Wobble Bass Rack
Instrument Rack pairing an Operator FM chain with a Wavetable formant chain, both modulated by one Max for Live LFO whose synced rate lives on a macro; macros: Rate, Depth, Formant, Grit, Sub, Talk.
A wobble is a filter or FM index moving in tempo. The trick that makes this rack usable live is that the LFO is one Max for Live LFO device at the top of the rack, mapped to parameters in both chains, with its synced rate on a macro that steps through 1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 and triplets. Chain one is Operator doing FM wobble (the modulator level is what moves — the classic “yoi yoi”), chain two is Wavetable sweeping a Formant table for the vowel talk, and chain three is a locked sine sub that the LFO never touches. Six macros: Rate, Depth, Formant, Grit, Sub, Talk. Dubstep, UK bass, DnB, halftime and neuro all use this skeleton; genre defaults are in Variations. BPM assumptions below are 140.
Layout
How it's built
- Empty Instrument Rack, three chains: FM wobble, Formant talk, Sub. Key zones all C0–C3; a wobble above C3 is a lead, not a bass.
- FM wobble chain: drop the Max for Live LFO device first (it is an audio effect in the browser’s Max for Live Audio Effects; placing it in an instrument chain before the instrument is fine, its audio passes through untouched). Shape Sine, Sync on, Rate 1/4, Depth 100%, Offset 0, Smooth 10%, Retrigger on so it restarts with each note — essential for the wobble landing on the beat.
- Operator after it: algorithm B→A. Osc A waveform Saw (from Operator’s wave list; a user-shaped saw gives more low-order harmonics to modulate), level 0 dB. Osc B Sine, Coarse 1, Fine 0, level −30 dB. Amp envelope A 5 ms, D 300 ms, S 0.9, R 120 ms. Voices 1, Glide 30 ms.
- Operator’s own filter: type LP 24, circuit MS2, Frequency 300 Hz, Resonance 25%, Drive 20%. Envelope amount 0. The filter only tames the saw; the wobble comes from FM.
- Click Map on the LFO and click Operator’s Osc B level. In the LFO’s mapping Min/Max set Min −30 dB, Max −6 dB. Add a second target (the LFO has multiple map slots) — leave it for the Wavetable in step 8.
- After Operator: Roar in Single routing, shaper Soft Sine, Drive 4 dB, Tone 0, Dry/Wet 100%, post-filter LP 8 kHz. Then EQ Eight: low cut 24 dB/oct at 60 Hz so the FM layer leaves the sub chain alone.
- Formant talk chain: Wavetable. Osc 1 category Formant, pick a vowel-rich table, Wave Position 30%, Unison mode Classic, 2 voices, Amount 15%. Osc 2 off. Sub off. Filter 1 on, LP, circuit MS2, Frequency 600 Hz, Resonance 20%, Drive 10%. Amp envelope A 5, D 400, S 0.9, R 150. Mono voice with Glide 30 ms to match chain one.
- Map the LFO’s second target to Wavetable Filter 1 Frequency, Min 200 Hz, Max 4 kHz. One LFO, two chains, same phase — the FM index and the vowel filter open together.
- Auto Filter after Wavetable: Band Pass 12 dB, 900 Hz, Resonance 40%, LFO off (the M4L LFO owns all motion). Saturator Hard Curve, Drive 6 dB. EQ Eight: low cut 120 Hz, low pass 6 kHz.
- Sub chain: Operator algorithm 1, sine, Transpose −12, Voices 1, Glide 30 ms, envelope A 2, D 200, S 1, R 100. EQ Eight low pass 24 dB/oct at 110 Hz. Utility Mono. Nothing in this chain is mapped to the LFO.
- Chain volumes: FM wobble −3 dB, Formant talk −inf, Sub −2 dB.
- Macro 1 Rate: map the LFO’s Rate while Sync is on. The synced rate is a list of divisions, so the macro steps through them; set Min 1/1 and Max 1/16T in the mapping browser. A 0–127 knob then lands on each division in bands — mark the Push encoder positions at soundcheck. The 1/4 wobble at 140 BPM is 428 ms per cycle; 1/8 is 214 ms (see BPM to ms).
- Macro 2 Depth: LFO Depth Min 0, Max 100%. Macro 3 Formant: Wavetable Osc 1 Wave Position Min 0, Max 100%.
- Macro 4 Grit: Roar Drive Min 0, Max 16 dB; Saturator Drive Min 0, Max 14 dB. Macro 5 Sub: Sub chain volume Min −inf, Max 0 dB. Macro 6 Talk: Formant talk chain volume Min −inf, Max −4 dB, plus Auto Filter Resonance Min 20, Max 70% so the vowel sharpens as it fades in.
- Exclude Rate and Sub from randomization. Randomizing the rate changes the groove; randomizing sub level breaks the mix. Depth, Formant, Grit and Talk are safe for the dice — hit it per bar for the variation-per-bar style.
- Macro Variations: Classic 1/4 (Rate 1/4, Depth 100, Formant 30, Grit 25, Sub 100, Talk 0), Talking 1/8 (1/8, 80, 60, 40, 100, 70), Half-time 1/2 (1/2, 100, 20, 60, 100, 20), Neuro 1/16 (1/16, 60, 80, 85, 80, 90). Save as Wobble Bass Rack.
Macro map
| Macro | Device.parameter | Min | Max | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rate | LFO (M4L).Rate, Sync on | 1/1 | 1/16T | Stepped divisions so a knob turn never lands between beat subdivisions. |
| Depth | LFO (M4L).Depth | 0% | 100% | Pull to zero for a static growl in a breakdown. |
| Formant | Wavetable.Osc 1 Wave Position | 0% | 100% | Vowel selection, independent of the LFO movement. |
| Grit | Roar.Drive / Saturator.Drive | 0 / 0 dB | 16 / 14 dB | Both chains distort together so the blend stays consistent. |
| Sub | Chain Sub.Volume | −inf | 0 dB | Keep the sub separate for the sub-drop and for mono checks. |
| Talk | Chain Formant talk.Volume / Auto Filter.Resonance | −inf / 20% | −4 dB / 70% | Fade in the vowel layer and sharpen it in one move. |
Signal flow notes
FM wobble chain
FM wobble beats filter wobble for 140 BPM bass because an FM index sweep changes the number of harmonics, not just their level. At the top of the LFO the sound is brighter and physically louder; at the bottom it collapses to almost a sine. A filter can only remove — FM adds and removes, which reads as “yoi” on a big system.
Formant talk chain
LFO retrigger on means a legato phrase restarts the wobble with each new note. For a continuous wobble across a riff, turn Retrigger off and let the LFO free-run in sync; then the phase follows the transport and the wobble lines up with the bar regardless of when the note starts.
For a stepped “stutter” wobble, change the LFO shape to Sample and Hold with Rate 1/16 and Smooth 0 — the FM index jumps between random levels on each sixteenth. Pair with the Talk layer for neuro.
Variations
- Dubstep 140: as built; Rate 1/4 and 1/8 alternating per bar via Macro Variations, Grit 25%, Sub 100%. Add Echo at a 1/8 dotted on a return and throw the FM chain into it at the end of phrases. See dubstep.
- UK bass / grime: Rate 1/2, Depth 60%, replace Roar’s Soft Sine with Fold at 6 dB for a squarer tone; Formant 10% so the vowel is more “oo” than “ah”. See UK bass 140 and grime.
- DnB / neurofunk (174 BPM): Rate 1/8 or 1/16, Talk 90%, Grit 85%. Resample the Formant chain, drop it into Simpler in Slice mode and re-sequence — the standard neuro workflow. See neurofunk and resampling.
- Halftime (85 BPM feel): Rate 1/2 with LFO shape Triangle, Depth 100%, Sub 100%, Formant 50%. The slow triangle gives a seesaw that sits in the half-time pocket. See halftime.
- Modular hybrid: send the M4L LFO out as CV via CV Tools’ CV LFO instead, modulating a eurorack filter on an External Audio Effect chain; keep the Sub chain in Live for mono safety. See modular hybrid rack.
Performance notes
- Push: Rate on encoder 1 is the whole performance. Because it is stepped, move it in deliberate jumps; the division label appears on Push’s display as the LFO’s rate value. Depth on encoder 2 to kill the wobble into a breakdown.
- Automation vs macro: wobble rate patterns per bar (1/4, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16) are better as clip envelope automation of the Rate macro so they repeat exactly; use the encoder for improvised fills on top.
- Per-note variation: Live 12 MIDI Tools: put an LFO MIDI transformation or a Velocity Shaper on the clip and map velocity to Operator filter frequency (Operator’s Vel → Filter) for subtle per-note brightness without touching the macro.
- CPU: Wavetable with Unison 2 plus Roar in Hi-Quality is moderate; freeze stems in a set and keep one live instance for the drop. The M4L LFO adds negligible load.
- Phase on big systems: the FM and Formant chains both sit around 100–300 Hz; if the mix sounds hollow, pull Talk back or move the Formant chain’s high-pass to 180 Hz. Always keep Sub mono.