The Top 5 Minimal Deep Tech Basses You Need to Know (And the Serum 2 Presets Behind Them)

Minimal deep tech is everywhere in underground house right now. Chris Stussy, Kolter, Sidney Charles, Cam Stockman, and Josh Baker are all over the Beatport charts, and their tracks share a sound that is stripped back, warm, and built around groove. In this genre, the bass isn't just part of the track. It usually is the track.

In my latest video, I break down five of the bass sounds I hear most often in minimal deep tech right now. I explain how they work, which tracks use them, and how to build each one from scratch in Serum 2. This post goes along with the video. For each bass, I'll show you what it is, how it's made, and which presets from my new Minimal Deep Tech Serum 2 preset pack will give you a finished version of that sound.

Watch the full breakdown here:

First: What Actually Counts as Minimal Deep Tech?

Genres are fluid right now. Tech house, deep house, minimal tech house, and deep tech all bleed into each other. For this breakdown, I wanted to narrow the sound down as much as possible, so I looked at two Beatport charts: the deep house chart and the minimal / deep tech chart, focusing on tracks released within the last 12 months.

I left out artists who lean more toward minimal tech house, like Prospa or Cloonee, as well as artists who move closer to indie dance, like Brunello. Instead, I focused on artists who sit between the two charts: Kolter, Cam Stockman, Sidney Charles, Josh Baker, and Chris Stussy, who I would argue is really deep tech even though he dominates the deep house chart.

Here's what stood out from the Beatport Genre Top 100 charts for Minimal/Deep Tech and Deep House in July 2026:

• Tempo: The median was 130 BPM on the minimal/deep tech chart and 127 BPM on the deep house chart, so 127 to 130 BPM is a good range to aim for
• Top keys: D minor was the most common key on minimal/deep tech, while E minor and G minor were the most common on deep house. Key choice matters because the register of the bass changes the way the sound comes across
• Artists appearing on both charts: Kolter, Isaac Carter, Cam Stockman, Toman, Kepler, GENNARO, Josh Baker, and Eden Burns. These artists are good references for hearing where the two sounds overlap
• Character: Most of these basses are warm, subby, and focused on groove. They support the track instead of fighting to be the loudest element

Bass #1: The Chris Stussy FM Sub Bass

Hear it in: Chris Stussy – "Miraflores," "Wide Awake" (with Tom Did It), and "Fantasy" (his Lost, Found, and Forgotten era)

This is probably the bass sound I associate most with minimal deep tech right now: a subby, legato bass with a bright, clicky attack at the front of each note. It isn't designed to be the main character. It sits underneath the synths and leads, but it still carries the entire groove.

How to build it in Serum 2:

• Start with sine waves in mono voicing, octave down around -2
• Stack FM across all three oscillators (FM from B and FM from C in ratio mode) and fine-tune the ratios, because every small ratio change makes a big difference
• Keep the sub legato with long, held notes, then create the attack with a filter envelope, a pitch envelope, or a short burst of bright white noise at the start of the note
• Alternatively, layer a one-shot. Old Vengeance-style samples with a long decay work surprisingly well for this exact sound

In the pack: BS Miraflores and BS Wide Awake are my versions of this bass. The FM ratios, filter envelopes, and portamento glide are already dialed in, with macros that let you adjust the click and brightness.

Bass #2: The Minimal Bass Stab

Hear it in: Cam Stockman – "Into My Life" and "Mesmerize," Jamback – "Positive"

Tech house and melodic techno often use huge, gritty bass stabs. Minimal deep tech takes a similar idea and strips it down: a simple saw wave played on the downbeat and held out like a stab, with a slow filter-envelope decay.

The keys to this sound in Serum 2:

• A saw wave in mono, with envelope 2 assigned to the filter cutoff and a slow decay
• Use a gentler filter slope than usual (12 or 18 dB per octave instead of 24) so the stab stays bright
• Add a touch of bright white noise for that silky texture, and detune a second oscillator slightly for gentle phasing
• Effects are almost optional here. Maybe a delay, nothing more

In the pack: BS Into My Life Pluck and BS Into My Life Reso cover this style. Both use the three-oscillator square and saw stack with the low-12 filter I walk through in the video.

Bass #3: The Bright Plucky Bass

Hear it in: Robbie Doherty – "Coming Home," Kolter & Sidney Charles – "Back 2 Da Beat," Cam Stockman – "Into My Life"

This is probably the bass I hear most often in the genre: short, bright, fast plucks. They are usually combined with another bass sound, but when the stabs are busy enough, they can also work as the lead and fill out most of the track on their own.

Production notes:

• Mono saw wave through something like the MG 24 filter, with a snappy filter envelope
• This is one place where I actually recommend Serum's multiband compression. I usually avoid it in this genre because it flattens the warmth, but it works well on bright plucks
• Add a ping-pong delay, a reverb (try one outside Serum), or even a bitcrusher-style effect
• Listen closely to "Back 2 Da Beat" and you can hear that it's probably a one-shot. There's hi-hat noise baked into the sample that pitches up and down with the bassline

In the pack: BS Coming Home Rob Pluck, BS Coming Home Rob Subby, and BS Back 2 The Beat.

Bass #4: The Resonant Saw Pluck

Hear it in: Caleb Laurenson – "Beautiful Thing," Ben Kim & A.D.O.R. – "Reload the Renegade Master," Ranger Trucco – "Terrace Trip"

This is the most tech-house-adjacent bass of the five: a saw pluck with the filter resonance pushed high enough that it almost takes on a vocal quality. That's where the "ow ow ow" character in "Reload the Renegade Master" comes from.

How to get there:

• Mono saw wave, envelope 2 on the filter cutoff, resonance up high (70% and beyond)
• Keep the envelope modulation amount small; subtle movement is the whole trick
• Add width carefully with unison, phase adjustments, or Hyper/Dimension, and turn on key tracking if the bassline climbs
• Layer in noise. When the filter opens, it exposes the noise layer and adds a silky, papery texture
• For grit, add distortion and then filter after it, so the drive stays in the low end and out of the top

In the pack: BS Beautiful Thing Pluck, BS Beautiful Thing Reso, BS Reload the Renegade, and BS Terrace Trip.

Bass #5: The Dark FM Sine Bass

Hear it in: Joe Rolét – "No Hesitating" (Max Dean Remix)

I haven't heard this bass used very much yet, which is exactly why I wanted to include it. It sounds dark, cool, and fresh, and I'd like to hear more of it in the genre. Think of it like a resonant saw pluck, except it's built from sine waves with FM doing most of the work.

• Oscillator A runs phase distortion (PD) from B, with both oscillators down at octave -2
• Envelope 2 drives a low 24 filter cutoff with key tracking on, so it brightens naturally as the notes climb
• Swap between FM and PD. PD often gives a smoother result, and dialing the amount changes the whole character

In the pack: BS Given The Time is my version of this bass, with the PD-from-B routing and key-tracked filter already set up.

Because this sound isn't as common yet, it's a good option when you want a bass that still fits the genre without sounding like every other minimal deep tech track.

Get All Five Basses as Serum 2 Presets

If you want finished versions of these basses to use in your own tracks, they are included in my new pack, Sam Smyers Serum Minimal Deep Tech Collection Vol. 1. The pack contains minimal deep tech Serum presets inspired by Chris Stussy, Rossi., Sidney Charles, Kolter, Cam Stockman, and more. Inside, you'll get:

• 50 Serum 2 presets covering deep basses, plucky leads, warm pads, and synths
• 50 matching MIDI files, with a groove written for every preset
• Clip previews that use Serum 2's clip preview feature, so you can hear each preset playing a musical phrase directly from the browser before loading it
• 8 macros per preset for quickly adjusting and shaping the sounds

Compatible with macOS, Windows, and every DAW. Requires Serum 2.1.4.

→ Check out the Minimal Deep Tech Serum 2 Preset Pack

If you want my full library of Serum presets, including tech house, UK garage, and everything else, you can also get every pack I've made in the Ultimate Collection at a discounted bundle price.

For more sound design breakdowns like this, subscribe to my YouTube channel, where I post new Serum tutorials every week, or join me on Patreon for presets and more.