorg also has on-board EQ too boost it up too

[micahjonhughes]

I'm going to second DX sub bass.

[c-level]

sub bass not sub oscillator sillies! i am also of the opinion that the best and strongest sub bass comes from stable, precision digital oscillators (dont hate) so i would second DX bass if not for the whack DAC. I personally make my sub bass simply using ableton's 'analog' native synth. dial in sine for both oscillators, make it monophonic, and double the voices. limit the thing and crank it! very important is no detuning, it will phase your bass and make it sound weak. make sure its monophonic voice wise, because no body likes muddy, bleeding polyphonic bass. and make your bass mono, stereo spread wise as well. bass is very important freq range and uses up the most energy so if your bass is mono it will use its energy most effectively, hitting both speakers at the same time....

so basically, any VSTi/native digital synth you have will do the trick. max out the voicing and dial in monophonic, then play the c -1 to c 1 range! also of course having the proper speakers for reproduction is essential so i would suggest getting a professional subwoofer (yamaha HSM, m audio sbx etc)

funny aside, i played at a club once and a group of girls w shaved heads from the local deaf college came in and gestured to me *up, up* i thought they wanted to get up and dance on the stage but they wanted me to turn up and crank the bass! the only thing they could 'hear'! and they sat on the subs the whole time. i think they shaved their heads as well to help them better hear/feel the bass as well...

[zoomtheline]

ha! yes, silly me and alopolgies to Hybrid for steering you down my stupidom too hehe.
That would teach me to post out of boredom without actually thinking about the question.

If you want cheap hardware then The blofeld has 3 osc that can all be set to sine and a few different highpass filters for boosting. I guess that would work?

[deafmusic]

Thank you all for your wise words ....

You have given me heaps of options to head off after..

For the moment ....Thanks to Tiger Jackson and Stab Frenzy for pointing out the eq in the gear I already have.. the Microkorg
I just played with that..... and it changed the whole ball game with that machine... it sounds 10,000,000% better!!!

I was wondering why everyone was saying the micro was cool... now I know..

C-level....
"I personally make my sub bass simply using ableton's 'analog' native synth. dial in sine for both oscillators, make it monophonic, and double the voices. limit the thing and crank it! very important is no detuning, it will phase your bass and make it sound weak. make sure its monophonic voice wise, because no body likes muddy, bleeding polyphonic bass. and make your bass mono, stereo spread wise as well. bass is very important freq range and uses up the most energy so if your bass is mono it will use its energy most effectively, hitting both speakers at the same time...."

Thanks C-level.. I will definitely be programing this into the microKorg and also with the digital synths in Reason and playing with this for sure. I dont have Ableton but I'm sure I will be able to do something similar in Reason..
-mono- sine waves...


I currently have a half decent subwoofer monitor but i think its time to upgrade with this project..
And i am going to check my local synth/keyboard shop for all the synths you have all recommended..

The blofeld looks really interesting.. and ill try and find an sh09...

sub bass on

regards ...Matt




aaaahhhhhhhhg this is so awesome ...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you all for your help i'm going to get back to playing...

[zoomtheline]

Ignore mine and Hybrid's posts first posts as the synths we mentioned won't get what you want. I sort of misread your intentions. The Sh09 has great low end but will only do a sub osc of a saw or square so going really really low it will just turn into clicks. You will need a smooth waveform like the other suggest (sine) to get a smooth deep frequency.
Still, the analogue four I suggested will still work but is expensive (not for what it is) So a digital synth would be your best bet. Trouble with DX's is the programming and I for one have not delved into FM much on these synths. Others alot more knowledgeable might chime in again for help.

[Sir Nose]

The elektron MachineDrum has many sub bass possibilities.

[Jabberwalky]

Old Roland is pretty good for this, SH-2/09, System 100 etc

I'll second that. It's nice to have an analog with a pure sine. However, it's either pure sine, or nothing. I found that mixing in the VCO2 waveform just gets to be messy.

[Hybrid88]

Yeah, a lot of "sub bass only" sounds are exactly that, just a sine low down with some Eq and compression.

I only meant that if low end is your objective, the old Rolands will get you there - sub bass I guess being the *really* low stuff is part of that sound but not exclusively, which I guess is what the super tight and stable digitals will give you. If that makes any sense haha

For what it's worth the old trick of using the standard sine patch (played down low) on the old Akai samplers was a well known trick to getting the low end going on early jungle/drum and bass tracks, as you can observe here;

[Sir Ruff]

For what it's worth the old trick of using the standard sine patch (played down low) on the old Akai samplers was a well known trick to getting the low end going on early jungle/drum and bass tracks, as you can observe here;

Interesting that the S3000 has kind of a clicky attack, whereas the s900 (and s1000?) are just straight sines. I always assumed that hardcore/jungle clicky attack sub-basses were from 808 samples (and I'm sure many were), but maybe they were also using the S3000.