Hi again !

So I was thinking, instead of giving examples without explanations, let’s try to start from scratch and tweak knobs :wink: That’s what I do each time I start a tune. No preset, no saved kit, no pattern, no nothing.

First step, tune a classic kick with BD Hard machine :
Sweep 94, snap 26, decay 0, wav 0/1, hold 127, tic 0.
Tune between -64 and +10 is ok for me. Below -20 for fat sub bass, above to hear a plain pitch. I find it better for sculpting bounce afterwhile when above -10.
From here, you can adjust sweep and snap to get what you like. For instance, snap 127 to make add solid punch-click, then sweep 120 for agressive pitch attack.
You can also add a bit of amp overdrive to make it louder. If you have a strong attack, stay below 5 to stay clean, if it’s soft (sweep/snap <100/<100), maybe go for 10.

At this point you can start tweaking filter or tune the key or sculpt the tail. OR everything at the same time because now everything is linked.

First let’s get back to amp overdrive 0 because it changes timber a lot.

When I tune below -20, I never increase decay because I have no sub at home, so tail is really ugly.
Howevere, above -20 I can start sculpting the tail.

For instance, tune 0, decay 72. Pitch is very audible. You can now try wav 2 to have a dirtier tail, I like this one. Notice you can’t hear it with overdrive…
We already have a good boucing kick here !
For this kind of bounce, I like to have not so strong pitch attack, because it cancels the effect, well I just don’t like it ! So sweep time below 100.
Try decreasing decay, like 45, to have a different bounce.
Try hold 0 decay 97 for massive plain bounce, I love it.
Try again wav 0/1, overdrive 0-10, it changes the tail sound, much softer.
Overdrive above 15 starts to get more hardcore. With hold 127 and decay 60-80, good little hardcore kicks, decay above 80, boucing again !

When I say bounce, it’s soft bounce, but we can change this with LFO later.

Let’s try another tuning, like tune -14, sweep 95, snap 599, decay 34, hold 127, overdrive 2. Good one, overdrive 4-5 for loudness.
From there you have loads of good solid kicks for techno. If you reduce sweep below 80 you can tweak some good minimal ones.
With wav 1 you get some different sound, difficult to explain, because depends on other params, actually ! For these settings wav 1 gives me a beautiful round bass, so decay 100 to bounce it :wink:

Ok you get the thing… just start with some params you like, usually I start with sweep/snap, then tune, then hold/decay, and try some wav/overdrive combinations !

Now let’s tweak the filter, that’s where the fun really starts, imho.
Tune a normal kick, like tune -14, sweep 91, snap 104, decay 0, wav 1, hold 127, overdrive 0.
I assume that filter attack & sustain are 0, release 64.
Now put decay 0, env 0.

Lowpass can give you some nice dark kick with cutoff below 50, no more attack, but good bass. Increase resonance to fatten. For instance cutoff 40, res 20, lowpass2 is cool.
Now if you want to shape click or attack, use decay & env, like decay 0, env 0-64 for high solid click, decay 10 env 32 for stronger attack, decay 32, env 14 for filtered click, and so on…

Of course anytime you can change wav or add a bit of overdrive to get fatter ! overdrive below 10 though, if you want to stay clean.

Now increase resonance, and you can hear the filter self resonating pitch. So use resonance like some kind of filter pitch decay and adjust tuning with cutoff.
You will notice that depending on the cutoff, you can have very long tails or nothing, or different timbers. I guess this is phase cancelation, because you have two low frequencies fighting for room : oscillator pitch and filter self oscillation pitch. Play with this to simply sculpt your tail !
For instance cutoff 33 res 75 will bounce nicely.

All this cutoff/res and decay/env can also be applied to the following.

So the following is that I use highpass or peak to keep the highs and be more solid. It suits more my style.
Let’s try cutoff 23, res 47, highpass2, env 17, decay 10, amp overdrive 6. See ?
The switch to peak, cutoff 25, res 73, nice too.
Now let’s sculpt a little more.
Synth decay 74, cutoff 32, res 61… Great bouncing again !
Try overdrive 127 to hear a cool hardcore bouncing kick :wink:
Try wav 1 for harder !
Sweep 102 for more…
Amp decay 127 is even better.

At this point, notice that when you mute kick track, long decays let you play with knobs to sculpt the tail for a few seconds. Nice to have some good transitions instead of sudden cut.

Final thought… LFO !
I use it for bouncing even more, or for weird effects.
I just give you an example of bouncing kick I like, and you can elaborate anything from there.
Let’s dial a plain kick : tune 2, sweep 93, snap 82, dec 99, wav 1, hold 127, overdrive 34, cutoff 35, res 64, peak, env 22, env dec 8. Like it ?
Then LFO : speed 44, mul x2, dst “tune”, wave triangle, mode half, depth 37.
I love that.
Then tweak speed and depth to adjust amount of pitch rebound and timing (offbeat or farther).

Well, hope all this makes sense and that it’s… readable.
Feel free to comment or send other tricks !
I understand that’s this kind of kick may not suit your style, but for me this process is a good way to discover new kicks every day, and not sticking to the same again and again (each tune should have its own !), so you should find what you like doing this, and even more :wink:
I also know it may seem obvious to a lot of people out there… But I spent a lot of time wondering if rytm was the right kind of gear for me, so I wanted to say to beginners that everything is possible with it. At least for kicks.
And believe me, if you try BD FM, you can find some really nasty things.

By the way I don’t use layering because filter is common to synth and sample, too hard to tweak. However I tried some cool attack samples and result was amazing, but I’m too lazy to look for and organize sounds and kits, so I stick with the synths for now, and I’m more productive than before, lost in the samples jungle :wink:

Sometimes I use low tom machine as bouncing bass with a BD Hard dry kick, but the problem is you can’t play them both live with pads or alter pattern at the same time for both, so I prefer sculpting kick/bass with only BD machine and have fun on a single track !

Hope this helps, happy boucing day !

EDIT: Sorry, all this was at 190 BPM, but you are allowed to go down until 180. Below it’s not music :wink:

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