XO Drum Machine and Clean Bass Sounds with Wave Tables in Bitwig
Tutorial | Apr 01, 2024
In the video, I demonstrated how to set up an XO preset in Bitwig Studio to avoid muting and unmuting the return channel. By muting the individual buses and leaving the master channel untouched, you can hear the preview of samples without any audio leakage. Additionally, I showed how to create a mono bass sound using the Serum wave table editor, removing the fundamental and replacing it with a stable mono sine wave, while still maintaining a stereo spread on top.
You can watch the Video on Youtube - support me on Patreon - Download the Wavetable (Saw with no Fundamental)
In the video, two main questions were addressed regarding music production techniques, specifically within the context of using the drum machine XO preset in Bitwig Studio and creating bass sounds with a wave table in Poly-Grid. Here's a summary of the solutions provided:
1. Drum Machine XO Preset Issue and Solution: #
- Problem: In the initial setup, the XO sampler is placed in the return channel of the drum machine, necessitating muting to avoid sound leakage from the cells and bus outputs. This setup muted the sample preview in the XO, making sample selection tedious.
- Solution: Instead of muting the global return channel, mute all individual buses while leaving the master channel active for sample previews. Change the audio receiver on each cell to receive from the XO's bus channel pre-fader, ensuring no sound leakage and allowing for previewing without muting the return channel.
2. Creating Bass Sounds with Wave Tables: #
- Problem: How to utilize wave tables for bass sounds, requiring a monophonic or mono bass sound or fundamental, while maintaining stereo spread and detuning for richness.
- Solutions:
- Basic Approach: Use a high-pass filter (HP 48dB per octave) set one octave higher than the fundamental to suppress it, then introduce a stable mono sine wave for the fundamental. This allows for a mono bass sound with a stereo top end.
- Advanced Wave Table Editing: Using a wave table editor (like Serum), create a wave table with indexes for just a saw wave, another without the fundamental, and a third without the first harmonic. Morph these to smoothly transition from a full saw to one lacking the fundamental or first harmonic. This technique provides a clean base for mono sub-bass and a stereo spread for the upper frequencies.
Both segments focus on practical solutions to common production challenges, offering clear steps to enhance sound design and workflow efficiency. The first part simplifies the routing within a drum machine setup to streamline sample previewing. The second part presents both a straightforward and a sophisticated approach to achieving a powerful bass sound that balances mono and stereo elements for depth and presence in mixes.
Questions & Answers #
Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:
Can I create a drum machine XO preset using Bitwig Studio? #
Yes, you can create a drum machine XO preset in Bitwig Studio by setting up the XO sampler in the return channel and muting the XO cells and bus channels to avoid audio leakage. However, muting and unmuting the return channel can be tedious. To solve this, I suggest muting the individual buses instead of the global return channel and switching the audio receiver on the cells to pre-fader instead of post-fader. Watch the Video on this here.
How can I preview samples in XO without muting and unmuting the return channel? #
To preview samples in XO without muting and unmuting the return channel, you can mute the individual buses instead of the global return channel. This way, the audio won't leak out, but you can still hear the preview because the master channel is unmuted. This eliminates the need to constantly mute and unmute the return channel while previewing samples.
How can I remove the fundamental frequency from a wavetable in Bitwig Studio? #
To remove the fundamental frequency from a wavetable in Bitwig Studio, you can use a filter such as the Selling Key filter. Set the Selling Key filter to the second harmonic, which is one octave higher than the fundamental, and use it to heavily attenuate the fundamental frequency. This will leave you with a stable mono sound and allow you to retain the stereo spread of the wavetable's overtones.
Can I create a clean mono sub while keeping a stereo spread on top in Bitwig Studio? #
Yes, you can create a clean mono sub while keeping a stereo spread on top in Bitwig Studio by using the Selling Key filter to remove the fundamental frequency and then layering it with a clean sine wave. By removing the fundamental using the filter and bringing in the clean sine wave, you can achieve a mono sub while still retaining the stereo spread on top with the overtones.
Transcription #
This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.
[00:00:00] So over the weekend I saw two questions pop up and the first one was related to my drum
[00:00:05] machine XO preset where I made a video about this a while back where you have the XO sampler
[00:00:12] inside of the drum machine and make it basically just one device or one preset.
[00:00:18] So it works like this that we have the XO here in the return channel and we had to mute
[00:00:23] basically here the XO so we don't leak out the sounds or the audio signals from the cells
[00:00:30] here because there's an audio receiver on there and also out of the bus channels here
[00:00:36] because we want to receive this with the audio receiver on these cells.
[00:00:40] So now we can play this here and if you unmute this we have basically the sound twice from
[00:00:48] the cells and from the bus outputs here from the return channel.
[00:00:51] So we had to mute basically this return channel.
[00:00:54] So this was the initial setup.
[00:00:56] The problem with this is that we can't hear actually the preview inside here of the sample
[00:01:02] space right.
[00:01:04] It's also muted because it leaks out here from the master channel.
[00:01:08] You can see here there's a level and because the whole thing is muted you can't hear it
[00:01:14] so you have to unmute this, preview your samples and then mute it back again which is a bit
[00:01:19] tedious.
[00:01:20] So the question was how to change the setup actually to make it possible without the need
[00:01:26] of muting and unmuting its return channel.
[00:01:30] So my idea is pretty simple.
[00:01:32] Instead of muting here the global channel or the global return channel we just mute
[00:01:36] all the individual buses here like this and just leave the master here untouched so we
[00:01:46] can hear the preview.
[00:01:48] So now we can't hear basically sound on these cells because we use on these cells an audio
[00:01:55] receiver and to receive basically from the XO from the bus channel here but post fader
[00:02:04] and post fader is basically after these knobs here after solo and mute and also after this
[00:02:11] fader here.
[00:02:12] So it's called pre fader and post fader.
[00:02:14] That's the reason.
[00:02:16] So instead of receiving here the kick from the three four post fader we just switch this
[00:02:21] to pre fader.
[00:02:22] So here this is three four so we go to XO.
[00:02:28] Three four so instead of post we take your pre also snare XO.
[00:02:40] This is seven eight right pre and then hi hat is eleven twelve pre.
[00:02:51] Okay.
[00:02:54] So now the audio doesn't leak out because the buses are muted and we still receive the
[00:02:59] audio here from the pre and you can also have a preview because the master is unmuted.
[00:03:09] It's basically kind of solved this way.
[00:03:11] So this is my idea on how to change the routing basically to make this possible.
[00:03:18] Save preset to library.
[00:03:21] Call this save it and for the next time it's basically ready to go.
[00:03:28] The second question was related to two wave tables.
[00:03:34] So let's say you have a Poly-Grid inside the Poly-Grid to use the wave table.
[00:03:42] So later here also an ADSR and let's use an output here and let's use a spectrum analyzer
[00:03:52] here and call this mid.
[00:03:54] That's the mid channel.
[00:03:56] So make the small duplicate side and put this here into side mode.
[00:04:04] Okay.
[00:04:05] Put down the volume a bit.
[00:04:07] So yeah now we can play here a song.
[00:04:11] You can see we have the fundamental and all the overtones here.
[00:04:19] And if you put this here now in unison mode let's say three voices.
[00:04:23] The voices are spread in the stereo spectrum and also they're slightly detuning.
[00:04:27] We use it in fat mode.
[00:04:29] You can see we have a lot of side information.
[00:04:31] So it's a stereo signal now and it morphs and moves all around and it's also why it
[00:04:36] sounds nice because it's kind of hovering and the frequencies are beating.
[00:04:41] So now the problem is how do we use this for bass sounds because we need a monophonic or
[00:04:45] mono bass sound or fundamental.
[00:04:48] So the question was how do I remove now your this guy the fundamental and replace it with
[00:04:54] a sign with a stable mono sign.
[00:04:57] And the first thing you can do the easy straightforward thing to do is actually use a selling key
[00:05:02] filter.
[00:05:03] So the key has the steepest filters here.
[00:05:07] HP 848 db per octave high pass filter.
[00:05:12] And instead of just double clicking this and put this onto C3 we use here.
[00:05:18] The second harmonic which is C4 which is exactly one octave higher.
[00:05:22] So C3 is basically always the middle frequency of the key which means the fundamental.
[00:05:29] But we move this up to one octave higher C4 which is basically the second harmonic or
[00:05:36] the first harmonic.
[00:05:37] The fundamental is this and this is the first harmonic.
[00:05:41] We put your plan so you can see it.
[00:05:50] So this is without here we have the fundamental moving around moving around stereo spectrum
[00:05:55] then bring in the filter and we completely remove not remove pull it down pretty drastically
[00:06:04] you can see it's minus 80 db so it's very quiet.
[00:06:12] And because this is key tracked here and it's on the second harmonic here C4 this moves
[00:06:18] perfectly fine with the key and it also works perfectly fine with the polyphonic or polyphony.
[00:06:25] So you can use multiple keys and the selling key filter is perfectly on point on the first
[00:06:33] harmonic with this.
[00:06:36] And then you can insert here let's say a clean sign.
[00:06:43] Right.
[00:06:44] Use a mixer here and bring this here on the root or on the fundamental.
[00:06:56] You can see here the mid channel now has this stable sign and it's completely a completely
[00:07:06] mono if you remove here all the overtones you can see this is mono there's no sight
[00:07:11] information so there's it's not a stereo signal.
[00:07:14] Then you can bring back here all the moving the tuned saw parts.
[00:07:25] Okay.
[00:07:26] And you can call this here now first harmonic.
[00:07:30] We can also bring in here the second harmonic just by pulling up here two to one call this
[00:07:38] second.
[00:07:44] Bring this in.
[00:07:50] And we can change this now independently.
[00:07:52] So this is mono here these two and this one is the tuned saw on top.
[00:08:09] So this is basically nice for bass sounds where you need a nice mono sub and you want
[00:08:15] to still keep the stereo spread on top.
[00:08:19] So this is the first idea.
[00:08:22] You can also make this much much cleaner by using a wave table editor and I guess most
[00:08:27] people have serum already.
[00:08:31] So you can use serum for this or maybe vitals also possible to use this but I use all the
[00:08:36] time serum because I own it and I think the wave table editor is the best on the market
[00:08:41] right now still.
[00:08:44] So here we can just go from the in it patch into the editor we have just one index here
[00:08:49] on the wave table.
[00:08:51] You can call up your singles and say just saw.
[00:08:54] So it's just a saw wave.
[00:08:57] Use your spectrum.
[00:08:59] You can see the fundamental now the overtones and then we can create your second index on
[00:09:07] the second index.
[00:09:08] We just remove the fundamental without the fundamental and we can even do a third one
[00:09:17] here where we remove the first harmonic.
[00:09:20] The fundamental first harmonic and then here it starts with the second.
[00:09:29] And then we have three indexes in this wave table and we can say more of and say just
[00:09:34] spectral.
[00:09:37] And now we can use the wave table position here to move the fundamental and then the
[00:09:44] first harmonic.
[00:09:48] And then if you like this of course you can just say here export as a wave table right
[00:09:56] and you say saw no fundamental frequency right save it.
[00:10:06] And also put this in the in the description below so you can just download this if you
[00:10:10] don't own serum.
[00:10:13] And then we more or less pull this here into the wave table oscillator here.
[00:10:24] No fundamental.
[00:10:27] So let's start here with the wave table first.
[00:10:32] Let's use no unison.
[00:10:40] We don't need to sell it because we just put this out here.
[00:10:45] So here all the overtones in there also the fundamental.
[00:10:49] We can slowly remove this 50% and the fundamental is completely gone 100% and the first harmonic
[00:10:58] is gone right.
[00:10:59] Then you bring in here the sign, the first harmonic and the fundamental back with the
[00:11:08] sign.
[00:11:09] And these two are completely mono and you can push this wave table now to unison.
[00:11:16] The tune everything.
[00:11:19] And these two guys here the fundamental and the first harmonic are completely mono perfectly
[00:11:25] in center.
[00:11:26] But this is the cleanest possible way.
[00:11:29] And like I said I put you this wave table here in the description below so you can just
[00:11:33] download it and use it in the wave table oscillator of Bitwig Studio and have some fun with
[00:11:39] some Reese / Reece and Hover Bass-lines.
[00:11:41] It's perfect for bass sounds, right, for drum bass sounds, for Reese bass sounds and just
[00:11:47] have a nice dense big stereo spread on top and the fundamental and the first harmonic
[00:11:54] is completely mono.
[00:11:55] It's perfect.
[00:11:57] That's it for this video.
[00:11:58] Leave a like if you like the video.
[00:12:00] Subscribe to the channel.
[00:12:01] Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video.
[00:12:03] Bye.
[00:12:03] [BLANK_AUDIO]