Roar Lab
In 1954 composer Akira Ifukube made the most famous sound in monster movies by rubbing a resin-coated leather glove along the strings of a double bass and slowing the recording down. The footsteps came from a knotted rope beaten on a kettle drum. Here's the same recipe as a synthesiser.
Presets
The presets are our own takes on each era, synthesised from scratch. None of them are recordings.
Controls
Resin + leather
Pine-tar resin makes the glove grip and slip along the string over and over. That stick-slip is what gives a bowed note its grain, and here it's what makes the screech. The Glove grit slider adds that friction noise and distortion.
Loosened strings
The 1954 film's sound team loosened the contrabass strings before rubbing them. A slack string wobbles in pitch, so Bow pitch sets the screech and the synth adds a little random wobble.
Slow it down
Playing a recording back slower makes it both lower and longer. That's what turns a squeal into a monster. Tape speed does exactly that: 50% is an octave down and twice as long.
Rope on a kettle drum
The thuds came from beating a kettle drum with a knotted rope. The knots are why each step sounds like several quick hits. Press F.