Gated Techno Lead

Techno music is known for its hypnotic and driving beats, and one of the essential elements that make up this genre is the bassline. In this article, we'll walk you through the steps of creating a techno-inspired pad bass with a stutter effect using Diva and A1 Trigger. Starting with setting up Diva in your DAW, we'll guide you through programming a long pad bass with interval jumps, adjusting Diva's settings to achieve the desired sound, and creating a stutter effect using A1 Trigger. We'll also show you how to add more movement to the sound by utilizing the LFO. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned producer, you can follow along and create your unique sound. So, let's get started!

What we will make today

Project Set Up

Let's get started by setting up Diva as a plugin in your DAW. Open up your digital audio workstation (DAW) and load in Diva. Once you have it loaded, create a new midi track and set the tempo to 132bpm to match the desired tempo for our techno-inspired pad bass. This will ensure that our project is in sync with our intended musical style and pace.

Midi Programming

Next, we'll create a new midi clip and program a long pad bass with some interval jumps. In techno music, it's common to use drum and bass-inspired pad bass lines that use octave jumps to create a sense of movement and anticipation. To start, we'll program our pad bass with a G1 note for one bar, then on the next bar, we'll move up to G#2, followed by F2, and finally G2 for ¼ notes. These interval jumps will add depth and complexity to our pad bass and give it that signature techno sound.

Diva Set Up

Let's move on to setting up Diva to create the desired sound. First, change the oscillator to ms20, which will give the bass a unique character. Use the moog feedback to enhance the sound, and set the filter to ms20. It's best to set the filter to mono and add some glide to create a smooth transition between notes.

Now, let's move on to the filter. To give the bass more edge, switch to revision 2, which is a beefier version. Set the cutoff to 41 and resonance to 86 to achieve the desired sound. Turn off the lag modulation, and in the modifications, set the add to velocity and env to for more complex modulation. To create a decay effect, set env 2 to decay to 41 and sustain to 0. Lastly, on the filter, turn up the fm mod to 100 to create a more complex sound.

Before we move on to creating a stutter effect, let's enhance our sound by bringing in osc 1 with a triangle waveform and slightly detuning osc 2. This will give our pad bass a fuller and more complex sound. Additionally, we can turn up the moog feedback to add more edge and character to the sound. Experiment with different feedback settings to find the perfect balance of edge and warmth for your track.

Trance Gated Effect

let's add some movement to the sound by creating a stutter effect using A1 Trigger. This effect is commonly used for creating gated leads in techno music. First, load A1 Trigger as a plugin and select the trance gate preset to begin with. This will give us a good starting point. Next, we can adjust the ADSR release to modify the length of the gated effect and bring the sound back to a more pad bass sound. Additionally, we can adjust each step to add more complexity to the gating effect. The plugin offers a choice of 4 steps to work with, allowing us to create different rhythmic patterns.

To add more movement to the sound, we can utilise the LFO. We will use both LFOs by using multiple modifications, which will enable us to achieve more intricate modulation. We will add this to modulate various parameters like the filter cutoff, FM and resonance.

In conclusion, creating a techno-inspired pad bass with a stutter effect is a great way to add depth and movement to your tracks. By using Diva and A1 Trigger plugins, we were able to create a complex and hypnotic sound that is characteristic of the techno genre. We started by programming a long pad bass with interval jumps and then used Diva to create a unique and characterful sound. The addition of osc 1, detuned osc 2, and moog feedback gave the sound more complexity and edge. Finally, we utilized A1 Trigger to create a stutter effect and the LFO to add even more movement to the sound. With these tools and techniques, you can create your own unique techno-inspired pad bass with a stutter effect that will add depth and drive to your tracks.