Remaking the bass synth from the 1980 song "Mr Crowley" by Ozzy Osbourne can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "Mr Crowley" 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
The bass synthesizer in Ozzy Osbourne’s “Mr. Crowley” establishes the track’s ominous foundation with a deep, resonant analog sound. This low-end synth part occupies the lower keyboard range. The bass synth dominates the track’s opening seconds.
Original Performing Instrument
Minimoog
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 "Mr Crowley" by Ozzy Osbourne, 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
- Decay: 3100 ms
- Sustain: 0%
- Release: 20 ms
Oscillators
- Oscillator 1
- Waveform: Pulse
- Pulse Width: 50%
- Volume: 70%
- Oscillator 2
- Waveform: Pulse
- Pulse Width: 50%
- Pitch: +1 Octave
- Volume: 30%
- Sub Oscillator
- Waveform: Pulse
- Pulse Width: 100%
- Pitch: -1 Octave
- Volume: 30%
- Unison
- Oscillators: All
- Voice Count: 4
- Detune Range: 16 Cents
- Stereo Spread: 70%
- Reset All Oscillators Phase On Note Start: No
Filter
- Type: Low Pass
- Cutoff: 60%
- Resonance: 45%
- Key Tracking: 80%
Filter Envelope
- Modulation Amount: 45%
- Attack: 0 ms
- Decay: 2050 ms
- Sustain: 20%
LFO
- Destination: Pulse Width
- Waveform: Triangle
- Amount: 35%
- Rate: 1/4 Note
Note: the patch settings may slightly differ in the Syntorial challenge.
Explore More
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- Roland Fantom Programming for ‘Mr. Crowley’ Bass Synth
- Nord User Forum: Recreating ‘Mr. Crowley’ Bass with Roland SH-201 and Nord Wave
- Korg Kronos Combi for ‘Mr. Crowley’ Bass/Lead Sound
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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:
- Primer, our free synthesizer VST
