ZynAddSubFX: 80s Subsynth Bass Patches

All your LV2 and LADSPA goodness and more.

Moderators: MattKingUSA, khz

Post Reply
User avatar
GraysonPeddie
Established Member
Posts: 657
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:12 pm
Location: Altha, FL
Been thanked: 6 times
Contact:

ZynAddSubFX: 80s Subsynth Bass Patches

Post by GraysonPeddie »

A couple of weeks ago while heading to Wal-Mart, I was listening to Trappy Instrumentals in Google Play Music app (a station with selections of music tracks generated randomly) and I found myself listening to a song called "Pearls" by "Deon Custom" and the bass instrument piqued my interest. You can listen to it here in YouTube;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJagmuMlMA4

Once I got back home, I found a song in Google Play Music and decided to record a subset of the song with a bassline into Audacity and filter out the mid-high frequencies to focus in synth bass. Of course, it would be hard to extract only the bass instrument due to frequency overlap, but I did it anyway. This is where I can examine the waveform for the bassline, but with less accuracy.

So I tried to replicate that in ZynAddSubFX, but to a varying success. I then used a square and saw wave to try and brighten it up and decided to add a chorus effect with frequency set to 0.

My experiment is not an exact replica, but it is close, so here's my result:
80s Subsynth Bass 1.zip
old version
(4.34 KiB) Downloaded 80 times
The reason why I call it "80s" is because I thought the bassline I hear from the song sounded like 80s to me other than the drums.

Try it out, listen to "Pearls" by Deon Custom for comparison, and please let me know what you think.

Update: I made an improved version, this time simplified and I am beginning to know how I can adjust the oscillator and get the adjustment where I want it. Plus, I've added some additional waveforms to brighten it up -- perhaps not quite.
audacity_pearls_filtered.png
audacity_pearls_filtered.png (81.63 KiB) Viewed 1062 times
Here you go:
80s Subsynth Bass 1.zip
newer version; improved
(2.42 KiB) Downloaded 88 times
I've shaped the waveform according to what I saw in Audacity:

Updated: Renamed "1" to "Patches" in subject line.
Last edited by GraysonPeddie on Wed Dec 20, 2017 7:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.
--Grayson Peddie

Music Interest: New Age w/ a mix of modern smooth jazz, light techno/trance & downtempo -- something Epcot Future World/Tomorrowland-flavored.
ssj71
Established Member
Posts: 1294
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 6:36 pm
Has thanked: 1 time

Re: ZynAddSubFX: 80s Subsynth Bass 1

Post by ssj71 »

cool! you should throw this on https://musical-artifacts.com/ :)
_ssj71

music: https://soundcloud.com/ssj71
My plugins are Infamous! http://ssj71.github.io/infamousPlugins
I just want to get back to making music!
User avatar
GraysonPeddie
Established Member
Posts: 657
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:12 pm
Location: Altha, FL
Been thanked: 6 times
Contact:

Re: ZynAddSubFX: 80s Subsynth Bass 1

Post by GraysonPeddie »

Thanks. I've made some improvements. See my first post.
--Grayson Peddie

Music Interest: New Age w/ a mix of modern smooth jazz, light techno/trance & downtempo -- something Epcot Future World/Tomorrowland-flavored.
User avatar
GraysonPeddie
Established Member
Posts: 657
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:12 pm
Location: Altha, FL
Been thanked: 6 times
Contact:

Re: ZynAddSubFX: 80s Subsynth Bass Patches

Post by GraysonPeddie »

New patch for ZynAddSubFX!

I listened to the bassline from the song called "Streets of Gold" from the movie "Oliver and Company."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_hFR54R19U

And I made a patch for it. Again, I recorded a snippet of the bassline, tried to strip out mid and high frequencies, and sculpted the first waveform for the oscillator and sculpted the second oscillator a little differently. Then for the third oscillator I gave it a square waveform.

Download my patch, load it into ZynAddSubFX as an instrument, and play with it
80s Subsynth Bass 2.zip
(2.81 KiB) Downloaded 88 times
Please give me feedback on how I did. Listen to the song that I linked to YouTube and compare with my created patch.

And yes, this reminds me: I did post a thread about wanting that 80s synth bass patch, but at least I figured out in my own.
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=13641&p=60378&hili ... ass#p60378
--Grayson Peddie

Music Interest: New Age w/ a mix of modern smooth jazz, light techno/trance & downtempo -- something Epcot Future World/Tomorrowland-flavored.
User avatar
loxstep
Established Member
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2018 12:40 am

Re: ZynAddSubFX: 80s Subsynth Bass Patches

Post by loxstep »

Just loaded the patch. This reminds me of a JUNO-106 patch I used to use, before I sold it. Thank you for the memories!
folderol
Established Member
Posts: 2072
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 8:06 pm
Location: Here, of course!
Has thanked: 224 times
Been thanked: 400 times
Contact:

Re: ZynAddSubFX: 80s Subsynth Bass Patches

Post by folderol »

Quite a nice sound, although you've called it SubSynth, but it's actually AddSynth!
I recommend adding some info in the Type, copyright and comment's field.
Personally, I always like to know who produced something I'm using - so I can acknowledge them when I'm rich and famous :lol:

Also, in the amplitude envelope I suggest reducing the sustain to zero, and increasing the decay time.
The Yoshimi guy {apparently now an 'elderly'}
User avatar
GraysonPeddie
Established Member
Posts: 657
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:12 pm
Location: Altha, FL
Been thanked: 6 times
Contact:

Re: ZynAddSubFX: 80s Subsynth Bass Patches

Post by GraysonPeddie »

folderol wrote:Quite a nice sound, although you've called it SubSynth, but it's actually AddSynth!
I recommend adding some info in the Type, copyright and comment's field.
Personally, I always like to know who produced something I'm using - so I can acknowledge them when I'm rich and famous :lol:

Also, in the amplitude envelope I suggest reducing the sustain to zero, and increasing the decay time.
If not "subsynth," then "subbass" perhaps? I don't mean "subtractive synth," but more of a thick synth bass. Well, I call it the way I want to call it just for heck of it.

Thanks. Will re-upload the patches with my name in it.

As for amplitude envelope, I suppose anyone can do that. I see no need to duplicate two patches with a sustained sound and a decayed sound--unless a +10-second decay might suffice...
--Grayson Peddie

Music Interest: New Age w/ a mix of modern smooth jazz, light techno/trance & downtempo -- something Epcot Future World/Tomorrowland-flavored.
User avatar
GraysonPeddie
Established Member
Posts: 657
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:12 pm
Location: Altha, FL
Been thanked: 6 times
Contact:

Re: ZynAddSubFX: 80s Subsynth Bass Patches

Post by GraysonPeddie »

loxstep wrote:Just loaded the patch. This reminds me of a JUNO-106 patch I used to use, before I sold it. Thank you for the memories!
I wish I could hear only the bass factory patches in Juno 106.I'm really into 80s synth-pop music.

Thanks for your comment.
--Grayson Peddie

Music Interest: New Age w/ a mix of modern smooth jazz, light techno/trance & downtempo -- something Epcot Future World/Tomorrowland-flavored.
User avatar
loxstep
Established Member
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2018 12:40 am

Re: ZynAddSubFX: 80s Subsynth Bass Patches

Post by loxstep »

GraysonPeddie wrote: I wish I could hear only the bass factory patches in Juno 106.I'm really into 80s synth-pop music.
If you ever get your hands on one, I recommend trying it out in monophonic mode. One peculiar thing about that keyboard was, despite being analog, it wasn't very good at those warm / thick sounds we associate with analog synths. They made up for it in two ways: a chorus effect, and a monophonic mode that used all six voices in unison. The monophonic mode is where you got the best bass sounds.

This guy does a good demonstration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xptrvtTWQ9k

I regret selling my Juno, and I would love to create some patches for ZynAddSubFX that mimic its patches.
Post Reply