Electro / Drexciya Bass

Sounds like: A tight, cold, robotic bass with a ringing resonant edge.

Sound type: bass · Genre: Electro · Style: cold, resonant, slightly robotic electro bass tone

A tight, resonant, faintly robotic bass — narrower and colder than a house or techno bass, with a resonant filter peak that gives it a distinct pitched-percussion character.

Open this patch in the interactive Patchpad

Digitone II

Exact match: WAVETONE Square wave

SYN page 1 · WAVETONE

• TUN1: 0
• WAV1: Square (PRIM table)
• PD1: 20
• LEV1: 100
• TUN2: 0
• WAV2: Square (PRIM table)
• PD2: 0
• LEV2: 0

SYN page 2 · WAVETONE

• OFS1: 0
• TBL1: PRIM
• MOD: OFF
• RSET: ON
• OFS2: 0
• TBL2: PRIM
• DRIF: 0

FLTR page 1 · Multi-mode

• FREQ: 53
• RESO: 57
• TYPE: 0 (LP)
• ENV: 44
• DEC: 28
• SUS: 13

AMP page

• ATK: 0
• DEC: 28
• SUS: 25
• REL: 15
• MODE: ADSR

Digitone II's WAVETONE machine (select with FUNC+SYN). WAV1 is a real square (with a little PD1 for a narrower, colder tone) from the PRIM table with LEV2 at 0 and MOD OFF, so this is a real oscillator wave, not an FM stand-in. No FX page settings at all — resist the urge to warm this up, the cold, single-voice character is the point.

Syntakt

Exact match: Cold, dry, resonant single-voice bass

SYN — SY RAW

• WAV1: Square
• TUNE: 64

FLTR PAGE 1

• FREQ: 53
• RESO: 57
• TYPE: Lowpass
• ENV: 44
• DEC: 28
• SUS: 13

AMP PAGE 1

• ATK: 0
• DEC: 28
• SUS: 25
• REL: 15

AMP PAGE 2

• MODE: ADSR

Plain Square from SY RAW with Resonance pushed up — no send/insert effects at all, keeping the cold, dry, single-voice character intact.

Novation Summit

Exact match: Cold, dry, resonant single-voice bass

OSCILLATOR 1

• WAVE: Square/Pulse
• RANGE: 8'

FILTER

• SHAPE: LP
• FREQUENCY: 53
• RESONANCE: 57
• SOURCE: Mod Env 1
• ENV DEPTH: 44

MOD ENVELOPE 1

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 28
• SUSTAIN: 13

AMP ENVELOPE

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 28
• SUSTAIN: 25
• RELEASE: 15

No EFFECTS page settings at all here — skip Chorus/Detune and every other section, the cold single-voice character is the point.

Arturia MiniFreak

Exact match: Cold, dry, resonant single-voice bass

OSCILLATOR

• TYPE: SawX
• WAVE (SawMod): 60
• TIMBRE (Shape: chorus): 50
• SHAPE (Noise): 30
• VOLUME: 100

ANALOG FILTER

• TYPE: Low Pass
• CUTOFF: 42
• RESONANCE: 45
• ENV/VELO: 30

ENVELOPE

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 20
• SUSTAIN: 15
• RELEASE: 12

Osc 1 is SawX: Wave is SawMod, Timbre is the chorus Shape and Shape is the Noise. No Digital Effects slot is used — keep it dry and single-voice. Values are on MiniFreak's native 0-100 scale.

Dreadbox Typhon

Exact match: Cold, dry, resonant single-voice bass

FRONT PANEL

• WAVE: ~5-6 o'clock (VCO1 square, narrow character)
• CUTOFF: ~4 o'clock (moderately closed)
• RESON: ~4-5 o'clock (high — Typhon's resonant filter suits this well)
• EG LEVEL: ~2 o'clock (fairly strong)
• FILTER TIME: ~1-2 o'clock (fast)
• VOLUME: ~12 o'clock

AMP ADSR

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 28
• SUSTAIN: 25
• RELEASE: 15

No FX pages used — dry output, keeping the cold, slightly harsh single-voice character intact.

ASM Hydrasynth Desktop

Exact match: Cold, dry, resonant single-voice bass

OSCILLATOR 1

• MODE: Single
• WAVE: Square
• SEMI: 0
• KEYTRACK: 100%

FILTER 1

• TYPE: LP Stn12
• CUTOFF: 53.0
• RESONANCE: 57.0
• ENV 1 AMOUNT: 44

AMP

• AMP LEVEL: 100.0

ENVELOPE 1

• ATTACK: 0 ms
• DECAY: 140 ms
• SUSTAIN: 13.0

ENVELOPE 2

• ATTACK: 0 ms
• DECAY: 110 ms
• SUSTAIN: 25.0
• RELEASE: 60 ms

LP Stn12 (boutique-modular-style) is picked for a harder, less smooth resonant character than the ladder filter types. No Pre/Post-FX or Delay/Reverb used — dry, no chorus.

How the synths compare

Resist the urge to warm this up with chorus or detune — the cold, slightly harsh single-voice character is the entire point of the electro reference.

Patchpad is a free reference of drum patterns and synth patches written for real hardware: Digitakt II, Digitone II, Syntakt, Novation Summit, Arturia MiniFreak, Dreadbox Typhon and ASM Hydrasynth Desktop.