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How to create 80’s synth bass with Source Audio C4?

Jibudo

Jibudo

Mar 13, 2010
159
69
Porto, Portugal
#1
Greetings,

I’m trying to create a patch on my source audio C4 to emulate an 80’s bass synth sound like the one on Tarzan Boy. I think i understand well enoungh the desktop editor but cant’ create the tone that i am after, it always ends not clean, or metalic enough for my taste.

Do you have any suggestion?

 
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#2
That's the famous E.BASS 1 patch on the DX7, was used on lots of 80s pop hits like Take on Me, Danger Zone etc.

I've tried to get this sound on the C4 and have failed. Although the C4 can do FM synthesis like the DX7, it doesn't have enough operators (only two sine oscillators compared to six on the DX7).

I pulled the patch apart in Dexed (a DX7 emulator plugin) and decided that the key part of the sound is one operator at pitch x 5 (more than 24 semitones up) modulating another at octave down. The first oscillator isn't heard directly and has a shorter envelope to give the bright attack. Other operators give the sound beef, which you could do with monophonic pitch shifter or just your clean bass tone.

However I had problems setting the pitch of the first operator high enough (even using the sequencer with one step) and tweaking the envelopes. I got lots of cool FM type patches, but nothing close enough to the original for me.

Still if you don't need to get too close, it might be worth searching for variations on DX7 or FM on the Neuro hub.

I tried on the Future Impact too but with no joy. The Iron Ether FMeron looks cool but I don't think it can get this sound either, so we'll have to use keyboards for now.
 
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#3
EHX Bass Micro Synth.....yes, it's old and cheesy...but still delivers that "80's" synth sound...I play in a 70/80's funk/electro band and break it out when needed...perhaps not n the "class" as the ones discussed above....but has it's fit in the sonic universe....:-)
 
#6
bassbrad said:
Search "80's" in the Neuro Library lots to choose from.
Click to expand...
Oh, I have. So far nothing that has the sound I'm looking for. Half of them seem to be for guitar, not bass, and no amount of tweaking can make them sound decent on my bass. I have yet to find a setting that even gets a consistent sound out of each note at the bass end of my 4 string.

I really need to study the Neuro guide more closely I think. I find the UI overwhelming and I'm not sure how many of the controls and signals are interconnected or routed.
 
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#7
skycruiser said:
Oh, I have. So far nothing that has the sound I'm looking for. Half of them seem to be for guitar, not bass, and no amount of tweaking can make them sound decent on my bass. I have yet to find a setting that even gets a consistent sound out of each note at the bass end of my 4 string.
Click to expand...
I think you may have to adjust your expectations. If by "bass end" you mean the money zone of a four banger, you'll have to come to grips of the realities of tracking algorithms. Down there, you'll glitch like crazy. In my experience, it's best to play an octave up when using the synth oscillators, unless you mix in quite a decent amount of dry bass that masks a few of the imperfections you may encounter.

However, this is nothing new when compared to the tried and true OC-2s and the like. They have their inherent quirks.
skycruiser said:
I really need to study the Neuro guide more closely I think. I find the UI overwhelming and I'm not sure how many of the controls and signals are interconnected or routed.
Click to expand...

If you haven't already seen it, this video gives a good explanation of the UI. It's still a bit of a learning curve, but it's a good jumping off point to first mess with other patches to see how they work, and then making your own.
 
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#8
skycruiser said:
Oh, I have. So far nothing that has the sound I'm looking for. Half of them seem to be for guitar, not bass, and no amount of tweaking can make them sound decent on my bass. I have yet to find a setting that even gets a consistent sound out of each note at the bass end of my 4 string.

I really need to study the Neuro guide more closely I think. I find the UI overwhelming and I'm not sure how many of the controls and signals are interconnected or routed.
Click to expand...
This is a search for C4 presets and sorted by the number of LIKES. Most of the top group are for bass. I would start and the top and move down. You can sort this way in the app too.
Neuro Community by Source Audio
 
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#9
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#10
Nashrakh said:
I think you may have to adjust your expectations. If by "bass end" you mean the money zone of a four banger, you'll have to come to grips of the realities of tracking algorithms. Down there, you'll glitch like crazy. In my experience, it's best to play an octave up when using the synth oscillators, unless you mix in quite a decent amount of dry bass that masks a few of the imperfections you may encounter.

However, this is nothing new when compared to the tried and true OC-2s and the like. They have their inherent quirks.


If you haven't already seen it, this video gives a good explanation of the UI. It's still a bit of a learning curve, but it's a good jumping off point to first mess with other patches to see how they work, and then making your own.
Click to expand...


I watched this, I think for the 2nd time, last night. He did a pretty good job tracking to the low B with his bass. I have not tried making that first adjustment he showed where you specify the input range to the pedal. That should help with tracking.

These are a couple of bass tones I'm shooting for. Seems like it should be possible to get pretty close.



 
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#13
Orlan said:
Is there any other pedal that can get close to the DX7 bass sound?
Click to expand...
All of the existing FM synth pedals at this point lack enough operators to get many of the DX7 sounds perfectly. Probably your best bet would be a pitch-tracking software option controlling a plug-in like the Dexed plugin mentioned earlier, but that would require either a computer or tablet to pull off and you may as well just play a keyboard at that point IMO. The Iron Ether FMeron is probably the coolest FM pedal I know of, but again just doesn’t nail even that relatively simple FM patch (maybe close enough for you?)
 
#15
Juicyanalog said:
I’m trying to emulate the bass synth sound from Chicago’s; “along comes a woman”
With a Zoom pedal and an Aguilar octimizer

And failing miserably lol
Sounds nothing like it

So what do I do?
Buy the C4?
Or the iron ether?
Click to expand...
I believe that song uses the exact same Yamaha DX7 patch as the song from the OP (and that patch was used on countless 80s songs!). As the first reply broke down, there isn't really a synth pedal that can adequately emulate those FM sounds very well using actual FM- the C4 is mostly a subtractive synth, with a very rudimentary FM section and the Iron Ether FMeron is similarly very basic compared to the DX7 architecture. That said, this guy got something in the ballpark (to my ears) using a MiniMoog so maybe you could try to copy his settings as best as possible and tweak from there in either a C4 or Future Impact v4 using subtractive synthesis (or in the C4, a combo of subtractive and FM):
 
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