Cultist Base - Signature Synth Recreation Tutorial

Happy New Year Everyone, 

So I thought to share with you another tooltip. I am a big fan of the Cultist Base Track and I apart from the cool riff I always asked myself how Mick created that shifting synth sound. Now, of course, I don´t know it exactly since I do not have any further information from him personally. So everything that I will provide here is solely based on what I think it is. So it is an interpretation of course. So let´s get started. 

The main idea was to get 2 things right: 

1. That shifting sound which is almost a bit swaggy and pitching almost uncontrolled (though it is not)

2. That distorted electrocuted sound tied to it.

In my approach, I used 3 instances of Serum for the Sinewave and 1 Instance for the Whitenoise. So I pretty much created 4 Miditracks first. Let's go step by step: 

1. Open the folder "Main Sinewave (Sine1). This is the instance that creates most of the tone and sound for that synth. To get there, please listen to each single stage of starting from the Raw Sine Sound to the whole effect chain. 

To help you with the nomenclature: 

Disto = Build In Distortion Effect from Serum

FL = Flanger from Serum

RV = Reverb from Serum

EQ = Equalizer from Serum

FT = Filter from Serum

CP = Coarse Pitch

You can see all the settings on the screenshots. I thought to render every single step so that you can get a better idea regarding the motivation. The 2 biggest effects in the chain that contributed to the sound are definitely the flanger and the Filter. The Coarse Pitch Modulation is not mandatory but it gives that millisecond of the little ramp at the beginning of the note. It is minor but important for the sound in my opinion. 

Another aspect of the sound is the midi programming and pitch modulation (see also screenshot "Programming Midi with Pitch Modulation). The Cultist Base Synthline varies in pitch very controlled at certain parts and the pitch modulation can help to get better control regarding that.)

2. The Support Sinewave from Folder 2 Support Sines are simply duplications with slightly different settings in regards to the flanger and they are mixed very subtle and quite to the main Sine. This is the part of a bit adding that top-end "Wee" or "Bee" Sound. 

A short side note: The levels specifically of Sine 2 is low. The reason is that it is mixed really quite to the Main Sine. 

3. Finally the White Noise approach: Well, it is here pretty basic: Some bright white noise with 3 effects from Serum (Hyper, Flanger, Reverb). It is just there to add more dirt and it also uses the midi data from Sine 1 but with slightly different pitch fluctuation settings. (See Screenshot from midi)

4. Then I route all the 4 midi channels to a Stereo Group. Check out the Stack (Example in folder 4, bullet point 1) from Stack Folder. Then I start adding more effects to get that sound mangled together in order to add more chaos, more grittiness to it. To get a better idea, I have attached in the folder for each of the effects a separate stem so that you can see what changes by adding the FX. Sometimes the changes in Sound are subtle, sometimes more obvious. In general, it adds volume also. That is the reason why I kept the overall levels not too loud.

The Chain of FX has the following order: 

1. Decapitator

2. Filter Freak

3. Micro Shift

4. Phase Mistress

5. Little Alterboy

Each of the Stem examples works like that I add step by step one more effect. So you can see what changes and how end result sounds like. 

5. In Folder 5 you find the example merged with the original Cultist base Song and also the isolated file. 

Additionally, I would like to say that you do not need to have exactly the same effect plugins. There are similar effects out there that get you in the ballpark to achieve that sound. Although Serum is great you can use any other decent synth that has. Vacuum Pro is cheap and great too, and there are also many other free synths available. I would recommend also checking out Vital (free version) and Pendulate (free) by Eventide Audio.

Let me know if you have any questions. I hope that this tooltip was of any interest. 

Last but not least: I checked the Poll and your voices are heard, understood, and appreciated :-) I am coming this month with a few big surprises regarding new Groove Tracks...BE PREPARED! :-)

Horns up, 

Alexander