Justice - Let There Be Light | Bass Synth Patch Remake

Remaking the bass synth from the 2007 song "Let There Be Light" by Justice can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "Let There Be Light" 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

Justice’s “Let There Be Light” introduces its signature growling bass synth at 0:53, utilizing distorted aggression. Though the original might use sampled bass processed through distortion, this synth-based approach gets really close. We construct it using a medium pulse wave routed through a heavily saturated 24 dB low-pass filter to emphasize midrange grit. Heavy distortion amplifies harmonic complexity, while a fast pitch envelope decay with sharp attack mimics the percussive transient of a real bass player’s technique.

Original Performing Instrument

Unknown

Our Remake of The Bass Synth sound

This audio clip is how close we've matched the original tone of the bass synth from the song "Let There Be Light" by Justice, 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 allx 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

Oscillator Setup

Oscillator 1

• Mix: 0%
• Wavetable: Basic Shapes
• Wave Frame: Medium Pulse (position 212)
• Routing: Filter 1
• Transpose: -12 st
• Morph:
• Spectral Morph Type: Vocode
• Modulations:
• Velocity → Level

Filter Settings

Filter 1

• Model: Dirty
• Style: 24dB Slope
• Blend: Low Pass (0)
• Cutoff: 47% (261.626 Hz)
• Resonance: 50%
• Drive: 50%
• Keytrack: 50%
• Modulations:
• Env 2 → Cutoff

Envelope Settings

Envelope 1 (Amp)

• Attack: 0 ms
• Decay: 363 ms
• Sustain: 82%
• Release: 32 ms
• Decay Curve: Exponential

Envelope 2

• Attack: 0 ms
• Decay: 152 ms
• Sustain: 16%
• Release: 90 ms
• Routed to:
• Filter 1 Cutoff (36%)
• EQ High Gain (20%)

Envelope 3

• Attack: 0 ms
• Decay: 14 ms
• Sustain: 0%
• Release: 90 ms
• Routed to:
• Voice Transpose (23%)

Effects Processing (Ordered)

Chorus

• Voices: 4
• Sync: Default (Tempo)
• Tempo: Default (4/1)
• Depth: Default (50%)
• Delay 1: Default (2.0 ms)
• Delay 2: Default (7.8 ms)
• Feedback: 0%
• Mix: 7%
• Cutoff: 3729.3 Hz
• Spread: 0.13

Distortion

• Mix: Default (100%)
• Drive: 76%
• Type: Hard Clip

Compressor

• Mode: High Band
• Mix: Default (100%)
• Attack: 100%
• Release: 36%
• Band Values
• Band Gain: 17 dB
• Band Upper Ratio: 57%
• High Values
• High Gain: 9 dB

Eq

• Low Mode: High-Pass
• Low Cutoff: 132.509 Hz
• Low Resonance: Default (32%)
• Band Cutoff: 274.410 Hz
• Band Resonance: 38%
• Band Gain: -9 dB
• High Cutoff: 2065.060 Hz
• High Resonance: Default (32%)
• High Gain: -3 dB

Filter Fx

• Mix: Default (100%)
• Model: Analog
• Style: 12dB Slope
• Blend: Low Pass (0)
• Cutoff: 84% (4140.817 Hz)
• Resonance: 0%

Modulation Matrix

• Envelope 2 → Filter 1 Cutoff 36%
• Envelope 3 → Voice Transpose 23%
• Velocity → Osc 1 Level 100%
• Envelope 2 → EQ High Gain 20%

Note: the patch settings may slightly differ in the Syntorial challenge.

Explore More

• Serum Tutorial – REZZ / Golden Features / Justice Style Bass Synth (YouTube)
• Justice “Sound” – Production Techniques Forum (KVR Audio)
• Patch Request: Justice – Let There Be Light (Bass Synths) (Syntorial)
• Justice’s Production – Dubstepforum.com

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

Comments

This recipe is the result of a Syntorial community preset remake request. Need support remaking this sound? Have comments?