let's talk basslines

[DR.OCTOPADS]

yo fam!

when i make my basslines i just use the ableton operator "hiphop sub bass" which nearly gives me the sound that i am looking for. basically what i do is i let my 2bar loop play and throw in some short bassnotes which i think would fit into my track. here is one example http://vimeo.com/105166642 (sry, i only got the vimeo version online).
i would love to make my basslines analogue so i was wondering what you guys do.
- do you sample your basslines from records?
- do you just turn up the low end of your sample?
- do you use bass guitars?
- do you have any analog gear or can recommend any cheap hardware?
- do you try to playback the notes from your sample (i am not musically at all so this seems difficult to me)?

if you would answer one of these questions with yes, i would love to read a detailed description of your process!

much love

dr.octopads

[skinny.b]

I've been using the volca bass a lot, just loop the four bars on the track and fuck about until something fits, I'm no music theorist so just play by ear, then record it in as audio. The volca is great but does lack a pure sine wave, but if you knock the cut off back you can get something softer than the square and sawtooth. I'll sometimes use the subsonic on the 404 and just tune it to fit. Also there's some nice sub sine tones on the mc307 groovebox, I use that quite a bit too. The monotrons do a good job too, and they're cheap!

[noDDy hEAded fREak]

korg monotron is a cheap synth that will give you big analog sounds.
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[medearis]

I normally either play my (cheap @$$) electric bass or what ever synth. I've sampled lines then chopped the notes. Hardly ever filter samples to get a bass line (though there have been times that the outcome is straight phunk).

As far as synths go - I use a Volca Keys, MonoMachine, MicroBrute. All of them work for dat bass.

[k´rüöl]

i am not very satisfied with my bass game but here
- sometimes i use sample bass but its hard to find a bassline to match your sample and drums so more often its creating around a found bassline or mostly: sampled single notes that get their pitch shifted or layed out on a keyboard
- filtering bassnotes out of the sample or highcutting the whole sample are both sometimes just the right thing to do
- i always wanted to use my girlfriends old bass guitar but never did more than sample a few notes
- i have the old blue and silver electribe synth it does a decent sine wave i think. i also use bass sounds on drumboxes like dr202. its a fun interface
- i have tried and tried so hard but i suck at it. sometimes when i try again i hit one note by accident and keep that.
- sources vary but in the end its always some notes or riffs on pads with effects as the mighty isolator, filter/drive, etc

[TheDingo]

Honestly it just depends on what the song calls for, if I want some funk bass then I'll sample a funk record. If it's synth heavy then I'll use a synth, or if I want it to be more acoustic then I'll play it in. Sometimes you can find really good bass sounds on vinyl though that might be hard to replicate in your studio like those Moog records. On the sp 404 though I usually sample individual notes from bass guitar videos on youtube or my own bass and then add effects. Basslines are my favorite part of production because it can make everything else fit together. Good luck man!

[Chopperman]

tonight i hummed a bassline to a new beat and now I'm in the process of trying to add subsonic (mfx22 on the 404) to each note individually, not by chopping it, but instead marking the note that needs it next, adjusting the pitch and volume of the bass, then unmarking it and pressing mfx when that note plays. I have the sub volume loud so hopefully my voice will barely be audible when its mixed. I usually use the built-in bass when my samples need extra lows. I like the sound and find it easier to tune to the beat than keys or strings.

[kel]

tonight i hummed a bassline to a new beat and now I'm in the process of trying to add subsonic (mfx22 on the 404) to each note individually, not by chopping it, but instead marking the note that needs it next, adjusting the pitch and volume of the bass, then unmarking it and pressing mfx when that note plays. I have the sub volume loud so hopefully my voice will barely be audible when its mixed. I usually use the built-in bass when my samples need extra lows. I like the sound and find it easier to tune to the beat than keys or strings.

I mentioned this in another thread but I think it bears repeating--

If you use MFX11 (octave) and hum into the mic, the effect will mimic the notes but at one or two octaves down with a sine wave. Mixed results, but if you're on key with your voice, you can just sing (or whistle) your bass lines instead of tuning each note with the subsonic. Give it a try...

[LO-]

you Kan try to plug a wire into the sampler then touch the other end of the jack. it will make a buzzing sound, tehn you can tune it with pitch. if it is a stero plug then you can move across the and do a stereo pan effect.

From my basik know how of monotron it is not very musical to me enough to make bass lines stand alone, so perhaps it works better to find the root note that mathces so ok now you kan tune it and make a bass line.

other wise I will try a subsonic note and neutralize her with the sampletrak, the 505 adds a nice sounding fuzz tone in lofi mode to the sp404 subsonic, I use headphones , <GRRR>. for everything so I always just eq (roll off) the subsonics and keep the bass natural. when I listen on the computer laptop speakers its still way off balance, reason being I cant use speakers is to not disturb anyone, as I respect neighbors, It bothers me when people invade my space with noise, so I dont want to bug anyone either.

or else last resort, I will pull out the old yamaha digital synth or bass guitar, sometimes I will multi track the whole bass line, then sample it back in, or sample note for note straight up into the box. something about the SP pitch just doesnt sound right to me anymore, unless your looking to morph or mutate for sound design.

[medearis]

you Kan try to plug a wire into the sampler then touch the other end of the jack. it will make a buzzing sound, tehn you can tune it with pitch.

To this day this is exactly how I got my favorite bass sound out of my MPC. Just used a TS cable, plugged into the left input, touched the opposite end of the cable... got the hum. Compressed it a smidge and then filtered it out to taste. Phat bass all up in yo' face.

[Chopperman]

tonight i hummed a bassline to a new beat and now I'm in the process of trying to add subsonic (mfx22 on the 404) to each note individually, not by chopping it, but instead marking the note that needs it next, adjusting the pitch and volume of the bass, then unmarking it and pressing mfx when that note plays. I have the sub volume loud so hopefully my voice will barely be audible when its mixed. I usually use the built-in bass when my samples need extra lows. I like the sound and find it easier to tune to the beat than keys or strings.

I mentioned this in another thread but I think it bears repeating--

If you use MFX11 (octave) and hum into the mic, the effect will mimic the notes but at one or two octaves down with a sine wave. Mixed results, but if you're on key with your voice, you can just sing (or whistle) your bass lines instead of tuning each note with the subsonic. Give it a try...

I will definitely try that, Thanks Kel!

If any of you want to know how my method turned out, check the last bassline of SP World 4. When I was writing the rhymes that lead into it, I mentioned that my first flip was Al Hirt in reverse. The next line is "I'll rock the revision right after this verse".. when I wrote that I thought I'd play the revision that I did around a year ago, but it turned out that one was not very good. So I re-flipped it again, for the 3rd time, using that bass formula, and it was successful enough.

you Kan try to plug a wire into the sampler then touch the other end of the jack. it will make a buzzing sound, tehn you can tune it with pitch.

To this day this is exactly how I got my favorite bass sound out of my MPC. Just used a TS cable, plugged into the left input, touched the opposite end of the cable... got the hum. Compressed it a smidge and then filtered it out to taste. Phat bass all up in yo' face.

Will definitely try this as well! Can't believe I never thought of that.

[booyungg]

anything loud and low and noisy. i use synth and sometimes sample cuts.

[janglesoul]

For the current SP-battle I yesterday tried humming a bassline with Octave. Quite a cool sound. I had a pattern going on the SP, Octave on EXT SOURCE for monitoring, and recorded myself on my iphone. Sampled back from iphone (1/8"-RCA) into SP. Chopped and added it to the pattern. Isolator for removing some noise before Octave.

Sort of a detuned sine-bass sound.

It seems Octave needs to work with really "clean" sounds. Other sounds I tried became really messy.

[Tenochtitlan]

!Oh gosh !bass lines can be a huge pain in the ass for me.. I'll get a sweet loop going on or melody in my head next thing you know I'm messing with the bass line for days on end..

I read somewhere that Prince didn't use bass on some tracks on purpose to make everything else pop out more, holy crap though whoever mentioned humming into the box is a genius. Gotta try that you people totally rock my world sometimes.

[zindan]

base? 2 routes usually for me, simple sine wave sub bass made with 3xosc in fl studio, orrrrrr 808 bass samples (which sound soooooooo goooddddddddddddd on my 404sx)
edit: I lied, I forgot like 50% of the time I just boost the low end of the sample with eqing
EDIT: SORRY I BUMPED AN OLD THREAD AGAIN
i was in an altered state of mind and forgot that this was old and iwas reading some stuff way down the list lol