Tutorials: learn by doing

The reference chapters explain each control in isolation; the tutorials put them together. Each walkthrough builds a complete patch from an empty starting point and teaches a technique along the way. By the end of each one you will have both a usable sound and a transferable skill.

Before you start, load the Init preset from the factory bank; it is the bare default patch with everything at neutral values.

Tutorial 1: A punchy pluck bass

What you will learn: shaping a fast filter envelope, setting up a mono bassline voice, and using portamento for expression.

Technique: envelope shaping, mono play mode, glide.

Takes about: 10–15 minutes.

Build the sound

Step 1: Start from Init. Open the preset browser, click the name button, and select Init from the factory bank. You now have a single sine oscillator, no modulation, and all effects off.

Step 2: Choose a plucky waveform. Find the oscillator section (Osc 1) and click its waveform menu. Select Saw (Analog). This gives you the harmonically rich, warm-edged character of a vintage bass oscillator. Play a few low notes; you should hear a buzzy, bright saw tone.

Step 3: Set the range. On Osc 1, set Octave to -1. This drops everything down an octave, placing it in bass territory. Play around C2–C3 on your keyboard.

Step 4: Shape the amp envelope. Find the Amp Env (Envelope 1). Set these values:

Attack: nearly all the way down, very fast, around 5–10 ms.
Decay: about one-third up, roughly 120–200 ms.
Sustain: all the way down (zero). The note will die completely after the Decay.
Release: short, around 30–50 ms.

Now every note you play snaps on and dies away: the basic pluck shape. The tail length is controlled by Decay.

Step 5: Add filter snap to the pluck. The amp envelope gives you the volume shape; now give the sound a bright attack that darkens over time using the filter.

Find the Filter section and the Filter Env (Envelope 2):

Set the filter Cutoff to about one-third up, relatively dark to start.
On the Filter Env, set Attack fast (like the amp env), Decay to about 100–150 ms, Sustain to zero, and Release short.
Turn the Filter Env’s Amount up to about half. This opens the filter on each note-on and closes it as the note decays.

Play some notes. You should hear a snapping brightness on the attack that fades into a duller body: the classic pluck character.

Step 6: Go mono. Open the Voice / Play section and set Play Mode to Mono. Now only one note sounds at a time; new notes cut off the previous one. This is the standard setup for a bass part.

Step 7: Add a touch of glide. Still in Voice / Play, turn Glide up a small amount, just enough to bend a semitone or two over about 40–60 ms. Set the glide mode to Fingered so glide only kicks in when you overlap notes, leaving staccato hits clean.

Play overlapping notes (hold one, press another before lifting). The pitch slides between them. Staccato notes still snap cleanly to pitch.

Step 8: Dial in the filter character. Experiment with:

Resonance (a moderate amount emphasises the snap point).
Drive (adds harmonic richness and compression through the filter’s own saturation, fattening the body).
If you want the full acid-bass flavour, change the filter Model to Acid and bring Resonance up to about 70%. The Acid model’s resonance eats the lows and creates a distinctive squelch.

Step 9: Add a small amount of drive or compression (optional). In the FX rack, enable the Compressor and set a moderate ratio with a fast attack and medium release. This glues the bass and lets you push the level without clipping.

Step 10: Save. Click Save in the preset browser and give it a name.

What to try next

Route Velocity → filter Cutoff in the modulation matrix (right-click Cutoff → Add modulation → Velocity) so harder playing opens the filter more.
Try different filter models: Ladder for growl, Diode for a gentler squelch, SVF for a clean, modern pluck.
See The two filters for a complete guide to the filter character controls.

Tutorial 2: An evolving pad

What you will learn: using an LFO to animate the filter, building slow attack envelopes, and using the modulation matrix to wire movement into a pad.

Technique: LFO modulation, slow envelopes, unison, reverb.

Takes about: 15–20 minutes.

Build the sound

Step 1: Start from Init. Load the Init preset.

Step 2: Layer two oscillators. Aconite has three main oscillators. Use at least two:

Osc 1 → Saw (Unison). This is a stacked super-saw with seven detuned copies. Turn Detune up to about 30% (the second ring on the compound knob). This gives you immediate width and movement.
Osc 2 → Square. In the Mixer, pull Osc 2’s level down to about 40% so it sits under Osc 1. This adds a hollow, woody undertone.

Osc 3 can stay off (fader down in the Mixer) for now.

Step 3: Set a dark, open filter. On the Filter, set Cutoff to about 40% (roughly mid-low). You want it dark enough that the LFO sweep has somewhere to go. Set Resonance to about 15%, just a gentle emphasis, not a squelch.

Choose filter model SVF, Mode LP (low-pass). SVF is clean and efficient, good for pads at high polyphony.

Step 4: Slow amp and filter attack. The amp and filter envelopes together define how the pad breathes in.

For the Amp Env (Envelope 1):

Attack: about two-thirds up, 2–4 seconds.
Decay: moderate, 1–2 seconds.
Sustain: around 70%.
Release: 3–5 seconds so the pad lingers after you lift your hands.

For the Filter Env (Envelope 2):

Attack: similar to the amp, 2–4 seconds.
Decay: moderate, 1 second.
Sustain: around 50%.
Release: long.
Amount: turn it up about a third. The filter should open slowly over the attack, as the sound blooms.

Hold a chord. You should hear it slowly swell in, brighten gently, and fade out long after you release.

Step 5: Add an LFO to the filter. This is where the pad starts to feel alive rather than static.

Find LFO 1 in the Modulators section. Set:

Rate: very slow, around 0.3–0.5 Hz. One cycle every 2–3 seconds.
Shape: Sine (the default gentle wave).

Now route LFO 1 to Cutoff. The fastest way: right-click the Cutoff knob → Add modulation → LFO 1. A modulation route is created at a default depth.

Hold a chord and watch (and hear) the filter slowly breathe open and closed. In the mod matrix, find the LFO 1 → Cutoff row and adjust Depth. A value around 0.25 is a good starting point, enough to hear movement without sweeping too far.

Step 6: Draw a custom LFO shape (optional, but rewarding). Click LFO 1’s shape editor. You will see a drawable canvas. By default it is a sine wave. Try adding a slow rise followed by a plateau and a faster fall: an asymmetric contour that lingers open before closing. This teaches the core technique that makes Aconite’s LFOs different from a basic sine wave: you author the shape exactly.

After drawing, play your chord again and listen to how the custom contour changes the feel of the filter movement.

Step 7: Add unison and spread. In the Voice / Play section:

Unison: 3 or 4 voices per note.
Unison Detune: about 15–25% for gentle beating.
Unison Spread: about 50% to pan the stacked voices across the stereo field.

The pad should now feel wide and slightly shimmering.

Step 8: Add reverb. Enable the Reverb in the FX rack. Set a large Size, long Decay, and Mix at about 30–40%. The pad should now sound like it exists in a real space.

Step 9: Wire Variance for more life (optional). In the Voice / Play section, turn Variance up a small amount, around 10–15%. This adds per-voice differences in cutoff, envelope timing, and pulse width, so each stacked voice has a slightly different character. The pad goes from wide-but-static to genuinely alive.

Step 10: Save. Name and save your preset.

What to try next

Try LFO 2 on Resonance, at an even slower rate (0.1 Hz) for very slow resonance breathing. Right-click Resonance → Add modulation → LFO 2.
Route Keytrack to Cutoff in the matrix so higher notes are brighter.
Try the Morph destination in the matrix: route LFO 1 to Morph 1 instead of (or alongside) Cutoff, and the LFO will sweep the filter’s response mode from LP to BP and back: a character sweep rather than a frequency sweep.
See LFOs and Modulation matrix for the full guide.

Tutorial 3: A 303 acid line

What you will learn: setting up the acid filter, programming a bassline in the step sequencer, and using slide and accent for the classic 303 gesture.

Technique: Acid/Diode filter, step sequencer, slide, accent, MIDI-learn macros.

Takes about: 20–30 minutes.

What makes the acid sound

The classic Roland TB-303 sound has three defining features: a resonant filter with a “squelchy” envelope sweep that “eats the lows”, a slide that bends pitch smoothly between chosen steps (not every step), and accent notes that hit louder and open the filter further. All three are directly supported in Aconite.

Build the sound

Step 1: Start from Init. Load the Init preset.

Step 2: Set up an acid oscillator. On Osc 1:

Waveform: Saw (the plain, clean-bandlimited saw; the 303 is a clean DCO, not a fat super-saw).
Octave: -1 for bass register.
Leave Detune at zero; the 303 is monophonic and in tune.

In the Mixer: Osc 1 all the way up, everything else off.

Step 3: Select the Acid filter. In the Filter section, click the Model menu and select Acid. This is Aconite’s strict 303-style filter: spread poles, an uncompensated passband so resonance eats the lows, and a resonance that sits right at the edge of self-oscillation.

Set these values:

Cutoff: about 30% up, dark and nearly closed.
Resonance: about 65–75%. The Acid filter at high resonance is where the squelch character comes from.
Drive: a small amount, around 15–20%, to add the slight grit of the original circuit.

Play a low note and slowly drag Cutoff up and down. You should hear the characteristic acid filter: resonance emphasised and slightly crunchy, the low end disappearing as resonance rises, and a singing peak right at the cutoff point.

Step 4: Set the filter envelope for acid. The 303 envelope is fast and aggressive.

On the Filter Env (Envelope 2):

Attack: very fast, nearly zero, or just a few milliseconds.
Decay: short to medium, around 80–150 ms. This is the parameter that most defines how “snappy” or “long” the acid sweep sounds.
Sustain: zero. The filter snaps open and then closes back down.
Release: very short.
Amount (Env Amt): turn it up to about 60–70%. Each note should snap the filter open and then close as the envelope decays. Try longer and shorter Decay times; this single parameter controls how “punchy” versus “swooping” the patch sounds.

Hold a low note. You should hear the characteristic acid snap: the filter opens bright and closes to dark over the decay time.

Step 5: Set Mono and Glide. In Voice / Play:

Play Mode: Mono (one note at a time, essential for the slide to work).
Glide Mode: Fingered.
Glide time: around 40–80 ms. This is the slide speed: a shorter time gives a sharper bend, longer gives a slower portamento. The 303 canonical range is 50–70 ms.

Step 6: Program a step sequence. Open the Step Sequencer section. Select Mode: Step Seq if it is not already set.

Set Length to 16 steps. You are going to program a classic-style acid line. Here is a simple pattern to get started; remember that steps are scale degrees (1 = root), so the pattern transposes as you play:

Step	Degree	Octave	Slide	Accent
1	1	0	-	on
2	1	0	-	-
3	1	-1	slide	-
4	5	-1	-	on
5	1	0	-	-
6	1	0	slide	-
7	3	0	-	-
8	5	0	-	on
9–16	(rest, or vary as you like)

To enter a step: click the degree number in the step’s column. To set Slide, click the Slide cell on that step. To set Accent, click the Accent cell. For the octave, click the step’s Octave control up or down.

With the sequencer running and a note held (the held root is the key the pattern plays in), hold down a low C and let the pattern run. You should hear a simple acid line that transposes with whatever root you hold.

Step 7: Hear the accent. Accented steps hit at a higher velocity. Because the Filter Env has velocity sensitivity by default, accented steps also open the filter slightly further. If you want the accent to open the filter dramatically (the classic 303 “accent boom”), route Velocity → Cutoff in the mod matrix: right-click Cutoff → Add modulation → Velocity. Set Depth around 0.2–0.3. Now accented steps cause a bigger filter snap than unaccented ones.

Step 8: Sync the sequencer to your DAW. On the step sequencer panel, enable Sync and choose a division, typically 1/16. The pattern now locks to your host’s BPM and bar position, so it starts in time when your DAW plays.

Step 9: Add character. A 303 acid line benefits from a few small touches:

Enable the Chorus in the FX rack, set Model to BBD I or BBD II, Mix very low (10–15%), and Rate slow. This adds the subtle bucket-brigade “spreading” of the original unit.
A small amount of Delay (Tape model, synced, 1/8 or 1/16 division, low mix) adds the ghost-echo effect common in acid tracks.

Step 10: Vary the pattern live. While the pattern runs, try:

Holding a different root note; the pattern transposes and stays in key.
Tweaking Decay on the filter envelope in real time; this is the primary expressive control on a 303, and a slow sweep of it while the line plays is a classic performance move.
Slowly dragging Cutoff up while the pattern runs, opening the filter over several bars for a build.
Adjusting Resonance upward until the filter is just at the edge of self-oscillation.

Step 11: Save. Name and save the preset.

What to try next

Explore the Diode filter model as an alternative to Acid: slightly gentler knee, the passband stays fuller as resonance rises, a more “restrained” acid character.
Try Ratchet on one of the steps (set it to 2 or 3) for a stuttered roll on that note.
Use the Accidental field on a step (±1) to add chromatic approach notes that step outside the scale for a moment: a key 303 gesture.
Add a Macro knob routed to Cutoff and Resonance with opposite signs, so one knob sweeps the filter through its full character arc in a single turn.
See Step sequencer for the full step model reference and The two filters for deeper filter guidance.

Where to go from here

These three tutorials cover the core gesture of subtractive synthesis (source, filter, envelope, modulation) plus the step sequencer. Every other sound in the factory bank is built from the same principles, applied in different combinations.

A few directions to explore next:

Physical models. Load Felt Piano, Handpan, or Steel Drum from the factory bank and compare the String and Modal oscillator modes to the virtual-analog oscillators you used above. The approach is different but the filter, envelopes, and modulation matrix all work the same way.
Draw a modulator. Open LFO 1’s shape editor and draw a completely custom shape. Route it to Cutoff, envelope times, or oscillator detune. The LFOs chapter covers the full editor.
Build a beat. Use the Kick oscillator type on one instance and the Modal model on another to synthesize a kick and a percussion hit, then layer them in the Mixer.
Explore scenes. Switch to Layer mode (Voice / Play → Scene Mode → Layer), edit scene B to a completely different patch (a pad under a lead, for instance), and play both at once. See Voice & play for the scene system.