cool things to assign to synthesizers

tavravlavish · Post by **tavravlavish** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:26 am

Any suggestions on some cool things to experiment with on synthesizers? cool automation tricks? fill us noobies in on some new ideas. for a production forum i feel like there isnt enough talk about production, ya know?

tavravlavish · Post by **tavravlavish** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:39 am

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=7048 ... 8e5b24962e

here's a patch I made for the es2 today.

Sinisterbeats · Post by **Sinisterbeats** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 10:10 am

You said it yourself, just experiment. Add differnet effects, use different waveforms, automation, split a sound into different frequency bands, try different filter types. Just mess about and see what crazy sounds you can make.

Depone · Post by **Depone** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 10:55 am

fm synthesis can do some awesome sh!t

tavravlavish · Post by **tavravlavish** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 1:27 pm

Sinisterbeats wrote:You said it yourself, just experiment. Add differnet effects, use different waveforms, automation, split a sound into different frequency bands, try different filter types. Just mess about and see what crazy sounds you can make.

I was hoping people would jump on here and share some specific techniques. "i like to assign this to that"... "it sounds awesome when you do this"... doesnt seem like there is a lot of that on here its more like "should i get krks?" threads and such. i dont know why im bitching about it though, my bad.

i guess it would help if i didnt ask such broad questions, i was just trying to start a thread where i could learn a thing or two.

narcissus · Post by **narcissus** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 9:04 pm

dude, i can't really even remember what i do specifically on a synth that sounds sick... i just know that when i start playing a basic sound, i hear different ways in which it could do what it's doing, but better... ya know? then i just go with what i feel and start automating... things start happening, and i start exaggerating the parts i like in order to really get my message across
just keep the motion going, and if something starts to get stale, spice it up!

and somehow it all comes together into the painting that is each song... if you want ideas, just listen

deadly_habit · Post by **deadly_habit** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 9:37 pm

tavravlavish wrote:
Sinisterbeats wrote:You said it yourself, just experiment. Add differnet effects, use different waveforms, automation, split a sound into different frequency bands, try different filter types. Just mess about and see what crazy sounds you can make.
I was hoping people would jump on here and share some specific techniques. "i like to assign this to that"... "it sounds awesome when you do this"... doesnt seem like there is a lot of that on here its more like "should i get krks?" threads and such. i dont know why im bitching about it though, my bad.

i guess it would help if i didnt ask such broad questions, i was just trying to start a thread where i could learn a thing or two.

envelopes to pitch and having a long sustain in mono mode can yield some cool results
envelopes to lfo rate
basically mess with routing your modulation sources to different parameters

karmacazee · Post by **karmacazee** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 9:57 pm

To make some huge sounds, do the following:

Set up a bus with a reverb and a delay (important that the reverb is before the delay in the chain). Set the reverb to 100% wet. Route your synth into that.

If you play with the pre-delay settings on the 'verb, and the delay feedback, you can come up with some crazy sounds (just watch your levels, the feedback can get a bit crazy and loud, so chuck a limiter on it to be safe). It brings out and stretches out all the harmonics within said sound, so you'll often end up with something soundong completely different.

Great for pads and leads, and sometimes low-mid bassy type sounds. Makes things sound generally huge, and with a bit of filtering, haunting and beautiful.

deadly_habit · Post by **deadly_habit** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 9:59 pm

also if working with a mono/non polyphonic sound max out your voices to thicken it out

futures_untold · Post by **futures_untold** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 10:55 pm

Ditch the 'virtual analogue' style synths in your setup and use a synth with more interesting synthesis methods. For more interesting tinkering, use synths that allow for more interesting methods of sound generation and distortion.

FM and wavetable synths can do some really cool stuff. Start by exploring how those synthesis methods function to understand the modulation possibilities inherent in each method.

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Some virtual analogue synths have elements of Frequency Modulation (FM), Ring Modulation (RM), Amplitude Modulation (AM) and Phase Distortion (PD).

To explain what each synthesis type does is beyond my ability in a short post, needless to say, google is our friend... (I've hotlinked a google search to each term mentioned above).

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Some ideas:

Wavetables can be scanned through at different speeds, which can lead to some interesting sounds. Better wavetable synths allow the phase width of the signal peaks to be modulated. This is the same as pulse width modulation of square waves, only functions on any waveform!

Some synths offer built in waveshapers. Starting with a simple sine wave, using a waveshaper can provide some interesting timbres.

Further to this, understanding how different pitches can intermodulate to cause beating is fun. (Detune one oscillator by a few cents from the pitch of a second oscillator).

This is how 'unison' works which Deadly Habit mentioned above. Unison adds a delayed copy of the original voice, creating thicker 'spreads' of sound.

An often overlooked type of sound is pure noise. One can shape noise using filters (wind anyone), use it to sharpen the attack on percussive sounds and pop it through effects like reverbs and chorusses.

Another thing to mess with, as mentioned above, is portamento (glide). Medium to long portamento times can provide interesting (if woosy) results when using your synth in 'monophonic' mode and notes are sequenced to overlap eachother.

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Finally, an obvious but often overlooked modulation destination is the modulation rate of a second LFO. Try tieing one LFO to the pitch of your oscillator, then a second LFO to the rate control of the first LFO. Start by using a sine wave on the first LFO and a square wave on the second. This should give you an idea of what's possible when the first LFO is modulating something like the phase width or index scanning speed of a wavetable synth...

You will probably be interested in the free ebook entitled 'How to Make a Noise' available here ---> http://www.noisesculpture.com/htman.html It covers many synthesis techniques in tutorial format.

karmacazee · Post by **karmacazee** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 1:52 am

^^^ nice post!

narcissus · Post by **narcissus** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 4:02 am

i LOOVE to play with FM, especially like operator

tylert · Post by **tylert** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:19 am

futures_untold wrote: You will probably be interested in the free ebook entitled 'How to Make a Noise' available here ---> http://www.noisesculpture.com/htman.html It covers many synthesis techniques in tutorial format.

looks good, i will sneak a look today at work.

cool things to assign to synthesizers

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