Dubspot instructor Michael Hast shows how to turn Ableton Live’s underrated Corpus device into a low-end secret weapon. By routing Corpus to a return track and driving it with side-chained MIDI, you can graft a powerful, perfectly tuned sub layer onto any bass sound without stacking extra synths. Follow the steps below and give your tracks the chest-rattling weight they deserve.
Start with a bass sound that needs extra girth. Michael uses Ableton’s Operator plus a dash of saturation, but any synth or sample will work.
Create a new return track (Cmd/Ctrl + Alt + T) and drop Corpus on it. Set the device’s Dry/Wet knob to 100 %—the send will now output only processed audio, leaving the original bass untouched on its channel fader.
Flip the Model menu to Membrane. This model excels at low-frequency material, imitating drum heads and speaker cones that naturally resonate in the sub range.
This trick forces Corpus to “tune itself” to every note you play, eliminating pitch-drift that plagues typical resonators.
Turn Decay up for a longer, rumbling sustain. Short decay = tight, percussive sub; long decay = cinematic boom. Find a value that complements the groove without stepping on the kick drum.
Enable Off Decay in the side-chain panel to make the resonance fade smoothly when notes stop. This keeps gaps clean and avoids unwanted hum between phrases.
Return levels are your friend. Push the send knob on the bass channel until the low end feels solid, then pull it back a hair. Check on headphones and monitors—excessive sub that feels great in cans can swamp a club system.
Using Corpus as a sub bass generator is fast, CPU-light, and musically responsive. Because the resonator follows your MIDI, every slide, bend, or chord change is perfectly in tune. Experiment with other models—Tube adds analog growl, while Plates can create metallic subs for EDM and bass music.
The next time your bass line feels thin, let Corpus do the heavy lifting. A few tweaks and a return fader are all you need to turn a decent groove into a dance-floor-shaking monster.
Happy producing, and keep those lows tight!
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