[SynthTalk]

Hey all,

So I’ve been progressing well through Syntorial and I just finished the LFO Trigger/Poly lesson.

My biggest issue is hearing the difference in the heavier/grindier sounds.

Specifically, I feel like there are so many ways to make grindy/distorted/metallic sounds. Main methods include Oscillator Sync, FM, Ring Mod, pulse wave with lfo modulating the wave, and pulse wave with distortion/band pass filter/resonance.

It’s getting harder and harder for me to hear the difference in what is being used, particular between Sync, FM, and Ring Mod.

Any tips for how to hear the differences between at least these three? i find myself just trying each of them out but then there’s all the various semitones you can pick and, since it all sounds crazy to some extent and not like normal intervals, i just cycle through them to find the matching pitch (which is extremely tedious, especially if i was barking up the wrong tree in the first place).

curious for any thoughts more broadly. i think part of the issue is i have no idea what sync, fm, and ring mod are actually doing (ie how it actually works). i know fm and ring are supposed to be more “bell like” but you can make bell-like tones in a bunch of ways (eg a transposed pulse and triangle wave).

anyway, curious for your thoughts!

[SynthTalk]

Apologies for the double-post (I can’t figure out how to edit posts): A good example is the “FM Bass” patch as part of the Section 22 Serum lessons. If you hadn’t told me that was FM synthesis, I would never have guessed it. I would’ve just went with a Sine wave and maybe a sub-oscillator.

[Joe Hanley]

In reality, if you can use multiple approaches to make the same sound, then it doesn’t matter what you use. The only thing that truly matters is you get the sound you want. That being said…

I find the difference between Sync and FM/Ring to be fairly obvious. Sync grinds, whereas FM/Ring have a more metallic-style tone.

The difference between FM and Ring varies depending on the settings. Yes, sometimes you can get very similar tones. In Syntorial we limit the FM patches to using Sine waves only, whereas Ring we incorporate the Saw and Pulse as well, which allows the Ring patches to be more dissonant and aggressive at times.

If you manage to make a patch in Syntorial that sounds very close to the hidden patch, but uses the wrong technique, I wouldn’t get too hung up on it, as again, what really matters is that you get the sound you’re aiming for. Just make sure you understand how to use each technique.

Regarding that specific Serum patch: I find there’s a metallic string-like quality you can get with an FM bass that you can’t with a Sine-style bass. Kind of reminiscent of a plucked guitar string (though very synthetic sounding of course). It’s noticeable when the cutoff is higher, as it is in the attack transient of that sound.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Joe Hanley.