How to make a future house bass in Serum 2

The future house bass is a bright, metallic, bouncy bass with a clean low end under it. Most of the character comes from a wavetable position that moves on every note, and from heavy compression that brings the upper harmonics forward.

Oscillators

  1. Pick a bright, metallic wavetable for oscillator A, one with clear changes as you sweep its position.
  2. Set oscillator B or the sub oscillator to a sine one octave down for the low end.
  3. Keep A mono or with a few voices; width belongs higher up, not in the bass.
VISIONS OF TOMORROW71 finished Serum 2 presets for house and techno: 26 basses, leads, pads, plucks, keys, stabs and FX. Royalty-free.Requires Serum 2.

Movement on every note

  • Drag ENV 2 onto the wavetable position of A with a short decay (150 to 300 ms), so each note sweeps through the table.
  • Add a warp mode such as sync or FM (from B) on A and modulate its amount with the same envelope for a sharper, vocal edge.
  • For the bounce, add a small pitch drop at the start of each note with ENV 3 on the coarse pitch.

Compression and distortion

Add distortion, then a multiband compressor (Serum's compressor in multiband mode, or OTT in your DAW) to lift the metallic top. Keep the sine clean: if the effects muddy the low end, filter the lows out of the effects or keep the sine on its own channel.

Writing the line

Future house sits around 124 to 128 BPM. Write short notes on the off-beats and syncopated 16ths, with octave jumps, and sidechain the bass to the kick. Our Future House presets in VISIONS OF TOMORROW start from this sound.

House Serum presets →Three future house basses, four donks and more house sounds in VISIONS OF TOMORROW. $29.Five free Serum 2 presets →A house 808, a distorted 303, a French touch lead, a retro pad and a trance pluck. Open them and see how they are built.A house beat to play it over →Hear the pattern and download it as MIDI.Where to save your Serum 2 preset →The Serum 2 presets folder on Windows and Mac, and how to make new presets show up.

Five free Serum 2 presets

From our VISIONS OF TOMORROW pack: an 808 bass, a distorted 303 acid bass, a French house lead, a retro pad and a trance pluck. The same download has 16 house drums and three guitar loops. Royalty-free.

Your download now, then two short emails: how to use the sounds, and a 25% code for any of the full packs, valid for a week. Unsubscribe any time.

Questions

What makes a future house bass sound metallic?

A bright wavetable whose position is swept by an envelope on every note, plus heavy multiband compression.

What tempo is future house?

Usually 124 to 128 BPM.

How do I keep the low end clean?

Put a plain sine one octave down under the main sound, and keep it out of the distortion.

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