Good programs for making basslines?

The Red Scare · Post by **The Red Scare** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 4:05 pm

Does anyone know of a good program for creating basslines? I usually just use Reason and a bunch of samples I've collected, but I want to check out some more advanced software.

dox of poorly drawn peopl · Sun Sep 30, 2007 6:07 pm

trilogy.

reevolution · Post by **reevolution** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 9:20 pm

Yeah, Trilogy is godly.

deepfriedjellol · Post by **deepfriedjellol** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 10:06 pm

reevolution wrote:Yeah, Trilogy is godly.

and 350

whats wrong with filtering the shit out of something
or emailing someone with a bass

wink wink

reevolution · Post by **reevolution** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 11:11 pm

deepfriedjello wrote:
reevolution wrote:Yeah, Trilogy is godly.
and 350

whats wrong with filtering the shit out of something
or emailing someone with a bass

wink wink

I think you mean FREE (50).

Frankly I have enough bass samples to never have to rely on a program ever again, so I'm good.

The Red Scare · Post by **The Red Scare** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 11:19 pm

Hmm thanks, I'll check out Trilogy.

reevolution wrote:
Frankly I have enough bass samples to never have to rely on a program ever again, so I'm good.

e-styles · Post by **e-styles** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 6:43 am

i like slayer very much

nestle quik · Post by **nestle quik** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 8:31 am

tayo's bass samples serve me fine

torchETB · Post by **torchETB** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:55 am

nestle quik wrote:tayo's bass samples serve me fine

i used this for the battle this weekend. great bass resource, not my favorite though.

in the end it's all vocab, in that you always need more of it. i've made basslines in every way i could think of, including picking a mid- to upper-register instrument (like a guitar or a rhodes) in reason and shifting down a couple of octaves. i've also done the filtering of a bassline from an otherwise wideband song. there's a whole universe of basslines out there that people don't use because there's singing or accompaniment over it, and all you need is a filter to get the goods. and if you filter out too much of the oomph you could easily back up the bassline with simple tones played out in reason. accbass in NN-19 is a good supporting bass tone, though you may need to adjust the amplitude envelope if your sampled bass has some interesting dynamics.

for my next project i hope to actually play the bass (a la jello). my basslines are mad simple anyway. pluck pluck pass.

deepfriedjellol · Post by **deepfriedjellol** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:23 am

torchETB wrote:
nestle quik wrote: my basslines are mad simple anyway. pluck pluck pass.

amen
ive learned so much from watching other producers chop their basslines
the majority of it is filtered, then the layers of single notes come in - once that sounds cohesive by itself, you start layering that over itself to come up with rapid plucks and runs and shit

WES RESTLESS · Post by **WES RESTLESS** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:45 am

So what can Trilogy do that reason can't?
and yeah...I would say just get a cheap bass
and play the lines yourself.

CHANCE RANDOM · Post by **CHANCE RANDOM** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:56 am

i would love to play my own but usually i can't figure out what key shit is in. i can't play by ear to save my life.

i do everything that torch said, all kinds of different shit. sometimes i take pre-made rex bass loops, tweak the sound a bit then play a simple line out of the existing notes.

WES RESTLESS · Post by **WES RESTLESS** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 6:47 pm

I don't know if this is helpful at all...
but as far as having trouble nailing the key.

sometimes I'll record my basslines a couple octaves higher
than I eventually need them.

This way I can hear the notes more clearly.

Then once I'm good with that.
I'll bring the notes down to the lower octave

The Red Scare · Post by **The Red Scare** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 6:49 pm

^Yeah that's a useful strategy. I do that too.

What is a good way of getting a west coast, g-funk type of bassline? I've never been able to emulate that sound well.

nestle quik · Post by **nestle quik** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 7:04 pm

ever fart into a mic and loop it?

WES RESTLESS · Post by **WES RESTLESS** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:45 am

The Red Scare wrote:^Yeah that's a useful strategy. I do that too.

What is a good way of getting a west coast, g-funk type of bassline? I've never been able to emulate that sound well.

In reason....go to the subtractor
and pick a bass.
then...right around the area where you pick the sound...
there's a knob called Portamento
it basically makes the notes sort of blend into each other more.
Try messin with that knob on your basslines.
(you might do this already)
It can sort of give you that west coast effect.

torchETB · Post by **torchETB** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 5:41 pm

WES RESTLESS wrote:
The Red Scare wrote:^Yeah that's a useful strategy. I do that too.

What is a good way of getting a west coast, g-funk type of bassline? I've never been able to emulate that sound well.
In reason....go to the subtractor
and pick a bass.
then...right around the area where you pick the sound...
there's a knob called Portamento
it basically makes the notes sort of blend into each other more.
Try messin with that knob on your basslines.
(you might do this already)
It can sort of give you that west coast effect.

nicely done. but i think i remember FL having a better implemented Portamento than Reason. The last time I did this in Reason was in the NN19 and I wasn't too pleased. Subtractor might have it better though.

And to bring this all full circle, a dedicated synth or sampler title had better have adjustables like Portamento and LFO down tight or else they aren't worth their salt. So to tie it back to your question, Red, what we're all talking about may be better executed in what you termed to be advanced software.

torchETB · Post by **torchETB** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 5:45 pm

torchETB wrote:blah blah blah

and on the portamento tip, pitch bend is the shit if you know your way around your midi keyboard. axe Scott Storch. (wrong coast, i know, but he does his thing.)

WES RESTLESS · Post by **WES RESTLESS** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:36 am

torchETB wrote:
torchETB wrote:blah blah blah
and on the portamento tip, pitch bend is the shit if you know your way around your midi keyboard. axe Scott Storch. (wrong coast, i know, but he does his thing.)

yep...and if you fucks with your
filter know on the midi keyboard
you can tweak sounds a lot.

Brazen · Post by **Brazen** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 5:38 am

I have like five folders all of bass stabs and shit. A couple I got from a friend's workstation with good bass sound (like my homie Zaire's bass from the Motif) and just tell him to hold the note for a good 20 seconds, and I sample that. Only one I need now is from the Phantom.

But I'm pretty good on bass right now. I love getting new sounds...but I don't like overwhelming myself. So I just utilize all my sounds right now and filter...so many ways to come up with shit. Or if I'm having trouble making my own original bassline, I listen to my sample and my kicks. Then I listen to the most subtle instrument in the sample and mimc it a little with maybe a note or two on the offbeat. Pretty cool

Most of the time I've noticed for certain beats I'm either trying to do to much with bass, picking a sound that is thicker than it should be rather than going with a more oganic sounding bass, or just not placing it in my mix right. Which is a biggie.

But reason has a lot of dope synths that you can freq into bass.

But I'm sure I'm just preaching to the choir right now. So I'll just say, yeah, Trilogy is pretty sick. I want to hear the bass that comes with Battery's sound bank. hrmmm

nestle quik · Post by **nestle quik** » Sun Oct 07, 2007 5:02 am

I don't know nothing about software I just fuck with an mpc, FL and the Waves Platinum bundle plug-ins

could that be why I suck so unbelievably bad?