What is an FM bass?

Frequency modulation (FM) synthesis is often viewed as complex, but it’s a powerful tool for creating twisted bass sounds. Think of regular vibrato, where an LFO – the modulator – modulates the pitch of an oscillator – the carrier.

How do I make my bass sound fat?

For deep bass, you’re going to want to use a low-pass filter to cut out the higher frequencies of the bass notes, and then shape it with the filter and amplitude envelopes. Using the low-pass filter cutoff, we cut the higher frequencies out. Next, played with the filter resonance to add some depth and color.

How do I make my bass sound like a sub?

The easiest way to make your guitar sound like a bass is to use an octave pedal. Set the octave pedal to shift the pitch down one octave and turn the original signal off. The idea behind this method is that a bass guitar is one octave lower than a regular guitar.

Why does my bass sound flat?

When your bass plays in different notes, the volume of the sound may change. This happens mostly because of lowpass filters on bass sounds, which cut off higher frequencies. This causes higher notes to lose their power and volume.

What does FM sound do?

Frequency modulation synthesis (or FM synthesis) is a form of sound synthesis whereby the frequency of a waveform is changed by modulating its frequency with a modulator. The frequency of an oscillator is altered “in accordance with the amplitude of a modulating signal”.

What sounds is FM synthesis good for?

FM synthesis is extremely good, however, at creating sounds that are difficult to achieve with subtractive synthesizers—sounds such as bell timbres, metallic tones, and the tine tones of electric pianos. Another strength of FM synthesis is punchy bass and synthetic brass sounds.

What are the different waveforms of FM Waves?

Here are three different waveforms to illustrate FM waves. The top wave is a standard waveform. The middle wave is illustrating what is called “ amplitude modulation, ” where the intensity of the wave varies. The bottom waveform is a frequency modulation wave, where the speed of the wave varies.

What is the best analog waveform for bass?

Of the four main analog waveforms, either square/pulse and sawtooth would be a great place to start when crafting a deep bass sound. A triangle wave would work too, but it can be a bit too thin for what we’re looking to do.

Why do certain bass waveforms sound better than others?

Certain waveforms work better than others, though no strict rules exist. And iconic bass sounds from very specific gear, or samples thereof, are oft-used for a reason—they sound great, particularly in popular mainstream and underground genres.

What is a sound wave?

Each bang, boom, or bust, is an oscillation. Now, with that in mind, knowing that we can create a pitch by banging things at a super fast rate, with each bang being a “cycle”, these cycles of up “up-down-up-down” can be visualized into what we call “soundwaves.”