ROB PAPEN SUBBOOMBASS REVIEW
Posted on Fri 25 March 2011 in entries
I think that Rob Papen’s SubBoomBass has one of the most descriptive product names I have ever come across… it pretty much does exactly what it says on the tin! If you want light, floaty, angelic pad sounds, then SubBoomBass probably isn’t going to be the virtual instrument you reach for… but if what you are looking for is deep, heavy, wall-shaking, unique sub sounds, then SubBoomBass certainly won’t disappoint! It’s time to crank up those speakers and watch your wall-hangings vibrate!
ROB PAPEN SUBBOOMBASS – INTRODUCTION
When I first loaded up SubBoomBass, the first place I headed to was the ‘Sub’ presets section – with a name like that, where else was I going to go! I loaded up a patch that I liked the sound of, and enthusiastically hit a low note on my Novation 61 SL MkII… and I was extremely disappointed... I couldn’t hear a damn thing! I quickly checked that my computer was receiving MIDI messages, tested another virtual instrument on another track, which worked fine, and loaded up another random preset on the SubBoomBass… and still no sound met my expectant ears from my KRK RP8s! I was highly frustrated… had I just been conned out of over £70 for a virtual instrument that didn’t make any noise? As a final test I decided to crank up the signal that I was sending to my monitors, so I placed my fingers on the output Gain dial of my Alesis IO2 audio/MIDI interface, and whilst triggering a sustained MIDI note, I slowly turned it up bit by bit. The effect that I experienced was quite surreal and I fail to remember which I noticed first – the subtle deep sub sound coming from my monitors or the fact that my floor seemed to be shaking beneath my feet! Whichever it was I was pleasantly surprised with the results as this is exactly what I wanted from the instrument – something to add some real weight to the bottom end of my tracks! Yes, I could just use the standard sub sound from Logic’s EXS24 sampler, but after browsing through a whole host of other sub sounds in SubBoomBass, I found that there could be a lot more than a simple sine wave to the bottom end of a track. I was definitely looking forward to experimenting with the range of sub sounds that this thing had to offer, and was also interested in the bass, sequenced, and percussion sounds that were also promised within the package. Check the video below that I created to demonstrate just a few of the presets that SubBoomBass has to offer... I could have included lots more, but with over 1000 to choose from I just didn't have time! Also note that some of the sub sounds at the end of the video are SO low, that you may have real trouble hearing them after Youtube has compressed them - these are the sounds that just shook my room when they were cranked up and so they seemed amazing at the time of compiling the video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MZ0oF--sTQ
ROB PAPEN SUBBOOMBASS – THE INTERFACE
Let’s start with the basics… how does it look? Well, it looks kind of cool! Although I’m still not sure about the graffiti style background. Call me old-fashioned, but I like my plug-in interfaces to look simple. I don't mind colours, but the writing on the back panel can be a little off-putting at first, and I think it makes an extremely powerful synth look a little cheap and gimmicky, although I’m sure it will appeal to some people. Having said that, the layout of SubBoomBass is really simple and you should find that you learn your way around in no time (although it may take a while to familiarise yourself with every single parameter!)
The oscillator, filter, amp, preset and global controls are all separated into their own sections, and all the controls within each are laid out extremely intuitively (with larger, more frequently used parameters given larger dials), and there are even Sequencer and FX sections that can be toggled between being visible and hidden, to gear the interface towards your way of working. SubBoomBass even features an ‘Easy Mode’ which hides many of the more in depth parameters, and just displays the controls that are most useful for sound-shaping (e.g. filter cutoff and resonance, oscillator types and tuning, LFO amount and speed, effect mix controls, etc). This is brilliant not just for the amateur synth programmer (who can familiarise themselves with the basic controls of the synth before unleashing it’s full potential), but is also excellent for using SubBoomBass as a live performance tool as it leaves the interface simple and uncluttered. What’s more, it is very easy to assign controls to an external controller. Simply Control (Mac)/right (windows)-click on the parameter of your choice, choose the Assign to MIDI controller option, move the control on your attached device and it’s all done!
ROB PAPEN SUBBOOMBASS – OSCILLATORS SECTION
The oscillators section is where your sound-shaping adventures will begin! SubBoomBass supplies 2 oscillator sections, which can be used in isolation, or mixed together to create even more complex sounds. The large Waveform dial can be used to select from a whole host of oscillator types from classic analogue models, to complex digital, or even tuned percussive waveforms. The variety of waveshapes is really impressive and if you own SubBoomBass I would definitely recommend going through and listening to each one in isolation to get a feel for what this synth is capable of. Whether you want to create a massive lead sound, a deep bass sound, or a booming kick drum, then this is the place to start!
Underneath each Waveform dial, you are also given a ‘Free’ toggle, which controls whether the selected oscillator is free-running or not. Free-running oscillators are modeled on the way classic analogue synths work, so as such, this setting will give your output a subtle analogue characteristic. If you are interested in the science behind what a free-running oscillator is then I will give you a little summary! Free-running oscillators are constantly running. When you trigger note output, a kind of virtual or mechanical gate opens and lets the oscillator sound out. Because of this, the sound that you hear may begin from anywhere within its cycle depending on when you trigger a note. This is as opposed to a non-free-running oscillator, which triggers from the beginning of its cycle every time a note is triggered, and gives the sound a more classic digital characteristic.
On a similar note, SubBoomBass also features an oscillator ‘Sync’ function (found in the Oscillator 2 section). As you can probably guess, this synchronises the output of the two oscillators so that they begin at the same point in their cycle when a note is pressed. Seasoned synth users will already know why this is a useful control, but again, for those people out there who have just entered into the world of synthesisers, I will give you a little explanation... Imagine you are running two oscillators, each with a sine wave selected (it may be useful to try this for yourself if you have SubBoomBass, or a synth with sync functionality). Try detuning one wave from the other. What you will hear is a kind of ring modulation effect, as the output amplitude of the combined signals rises and falls due to additions and cancellations caused by mixing 2 waves of differing frequency. This may be a useful characteristic, but it may also be unwanted. By activating the ‘sync’ feature, the second oscillator will restart it's wave cycle every time oscillator 1 restarts a wavecycle, giving each oscillator the same base frequency, but allowing you to alter the timbre of each separately! Syncing oscillators usually gives the output a more solid sound, and eliminates the extreme amplitude variations that you experience with two unsync'd oscillators.
Onto the symmetry control, which again may prove a little confusing for some novice users. The symmetry parameter essentially gives you a very basic method to warp a base wave, by altering where the centre point of it’s shape is. This control is particularly useful for square/pulse waves, as it controls the ratio of the sizes of each side of the pulse, but it can be used creatively to alter the timbre of any type of wave! The best piece of advice here is to experiment. It will work better on some wave shapes compared to others so get creative and have fun with it!
Detuning one oscillator against another is a technique that you can use to make your sounds much wider and ‘phatter’, and SubBoomBass is extremely flexible in this area. The Semi control can be used to detune an oscillator between a massive +/-48 semitones, and the Fine control can then tweak each oscillator in tiny steps until you have the perfect custom sound. What’s more, if you click the ‘SEMI’ label, the effect of MIDI notes on the output of SubBoomBass (keyboard tracking) will be disabled. What I mean by this is that no matter what musical note you trigger, the output of the Oscillator will remain at the same pitch. By default, this pitch is C2, but you can use the tuning controls to refine the frequency of the output to your needs. Why is this useful? Lets say you want to add a percussive layer to a sound. You may want your bass to have a subtle percussive kick at the beginning of each note, but do not want the kick to be scaled with the pitch, because then when you start playing higher notes, the bass element will be lost. This problem has an extremely simple solution in SubBoomBass – just click the ‘SEMI’ label!
To add further complexity to SubBoomBass sounds, each oscillator also features Pulse Width Modulation controls, using an independent LFO for each with separate Amount and Speed controls. Again, it’s best to hear the effects of this control for yourself, but if I was to describe it to you, it is similar to a chorus, so it can be used to fatten up your sounds! Each oscillator section also includes a Volume control (for balancing the levels between the oscillator signals), plus Frequency Modulation and Ring Modulation controls for the second oscillator, and an output on/off control for oscillator 1, so you can use it to modulate oscillator 2 instead of creating a direct sound itself.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly with a product such as SubBoomBass, each oscillator section also features a secondary oscillator – the sub oscillator! By turning the Sub dial one way, you unleash a chunky PWM square wave sub! By turning the dial the other way you can control the level of a purer sine wave sub sound. Sub sounds are automatically tuned one octave below the main oscillator’s frequency, so you never need to worry that they will become out of tune with the main sounds pitch!
ROB PAPEN SUBBOOMBASS – F-F-F-F-FILTERS!
The next place to look after the oscillator sections are the filters. The main filter is an analogue modeled stereo Multimode Filter, which offers a huge variety of modes! It gives you 6dB, 12dB, 18dB and 24dB Lowpass and Highpass modes, along with 12dB and 24dB Bandpass, Notch, Comb and Vocal modes! If you are wondering what the ‘Vocal’ mode is, it can basically be used to create some really cool vocal formant type sounds (e.g. 'ay', 'ee', 'iy', 'ow', 'you' sounds). To add further character to your sounds, SubBoomBass also features a pre-filer distortion control, so you can add some twisted harmonics to a sound before you begin to sculpt it with the filters. If you are using the Vocal filter mode, then this parameter can be used to control which vowel the filter sounds like! It works better with some sounds than others but it’s definitely fun to play around with!
The rest of the SubBoomBass filter controls are all fairly standard, yet highly essential to any synth. With controls for cutoff, resonance, keytrack (how the filter reacts as you play notes higher up the musical scale), an ADSFR envelope, and a dedicated (and syncable) LFO, you should be able to get extremely creative and program some seriously complex sounds. The filter section even includes Velocity and Modulation Wheel controls!
This isn’t where the filter fun ends though! Oh no, SubBoomBass features an extremely useful second in-built Filter to further tweak your sounds! This filter offers 6dB, 12dB, and 24dB low and high pass modes, and what’s more, you can then use the Filter Path switch to determine how both filters interact together. Here you can choose to run the filters serially (one after the other), in parallel, or split them so that filter 1 affects oscillator 1, and filter 2 affects oscillator 2. I tend to leave this switch in ‘Serial’ mode most of the time as I find it the most useful mode, although the other options are definitely worth experimenting with.
ROB PAPEN SUBBOOMBASS – AMP SECTION
The amp section of SubBoomBass features an ADSFR envelope, and so can be used to intuitively sculpt how the amplitude of a sustained note varies with time. I’m assuming that most of our readers will be familiar with how such an envelope works, so I will spare you the explanation for now! However, if anyone is unsure as to what any part of an ADSFR envelope is, or how envelopes work, then feel free to leave a comment on my blog and all will be explained! :)
ROB PAPEN SUBBOOMBASS – FREE MODULATION SECTION
This is where synth programming begins to get really interesting! To bring up these controls, simply select the button labelled ‘Free Mods’ towards the right of the ‘Play Mode Area’, and you are ready to get going! The Free Mods section lets you assign LFOs and envelopes to control specific parameters of SubBoomBass, and create some highly complex sounds. For example, you may want to assign an LFO to create a subtle (or not so subtle) vibrato effect (by routing an LFO to the pitch of the oscillators), or assign an envelope to the cutoff of Filter 2, which is controlled by the velocity of each key strike! With 48 modulation destinations, a modulation envelope, a syncable LFO, and 4 free modulation routings for 32 modulation sources, you should have more than enough to get creating some highly awesome sounds!
ROB PAPEN SUBBOOMBASS – PLAY MODES AND GLOBAL CONTROLS
You can set SubBoomBass to operate in Mono, Mono 2, Legato, Legato 2, Sequencer and Poly Play modes! Each mode will suit a different style, so it’s a good idea to experiment with them all when making a song. SubBoomBass also features a built-in Unison control, which has 2, 4 and 6 octave modes and a detune parameter. Plus, SubBoomBass features a dedicated control for portamento, an Analogue control (turn it up to introduce some cool classic analogue characteristics), a Demo C2 button to preview sounds without pressing a note, a global tuning dial, a decay/release shape parameter to sculpt the curvature of SubBoomBasses decay and release envelope stages, and a dedicated pitch modulation section with an LFO! Plus, this section also gives you a quick way to customise how the pitch wheel of an attached MIDI controller affects the pitch of notes created by SubBoomBass! This is actually really handy as it allows you to quickly experiment with different settings, which can sometimes produce some surprising results. In the past, with other virtual instruments, this is something that I have not experimented with too much, usually due to the fact that it requires a long winded approach, and looking through a load of menus, but with SubBoomBass this is a refreshing breeze!
ROB PAPEN SUBBOOMBASS – SEQUENCER
Again, the sequencer is hidden by default, but all you have to do to view it is to press the ‘Sequencer Button’ above the ‘Free Mods’ button, and as if by magic, the sequencer appears in place of the modulation controls! This section gives you access to a 16 step sequencer, so you can create some really complex moving sounds and rhythms. Of course, you don’t need to use all 16 steps if you don’t want to (just use the menu labelled ‘Steps’ to customise the sequencer to your needs), but they are there if you need them! The sequencer features an overall speed setting, which is definitely worth experimenting with, a swing setting (again worth experimenting with as it can throw up some pleasantly surprising results), a Slide amount control, a Vel/Key dial that controls the mix between any keyboard/MIDI velocity and velocities entered in the sequencer, and a step length control. However, the real fun with the SubBoomBass sequencer begins when you start to control tuning, slide, tie, and oscillator mix for each step individually! That’s not even the end of it, as the Sequencer also features a number of other controls such as ‘Latch’, ‘Trigger’ and more! Again, experimentation is key if you are new to the SubBoomBass sequencer, so go on, what are you waiting for? Also I apologise for how many times I have encouraged you to 'experiment' in this blog... reading it back I have used this phrase A LOT... but it is worth it!
ROB PAPEN SUBBOOMBASS – EFFECTS
Yep, SubBoomBass even features it’s own built-in effects, which can be run in either serial or split mode! The effect controls can be viewed by selecting the ‘FX’ button to the centre-right of the interface, and the Rob Papen team certainly didn’t skimp on the variety that they chose to offer! So here is the complete list of effects that come with SubBoomBass… prepare to be impressed… Mono Delay, Stereo Delay, Comb, Reverb, Chorus, Chorus/Delay, Flanger, Phaser, Wah/Delay, Distort, Low-Fi, Amp Sim,WaveShaper, Stereo Widener, Auto Pan, Gator, Bass Enhancer, FX Filter, Equalizer, Compressor, Ensemble Cabinet, MultiDistort, and finally Auto Wah! If you can’t find what you need to spice up your sounds here, then you may want to consider an appointment with the doctor to check that you’re thinking straight! What’s more, this section also provides 2 effect modulation sources for connecting MIDI or synth controls (such as the mod wheel or velocity) to specific effect parameters!
ROB PAPEN SUBBOOMBASS – SUMMARY
I admit that this was a fairly hefty blog entry, but that's only because I had so much to say on the subject! I’ve been using SubBoomBass for a while now and I’m very impressed with it! As would be expected, it mainly finds it’s way into my work in the form of sub bass parts, but it is also a fantastic piece of kit for producing lead basslines and lead sounds! With the vast selection of controls available to the user, it will take a little while to grasp what everything does, but once you have jumped in at the deep end you will begin to reap the rewards!
So, what does SubBoomBass offer over it's competitors? The main thing that sets SubBoomBass apart is its dedication to those low frequencies. I can't think of another virtual instrument that has been designed solely around this concept. As such, SubBoomBass is a really useful piece of kit if you are a dance music producer - Dubstep and Drum and Bass producers will especially enjoy this one, although it's also a useful tool to own whatever genre you produce!
The other thing that sets SubBoomBass apart is it's sounds... they all have that Rob Papen feel to them, which you will be used to if you have ever used products such as Albino, Predator, or Blue before. However, because the presets all have a subtle trademark sound, they won't be for everyone... but if you like Rob Papen, then you will LOVE this! And I haven't even mentioned yet that it's much cheaper than it's competitiors!
Right, I think I've covered everything I wanted to in this blog post! If there is anything extra you want to know, or anything you want explaining in more detail, then drop me a comment and I will be happy to give you more information!
Until next time!