Open the filter

Bass · Lesson 3 of 4 · BS3

Exercise Sweep the cutoff, add a touch of resonance.
Result A filtered, wobble-ready bass.

The 3rd step of the bass track in PatchPond's subtractive synthesis curriculum. Foundations; the filter is the star — and this lesson is where you meet low-pass cutoff + resonance for the first time.

What you'll learn

A dimmer switch for treble, with a side knob that lets the dimmer ring like a struck wine glass.

A low-pass filter lets low frequencies through and gradually cuts everything above a chosen cutoff frequency. Two knobs do most of the work: cutoff (where the filter starts removing brightness) and resonance (how much the filter emphasizes the frequencies right at the cutoff before falling off). Read more →

Built on

Think of waveforms as raw lumber — different grain, different density, before any cuts are made.

An oscillator is the source of the sound. Full definition →

First taught in BS1 Pick a wave

A volume fader being moved by a robot every time you play a note — and you are programming the robot.

The amplitude envelope is the volume contour of a note from press to release. Full definition →

First taught in BS2 Shape the note

Build this lesson live in the PatchPond studio. Web MIDI in, on-screen keyboard otherwise. The patch you make here loads back into iOS later on — same patch format.

Open in studio →