Remaking the bass synth from the 1990 song "No Coke" by Dr Alban can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "No Coke" bass patch and play this iconic sound on most hardware or software subtractive synthesizers (Serum, Vital, Pigments, Prophet, Korg, Moog, etc). We've included the preset download directly for your convenience, but we strongly recommend you use our programming tutorial to recreate it yourself.
Original Audio
Dr. Alban’s 1990 hit “No Coke,” from his debut album *Hello Afrika*, became a chart-topping success across Europe with its distinctive Eurodance sound that helped define the early 90s dance music scene. The track features an aggressive, edgy bass synthesizer line that drives the entire composition with its penetrating tone and rhythmic pulse. Producer Denniz Pop crafted this signature bassline using a Roland Juno-106 synthesizer. You can hear this iconic bass sound make its entrance at 0:08 in the song, where it immediately establishes the track’s driving energy.
Original Performing Instrument
Roland Juno-106
Our Remake of The Bass Synth
This audio clip is how close we've matched the original tone of the bass synth from the song "No Coke" by Dr Alban, giving you a reference point as you design your own synthesizer preset. Play it as often as you need to familiarize yourself with the nuances of the sound.
Synth Patch Programming Recipe
Getting Started
- Start by initializing your synthesizer to a plain saw with no filter, modulation or effects. For soft synths use the "init"/"default" preset or the the button to reset all parameters to their default factory values.
- No two synths are exactly alike, so treat the values below as approximate, and use your ear.
- Percentage values (e.g. 50%) represent the relative position of a knob or slider within its full range. The full range of each parameter may differ from synth to synth, so use your ear.
Voices
- Voice Mode: Mono
Amp Envelope
- Attack: 0 ms
- Sustain: 100%
- Release: 20 ms
Oscillators
- Oscillator 1
- Waveform: Saw
- Volume: 70%
- Oscillator 2
- Waveform: Saw
- Pitch: +1 Octave
- Volume: 30%
- Unison
- Oscillators: All
- Voice Count: 4
- Detune Range: 3 Cents
- Stereo Spread: 50%
- Reset All Oscillators Phase On Note Start: No
Filter
- Type: Low Pass
- Cutoff: 65%
- Resonance: 70%
- Key Tracking: 50%
Distortion
- Drive: 11%
Reverb
- Mix: 20% Wet
- Size: Medium
Note: the patch settings may slightly differ in the Syntorial challenge.
Explore More
- No Coke (Wikipedia)
- How to make the sounds from Dr. Alban ‘No Coke’ with DRC (Youtube)
- Dr Alban – No Coke (Music Digger Blog)
- Famous Sounds – SynthMania
Preset Downloads
Don't want to learn synth programming now? Use our synth preset as your starting point and tweak it from there. Register an account with Audible Genius and download the presets for free for the following synths:
- Vital
