Is there a way to do a "robotic sounding" bassline?

Dark Lizardro

Dark Lizardro

The Lizard that used to have a hammer
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Jun 27, 2013
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What's up, my friends!

I'm working on a project, which has the concept of machines overcoming humans. All the story is told through the point of view of the machines, so I'm after sounds that are more robotical. I thought of using the styles of music I like the most, as industrial, dubstep and drum and bass, or a mix between them.

My question is: is there a way to make the basslines more robotical sounding? And by basslines, I mean the wub-wubs for the dubstep tunes (I intend on doing the original dubstep, not brostep), the reeces for the drum and bass ones (I'm intending on doing neurofunk), and a "real life" emulated bass for the industrial ones.

I use Fl Studio as my main DAW, and I have access to Massive, FM8 and all the stock plugins for FL.

Thanks, in advance!
 
Comb Filters & Granulizers are gonna make the biggest difference, also nice samples can help too. BOOM Library has a nice Sci-Fi pack with some pretty huge sounds that get GNARLY when you granulize them.
 
Dugg Funnie said:
Comb Filters & Granulizers are gonna make the biggest difference, also nice samples can help too. BOOM Library has a nice Sci-Fi pack with some pretty huge sounds that get GNARLY when you granulize them.
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I normally use granulizer for ambient sounds, I'll give it a try. I checked the boom Library Sci-Fi pack, it has a really affordable price. I couldn't check how it sounds, though, as I'm at work, so later I'll give it a listen. Thanks!



MisterApe said:
Maybe try using a vowel filter from like WOW filter?

And throwing on IL's vocodex can do magical things with making basses sound robotic.
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I need to get the hang of vocodex yet. I never had a project that demanded the use of it, so, I'll try it out, thanks!
 
DNBA SUCKZ said:
just use a standard reece, with some compression on, or EQ out the lows, and put this vst on the channel http://hotrobotvocoder.blogspot.co.uk/

you still need to timestretch it and put gates etc on if you want it to sound hardcore
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Yeah, I was thinking about gating the sounds, and also using some glitches to richen the sound. Thanks! I'll check the plugin you've sent.
 
It's a bit trite for a concept of an EP isn't it?
I appreciate that music is art and you can do whatever you want etc... but really, with people making amazing, deep storytelling concept albums and stuff, robots taking over the world looks a bit tacky.
If you want to make music that sounds like a robot invasion, go ahead, it'll sound awesome and people will boogie to it.
If you want some kind of 'story' in there, come up with something more original than the plot of a cheap sci-fi film.

I guess it could be good if you made it a lighthearted semi-pisstake, make sure you make it with a little bit of humor and don't focus too much on the story.
 
smoothassilk said:
It's a bit trite for a concept of an EP isn't it?
I appreciate that music is art and you can do whatever you want etc... but really, with people making amazing, deep storytelling concept albums and stuff, robots taking over the world looks a bit tacky.
If you want to make music that sounds like a robot invasion, go ahead, it'll sound awesome and people will boogie to it.
If you want some kind of 'story' in there, come up with something more original than the plot of a cheap sci-fi film
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....or you could just do whatever you feel like doing and put the majority of your efforts into making something that sounds good. Float your own boat.
 
Mania said:
....or you could just do whatever you feel like doing and put the majority of your efforts into making something that sounds good. Float your own boat.
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That's kinda what I meant. Don't focus on making a story or a concept unless you've got a really good idea for one, just make the music sound good.
 
I believe there is space left to tell a story about a post-apocalyptic dystopian world where man and machines live together. Is this a overused theme? Yes, it is. Since the 1900's we have dystopian worlds being described on books, then movies and music. On this theme of "man vs machines", normally the story is told through mankind pov. I want to tell the story through the machines pov.

I do believe it's a good story to tell. As I do believe your opinion was based on some pre-assumptions that I want to rip off the Terminator movies scripts and do music over them. Anyways, I appreciate your opinion, as it tells me to take some extra care not to fall unto the unoriginal and shallow story telling. Thanks!
 
Resampling with granulizer, check out Seamless on youtube for harmor resampling as well. Chuck all your home made samples in, and make it additive. Also, layering with some sample packs like zenhisers transform fx 2.
 
Definitely experiment with fast delays and any other plugins to give them a metallic sound. Other than that I think everythings been said, vocodex, granuliser, vowel filter ..not much to add here.

If you wanna sound cool, use text to speech and make it say: 'we are the robots'
 
Elzerk said:
Definitely experiment with fast delays and any other plugins to give them a metallic sound. Other than that I think everythings been said, vocodex, granuliser, vowel filter ..not much to add here.

If you wanna sound cool, use text to speech and make it say: 'we are the robots'
Click to expand...

I'm already messing around with the speech synth on FL Studio. Just getting the hang of it (although it's pretty simple to use). Thanks!
 
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