The Drum & Base Growl

[Definity]

I have had the virus for 2 weeks now and i have got kinda close but not close enough to be proud of. How is it done, it not just a few detuned saw waves with a filter on LFO, if you ever heard any pendulum track you hear it quite alot, especialy in "Fasten Your Seat Belt" i think the a bit of a pitch sweep in there aswell and some eq sweeps aswell hmmmm. any ideas?

[XLR8A]

post some example, there's many different growls and wobbles in dnb.

[Definity]

the one pendulum uses in slam and fasten your seatbelts

[Definity]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UINhE8L1yXg
you can hear it in the back ground when this songs kicks in

[XLR8A]

Ok, first of all it's almost impossible to get this sort of sound right out of a Virus alone, or basically any other synth for that matter because it requires some layering and resampling.

Theoretically, most of those dnb basslines are based on a classic reese/reece sound (a pair of detuned and distorted saw waves) and then split into two or sometimes even 3 channels on the desk with EQ's, one channel for low frequencies, second channel for midrange, and third channel for the higher frequency part. However three channels it's an overkill, two channels are usually more than enough. Each channel being processed individually with a unique chain of effects. Then the whole thing gets resampled and filtered to beyond recognition, sometimes if it's still not enough to get the desired results it's getting resampled again.

Practically, in those two particular tunes it sounds like mostly the midrange part of the reese being used, and a plain sub layered underneath. There's many ways to get this sound anyway, but from what i can hear there's tonnes of strong chorus and very sharp filtering action with 24 or 36db slope going on here. (maybe even couple of filters in parallel?) Probably bandpass or a combination of low-pass with high-pass. In dnb it's all about overprocessing the shit out of your sound by violently abusing effects and raping filters.

Regarding reeses, the Gamera PR preset in your virus would be a good starting point.

[XLR8A]

Btw, "fasten your seatbelts" sounds like a standard clownstep LFO wobbling the filter innit.

[Definity]

but the virus ti can do layers, so it is semi possible, im still strugerling to make just a simple distorted wobble, i assign a lfo to it and the pitch and a bit of distortion but it still dosent sound right any ideas on how to make it sound more rough?

[XLR8A]

As far as i know on virus ti you can't actually split a preset into two channels with eq and then process each channel individually with different effects, correct me if i'm wrong. Also resampling is a must, resampling a filtered bass through the same filter couple of times over and over is what gives the rough 'squelchiness' that you hear in many modern dnb basslines. This is how it's done usually. Check out Calyx&Teebee latest album on Momentum, it has some of the most complex and futuristic basslines i've ever heard in dnb. Check this out:

Calyx & Teebee - The Shape of Things to Come


Calyx & Teebee - Make Your Choice


Calyx & Teebee Studio Interview

[bishopkris40]

Does this mean then it is a good Idea to have some sort of sampler setup on one of the outputs at all times.

I have an ES1x so in theory I could have this hooked up to take say output 3 to its input, then send the output of the sampler back to the TI input. Sample a sound, tweek with either the input through the TI filter then back to sampler and keep going, suppose it would be easy enough.

I just want to get another piece out of the loft

But I took it from that EMU filters can be well used, suppose these must be going kind of cheap these days?

[Definity]

yeh emu filter are kinda cheap and for DnB the zplane filter is quite big. A few people dont like the sound of them alot do i spose it just personal taste really. i have heard the new calyx and teebee album and yeh i see what you mean, i know you can get dirty sounds out of the virus like pendulums bacteria (remix) that was made with a virus powercore i think it thoughs sorta sounds that i want to aim for on the virus i know it possible but i spose it jsut learning how to use multi patches on the virus.