Designing an FM8 Reese Bass

This tutorial will show you how to create an FM8 Reese Bass. The Reese Bass is known for it’s clashing waveforms. It is only natural that this FM8 Reese Bass is composed of 3 different Waveforms that are set with differentiating ratios and conflicting envelope shapes.

Start the FM8 Reese Bass by clicking on the Master tab and changing the number of Polyphonic voices to 4. Enable Mono to keep the sound at bay. Next, under the Effects tab, insert an Overdrive, a Shelving EQ, a Phaser, and a Reverb. Set the Overdrive’s Drive to 18, the Tone to 100 and the Bass to 78. For the Shelving EQ, slightly boost both the high and the low end. The Phaser should be set with a Rate of 33, with Sync Enabled, Notches should be set to 3, Color to 1, Sweep Min to 56, Sweep Max to 64, Rotate left at 0, and Dry/Wet at 50. Reverb should be set to a Time of 32 with Bright and Treble maxed, and Dry/Wet set to 32.

Continue the FM8 Reese by assigning Operator C a 1+2+3 Saw Tooth Waveform with the Ratio set to 2. Operator D should be given a 1+3+5 Square Waveform with a Ratio of 2. Operator E should be given a Square Waveform with a Ratio of 0.5. Operator F should be given a square wave form and a Ratio of 2.

In the FM Matrix route, route Operator C to modulate Operator F at a level of 48. Operator D should also be routed to modulate Operator F at a level of 48, and Operator E should be routed to Modulate Operator F with a level of 68. Operator F should be routed to the Output. If everything went well, you should now be the proud owner of an FM8 Reese Bass!