Transition Effects/Risers/Breakdowns/Other Effects

[nicksarazen]

Specifically when talking about transition effects, what are your preferences? VST-based effects, .wav samples, a mixture of the two, or something completely different altogether? I am trying to broaden my horizons for transitions/risers/drops as much as I possibly can, so I thought it would be a good idea to create a topic to share preferences and to recommend VSTs and .wav packs for transitions to one another.

[Breakbeat-Will]

hey man, i was gonna post the same subject been following these forums for a while but never felt the need to sign up.

Been making music for the 6 months and have everything in check apart from nailing the build up. Would like to know how to make the "whistling" builds ups like in chase & statuses old stuff etc

[nicksarazen]

word bro, that's exactly why i posted this thread. i'm comfortable in all other areas, except for transitions, build ups, breakdowns, etc.

i have heard of a lot of different methods, so i was hoping some of the veterans on here could guide us in the right direction.

[Breakbeat-Will]

Yeah don't look that promising...

Got any tracks i could have a listen?

[Siderealdb]

Specifically when talking about transition effects, what are your preferences? VST-based effects, .wav samples, a mixture of the two, or something completely different altogether? I am trying to broaden my horizons for transitions/risers/drops as much as I possibly can, so I thought it would be a good idea to create a topic to share preferences and to recommend VSTs and .wav packs for transitions to one another.

VST's and .wav packs specifically tailored for transitions would be absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. You can make any VST do any of the standard rise/fall, and any .wav sample pack you can find has probably been used a billion times by the time you get your hands on it. I would suggest you just listen to your favorite artists and see what they do. More often than not it'll include some sort of drum build up, filter automation, delay, reverse cymbal, pitch bend, sample from a movie, etc. It really just depends on what the song calls for, though all of these together make one hell of a buildup.

[nicksarazen]

Thanks Siderealdb, I definitely get what you're saying. So do you think it would be best to craft transitions in the specific track that you're working on, using the drums and synths that normally appear in that track, but just filter automate them, delay them, etc when it comes time for transition? And to forget about .wav or VST transitions altogether?

[Siderealdb]

You can use whatever you want, really. I just prefer it when someone makes their own VST patch, uses samples that they've collected, and has some element from the rest of the track to provide cohesion between the two sections of music. You can have a separate synth for pitch bending risers, I do that in all my tracks, I just thought you meant you wanted suggestions for synths that only do this.

[nicksarazen]

Right, exactly. In a way that is what I meant, but I was more just looking for techniques that are commonly used, and what synths people usually use for this type of thing. I didn't mean VSTs that do all the transition effect work for you, I just meant recommendations for VSTs that have good sounds and good editing capabilities (patch making) for this type of thing.

[CBK81]

I use both to some extent. I bought the rise pack by loopmasters and it's great. It's also easy to do these sorts of fx in alchemy.

[Hedknot]

I use Albino 3 for all my rise and transition effects, I think with the noise oscillators and its mod matrix being so easy to use you can make sounds like this really quickly.

[antics]

From what i've worked out, getting a good amount of anticipation is all about automation.

Automate the volume of a synth, the decay of a synth, the wetness of a reverb, the wet/dry of a delay. I would try to make sure that anything you raise drops back down to normal before the actual drop, so that there is a difference in volume, as otherwise the two can flow into each other.

[nicksarazen]

I use both to some extent. I bought the rise pack by loopmasters and it's great. It's also easy to do these sorts of fx in alchemy.

In a Wave Alchemy pack, or a VST called Alchemy?

Thank you all very much for your feedback.

[Filthzilla]

Riser's are soooo good! I get all mine from and electro loopmasters pack.
There's some dirty old ones in the DJ Stoormtrooper pack

[DJ Crackle]

I like making 'em. There's SO MANY things you can do. Seriously one of the more fun parts of production imo. AUTOMATE EVERYTHINGGGGG!
Assign lfos to pitch, panning, filter sweep the shit out of stuff, automate volume, and just keep fucking shit up 'til it sounds nuts as hell.

But I still do enjoy going through my sample wav folders. There's some really cool shit. These kinds of effects are things that you can really go nuts with. Because you can change everything, other people have had nuts ideas as well, and I don't see anything wrong with capitalizing on some of other people's sick noises. If you're creative about it, you can definitely make the effects play the right role in your track without sounding too rinsed out, imo.

And for what it's worth, I generally use Massive when I'm making my shit. No specific reason, but just because it's the only synth I'm worth shit with as of yet.

[nicksarazen]

DJ Crackle, are there any wav packs you like using the most that you could possibly recommend me?

Really helpful post by the way, thanks to all the responses!

[Karoshi]

i find it hard to make unique build ups. i cant seem to get away from white noise swoosh or build up then silence before the drop or just a basic synth with a rising pitch.

i have used a bit crusher before across nearly every element, rising and rising until a high passed loop barely resembled its self, with a white noise riser underneth. oh and buffer overrun to really fuck up the sound.

[travis_baker]

delayed reggea drum/bongo break or vocal sample, reverse verb kick boom, bassline... im not very good am I.

[nowaysj]

This is a very important aspect of current song writing aesthetic. This definitely is not an afterthought. Try to make the transitions make sense, like they are part of the track, not just some riser sample slapped into the track.

I'm horrible at this kind of thing btw, I can make interesting sounds, but getting the energy to flow right, is where it is at, that is tuff, and well beyond synths and samples, that's inspiration and skill.

Here are some synths and fx that are free and can be very helpful in creating meaningful transitions:

http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=182082

[DJ Crackle]

DJ Crackle, are there any wav packs you like using the most that you could possibly recommend me?

Really helpful post by the way, thanks to all the responses!

A lot of the samples I have are from my brother. He's been producing in the game and he gave me a gigantic external hard drive full of kits that him and like 7 or 8 of his friends put together, so a lot of the fx i use are just samples from those folders
So I haven't gotten many sample packs on my own, but I do have three Vengeance sample packs that def have some good shit. Look into those possibly.

[nicksarazen]

I've heard that Vengeance is so dope, I'll definitely be checking that out. And I definitely agree with you nowaysj, transition effects must be well incorporated into the track, not just thrown in. That's definitely the hardest part about it all, trying to make the transitions sound like they're a natural part of the track.