Liquid D&B bass hardware recommendation

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Hello everyone! I’m kind of new here, I visit the forum a lot but never wrote so here I am, my first post.

Now I’m building different sets (live performance) and need some advice from you guys.

I own a DT, DN and Korg Minilogue; my main set is focused on Liquid Drum & Bass so I use DT for drums/breaks & samples, DN for ambient/melodic stuff and Minilogue… well, I sample some sounds into DT but never use it live.

Now my question:
I’m in “trouble” with basses, last months I’m building them mainly with NI Massive and then sample them into DT, also created some with Minilogue but I’m an FM noob so DN basses are a mystery to me (and I think FM is not warm/deep enough for Liquid basses, correct me if I’m wrong).
I want to free DT bass tracks (cause they’re not really mutable live…) and forget about PC so I’m interested in purchase (probably selling my Minilogue) some bass dedicated synth, some recommendation? max. around ~500€ if possible and accept all kind of suggestions (keep my setup, buy fx/ eq to warm sound, etc.)

Big thanks!

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#2

Correct me if I’m wrong but to me most Liquid tracks dont have very sophisticated bass patches. Often its just a low sine or triangle wave with maybe a little wobble by using an lfo on the filter/amplitude, you can easily achieve that with the DN without needing to be an fm-wizard.

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#3

Totally true, sine and LFO are the basic config (almost every liquid track use this). I also think DN can do this but I get my DN this week and I’m still learning basic FM, this evening I’m going to give it a try.

But! I also thought about a bass synth because I want to get out a bit of this basic patch and play with bass (keeping it warm, bold & deep) a bit further than strictly sine-wobble-loop all live long.

You think DN can do the job by itself? Maybe it’s just a lack of time with my DN.

#4

Minitaur is what you want. Use the Korg for leads and the DN for poly sounds and fx, DT for beats. Nice setup.

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#6

DN will easily do what you want, no need to buy new hardware if it’s just bass you are after.

You don’t even need to know what you are doing with FM, just start with a blank patch which should just be a sine wave and add some distortion for harmonics and then play with the filter settings and envelope, whack up the chorus for extra thickness. Once you have that down you can start messing with the FM side…

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#7

I think you definitely can. If you think the basses sound too thin, try using the in-built chorus effect or the unison mode in the voice settings page (albeit you will lose some voices on the DN)

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#8

Sure I’ll do that, I agree, just asking for a mid/long-term future, I’m happy with what I got by now but one’s always thinking in setup possibilities, improvements…

#9

I don’t have a digitone. But I think it’s still the same concept with whatever synth you choose to do with this. 2 osc bass patch 3rd osc as lfo and use an external filter. Would create at traditional bass patch. Only have one osc? Sample it twice and layer it. Use the daw as modulation. Then add a decent filter! But I’d really hark back to the previous advice. You don’t need anymore equipment however if you do : might be best to buy an analog heat so you can create more with what you have!

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#10

DnB is as much about control over your bass as it is about the raw bass tone. I’d say focus on how you’re processing your bass and overall mix in the live context (e.g., compression/limiting, EQ/mixing) before looking for a different synth. Also, DN can kill on bass…like speaker-shredding deep sub bass. It’s a different sort of tone from something like a Minitaur obv, but it’s certainly not thin or shallow.

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#12

True: Therein lies the problem and solution to modern life my friend

#13

Hahaha absolutely, I’m gonna need to put it on a wall like a “hang in there!” poster. :grinning:

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#14

Behringer Neutron! Only 300 Bucks, very very nice Sound - and Bass … is what this thing is made for i think :slight_smile: It has such a rock solid fundament - you dont even find that in Synths that are much more expensive. Add the Model D on top - also just 200 Bucks - and you have everything to layer some deep and warm Basses with ease!

[edit] just checked my invoice - they are 300 each, not 200, sorry :slight_smile: Still almost a steal considering their unexpected build quality and amazing sound!

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#16

Moog Minitaur all the way, you won’t regret it

#17

Which tracks / artists are you thinking if with ‘liquid’ drum and bass ?

Bukem / looking good records / etherwood ?
I suspect it’s not only the sound but how it’s mixed / processed / compressed etc…

Likely to be many vids / how to’s on future music website , they’ve probably interviewed these acts in the past.
Some could’ve been just the waveform in an akai sampler with a bit of filter.

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#19

My DnB live rig circa 2005-2007

Mpc 1000

  1. Drums taken from funk and krautrock records. Include tight chops and lazy chops to add texture.
  2. Layered material was 808 kick, 808 toms, 909 kicks, 909 toms, white noise, vinyl noise, square wave, sine wave.
  3. Practice drumming and sequencing a lot.

Xstation 25.

  1. When in doubt turn it into either a square wave or sine wave.
  2. Play the preset. Filter a little. Oh man this sounds like Roni Size and Goldie.
  3. Play some more.

Square and sine waves are my best friend when I want to write DnB. Your digitone is more than capable. Your digitakt is a monster too. When in doubt with your setup see what a square or sine wave does with the patch or sequence you are writing. Man I wish I can call in sick work and write DnB right now.

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#20

It’s been ages since I’ve bought a dnb record but from what I can remember a lot of people were heavily using software. Of course that software was used to manipulate samples of older vintage gear. A lot of those token sounds were made with subtractive synthesis. Pulse width modulation, detuned saw waves and chorus/flanger and a healthy dose of filtering etc. But I do think It’s really about production techniques here. EQ and compression tricks. Software can get you pretty far. I think it’s where you push beyond that with outboard gear that get you that final 5% or so. I guess what I’m saying is that you probably have most of what you need already.

Check out this fact mag video with Friction. He goes into some eq techniques, compression and some other tricks.

Edit: Sorry I realize you’re trying to get away from the computer. But anyways maybe some of this helps. :slight_smile:

5 Likes
#21

Hey really thanks to all;
@SIM80 all suggestions are welcome, it’ll be useful for sure.

I really aprecciate all these info, recommendations & ideas; by now, a lot of people say DN will rock in liquid bass kingdom… :grinning:
I’m going to focus the next days only building different bass patches in DN and see where it gets. Before DN I usually have done basses (for liveset) on DT using waveforms & Massive samples as some said, nice sound but not-so-nice live performance; if DN kill it for me it’s ok to combine these two working methods in the set depending on pattern/song needs.

And of course those posted vids are going to keep me multitasking at work haha

P.S.: Will comment when tried all this stuff.

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#22

fun to see how someone of the old school dnb can be made and logic looks tidy. so he has ableton live to move samples from? :thinking:
and he lived up to that he likes to make music and not the other technical side of it too much, dat master clipped like it were a rastafari flag. still he got more bars done in 13 mins than i get in a week

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#23

Yeah I noticed that too although he does toss a Pro-L on the master so everything is being pushed into a limiter. And also said that he tracks everything out and runs it through his outbord for mixdown. I thought it was interesting how he high passed his drums so that his reese bass line sat just perfect. Anyways to @mutt I hope the digitone gets you where you need to be. Haven’t tried one but it’s on the list!

#24

If you have Ableton 10 suite a lot of the dance music drum racks have an HPF macro knob built in for this task too. But practice HPF until you go blind doing it.

It was cool to see how we was just building things through layers of audio for the drum parts instead of playing it out with the keyboard.

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