SUB Voltage Synths bass companion

Substance. Put a bassline beside the beat.

A monophonic synth built on the same real-time engine as Voltage Drums. Two oscillators, sub and noise hit a driven transistor-ladder filter, with the glide, accent, velocity and aftertouch response needed to make a bassline perform.

Oscillators, drive, ladderFollow the signal path Eight basses · three leadsSee all eleven patches
  • Two oscillators, square sub and noise
  • LP, BP and HP ladder modes at 12 or 24 dB/octave
  • Last-note priority with legato glide
  • Velocity, accent, aftertouch and pitch-bend response
  • Included with Voltage Drums and as its own instrument
Substance monophonic bass synthesizer interface
SubstanceAn original Voltage Synths instrument, bundled with Voltage Drums.

01 The signal path

Build the source. Then make it move.

Every panel section maps to the implemented synth engine. The path stays compact enough to play quickly and deep enough to move from clean subs to driven mono leads.

O1

Oscillator one

Triangle · saw · pulse · PWM

O2

Oscillator two

Tune · sync · cross-modulation

SUB

Sub + noise

Square sub · seeded noise

MIX

Driven mixer

Bias · saturation · level

VCF

Ladder filter

LP / BP / HP · 12 / 24 dB

ENV

Envelope

ADSR · filter and VCA modes

LFO

Modulation

Cutoff · PWM · pitch

PERF

Performance

Glide · accent · velocity · pressure

One instrument, two homes: Substance uses the same sound engine and parameters when loaded inside Voltage Drums or as its standalone Voltage Synths plug-in.

02 Bass range and motion

Low enough for foundations. Fast enough for hooks.

Quantized oscillator ranges establish the octave, continuous tune creates beating or intervals, and constant-rate glide scales naturally with the distance between notes.

32′–2′five oscillator ranges

Each oscillator chooses its octave independently, with a dedicated square sub channel available beneath the pair.

±7 stcontinuous tune per oscillator

Unison beating, fifths and close intervals come from live oscillators rather than stacked recordings.

0.1–20Hz LFO range

Triangle, saw or square modulation routes to cutoff, pulse width or pitch, with optional retrigger.

03 Under the fingers

Monophonic by design. Expressive by default.

Substance follows the most recently held note, falls back to earlier held notes without a gap, and keeps performance messages inside the synthesis path.

NOTE BEHAVIOUR
  • Last-note priority. The newest held key takes over; releasing it returns to the previous held key.
  • Legato glide. Portamento uses a constant-rate slew, so wider intervals take longer.
  • Pitch bend. The plug-in maps the wheel across ±2 semitones.
  • Transpose. The engine covers two octaves down to two octaves up.
PERFORMANCE CV
  • Velocity. Scales performance level and the selected modulation destination.
  • Accent. Velocities from 101/127 engage the accent circuit and filter amount.
  • Aftertouch. Poly or channel pressure drives the dedicated aftertouch bus.
  • Deterministic drift. Seeded oscillator movement keeps the pair alive while preserving session recall.

04 Eleven tested starting points

Basses first. Leads when needed.

Each patch is engine data with pinned level and character tests—not a screenshot of approximate knob positions.

01

Deep Sub

Triangle foundation · full sub

02

Fat Stack

Detuned saw pair · 32′ sub

03

Dirty Growl

Pulse stack · deep drive

04

Acid Bite

Resonant decay · glide

05

Rubber Sub

Single pulse · steady low end

06

Funk Pluck

Filter sweep · tracked resonance

07

Warm Pulse

Free-running PWM · sub

08

Burgs

Dark 32′ / 16′ house patch

09

Hooky Lead

Hard sync · tuned interval

10

Glide Solo

Unison saws · long portamento

11

Hollow Lead

Open pulse · pitch modulation

05 Substance FAQ

Three direct answers.

What is Substance?

Substance is a monophonic Voltage Synths instrument built for basslines and leads. Two oscillators, sub and noise feed a driven multimode transistor-ladder filter, envelope, LFO and expressive performance controls.

Is Substance included with Voltage Drums?

Yes. Substance is included inside Voltage Drums and also installs as its own Voltage Synths plug-in, using the same synthesis engine and parameter set.

Does Substance include presets?

Yes. Eleven tested starting points cover clean sub bass, stacked and driven basses, resonant plucks, pulse-width movement and three lead sounds.

06 Inside Voltage Drums

The beat and bassline. One product.

Substance ships alongside Voltage 80 and Voltage 78, and also installs as its own Voltage Synths instrument.

Three instruments · all includedSee the complete line-up