Vital · Bass design · FM

How to Make a Bass Like Mefjus in Vital

To make a bass in the style of Mefjus in Vital, FM a sine wave with the Water Razor wavetable, turn off phase randomisation so every note hits the same way, add a noise layer, and shape a 24 dB filter and the noise with a triggered LFO. Then drive it through chorus, distortion, compression, reverb and EQ. Here is our five-minute Vital patch, step by step, with the settings from the screen and audio of the result.

By DNB Academy · Updated 21 October 2026 · 7 min read · Vital (free), beginner to intermediate

After the detuned-saw reese? Our reese bass guide rebuilds a Mefjus “The Sirens”-style reese in Serum. This page is a different patch: an FM bass built from scratch in Vital.

Our Mefjus-style bass in Vital, built from an init patch in just over five minutes. Every step below links to the moment in the video.

1.Build the FM core

The body of this bass is FM: a sine wave whose pitch is being modulated by a more complex wavetable. In Vital that takes two oscillators. One makes the source sound, the other is the sine you actually hear.

From an initialised patch, load the Water Razor wavetable on oscillator 1 (watch at 0:18). It sounds interesting on its own, but bring its level all the way down: we only want it as a modulator. Turn on oscillator 2, set it to a sine wave from Basic Shapes and switch its mode to FM OSC 1, so oscillator 1 now frequency-modulates the sine. Turn the amount up to around 55% (the screen reads 55.50%).

2.Octave up, phase randomisation off

Raise the modulator an octave for a brighter, more aggressive tone, then set phase randomisation to 0% on both oscillators. Otherwise each note starts at a random point in the waveform and the bass sounds slightly different every time you hit it.

Boost the octave on oscillator 1 (pitch +12 on screen). It gets quite squeaky, which is fine at this stage. Now listen to a few notes in a row: each one sounds different. To fix that, turn the phase randomisation all the way down on both oscillators, from 100% to 0% (watch at 1:00). With the start point fixed, you can use the phase knob itself to change the sound slightly: on screen, oscillator 1 ends up at 229 and oscillator 2 at 0. Then drag the frame position of the Water Razor wavetable until you like the tone, and leave it there.

3.Add noise and a 24 dB filter

A noise layer adds grit to the attack, and a steep low-pass filter gives you something to animate. Keep the noise quiet for now, because an LFO will control its level in the next step.

Turn on the sampler and load a noise you like (watch at 1:26); ours is called BART. Bring its level all the way down. Then turn on filter 1 and set it to Analog 24 dB. Check the routing: oscillator 2 has to go into the filter too, or turning the cutoff won’t do much to the FM sound. Play with the cutoff to hear the range.

4.Make it move with LFO 1

The movement in this bass comes from one LFO doing two jobs: opening the filter and bringing the noise in. A triggered LFO restarts with every note, so each hit gets the same shape.

Map LFO 1 to the filter cutoff (watch at 1:54). Draw a shape like ours: a curved rise to a peak early in the cycle, a quick fall, then a long, low tail. Change its frequency (ours goes from 1/2 to 1/1, in Trigger mode). Then map the same LFO to the sampler’s level, so the noise swells with the filter, and decrease the amount of that modulation. You can come back and play with the LFO later.

5.Chorus, distortion, compression, reverb and EQ

The effects do a lot of the character here. Chorus with a raised cutoff acts as an extra filter, so the distortion that follows has a shaped sound to bite into. Compression, a short reverb and a high boost finish the tone.

In the Effects tab (watch at 2:27), turn on the chorus, bring the voices down to 4 and the spread all the way down, and boost the cutoff. Next, turn on the distortion (Soft Clip on screen) and boost the drive. Then turn on the compressor: it sounds way too distorted at first, and that’s fine. Turn on the reverb and reduce its time, then add the EQ and boost the highs.

Finally, bring the global gain a bit lower and modulate it with LFO 2 (watch at 3:14). Ours uses a curved triangle at 1/2 in Trigger mode. Decrease the modulation a bit so it shapes the volume of each hit without chopping it up.

6.Balance the layers and finish in the DAW

With everything switched on, go back and rebalance the sources. Then a little processing in the DAW finishes the sound: EQ, more compression, some reverb and a simple low cut.

Back on the Voice tab (watch at 3:29), bring the noise a bit lower so it’s less noisy, and lower oscillator 2’s level so it doesn’t distort as much. That gets us really close to the sound. From here it’s fine-tuning: try different LFO shapes and distortion settings, because the patch has a lot of possibilities.

After Vital, our Ableton chain is short (watch at 4:06): EQ Eight with a high shelf (1.86 kHz, +4.83 dB on screen), OTT at 46%, Ableton’s Reverb with a 649 ms decay at 36% dry/wet, and a second EQ Eight with a low cut at 95.8 Hz. If you want to see how a bass like this sits against the sub in a full mix, our DnB sub bass guide covers that.

This exact preset is in the free Vital Starter Preset Pack, so you can open it and compare it with your own version. Mefjus is best known for neurofunk; our drum and bass subgenres guide explains where that style sits.

Common mistakes making a Mefjus-style bass in Vital

• Leaving phase randomisation on. Every note sounds a little different. Set it to 0% on both oscillators for a consistent hit.
• Leaving the FM source audible. Oscillator 1 is only there to modulate the sine. Turn its level down.
• Forgetting the filter routing. If oscillator 2 isn’t going into the filter, the LFO on the cutoff won’t move the FM sound.
• Too much noise. Let the LFO bring the noise in, with a small modulation amount, and pull the level down again once the effects are on.
• Overdriving everything. The compressor makes the distortion louder. Lower oscillator 2 and the global gain instead of fighting it at the end.
• No low cut. A simple low cut after the synth keeps room for your sub.

Free download

Get this Mefjus-style preset free

In the video we put this exact bass in the Vital Starter Preset Pack, so you can check every knob against your own build. The pack gives you:

• A neuro DnB starter pack for Vital
• Neuro bass presets, including this one
• Pluck and lead presets
• Works with the free version of Vital

It’s one of seven free sample and preset packs in DNB Academy Free Access, alongside the mixing and mastering e-books and the 3‑day DnB challenge. Join 40,000+ producers in Free Access. Free account, no card needed.

Get free accessWhat’s in the pack

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FAQ: making a bass like Mefjus in Vital

Next steps

Open Vital, start from an init patch and rebuild the FM core first. Once each note hits the same way, add the noise, the filter and the LFO, and only then the effects. For a classic two-saw reese instead, follow our reese bass guide; for more Vital neuro sounds, try neuro basses like Noisia in Vital.

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