How to Make a Neuro Stab Bass in Vital with Icicle

To make a neuro stab bass in Vital, play two notes a third apart through a saw into a steep analog filter, and let a decaying LFO in Trigger mode snap the filter shut on every hit. Icicle then adds FM from a silent second oscillator, a third layer through filter 2 with its own movement, and a touch of chorus and reverb. Here are his exact steps from the video.

By DNB Academy · Updated 14 October 2026 · 8 min read · Vital (free synth)

Prefer to watch? In the full 10-minute video Icicle builds this stab from the Init preset, then shapes it in his track.

1.Write a short two-note stab

Icicle starts in the arrangement, not in the synth. The project runs at 172 BPM, and there’s a bit of space in the riff, so that’s where the stab goes. The stab itself is simple: two notes a third apart, played as one short chord on a new Vital track. He calls it “a chordy stab”: the basics are just a third played through a filtered saw.

Place it between the main bass hits so the stab answers the riff. For ideas, our guide to neuro bass patterns explains calls, responses and gaps in a drop.

2.Start with a saw through a steep analog filter

Load Vital on the track and start from the Init Preset:

1. On oscillator 1, scroll the Basic Shapes wavetable to the saw. (In the video Icicle lands on a noise shape first and moves on to the saw.)
2. Turn on Filter 1; oscillator 1 already feeds it.
3. Choose the steeper model: Analog 24 dB instead of the default Analog 12 dB.

3.Turn LFO 1 into a filter envelope

A stab needs the filter to open and close on every hit. Icicle uses LFO 1 for that:

1. Drag LFO 1 onto the cutoff of Filter 1.
2. Leave the LFO in Trigger mode, so it restarts on every note and behaves like a filter envelope.
3. Replace the default triangle with a decaying curve: start at the top and fall quickly, with a long tail.
4. Make it a bit faster: the rate goes from 1/2 to 1/4 in the video.

That’s already “quite a nice stab”, in Icicle’s words. Everything after this adds interest and texture.

4.Add FM from oscillator 2

To make it more interesting, Icicle FMs oscillator 1 with the second oscillator:

1. On oscillator 1, set the mode under the phase knob to FM OSC 2.
2. Turn on oscillator 2 and bring its level down. As Icicle puts it: “I don’t want this playing, I just want it existing.” It only feeds the FM.
3. Drag LFO 1 onto the FM amount knob too, so the FM follows the same articulation as the filter.
4. Try different wavetables on oscillator 2. He tries a noise shape and settles on Pulse Width, which makes the stab “a bit more unsettled and sort of drifty”.

If FM in Vital is new to you, our foghorn bass in Vital tutorial uses the same FM OSC 2 mode for a much heavier sound.

5.Add a third layer through filter 2

Next comes a third layer with its own filter movement:

1. Turn on oscillator 3 (the default saw) and route it to Filter 2.
2. Engage Filter 2; it stays on Analog 12 dB.
3. Drag LFO 2 onto the Filter 2 cutoff and draw “a tiny little quick peak”: a fast rise and a fast fall, in Trigger mode at 1/2.

Now the two filters move in different ways, which gives the stab “a bit more texture”.

6.Unison, chorus and reverb

Finish the patch with width and space, but keep it subtle:

• Unison on oscillator 3: the screenshot shows 3 voices at 17% detune.
• Chorus: “just the slightest of chorus”. Keep the mix low.
• Reverb: “a bit of this reverb”, enough to give the stab a short tail.

7.Check it in the groove and EQ it

Now Icicle listens to the stab in the groove with the rest of the track, which is where you hear what it really needs. He works on the bottom end first (“see if we can fortify that bottom end”), then puts an EQ after Vital (FabFilter Pro-Q 3 in the video; any EQ works):

• A steep low cut (around 60 Hz at 36 dB/oct in the screenshot).
• He keeps the body (“it’s quite nice when it has the body”) with a bell boost in the low mids.
• Part of the detail is “probably remnant of the FMing”, so he EQs that out.

8.Make a variation and group a lead bus

One stab gets repetitive, so Icicle makes an alternate on a second Vital track:

1. Change LFO 1 to a rise-and-fall shape so the variation is “more articulated”.
2. Give it more reverb.
3. Make it a regular occurrence, every four bars.

Then he groups both stabs into a lead bus. Processing on the bus takes some low and a bit of high out with an EQ, and layers a little extra reverb (FabFilter Pro-R) on top. Song structure and where variations land are covered in our DnB BPM and structure guide.

Common mistakes

• Leaving oscillator 2 audible. For FM it only needs to exist. Turn its level down, or it muddies the chord.
• An LFO that doesn’t retrigger. Keep LFO 1 and LFO 2 in Trigger mode, or the filter won’t snap shut on each hit.
• Both filters moving the same way. The texture comes from Filter 2 moving differently from Filter 1. Draw a different shape on LFO 2.
• Too much chorus and reverb. Icicle uses “the slightest” chorus and only a bit of reverb. A stab drowned in effects stops sounding like a stab.
• Designing it only in solo. The low end and FM leftovers only show up against the drums.

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Get free Vital presets to take apart

Once you’ve built this stab, open some finished patches and compare. The Vital Starter Preset Pack is:

• A neuro DnB starter pack for Vital
• Neuro bass presets
• Pluck and lead presets
• Made for the free version of Vital

It’s in DNB Academy Free Access with 7 free sample and preset packs, two e-books and artist track breakdowns, including Icicle’s “Outer Planes” breakdown with a Q&A. Just your artist name and email.

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Next steps

You now have a stab you can reshape with the LFO shapes, the FM amount and the second filter. When you want to learn the whole process in order, from sound design to finished tracks, here’s where to go next:

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