Wobble bass
A wobble bass is a long synth bass note whose filter opens and closes in time with the beat, so one held note turns into a rhythm: “wub-wub-wub”. It is the sound of dubstep at about 140 BPM, and the speed of the wobble, in eighths, triplets or sixteenths, is part of the groove.
Also called dubstep wobble, wub bass, LFO bass.
Play it
- Bar 1Am
- Bar 2F
- Bar 3C
- Bar 4G
Faded lanes are a guide: they are there so the pattern has something to sit against. The loop runs over four chords, Am, F, C, G, one bar each. Tap any box to change it.
Try this
Try this · change one box
Add a note on step 5 in the Eighths lane. The wobble starts again from closed, so the bass gets a new push in the middle of the half bar.
Learn this pattern step by step
The course builds up to it from Unit 1, which is free with a Google sign-in. It plays in your browser, like this page.
Pick up where you left off
Carry on with Unit 1, then Wobble bass comes in Unit 8: Sound.
Hear it without the grid
A short recording of the loop above at 140 BPM, made with Swung’s own sounds.
How it works
A low-frequency oscillator, an LFO, moves the filter’s cutoff up and down. When the filter opens, the bright buzz of the sawtooth comes through; when it closes, only the deep part is left. Do that twice per beat and you hear eighth-note wobbles.
Here the first half of each bar wobbles in eighths and the second half in triplets, on the same note. Changing the speed is how producers write a bass line out of one note, with a clean sub underneath that never moves.
The pattern in words
- Eighths: step 1 of 16, each held for 8 steps.
- Triplets: step 9 of 16, each held for 8 steps.
| Part | Steps, 1 to 16 | Plays on |
|---|---|---|
| Eighths | x–––––––········ | step 1 of 16, each held for 8 steps |
| Triplets | ········x––––––– | step 9 of 16, each held for 8 steps |
x a hit, o a quiet hit, 2 or 3 a quick roll inside one step, – a note held on, · nothing.
Variations
Eighths all bar
One speed: two wobbles per beat.
Sixteenths
Four wobbles per beat: a faster, angrier growl.
No wobble
The same notes on a plain sub, and the rhythm is gone.
Where it’s used
Also common in Brostep, Riddim and Bass house.