Tb-303 basslines?

djones

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I have Audiorealism Bassline to create those 303 Bassline, but somehow I find it very hard to make different, good sounding basslines than just 1.
Are there any websites which show some examples of how to make those groovy Tb-303 basslines?
 
Try playing with velocity and overlapping certain notes to get the classic 303 glide. I always run 2 Basslines too - one playing and EQ'd low and sidechained to the kick and one playing higher and EQ'd higher to give the definition.
 
SteveJ... said:
Try playing with velocity and overlapping certain notes to get the classic 303 glide. I always run 2 Basslines too - one playing and EQ'd low and sidechained to the kick and one playing higher and EQ'd higher to give the definition.

Do both basslines play the same notes?

And which compressor do you use to sidechain the low EQ'd one to the kick?
 
Yeh - they play the same riff but sometimes the high EQ'd Bassline will be an octave up (depends how it sounds when I do it:Wink3: ) Its to make the sound fatter and allow a bit more control. Plus I get two filters to play with. And if you do program velocity changes dont forget to play with the "Accent" control as thats what the velocity controls - with no accent dialled in you wont hear your velocity changes. I tend to use the velocity and accent to change the tone rather than the level ie I'll flatten out the peaks that it introduces to smooth out the volume but retain the tonal change on accent which is really what I'm after. Hope that makes sense. Bit of Env changes the way the accent hits too.

For sidechaining I use the Native Sidechainer and Compressor De-esser as it's just a case of inserting them and ya off - I'll get round to the slightly more complicated Waves method (probably with the C1) at some point. It's a shame and an oversite that sidechaining isn't built into SX in my opinion.
 
Well thanks Colin :Smile3:

djones - Dont expect it to give you a plethora of varied bass sounds, you are kinda buying into the 303 sound which is limited but thats the way it is. Theres two main sounds - saw wave and square wave and then it's just variations on those themes. But what it does it does well and it's certainly my favourite at the mo for doing 16th lines.

And you can crank it and get the screaming 303 style too pretty good but we're beyond bass lines then :Smile3:
 
My point actually was how to be creative with the notes jumping up and down.
I could get one or two descent sounding patterns, but they're still not as groovy as I'd like them to be.
I would be very helpfull if someone good send me some basic good example riffs.
For example like the ones Melicia uses in his album running out of time.
 
Right - then velocity and glide is what ya want. Start out with a simple 16th note bassline with each note being a 32nd length ie a block then a gap. Then double the length of the some of the notes to get the D,D,DUH kinda thing going and to start accenting a certain rythm to get a groove going. Play around with the notes and positions to develop the riff and use velocity for accenting certain notes and overlap notes to get the glide. Theres no magic trick - just time well spent :Wink3:
 
I'd recommend 3/4 length notes for bass, rather than half-length (32nd), just to give you more useful time per note - release stage has to be at least 35ms or so (to avoid mild fluffiness or even a click as the note fades out quicker than the fundamental's wavelength) but any longer than that is a waste of time that you could add to the sustain, giving you a tighter, fuller sound - think of it as compression at sound design stage.

BTW, the wavelength thing is also why you can't compress bass with very quick attack/release (below 50ms, combined) as such compression will mess up frequencies below that time/wavelength (and the lower the freq the worse it gets). 20Hz needs 50ms for a full cycle... Just thought I'd mention it :Smile3:
 
Thanks Matt... that was pretty interesting. That explains why I sometimes get an annoying click on my bassline at times. Hurray I learned something!:ismile:
 
matt said:
I'd recommend 3/4 length notes for bass, rather than half-length (32nd), just to give you more useful time per note - release stage has to be at least 35ms or so (to avoid mild fluffiness or even a click as the note fades out quicker than the fundamental's wavelength) but any longer than that is a waste of time that you could add to the sustain, giving you a tighter, fuller sound - think of it as compression at sound design stage.

BTW, the wavelength thing is also why you can't compress bass with very quick attack/release (below 50ms, combined) as such compression will mess up frequencies below that time/wavelength (and the lower the freq the worse it gets). 20Hz needs 50ms for a full cycle... Just thought I'd mention it :Smile3:

What do you mean by 35ms for it's release stage?


Btw I'd like to get some tips on compressing (sidechaning) the bass with the kick, within Cubase SX 2.
 
35 milliseconds :Smile3: In practice though all you have to do is listen carefully, adjusting release until it sounds okay - universal audio tip[tm] :Wink3: If you have some kind of polyphony indicator, that can help (eg V-Station).

As for sidechaining, you need a plugin that has that option, it's that simple. Unfortunately SX is still grounded in the fixed-track mentality so there's no way to split and recombine signals as you see fit... I use Reaktor but that's acquired taste imho as it requires you to know what you want to build as well as how you can build it using its modules. In other words steer clear unless you know what you're doing (and why :Wink3:)

You can get better results more easily imho using two filters with velocity mod (so that highpass shaves off the fat end on quieter notes), following with a good saturator (transparent or colourful, as you wish), but that's a matter of taste etc etc :Smile3:
 
hey... nice tips for the audiorealism. thanks. i never got to master that vst

wich one of the versions is good for trying those tips?


thanks again

joao
 
No need for Reaktor, any synth with 2 filters in serial mode will do for the above; fwiw I started on v3 and am stuck on v4 until I upgrade my machine. v4 is definitely easier to use than v3 (but then so it should be :Wink3: )
 
djones said:
Btw I'd like to get some tips on compressing (sidechaning) the bass with the kick, within Cubase SX 2.

There you go, mate
Discussion about sideshaining in cubase.net forum
http://forum.cubase.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=3435&highlight=stereo+sidechain

And here's a video from Rune from otiumFX (Compadre Beatpuncher):
http://otium.hjem.myinternet.dk/mirror/Sidechain_in_CubaseSX.rar I would imagine that you could use this technique with other compressors with sidechainers, I tried it with the Kjaerhus Audio Golden Uni-Pressor and it woked.

Its a bit of a pain IMO to sidechain in SX but there you go...
Generally, google around and you will find your answers. Good luck!
 
yesterday i spent some time with tau2 and acomplished some wicked bass lines

pitty that i've spent so many years(?) bad-mouthing the tau bassline vsts ehehhehe
 
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