Reese Bass

Classic two-saw reese (Analog)

The archetype. Two saws, a little detune, a low-pass filter and nothing clever. This is the sound every other recipe here is a variation of.

1. Load Analog. Osc 1: Saw, octave 0. Osc 2: Saw, octave 0, Detune around +9 cents (start between 5 and 15). Both oscillators to Filter 1.
2. Filter 1: LP 24 dB, cutoff 1.2 kHz, resonance 10%. Envelope amount small (10–15%) so the note opens a little on attack.
3. Amp envelope: Attack 5 ms, Decay 500 ms, Sustain 90%, Release 150 ms. The reese must sustain — the movement needs time to happen.
4. Voices: set to Mono with Glide around 40 ms and Legato on for the DnB "slide" feel.
5. Follow with Saturator (Analog Clip, Drive 8 dB) and EQ Eight: high-pass at 35 Hz, scoop 300 Hz a little if it gets boxy.

Wavetable unison reese — Classic vs Phase Sync

Wavetable's unison modes give you control over how the detuned copies start their phase cycle, which is exactly what defines a reese. Classic unison and Phase Sync behave very differently on long notes.

1. Osc 1: Basics category, Saw table (position 0 for a plain saw). Osc 2 off for now, Sub off.
2. Unison: mode Classic, 4 voices, Amount around 25%. Each voice is detuned slightly and starts with a random phase, so every note begins the beat cycle at a different point — good for natural, organic reeses.
3. Switch to Phase Sync: all voices start in phase at note-on and drift apart over the note. Every note begins thick and clean, then "opens" into the swirl. This is the controlled, "designed" reese used in neuro — the movement is identical on every hit, so you can resample it and chop it.
4. Filter 1: OSR circuit, LP 12 dB, cutoff 900 Hz, resonance 20%, Drive 10%. The OSR model adds a little saturation inside the filter.
5. Modulation matrix: LFO 1 (sine, 0.15 Hz free-running) → Filter 1 cutoff at 15% to lazily open and close the top.

Variations: Osc 2 on a Basics>Square table one octave down, mixed at 30%, gives a hollow, "cardboard" reese that sits well under vocals. Shimmer unison mode on Osc 2 only adds high-register sparkle without touching the beat rate of Osc 1.

Operator two-saw reese with Spread

Operator's saws are cleaner and the detune is set per oscillator in Fine, so this is the most precise reese to tune. It also lets you add a touch of FM to the saws for an edge no subtractive synth has.

1. Choose an algorithm where A and B both go straight to the output (the all-parallel one, rightmost). Osc A: Saw, Coarse 1, Fine 0. Osc B: Saw, Coarse 1, Fine +12 (Fine is in cents-like units — try values between 6 and 20).
2. Both at the same level (around −12 dB each). Osc C and D off.
3. Global: Spread 20% to put the two saws slightly apart in the stereo field. Keep below 30% so the sub stays centred.
4. Filter section: LP 24, cutoff 1.5 kHz, envelope amount 20% with a short Decay (300 ms) for a soft initial bite.
5. For a "neuro-ready" edge: route D into A at a low level (switch to an algorithm with D→A) with D a sine at Coarse 2, level −30 dB. A hint of FM on a saw adds inharmonic grit the saturation then amplifies.

Drift unison voice mode reese

Drift's Unison voice mode stacks detuned copies of the whole voice, and its analogue-style drift makes the beating irregular, which is the warmest-sounding reese in Live without any extra processing.

1. Osc 1: Saw shape. Osc 2: Saw, Octave −1, mix around 30% for a reinforced fundamental.
2. Voice mode: Unison. Detune amount around 20% (it is a percentage of a range, not cents — listen for the beat rate). Drift amount 15–25%.
3. Filter: MS2 type, LP, cutoff 1 kHz, resonance 15%, Env 2 → cutoff +20% with Env 2 decay 400 ms.
4. LFO: triangle, 0.1 Hz, assigned to filter cutoff at 10% in the mod matrix for slow movement independent of the beating.
5. Drum Buss after it: Drive 20%, Boom 20% tuned to the key's root (49 Hz for G0) for extra sub weight. Drum Buss's Boom is a resonant low-frequency enhancer — set it carefully or it masks the kick.

Resampled reese with Auto Filter / Phaser-Flanger notch sweeps

Once a reese is bounced to audio, moving notches through it produce the "vowel" sweeps of modern DnB bass. The movement is imposed on the sample, not generated by oscillators, so it is repeatable and automatable.

1. Record 2 bars of a static reese (any recipe above) via a new audio track with input set to Resampling, or use Bounce in Place (12.2) on the MIDI track. Drag the clip into a Simpler on a new track. Classic mode, Warp off, root note matched to what you recorded.
2. Auto Filter (12.2 redesign): filter type Notch, cutoff around 800 Hz, resonance 40%. LFO section: sync, rate 1/4, amount 40%, shape triangle. This sweeps the notch between roughly 300 Hz and 2 kHz every beat.
3. Phaser-Flanger in Phaser mode: 6 notches, Center 1 kHz, Spread wide, Rate synced to 1/2, Feedback 35%. Keep it after the Auto Filter — the phaser multiplies the notches the filter is already moving.
4. Roar in Serial routing: stage 1 Soft Sine at 6 dB, stage 2 Diode at 10 dB, post filter LP 6 kHz. Distortion after the notches fills them back in slightly with new harmonics, which is what makes it sound "processed" rather than filtered.
5. Resample this again. Each pass adds a layer of movement locked to tempo; three passes is typical for neuro.

Layering a sine sub under the reese

The single most important mix decision for a reese: the detuned part should not carry the sub. Give the fundamental to a clean sine in its own chain and high-pass the reese.

1. Put the reese in an Instrument Rack. Add a second chain with Operator: single sine (Osc A only), amp envelope A 5 ms, D 200 ms, S 100%, R 80 ms. Level −6 dB.
2. On the reese chain, EQ Eight high-pass at 100–140 Hz, 24 dB/oct. Both chains receive the same MIDI, so they always play the same notes.
3. Check phase: if the reese's remaining low content partially cancels the sine, flip polarity on the sub chain with Utility (Phase Invert) and keep whichever version sounds fuller in mono.
4. Optional: Glue Compressor on the rack output with Attack 1 ms, Release Auto, 2:1, 2–3 dB of reduction to hold both layers together.

Distortion staging: Saturator into Roar Serial

One hard distortion flattens the reese into a buzz. Two or three gentle stages, each adding a different harmonic signature, keep the beating audible while filling the mids.

1. Stage 1 — Saturator, Soft Sine curve, Drive 6 dB, Soft Clip enabled. This rounds the saw peaks and adds odd harmonics evenly. Output trimmed to match input level.
2. Stage 2 — Roar in Serial routing. Stage A: Soft Sine, 8 dB. Stage B: Fold at a low amount (4 dB) — folding adds the "metallic" upper harmonics. Pre-filter LP at 3 kHz keeps high harmonics from folding into noise; post-filter HP at 80 Hz removes DC and sub mud created by rectification.
3. Stage 3 — a second Saturator, Analog Clip, Drive 3 dB, Color on with the colour frequency around 1 kHz to add a focused mid presence.
4. Final EQ Eight: a small cut at 2.5 kHz if it gets harsh; your ears decide. Then Utility to re-balance level.

Stereo management: mono low, widen above 150 Hz

The width of a reese is a mix decision, not a synth decision. Make the whole thing mono first, then add width only in the band that can take it.

1. Utility first: enable Bass Mono with the frequency at 120–150 Hz. Everything under it is now summed to mono regardless of what the synth did.
2. Audio Effect Rack with two chains. "Low" chain: EQ Eight LP 150 Hz, 48 dB/oct, nothing else. "High" chain: EQ Eight HP 150 Hz, 48 dB/oct.
3. High chain: Chorus-Ensemble in Ensemble mode, Rate 0.3 Hz, Amount 20%, Dry/Wet 25%. Then Utility Width 120–140%.
4. Alternative to the rack: one EQ Eight in M/S mode. Edit the S channel only: high-pass at 150 Hz. This removes side content below the transition without touching the mid.
5. Final check in mono (Utility Width 0% on the master, bypassed before export): the reese should lose some shimmer but not level or weight.

Chord reese

Stack a fifth or a minor third onto the reese note and the beating between chord tones adds to the detune beating. Darker and more harmonically rich than a single-note reese; the classic "dark liquid" sound.

1. Chord MIDI effect before the synth: Shift 1 at +7 semitones (a fifth) at −6 dB, Shift 2 at +12 at −12 dB. Avoid thirds below ~E1 (82 Hz) — intervals of a third in the low mids beat too fast and turn to mud.
2. Wavetable with Phase Sync unison, 3 voices, Amount 20%. Polyphony must allow at least 3 voices.
3. Because chords generate low-frequency difference tones, high-pass harder (110 Hz) and keep the sub on a separate mono sine chain following only the root.
4. For the sub chain, put a Scale or Pitch MIDI device that filters the chord — or simpler: write the sub as its own clip on its own track.

"Liquid" clean reese

The gentle version: no distortion, dark filter, slow detune, soft attack. Sits behind pads and vocals without drawing attention.

1. Analog: two saws, Osc 2 Detune 6 cents only. Filter 1 LP 12 dB at 600 Hz, resonance near zero. Filter envelope amount 20% with Attack 80 ms so the note blooms rather than bites.
2. Amp envelope: Attack 30 ms, Release 400 ms. Mono mode, Glide 60 ms.
3. Chorus-Ensemble in Classic mode, very low amount, 15% wet. This is about softness, not width.
4. Compressor 3:1, Attack 10 ms, Release 100 ms, 3 dB of reduction to even out the beat cycle's loudness swing.

Modulating detune and notches with the LFO M4L device

Mapping a Max for Live LFO to the detune amount itself makes the beat rate change over time — the reese speeds up and slows down. A second LFO on the Auto Filter notch, at a related rate, locks the whole thing into a polyrhythm.

1. Drop the LFO (M4L) device in front of Analog. Map it to Osc 2 Detune, set Min 4 cents, Max 18 cents, rate synced to 1 bar, sine shape. The reese now cycles from slow to fast beating every bar.
2. Second LFO instance mapped to Auto Filter frequency, rate 3/4 (dotted half), triangle. Because 3/4 against 1 bar resolves every 3 bars, the notch and the beat rate line up only occasionally — perceived as "complex" movement.
3. Envelope Follower (M4L) with its input listening to the drum bus, mapped to Roar's second stage amount: the reese gets dirtier when the drums hit and cleaner between them.
4. Add a Jitter/Smooth amount on the LFO (the device has a smoothing control) so detune changes do not click.