Sub Bass

Pure sine sub (Operator)

The reference sub. One sine, one envelope, nothing else. Everything on this page is a variation of this.

1. Load Operator. Keep the default algorithm. Osc A waveform Sine, Level 0 dB. Switch oscillators B, C, D off.
2. In the global section set Voices to 1 and enable Retrigger off (so it plays legato when notes overlap). Transpose −12 if your clip is written an octave high.
3. Osc A envelope: Attack 5 ms, Decay 200 ms, Sustain 0 dB (full), Release 80 ms. The attack avoids a DC thump at note-on.
4. Filter off. Spread 0%. Tone at default; it only affects aliasing on the FM/wave outputs.
5. Add EQ Eight: high-pass at 25 Hz, 12 dB/oct. This removes DC and infra garbage without touching the 41 Hz fundamental.
6. Add Utility at the end: Width 0% (or Bass Mono enabled at 120 Hz if you later add stereo harmonics).

Variations: Triangle instead of sine for a faint 3rd harmonic (Operator has no triangle, but Drift and Analog do; see below). Pitch envelope +12 st with 30 ms decay for a dubstep "boomp" transient.

Triangle / shark-tooth sub (Drift)

Drift is the fastest sub in Live 12: one oscillator, built-in glide, analogue-style drift and an MS2 filter with drive. Triangle gives you the 3rd harmonic for free, which is often all a sub needs to be audible on a laptop.

1. Load Drift. Osc 1 shape: Triangle (or Shark Tooth for a stronger even-harmonic edge). Osc 2 off, Noise 0.
2. Voice mode Mono, Legato on, Glide 30–60 ms so repeated notes bend slightly rather than retrigger.
3. Filter: MS2, low-pass, cutoff around 300 Hz, resonance 0, Drive about 20% for mild analogue thickening. Set Env 1 → Filter amount to 0 so the tone is static.
4. Envelope 1 (amp): Attack 3 ms, Decay 300 ms, Sustain 100%, Release 60 ms.
5. Drift amount 0–5%. A few percent gives very slow pitch wander, like a warm VCO. Above that the sub starts to beat against the kick tuning.
6. Saturator Soft Sine, Drive 3–6 dB, to push the 3rd harmonic up a few dB.

Variations: Switch Osc 1 to Saw and close the filter to 120 Hz for an old-school UKG sub with a bit of growl; Shark Tooth with filter at 200 Hz for dub techno.

Analog sub with sine + sub-octave square

Analog lets you mix a clean sine with a square an octave down, through its Quick Routing, so you get a heavy fundamental with a faint buzzy edge that reads on small speakers.

1. Load Analog. Osc 1: Sine, Octave 0. Osc 2: Square, Octave −1, Level about −14 dB relative to Osc 1. Pulse width 50% (narrower adds more harmonics).
2. Filter 1: low-pass 24 dB, cutoff 150–200 Hz, resonance 0. Route both oscillators into it using the default Quick Routing (both to Filter 1).
3. Amp 1 envelope: Attack 4 ms, Decay 250 ms, Sustain 1.0, Release 70 ms. Polyphony: 1 voice, Legato on.
4. Keep the LFOs off. Vibrato off. Drift off, or tiny.
5. EQ Eight after: low-pass 24 dB/oct at 160 Hz to tame the square’s harmonics, high-pass 25 Hz.

FM sub with a growl under it (Operator)

A sine modulated by a second sine at ratio 1 gives you a sub that can morph between clean and snarling with one macro. Essential for 140 BPM music where the sub needs to talk.

1. Load Operator. Algorithm: the vertical stack where B modulates A (second algorithm from the left in the picker). Osc A Sine, Level 0 dB.
2. Osc B: Sine, Coarse 1, Fine 0, Level −30 dB. B is now a modulator; its level is FM depth.
3. Slowly raise B to −18 dB. Odd and even harmonics appear in order, like a filter opening. Beyond −10 dB it starts to sound like a distorted saw.
4. Osc B envelope: Attack 0, Decay 400 ms, Sustain −12 dB, Release 100 ms. The sub starts bright and settles clean, a classic dubstep "bwap".
5. Add Saturator, Analog Clip, Drive 4–6 dB. Then EQ Eight low-pass at 200 Hz to keep the growl under the mids layer.
6. Map Osc B level to a macro (range −30 to −8 dB). This single macro is your "talk" control.

Variations: Add Osc C as a second modulator at Coarse 3 for a more complex wobble; put an LFO on Osc B level for an auto-wobble that stays mono (see wobble & growl bass).

Folded sub (Saturator Sinoid Fold / Roar Fold)

Wavefolding a sine adds harmonics symmetrically and keeps the fundamental intact, which makes it the most "musical" way to make a sub audible without changing its pitch feel. Live 12.1’s Saturator has a Sinoid Fold curve; Roar has a Fold shaper with pre/post filters.

1. Start from the pure sine Operator recipe above.
2. Add Roar. Routing: Single. Shaper type: Fold. Drive 6–14 dB. Watch the Roar scope; the sine should start folding at the peaks into an "M" shape.
3. Enable the post filter: low-pass, 200–300 Hz. This leaves the first few fold harmonics and removes the fizz.
4. In Roar’s modulation section, route the Envelope Follower to Drive at a small positive amount (10–20%). Louder notes fold more, which reads as dynamics.
5. Alternatively use Saturator, Sinoid Fold curve, Drive 8–12 dB, Soft Clip on. Simpler, no filter, but you get the same fold.

Sub from a sampled 808 (Simpler / Drum Sampler)

A sampled 808 is a decaying sine with a pitch drop in the first 20 ms and a bit of bridged-T overtone. You play it chromatically and let the sample’s own decay do the envelope work. For the full picture see 808 bass.

1. Drop a clean 808 sample on Simpler. Mode: Classic (so the amp envelope and release work). Warp off.
2. Find the root: play the sample against a tuner (Live’s Tuner device) and set Transpose/Detune until it reads a clean note, usually C0 or F0 (32.7 or 43.7 Hz).
3. Voices 1, Glide mode on, Glide time 40–80 ms. In the clip, overlap notes slightly for slides.
4. Amp envelope: Attack 0, Decay tiny, Sustain 100%, Release 100–200 ms. Let the sample decay naturally; release only matters when you cut it short.
5. Filter off or low-pass at 24 dB, 4 kHz, no resonance, just to tame the sample’s click.
6. In Drum Sampler (12.1) instead: load the 808, turn the Sub knob up to taste for added sine weight, set Decay long and Pitch to retune. Drum Sampler plays pitched across a Drum Rack pad only, so for melodic 808s stay in Simpler.

Sub under a kick via Drum Sampler Sub knob

Drum Sampler has a Sub control that adds a sine an octave below (or at) the sample’s pitch, with its own decay. It is the fastest way to give a thin kick sample a real sub tail without layering a second instrument.

1. Drop a kick into a Drum Rack pad; it loads Drum Sampler by default in 12.1+.
2. Tune the kick with the Pitch control until the tail reads your key’s root (or fifth) in Tuner.
3. Raise Sub to 20–40%. Adjust the sample Decay so the sub tail is shorter than the gap to the next kick.
4. Optionally Drum Buss afterwards with Boom at the kick fundamental for extra sustain. Keep Boom Decay short.

Layered sub + mid bass split (Instrument Rack)

The sub stays a boring sine; the mid bass carries all the character and lives above 120 Hz. Process them separately, cross them over cleanly, and the sub never moves while the mids do whatever they want.

1. Create an Instrument Rack with two chains. Chain "Sub": Operator sine (first recipe), EQ Eight low-pass 24 dB/oct at 100–120 Hz, Utility mono.
2. Chain "Mids": any growl or reese (Wavetable, Operator, Meld), EQ Eight high-pass 24 dB/oct at the same frequency.
3. Matching slopes at the same frequency is the crossover. Use 24 dB on both; 12 dB leaves a dip, 48 dB adds phase smear.
4. Both chains receive the same MIDI. Map a macro "Mid level" to the Mids chain volume, −inf to 0 dB.
5. On the Mids chain, you can now use stereo chorus, Hybrid Reverb, anything wide. The sub chain never sees it.
6. Glue Compressor across the rack output at 2:1, attack 10 ms, release Auto, to gently lock the two layers together.

See layering rules and neuro bass for what to put in the Mids chain.

The "ghost harmonic" trick for small speakers

Phone speakers reproduce nothing below about 200 Hz, but the brain reconstructs a missing fundamental if it hears the 2nd and 3rd harmonics at the right ratio. Add a very quiet pair of harmonics and the sub appears to be there.

1. Put an Audio Effect Rack after the sub. Chain 1 "Dry": nothing, or a Utility at 0 dB.
2. Chain 2 "Ghost": EQ Eight band-passing the fundamental region, then Saturator Hard Curve at 15–20 dB drive (it will generate a full odd-harmonic series), then EQ Eight high-pass 150 Hz and low-pass 900 Hz.
3. Utility on the Ghost chain at −24 dB. Raise until you can just hear it in the mix on headphones, then back off 3 dB.
4. Map the Ghost chain volume to a macro so you can A/B it (Live 12.3 A/B compare on the rack works too).
5. Mono-check it. The ghost chain must stay mono; it is "the sub" as far as a phone is concerned.

Glide and portamento for grime and dubstep

Slides between sub notes are a melodic device in their own right. The sub must be monophonic with glide, and the MIDI clip must overlap notes exactly where you want the bend.

1. Operator: Voices 1, Glide enabled, Glide time 60–150 ms. Longer = lazier dubstep slide, shorter = snappy grime.
2. In the clip, extend the first note so it overlaps the start of the next by at least one 32nd. Glide only triggers on overlap when Retrigger is off (legato).
3. For a fixed-time slide regardless of interval use Operator or Drift; Simpler’s glide is also time-based. Analog’s is as well.
4. Pitch Hack after the synth can give you a stepped slide instead: set Pitch to the interval and automate it as a block; wrong for subs most of the time but a legitimate drill trick.
5. In Live 12 the Glissando MIDI tool (12.1) writes pitch-bend slides into a clip for MPE-capable instruments. Operator and Drift respond to pitch bend; set Pitch Bend range to 12 and let Glissando draw the slide.

Tuning the sub to the kick

A kick with a 50 Hz tail and a sub at 48 Hz beat at 2 Hz, and the whole low end pumps at 2 Hz. Tune one to the other, or pick intervals that cooperate.

1. Solo the kick. Put Tuner on the track and play it on a loop. Read the note it settles on in the last 100 ms of the tail; the attack pitch is irrelevant.
2. If it reads, say, F0 (43.7 Hz) and your track is in A minor, either retune the kick (Drum Sampler Pitch, Simpler Transpose) to A0 or E0 (55 or 41.2 Hz), or write the sub so its root lands on A or E and avoid F.
3. Safe relationships: unison (same note), octave, or fifth. Avoid semitone or whole-tone clashes between kick tail and sub note.
4. For the opposite approach (dubstep, trap): tune the kick to the key, keep its tail short (under 150 ms), and let sidechain do the rest.

Sidechain vs. volume automation vs. note gaps

Three ways to keep the kick and sub out of each other’s way. They sound different and the choice is a production decision, not a mixing one.

1. Compressor sidechain: Compressor on the sub, sidechain input from the kick (pre-FX), Ratio 4–8:1, Attack 0.5–2 ms, Release 60–120 ms, Threshold so you get 6–10 dB of gain reduction. Transparent-ish, follows the kick exactly, pumps musically. Use a high-pass in the sidechain EQ (around 50 Hz) so the kick’s own sub does not over-trigger.
2. Shaper (M4L) or clip envelope automation: draw the duck shape yourself. Shaper on Utility Gain, synced to 1/4, with a curve that drops to −20 dB at the kick and recovers over an 8th. Fully predictable, works even when the kick is sparse, and you can shape the recovery curve. This is what most modern techno and house uses.
3. Note gaps: do not play the sub where the kick hits. Oldest, cleanest, no artefacts. Works at any tempo where the kick is on a grid; fails when the sub note needs to sustain across a kick.
4. Combine: note gaps for the four-to-the-floor, light sidechain (3 dB) for the moments where the sub sustains anyway.

Full treatment in sidechain and ducking.

Saturation that survives small speakers (Saturator, Roar Multiband)

Saturation on a sub does two useful things: it generates harmonics (translation) and it limits peak level (consistency). Roar in Multiband mode lets you saturate only the band you want harmonics from and leave the fundamental untouched.

1. Roar, routing Multiband. Set the crossovers at roughly 90 Hz and 400 Hz.
2. Low band: Soft Sine, Drive 1–3 dB. Barely touches it; this is level control only.
3. Mid band: Diode or Hard, Drive 6–12 dB. This is where the ghost harmonics come from.
4. High band: Drive 0 or band muted.
5. Post filter low-pass at 1 kHz. Then Utility Bass Mono.
6. Alternatively, Saturator alone: Analog Clip, Drive 4 dB, Color on with Base lifted slightly at 80 Hz and the Frequency/Width band around 200 Hz. The Color section tilts what the clipper sees so it emphasises the second harmonic.

Long-form movement with Shaper and LFO

A static sub gets boring over 7 minutes. Slow modulation of harmonic content, not pitch or level, keeps it alive without disturbing the mix.

1. Start from the FM sub recipe. Add LFO (Max for Live) before Operator in the chain and map it to Osc B Level, range −30 to −14 dB, rate synced to 32 bars, sine. Over a minute and a half the sub gets slightly brighter and darker.
2. Add Shaper, draw a 16-bar curve with two small bumps, map to Saturator Drive range 2–7 dB. Different cycle lengths (16 and 32) mean the combination only repeats every 32 bars.
3. Keep the depth tiny. If you can hear it change in 4 bars, it is too much.
4. Add a third LFO at 7 bars, triangle, mapped to the Utility gain over ±0.5 dB, for a subliminal swell that does not line up with the bar.