A Techno Music Programming Masterclass With The Black Dog

Making a bass line

You can make a bass line using play and sleep, using arrays to hold the note values and sleep times.

An array is just a list, so notes[i] means the ith note in the list. The first note is i[1], the second note is notes[2] and so on.

The rolandtb synth simulates the sound of the classic Roland TB-303 Bassline synth. Play with the cutoff, resonance and env_mod (envelope modulation) controls.

Expert tips from The Black Dog

The interplay of the bass line and the drums is very important. Cue this drum loop in another box and listen to it with the bassline above. Now remove the sleep command and hear the difference.

Sub-bass can be important to help set the groove and underpin the kick drum. But don’t play it fast, speakers can’t cope!