Future House Bass with Spire

For independent artists, having multiple revenue streams is an You want to produce punchy Future House basses like Sam Feldt, EDX or Felix Jaehn? In this workshop we’ll show you how to do this with Spire from scratch. Just open Spire in the DAW of your choice and click the Init button to get this workshop started.

1. Oscillators:

OSC1:
For OSC1 we use for the waveform a mixture of square and ramp. This could be easily done by turning up the ctrlA knob to a value of 540. (btw: each value will always be shown beside of the Init-button). Lower the octave to -1. Then please try to raise the phase knob to a centered value. For getting the sound of that voice phatter, we use 3 voices in the unison mode and set the amount of the wide knob to round about 200. Last but not least we set the main volume knob OSC1 above of the unisone mode section to 580.

OSC2:
Now let’s switch to OSC2 and choose the waveform Robo1, move the fine-knob a bit to the right (+4) and the note-knob to +1. Reduce the octave to -2. Then move the ctrlB to the value 840, center the phase knob again and turn the wt mix-knob to 700. The density could also be pimped up to 615 and the wide-knob as well (to 315). Don’t forget to raise the main volume for OSC2 to the maximum.

OSC3:
The OSC3 section will be changed by the following parameters: Set the ctrlA to the max and ctrlB to the value of 815 then we get a square wavesound. A little detuning with the note-knob to -5, gives the sound more harmonics and a more chordy sound. Then raise the wt mix gain just a little bit to 45. The phase should be centered again. Main volume of OSC3 should be centered.

OSC4:
The last one, OSC4, will be adjusted with the following settings: Set ctrlB to 820, detune to 415, the wt mix to 725, choose Bass 4 for the waveform. In the unison mode we use 4 voices, the wide value will be set to 345, and density to 735. Set the amount of the OSC4 main volume as shown.

2. Effects and EQ

From the included effects of Spire, we just need the chorus and the reverb to give the sound a nice ambience. In the chorus section you just need to turn the f.back level to 640 and wide to 835 and the dry/wet knob to 135. Don’t forget to change the chorus mode to 04 and reducing the hicut and raising the amount of low cut a bit. Now let’s switch to the reverb section and change this mode to plate 2. Set the damp to 755, wide to 795, decay to 420, color to 595 and dry/wet to 120.

For compressing the sound set the x-comp to ca. 300 and raise the volume to the right. Activate the EQ and choose the settings for the three EQ bands as shown below.

3. Filter

Set the cutoff frequency (cut 1) and the resonance (res 1) to 95 and keytrack to the right maximum. There are five different filter modes in Spire. Choose the acido filter mode with the type LP1 for filter 1. For Filter2 we’re turning cut 2 to 530, res 2 to 95 and balance fully to the right. The filter mode here is perfecto with the type LP4.

4. Envelopes

For getting a chuncky, attacky sound, I recommend to choose the phase as a sound source for the envelopes right of the env-sliders. But first set att completely down to 0 / zero. That’s important, otherwise the attack won’t exist really. Then drag the decay and sustain at ENV1 to the top and set the release to 103. Then click on the sound source menu and choose Osc1 Phase in slot 1 and turn that amt to 955 and the velocity to 650. In the second slot you can choose Osc2 Phase and turn that amount completely to the right.
With ENV2 you can use nearly the same settings, so just select ENV1 by clicking on copy (CPY) and then select ENV2 to paste the settings (PST) from ENV1. The only thing you should change at ENV2 is to choose OSC3 Phase instead of OSC1 Phase and turning its velocity to the right.

The settings for ENV3 have been done easily, by reducing the decay to 448 and the cutoff knob to 945 beside, cause Cutoff1 has been already chosen as modulation destination. Just raise the velocity a bit to the right ca. 650.