Could someone suggest techniques I can use to get the sort of bass in the tracks below using only the Digitakt? I’m struggling to get these sounds without turning my DAW on (which I’d rather not do…)
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maybe it can help…?
First track sounds like a kick drum through a reverb with an envelope on the reverb to create that sucking effect then cut it off. Could probably achieve similar through using an LFO to reverb , resampling and tweaking the envelope?
Second track is just a squared off / distorted 909 type sample from what I can tell. 909 sample with overdrive and resample / modulate overdrive on kick?
Third track, seems to again have a bass through a reverb to create a smear, sounds like it’s modulated by LFO to give that rumble. Could try the sample with a couple times resampling. If you need to emphasise bass just stick the res up on the filter and set it low. Later in the track the bass sounds like the tail end of a kick 909 style maybe reversed, filtered and shortened to cut off the transient.
You could probably do similar on the Digitakt, but there are a lot of subtleties here that require the correct samples to begin with, and trial and error. I no expert but maybe this helps?
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first and third sound like the kick from the track resampled with lots of verb and maybe saturation to emphasize the harmonics. Reverse the sample and play it on the same steps as the kick or delayed a bit, depends on the effect you are going for. Adjust sample start and and envelopes to get the pumping effect, apply low pass liberally.
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I went ahead and cut out the relevant waveforms. In each image there are two kick drums, one in each half of the image (just for perspective).
Technical Stuff: One thing that you will notice about all of them is that the kick takes the entire quarter note. Also, that they are not a pure sine tone, but have slight fluctuations in the amplitude. This effect is caused by layering sounds in a similar frequency region (in our case, around the sub bass) causing the phases to add or subtract at different time intervals (especially evident in the Pfirter track - #3).
Practical Stuff: Layer a kick that has a lot of high frequency content in the attack and also a long decay in the low end. Trigger it at the same time as a roundish sub-tone with an attack long enough that you only begin to hear it about 1/8 note later. Maybe a little decay on the sub tone, but you don’t want it to clash with the next kick drum. Tune accordingly, and you should begin to get that “rumble.”
As a side note, you can get a nice sub tone out of some the digitakt preset waveforms. Use a high Res value on a low pass filter to accentuate the fundamental sine wave around 40-70 HZ. With a little care you can also use the envelope/LFO to get more interesting harmonics, but a little bit goes a long way.
Details: I’ve always found it best to apply reverb ONLY to the kick with the high frequency content. Natural reverb occurs from sound reflecting off of surfaces and since sub bass is omnidirectional, it doesn’t reflect very well (and when it does, it just phase cancels - which is why people arrange their studios to minimize this effect).
The bit crush and overdrive effect will also go a long way for both elements, but they are to taste. If you look at the waveforms below, you will see the more distorted ones are “jagged,” but the clean ones are more round.
Lastly, don’t forget that you can sample the Digitakt internally so it is possible use multiple envelopes and LFOs, just resample after each modulation.
- Ansome - Mans Head
(Sorry for the separate posts, I am new here)
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Thanks everyone, some really useful things here and lots of things to try!
I was playing around trying to achieve this and stumbled upon this.
https://www.mnml.nl/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=93092
Idea is to run the kick you want to use trough an app called Paul stretch and stretch the sample to oblivion untill there is only white noise left using the same frequencies off the kick. Sample this into the digitakt and layer it on every kick drum.
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The easiest way to get that sub rumble is to simply use a nicely rolling bass line and just play with the Digitakt’s (low or high) pass filter with the resonance turned all the way up, you will easily find that sound when you close the filter enough.