How to start with synth bass after playing bass?

[javi_bassist]

Hello!

I have been thinking about this for a looooooooooong time. I bought a Korg microkorg five years ago and I sold it two years ago because it was way too complex. I downloaded patches and made some sounds, but it was incredibly difficult for me.
Last year I bought a Novation Bass Station II with greater expectations and really wanted to learn. But it is still difficult to know where I should start. I have read some books and tutorials, youtube videos and I am still a little bit lost (not only with the machine itself, but also with the path). I thought about learning the songs I already know on bass guitar on the synth, but I don't know.

I know the basics in piano, so keys are not a huge problem. Any piece of advice?

Thank you!

 

[BassAgent]

A couple of tips:

-Soundwise, start trying to copy famous synth sounds. The Bass Station is excellent at emulating a Moog or a Korg MS20. I used to own a Moog Sub Phatty and it was a lot of trial and error.
-Playingwise, don't play bass guitar parts. They weren't made for a synth bass. Try to play some famous synth bass lines, like Superstition and the ones mentioned by Scott Devine here: Blog: The 10 Greatest Synth Bass Lines Through History (and how to get the sounds) – Scott's Bass Lessons

 

[NorthTexasBass]

Instead of a bass specific synth get a MIDI keyboard. There are tons of sounds in the free versions of Ableton and other software. I even got a Bass Station II plug in for free when I bought my Novation MIDI controller.

 

[javi_bassist]

Instead of a bass specific synth get a MIDI keyboard. There are tons of sounds in the free versions of Ableton and other software. I even got a Bass Station II plug in for free when I bought my Novation MIDI controller.

I have a MIDI keybaod (I think it is 64 keys) but I already have the Novation.

 

[monsterthompson]

Is your concern about the sound design or the parts to play, or both? Each topic is pretty expansive.

 

[Reedt2000]

Play the notes you want to play, with the sounds you want. But do it by pressing keys instead of fretting notes and plucking the strings of your bass...

 

[Jeff Hughes]

Garageband has loads of cool bass synths. You can use them with a midi keyboard.

 

[Pings Bass]

I have no help on using the novation, but playing bass lines one-handed on a keyboard is incredibly liberating for me.

I'm not currently playing a genre that synth bass fits with, but I'm always writing everything on the keyboard, including bass lines

 

[BismarckHerring]

What is it exactly that you’re struggling with? Is it the playing, the sound design or both?

When it comes to learning sound design, I would recommend following these steps:

• get a simple synth that has one function per knob. No menu diving. As you’ve noticed the microkorg is not that. I’m not familiar with the bass station, but it looks much better than the microkorg in this respect. Another option would be to download one of the many minimoog software emulations.
• Start with one oscillator set to a sawtooth wave, set the envelope(s) to A=0, D=max, S=max and R=0, and set the lowpass filter cutoff to max and resonance to 0.
• Familiarize yourself with filter cutoff and resonance controls. Start with a lowpass filter.
• Learn how the amplitude envelope works. (Imagine someone quickly turning the output volume knob every time you press or release a key)
• Learn how to modulate the filter with an envelope (same, but now they’re turning the filter cutoff knob)
• Learn how to modulate amplitude and filter cutoff with an LFO (imagine someone turning these knobs in a regular pattern)
• Learn how to use multiple oscillators and different waveforms
• Learn about portamento and retriggering of the envelopes

These are what I consider the essentials.Take your time with each step to ensure you understand what each control does, don’t try to understand everything at once.

 

[FullumMusic]

Play the notes you want to play, with the sounds you want. But do it by pressing keys instead of fretting notes and plucking the strings of your bass...

^^^ On a really basic level, this is about it. You're just generating the lower frequency notes with a different sound generating tool. Music is still music.

Is your concern about the sound design or the parts to play, or both? Each topic is pretty expansive.

And also, ^^^ this. The answer requires a more precise question. Also, i think a more precise question might even help you know what direction to go next without even getting an answer.

Like, as a basic starting point, what @Reedt2000 said. Load up a preset and just play the parts. There ain't much more to it. And if you find you need to practice playing a keyboard, do that.

As far as sound design goes (setting the knobs and faders to create the sounds you want), that's a world unto itself. You need to learn the basics how synthesizers work, and then how your specific synth works. If that's the case, i can probably give a basic roadmap in the thread, but it'll be a lot, and it'll still be a jumping off point for you to start learning.

 

[john_g]

I had to learn on my own..not just synth bass but keys/synths in general. If i was in your shoes, I would research how to create basic synth bass sounds using the wave forms, envelopes and filters. For example, using two saw wave forms in the oscillators and slightly detuning them will give you a fat buzzy, classic synth bass sound. Then you go to to the filter cutoff and pull it back a little to take off some of the top end. Then go to the ADSR section and mess with the attack, decay, sustain and release. Attack all the way down, decay half way, sustain all the way up, and just a little release will get you into a basic synth sound. Then, try it with two square wave forms instead of saws. Mess with the filters and resonance to get a quacky funky sound.

Some info i found that is helpful:

A basic synth voice has this flow:
Oscillator → Filter → Amplifier → Envelope → Effects

Oscillator (OSC) – This is your string vibration. It creates the raw sound. You’ll usually pick between waveforms:

Sawtooth = bright, aggressive (think “Subdivisions” by Rush)

Square = hollow, punchy (“Billie Jean” bass line)

Triangle/Sine = smooth, subby

Filter (VCF) – Acts like your tone knob but way more powerful. It removes high frequencies and adds “movement” when modulated.

Amplifier (VCA) – Controls volume over time (how notes fade in and out).

Envelope (ADSR) – Shapes how things evolve when you hit a note:

Attack: how fast the note starts

Decay: how quickly it drops after attack

Sustain: the steady level while holding

Release: how it fades when you let go

LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) – Adds motion like vibrato or filter wobble.


Start Simple: One Oscillator Bass Patch

Pick OSC1 → Sawtooth.

Set Filter Cutoff around halfway, Resonance low.

Envelope: short attack, medium decay, moderate sustain, medium release.

Add a little filter envelope (so it “pops” when you hit a note).

Add some sub (if available) to thicken it.

Play along with a drum loop — it’ll immediately feel musical. This builds your ear for how synth tones behave.

 

[monsterthompson]

Regarding sound design, this page from the manual has a pretty helpful diagram and explanation.

This isn’t how the pannel is laid out but it is helpful to understand how the audio flows through from the oscillators to the output. There’s a lot going on before the mixer, but it is all just sound sources. After that is an overdrive which should be easy to undrstand. Next is the filter which can be modulated by an envelope and/or LFO. Filters are important in synth sound design and the modualators provide invisible hands to automatically turn the knobs for you. Then, more distortion. Then a VCA is an amplifier which controlls output level as determined by the amp envelope shape.

 

[mambo4]

I was lucky to have a college course in music tech that covered synthesizer modules very well.
We had an Arp 1000 and literally connected the modules with cables.
I have a preference for self crafted synth sounds rather than something selected form an endless sound bank of possibilities
The novation looks like a ton of fun to me, all those delicious knobs, sliders and and switches.

If you don't know much about synthesis and are looking to learn,
I suggest breaking your research into isolated chunks according to the boxes on the synth panel:

• oscillators : generate the sound. The novation has 2 oscillators you can mix.
• ADSR envelopes: change the transient sound ( think pluck vs bowed)
• LFOs : change the sound in a looping rhtyhm (think flanger, delay or phaser)
• filters: dynamic changes in EQ settings (think wah, envelope filter pedals)

There are other features on a novation but the above are the big 4 to understand

 

[Sean150]

I found the best thing to do is to read the manual and experiment to see how each of the controls works and then experiment with them. Observe how they interact. Once you can do that you can create your own sounds and “play the synth” by adjusting parameters as you go to give the sound movement.

The only time I really use built in patches is if I’m short on time and jamming.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

Hello!

I have been thinking about this for a looooooooooong time. I bought a Korg microkorg five years ago and I sold it two years ago because it was way too complex. I downloaded patches and made some sounds, but it was incredibly difficult for me.
Last year I bought a Novation Bass Station II with greater expectations and really wanted to learn. But it is still difficult to know where I should start. I have read some books and tutorials, youtube videos and I am still a little bit lost (not only with the machine itself, but also with the path). I thought about learning the songs I already know on bass guitar on the synth, but I don't know.

I know the basics in piano, so keys are not a huge problem. Any piece of advice?

Thank you!

I play bass, keyboard and keyboard bass in a band. Yes, learn songs you already know through electric bass, on synth. That's exactly the right learning approach. If you know the basics of piano, you'll be fine. Then there's signal chain and such, but as for how to start. You got it.

 

[brianrost]

it is still difficult to know where I should start. I have read some books and tutorials, youtube videos and I am still a little bit lost (not only with the machine itself, but also with the path).

If what’s bothering you is how to fine tune the preset sounds or creating sounds from scratch, I’d say start here:

Using the Novation Components software, take all the presets that sound good to you and copy them one by one into a single bank. Then load that new bank into your BSII. The BSII holds 128 patches per bank, so it’s likely you won't fill up the new bank right away. Now you can use it live or in the studio while you learn whatever else you need to create and control sounds. Right now, using Components you have access to 9 banks of patches that you can audition from the software and you’re sure to find a bunch that will be close to what you want.

Despite what synth nerds tell you about the need to create your own sounds most people who just play the darn things on gigs only use the presets, possibly tweaked a little to fit their taste. The only people that need to understand how to program their synths are those who use ones without patch memories, which prior to the introduction of the Prophet 5 in 1978 was everybody. Back then, the manuals always came with patch examples to start with. Modern synths come with lots of presets, the BSII only stores 128 at a time but the last hardware synth I owned stored over 1000 presets and had a simple interface of just eight knobs that could be used to do the sort of tweaks you would need to make in real time on a gig. I literally never created a new sound from scratch. I only tweaked the presets and saved the tweaked versions.

Nowadays, it’s just synth nerds who think presets are for losers.

If your goal is to copy specific sounds on specific recordings, then that’s a whole other conversation.

 

[Michedelic]

Hello!

I have been thinking about this for a looooooooooong time. I bought a Korg microkorg five years ago and I sold it two years ago because it was way too complex. I downloaded patches and made some sounds, but it was incredibly difficult for me.
Last year I bought a Novation Bass Station II with greater expectations and really wanted to learn. But it is still difficult to know where I should start. I have read some books and tutorials, youtube videos and I am still a little bit lost (not only with the machine itself, but also with the path). I thought about learning the songs I already know on bass guitar on the synth, but I don't know.

I know the basics in piano, so keys are not a huge problem. Any piece of advice?

Thank you!

Learn about the roots/history of the concept of “synth bass”, and come to understand that the differences between a bass guitar with strings and a keyboard will determine your technique. One is not better than the other, just different.
Effects for bass guitar have come a long way, enabling it to sound identical, but there’s other aspects to consider. Then there is the realm of sequencing. I dabled on keyboard synth bass in the early 80’s when it was all in vogue without having had any training, and it was definitely a different mindset, the one great advantage then was the endless sustain/pads, plus note bends, vibrato, and the sequencer potential.

Speaking of roots, even before synths were used there was the precedent of Jimmy Smith’s B3 bass pedals in his organ trio jazz, and of course Ray Manzarek’s left hand on the Fender Piano Bass, but believe it or not, there was synth bass in the 60’s(aside from Switched On Bach, which you should absorb)…




Other than that, here are my picks for you to study…






…and then, the obvious…while there’s the entire career(well, at least after 1973), I’d focus on this album…

 

[pbass2]

Nowadays, it’s just synth nerds who think presets are for losers.

Hear hear. I come from the modular world and man, if I have a synth with presets that work for me, all the better! Editing and customizing them is the next step, and honestly way more efficient than trying to start totally from a blank slate. It's gonna be "your"patch when you're done.
(And heck, the R&D gone into finessing those sounds is baked into the price you paid for it too...)

I think the BassStation is actually a great synth for someone new to all this stuff.

 

[monsterthompson]

Despite what synth nerds tell you about the new to create your own sounds most people who just play the darn things on gigs only use the presets, possibly tweaked a little to fit their taste.

I remember the first time I heard a patch I recognized on a friend’s album. He’s accomplished and a person I hold in pretty high regard, and I would’ve expected him to do sound designs from scratch. I asked him “is this preset X?” and he said yes. He said no need to sound design everything when you have songs to write.

When I realized how many presets there are across all software and hardware platforms, it dawned on me there was an entire sound design profession and professionals I’d never be able to outperform.

 

[J Wilson]

I double(d) as well. When I did, I used (in my day) a Roland JX8P (also used for other key parts in other songs besides synth bass) and preferred a touch sensitive keys (I always hated that vacant organ key feel). I'd simply call up a patch that worked or was similar to the record and just played it. MIDI and plug-ins and all the choices we have now weren't around then, and I'd still prefer to keep it simple with a single keyboard with the right sounds on board.

I never looked at it as much different than playing the lines on the bass, I simply did it to get the right sound, way faster than trying to cobble a pedal signal chain together that didn't do much good, just way more convenient to play the JX. I'd caution about going down a rabbit hole with a bunch of gear, makes its own problems. I wanted a full synth I could use for anything, so that simplified it for me.

And be sure whatever you're amping it into will make bass, you need to feel it as well as hear it properly.