Modern basslines often have a "hollow" tone, how does one achieve that?

[Barfunkel]

You can hear it's a square wave-ish, but then again it's kinda not just that or at least not a square wave like on most synths. Which makes me think it's something done to the sound, a process or a series of processes. Could be FM synthesis too, though. Or a combination of all these things.

Some examples:

youtu.be/C8C-84W9Acg

youtu.be/pXy7YhH80N8


Or is it simply just something that comes with using NI Massive for basslines, a very common occurrence in those kind of tracks? I have dl'd the demo but at least a quick glance doesn't net instant results (it does sound nice though), which makes me think it's more of a technique or collection of techniques to achieve that sound.

Any ideas?

[jordanneke]

I'm pretty sure it's the plugin they all use. That UK funky bassline noise is so ubiquitous. I seriously doubt it's complicated

NI have a lazer bass plugin that gets similar results from the pre-sets

[Críoch]

Not sure if it is massive.. or serum...but they do have that wavetable / FM kinda vibe of them. The second one sounds to have a tuned stuff going on. Not sure if that's modulation or additional oscillators. Just awake & still sleepy

Could totally be massive..

The first one is layered with a sub underneath.. or split after with a hi/lo effects chain. If you were going to attempt to make that Royal T sound, concentrate on the lead sound of the top bass.

Massive has a few different controls in the osc section, one being 'intensity' , which along with 'position ' appears to change the character of the wavetable (maybe I'm wrong on the description). There is also a drop-down in each of the oscillators with different synthesis types.. formant.. bend.. spectrum.. they all basically add or subtract harmonics / modify the wave.

The extra modulation oscillator can do ring mod & phase etc..

Some of the filters have a really cutting, digital, raspy sound.. that can make even the most ordinary of waves sound alien in tone.

I don't think the sounds in those tunes are hollowed out squares particularly (could be), but you are on the right track with exploring something like massive as the waves sound rich. Then I think it's some oscillator tweaking / filter & on the majestic track.. some tuning also. There doesn't seem to be a lot of LFO modulation etc.. going on, so you could get ballpark quite easily on the sound. If you check the lead section in the massive presets, you might find something that you can investigate / reverse engineer. I'd say it's a simple enough sound tbf

Personally haven't tried making anything that sounds like that in Ableton wavetable yet, so not sure of its potential.

[speen]

Im quite sure it’s fairly simple FM bass, I think you can easily find a tutorial if you search for hollow grime bass or something along those lines.

[Lost to the Void]

That sound is a staple of bassline, garage, speed, garage, there was a lot of it in early south london dubstep.

The two tunes linked are quite different.
It`s all about upper harmonics.

Liquid uses the same techniques applied in a different way.

It`s all about how you apply those harmonics. You can go via the filter route, you can go via the liquid bassline technique when you use samples and fm modulation to get the upper harmonics.
You can also do it with fm, though it tends to be less thick, or wavetable synthsis.

I`ll do a bassline video at some point which will cover it.

The main thing is rolling down the top end once you`ve got the right blend of upper hamonics.

[Críoch]

Was messing with Massive earlier.. the presets have some of that stuff in it. You can get ballpark on the INIT patch. Scream filter. Even just with the volume up on the first OSC. Use the extra 4th Osc (+12) to add some phase to OSC1. Add some LFO to it if you wanna be a bit fancier. Make it your own. You wont be a million miles off whatever you do.

YT tutorials on dubstep / future bass (maybe) & dnb reese basses would probably be useful - anything Massive related. YT is polluted with that stuff.

[ross-alexander]

Fm synth or any synth or plugin with any fm capability should get you in the right ballpark either through the presets or tweaking.

[ross-alexander]

Sorry should have read Steve's post it's all there!