Bass Station II Nitzer Ebb bass tips

[Schwar]

Can anyone offer some tips on how to programme these kinds of patches?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmBVRV0nFIY

and the start of this?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De7Huu71Eh0


I've tried this:

http://waveformless.blogspot.com.au/200 ... s-ebm.html

But I couldn't get it to have that tough metallic 'dunk' feel to it.

[pottering]

You can actually see most of the knobs and fader positions in the 2nd video, even though it is low res.
Can see a good chunk of the panel throughout the 1st video as well.

If you don't have the synth you can find a pic of the Bass Station II's panel, to see what knob is what.

[Schwar]

Due to the patch memory, there is no guarantee that the knob/slider positions reflect the value of that parameter (that is, it could be left in a position tweeked in a previously loaded patch). Add to that, it's in 240p resoultion and guessing the numeric value by eye of a knob position out of up to 127 possibilities is next to impossible.
Does any one have experience programming the kinds of patches in the vids with the BS2, what's the basic approach?

[Katelyn]

Due to the patch memory, there is no guarantee that the knob/slider positions reflect the value of that parameter (that is, it could be left in a position tweeked in a previously loaded patch). Add to that, it's in 240p resoultion and guessing the numeric value by eye of a knob position out of up to 127 possibilities is next to impossible.
Does any one have experience programming the kinds of patches in the vids with the BS2, what's the basic approach?

Getting that acidy resonant stuff is pretty easy if you keep in mind that the cutoff filter can go much higher than you'd ever need it to for acid. If that is what your after there are a lot of youtube videos on it. The only thing I've noticed that's tricky is getting the envelope perfectly to how you want it with the ADSR sliders.

[Schwar]

The only thing I've noticed that's tricky is getting the envelope perfectly to how you want it with the ADSR sliders.

Thanks, after a few days of trying, Ive found that the exact envelope settings are the last thing in the way of me nailing it. Also I found its important to use LFO modulation (not just envelope) on the filter, and turn up the osc filter mod dial a tiny bit for some metalic/FMish 'dunk'.
Can anyone here who owned an SH-101 maybe give some idea of how they got hollow metalic basses or tough
rubber band 'twang' out of it, I think the technique would be similar for the BS2

[Frantz]

Also I found its important to use LFO modulation (not just envelope) on the filter, and turn up the osc filter mod dial a tiny bit for some metalic/FMish 'dunk'.
Can anyone here who owned an SH-101 maybe give some idea of how they got hollow metalic basses or tough
rubber band 'twang' out of it, I think the technique would be similar for the BS2

On their first album, Nitzer Ebb used a DX7 for the attack of the bass notes and analog synths for the rest of the bass sound. Check out this video: https://youtu.be/I5FLKDegqDw?t=3m28s

[deastman]

Also I found its important to use LFO modulation (not just envelope) on the filter, and turn up the osc filter mod dial a tiny bit for some metalic/FMish 'dunk'.
Can anyone here who owned an SH-101 maybe give some idea of how they got hollow metalic basses or tough
rubber band 'twang' out of it, I think the technique would be similar for the BS2

On their first album, Nitzer Ebb used a DX7 for the attack of the bass notes and analog synths for the rest of the bass sound. Check out this video: https://youtu.be/I5FLKDegqDw?t=3m28s

What a great video! Thanks for sharing.

As for the synth sound, it really sounds fairly basic and I'm not sure quite what the problem is. Its just a pretty low filter cutoff with envelope and lfo modulation, and about 3/4 resonance. If you want a hard punch on the attack, put a short decay time on the filter and a lower sustain level. You'll just need to play around with the balance of the envelope sustain, cutoff level, and modulation amount until you get the right combination.

[Schwar]

As for the synth sound, it really sounds fairly basic and I'm not sure quite what the problem is. Its just a pretty low filter cutoff with envelope and lfo modulation, and about 3/4 resonance. If you want a hard punch on the attack, put a short decay time on the filter and a lower sustain level. You'll just need to play around with the balance of the envelope sustain, cutoff level, and modulation amount until you get the right combination.

I've tried many permutations of this on the BS2 over the last few days but can't quite get the the attack phase to 'glunk' a la 'Isn't It Funny How Your Body Works'.

And thanks, awesome video Frantz, heard this interview referenced before but never seen it. It's pertinent how McCarthy describes the importance of subtle layering of FM waves under the main subtractive patch.

I guess I could try layering (via sequencing in an RS7000) a sample from Ableton's operator (or a DX7 sample) with the BS2.

[Schwar]

I've found that the problem I was having nailing these basslines on the BS2 alone, comes down to it's lack of native FX. When I started running the patches I've been playing around with through some tight reverb (just the crappy one on my DDM4000 mixer), they started to get much more metallic/stabbing characters.

Chucked a kick under one of them with a snare on top. It sounded like McCarthy should be snarling and shouting along about tearing down disfunctional socio-political edifices. I'll try to do a bit of arranging and post the result next week.
In the meantime if anyone want to post their own BS2 attempts at this sound...

[Svalbad]

@Schwar You seem to have gotten it somewhat right now?
I just got my BS2 and im trying to get into sounddesigning, could you help me out to recreate the sound by posting the parameters.. Im digging in the manual right now but its a bit overwhelming so far

//Thanks

[Schwar]

Heres the patch:
http://www104.zippyshare.com/v/5iBIY2d5/file.html
Bare in mind, as I said, you'll need to apply some delay and reverb to get it to sound right.

[NystagmusE]

you can gets some sounds kind of like that with Toxic Biohazard. It's a 6 osc/voice FM matrix going into a multimode filter and EQ/fx section. it can also just do straight additive into the subtractive filters. you get the metallic sounds from FM. it's old but still a really good deal.

[Schwar]

Sorry dude, dont want to sound like an arsehole but I made the thread specific to the BS2 (or at the furthest, other new monophonic analog hard-synths) for a reason. Thanks anyway.

[SeePlusPlus]