I’ve been captivated by Mike Parker’s droning bass lines for years. They stand out amongst the multitude of cookie-cutter techno tracks released every day. Here are a few examples:
I am considering buying a semi-modular synthesizer to experiment with creating similar sounds. I know Mike has a decent studio and uses a couple of Cwejman filters and plenty of LFO/envelopes to shape his sounds.
Is it realistic to achieve similar results using a low-cost semi-modular synth combined with a small Eurorack case for rhythmic modulation?
I am currently using a Doepfer A-111-6 in combination with a Mod Medusa, but I find the A-111-6 to be too limited. Therefore, I would like to upgrade to something more flexible. I think a semi-modular synthesizer would be more cost-effective than building a single synth voice in Eurorack.
A few options I am considering:
- Roland SE-02
- Moog Maven
- East Beast
- Behringer Kobol Expander
- Behringer Edge
Is there anything under £500 with 1v/oct and gate inputs that I should consider?
4 Likes
Sounds like parallel processed synth patches, with overlapping LFO modulation. I’ve done a similar thing myself.
You need two seperate audio paths to make it work.
One signal is the dry bass patch. The second signal is the same patch but run through a band pass filter.
Now apply LFO mod to your first filter, and different rate filter mod to the band pass filter. Tweak to taste.
2 Likes
First track, I hear heavy phasing. Third track is really interesting - sounds like a filter with an LFO set to move in time with the song. There’s also some sort of envelope following going on. that’s just what I picked up on a cursory listen.
They are both very different sounds. I think it’s basically just coming up with a pleasing repetitive phrase and using modulation to help make it not get boring. The first one uses filter automation maybe some pitch bend to give it some interest and the second uses delay and polymeter to keep it repetitive but interesting. It’s not something that you need any new or special gear for so long as you have like 2 lfos ideally but you could get close even with one. Find a good sound, put it in 3/4 time and set a free running lfo set to a time longer than or on different meter than the phrase itself to heavily modulate something like the filter depth, cutoff or frequency with resonance, throw on some delay and reverb and you should be like 90% of the way there.
1 Like
With this kind of stuff besides a basic concept of what makes it work like what I mentioned it just kind of comes together as your tweaking. Set some basic parameters with the lfos and just turn knobs until you hear something you like and get some cool madness that your brain can’t quite keep up with then maybe dial it down by like a quarter, or not. Then if it works it works but you could try using any leftover lfos or envelopes to add another layer of complexity by maybe modulating the delay or reverb or first lfo. Whatever sounds cool.
The first track sounds to me like a pitch bass, but always a bit slightly different pitch slide, this needs an lfo or envelope for the pitch, and a random LFO to offset this pitch slide.
I dont think you need a modular synth for this - a digitone can possibly do this.
The second one, sounds like similar concept, but with pitched delays , to get a somewhat similar effect. I have not yet pitched a delay with a digitone - but in abelton it would be quiete easy to accomplish.
The tracks are very good indeed, very hypnotic stuff. The magic in the sounds you postet were in my opinion in the creative usage of FX. (Especially the 2nd one - dark reverb and delay.)
The best possible answer - if absolutly dont want to do it in your DAW - get an octatrack, its a nice fx processor which can creativly be used, but dosent have the best fx you would find in a DAW. (Dark reverb and delay is for sure usable.) Pitch shifting works with a bit of artifacts, but you can cover these with filters etc - you have to be a bit creative to work around its limitations.
Thank you, I am getting almost there with my modest a-111-6 plus FXs but there’s still something missing… the liquid and almost organic nature of Mike’s sound which might come from the Cwejman resonators he uses.
