How to Make Zaag Kick Fakedrops for Hard Techno

First take down the phase randomization, otherwise the kick gets inconsistent every time you repeat the note. Then I add three distortion stages. With a distortion stage I mean an EQ and a distortion. The first two really shape the kick. The last one kind of fixes the kick, or improves the mix and the tone of it.

The distortion goes on Zero-Square all the way. On the EQ I put LFO 1 on the gain of the low band and keep it in bipolar, so it goes down and up. Make sure it hits around 150 hertz. Then I create a very steep peak with a bell curve. The second stage gets LFO 1 on the lows again, plus another peak at a similar frequency on LFO 2. I assign Macro 1 to both peaks, at the exact same percentage in the matrix (15% here), so the peaks stay at around the same frequency.

In oscillator B I use the sync warp to generate new overtones. Just play around with this knob until it sounds good.

At this point you have to understand the blend between the sub, the mids, your peaks and the sync. When the sub is low the mids take over. When the sync hits a point where you already had a peak, an overtone gets boosted a lot and you get a very resonant zaag kick. So you increase the sub. Once you really understand how those three work together, you can dial in a ton of different kicks.

The first one is a sine fold, or any weird shaped distortion. I put a Sin Fold distortion in the second stage with three cycles so it's not too extreme, take down the mix, put it on pre band pass and find a cool frequency. It adds a lot of character to your kick and that sizzle sound.

You can also use a filter on a flanger or a phaser type, in front of the first or second distortion stage, and take down the mix. I use Phs 36+ in front of the second stage. Play around with the frequencies and you find different, cleaner versions of your kick.

After the last soft clipper I use a splitter, low and high. In the highs I add a plate reverb, because we can control the width, and I set the split at 641 hertz.

Crossover frequencies create phase shifts, and I want a clean zaag kick, so the reverb only goes on anything over that frequency. Then a distortion on soft clip without drive, to clip it against zero.