At :20, it sounds like it's been sampled, but they might have created that sample themselves.
https://soundcloud.com/greatgoodfineok/ ... /sets/2m2h
How to get the bass drop in this pop track
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 107 posts since 19 Jul, 2007
Sorry it's the sort of harsh sounding bass note at 0:20, like a sawtooth, that gets pitched down. It reappears around 0:25 and 0:30 and throughout the rest of the song. It must have some sort of pitch automation, but in a VST or Cubase I'm not quite sure where to start off
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- KVRAF
- 1595 posts since 17 Nov, 2007 from Seattle, WA
Got it.
Nah, not sampled I don't think. Seems like it's playing continuously throughout the song, rather than popping up every few seconds. It's the main instrument, besides the piano and the bass guitar part it intertwines with. A lot of automation on the filter cutoff(s). Tons of automation, either of the synth or an external filter or fx unit; Could go either way with that. With this level of expression on the filter, I'd suspect better results would come from a dedicated filter VST, but doing it in the synth is certainly do-able.
Pick a way to go about it, halt any second-guessing, and then commit to that method. Pick a VST, get it's parameters ready for automation, and focus on squeezing as much expression out of your chosen means as possible. Else you'll probably slow yourself down trying out different things to try and 'get it right.' But there's no getting it right here, it's more about charging in and banging at the edges of the envelope, using tons of densely packed, tedious, meticulous, manual filter, pitch, and texture automation. I suspect this song took a marathon of automation surgery.
Or maybe not THAT much, I dunno, but don't let yourself be intimidated by the prospect. Ultimately, this is how expression is accomplished. LFO's and envelopes only go so far.
Nah, not sampled I don't think. Seems like it's playing continuously throughout the song, rather than popping up every few seconds. It's the main instrument, besides the piano and the bass guitar part it intertwines with. A lot of automation on the filter cutoff(s). Tons of automation, either of the synth or an external filter or fx unit; Could go either way with that. With this level of expression on the filter, I'd suspect better results would come from a dedicated filter VST, but doing it in the synth is certainly do-able.
Pick a way to go about it, halt any second-guessing, and then commit to that method. Pick a VST, get it's parameters ready for automation, and focus on squeezing as much expression out of your chosen means as possible. Else you'll probably slow yourself down trying out different things to try and 'get it right.' But there's no getting it right here, it's more about charging in and banging at the edges of the envelope, using tons of densely packed, tedious, meticulous, manual filter, pitch, and texture automation. I suspect this song took a marathon of automation surgery.
Or maybe not THAT much, I dunno, but don't let yourself be intimidated by the prospect. Ultimately, this is how expression is accomplished. LFO's and envelopes only go so far.
Last edited by MOK19 on Tue Aug 04, 2015 11:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 107 posts since 19 Jul, 2007
Firstly I'm trying to get the pitch envelope working. I'm trying it in Diva, but it's a little too complicated. Am I better off modulating the pitch via envelope in the VST, or automating the pitch using midi in Cubase?
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- KVRAF
- 1595 posts since 17 Nov, 2007 from Seattle, WA
Automate the instrument's parameter lanes directly, probably. I find pitch automation via midi in Cubase to be a bit rocky. I wouldn't worry much about pitch envelopes - I don't think that's going to get the versatility that's occurring in this track...
But if your pitch mod goals are limited, then there's no reason not to use an envelope. It's depth can then be automated on per-note basis, maybe tie the pitch envelope depth to velocity since velocity tends to be fairly easier to edit. You could try setting it up such that you keep all notes at 100 velocity in Cubase, and only kick it down to 0 velocity for those dives, perhaps. Still, it's the filter doing most of the expression here, sometimes in-time with the occasional pitch dives.
All this said, I don't know Diva, so I don't know how well it'll work with the above approach. I'm used to Z3TA+ 2 and it's variability.
But if your pitch mod goals are limited, then there's no reason not to use an envelope. It's depth can then be automated on per-note basis, maybe tie the pitch envelope depth to velocity since velocity tends to be fairly easier to edit. You could try setting it up such that you keep all notes at 100 velocity in Cubase, and only kick it down to 0 velocity for those dives, perhaps. Still, it's the filter doing most of the expression here, sometimes in-time with the occasional pitch dives.
All this said, I don't know Diva, so I don't know how well it'll work with the above approach. I'm used to Z3TA+ 2 and it's variability.
