Preset Anatomy
Bass, lead, pad, pluck — what each one needs.
Every preset family is a recipe. Learn four recipes and you can build almost any sound.
// WHAT IT DOES
The synth patches you've heard a thousand times — bass, lead, pad, pluck — each follow a predictable pattern. Once you see the patterns, you can build any of them from scratch.
Bass: 1-2 oscillators (saw + sine sub), low cutoff, short snappy amp , no , mono.
Lead: 2-3 detuned saws + unison, mid cutoff with mod-wheel control, slight delay + reverb, mono or duophonic.
Pad: multiple detuned saws + sub, long and release, slow filter LFO, big reverb, polyphonic.
Pluck: saw (or triangle), aggressive filter envelope (high amount, short decay), tight amp envelope, tempo-synced ping-pong delay.
- • Designing 'in the family' is much faster than designing 'from a blank slate'. Recipe first, customise later.
- • It demystifies preset names — once you know the recipe, the preset author's choices are transparent.
- • When a track needs 'a bass like that', you have a starting template instead of scrolling presets for hours.
// SEE & HEAR IT
▸ The envelope opens the filter on attack, settles at sustain, closes on release. Big ENV + short DEC = the classic synth pluck.
▸ HOW IT WORKS
- • Bass: tight low end, snappy attack, no high-frequency mush.
- • Pluck: a clear 'tick' on attack followed by the rhythmic delay tail.
- • Pad: a slow swell that never sits perfectly still.
▸ WALKTHROUGH (4 steps)
- 1. DO: Build a bass patch: saw + sine sub ( below), LP filter at 600 Hz, amp A=0, D=200, S=0.4, R=200, monophonic. Play a bass line.▸ LISTEN: Focused, present low end.
- 2. DO: Build a pluck patch: saw, LP filter base 400 Hz, filter env A=0, D=200, amount=4000. Amp A=0, D=400, S=0, R=200. Add 1/8 ping-pong delay.▸ LISTEN: Snappy bright attack, rhythmic tail.
- 3. DO: Build a pad: 3 saws (0/+7¢/-7¢), sub sine, LP filter at 4 kHz, amp A=1 s, R=2 s, polyphonic. Add big reverb (4 s decay).▸ LISTEN: Lush, slow-breathing pad.
- 4. DO: Build a lead: 2 saws (+7¢/-7¢) + saw +12, LP filter at 1.5 kHz with mod-wheel control, amp A=10 ms, R=400 ms. Slap delay + plate reverb.▸ LISTEN: Big, expressive lead.
▸ COMMON MISTAKES
- ✗ Trying to make one patch do all four jobs — it never sounds right.
- ✗ Using a 'pluck preset' as a pad just because the chord is held longer — the architecture is wrong.