[Bill Lear]

Are you talking about the flute-like sound? If so, you are right to start with a pulse, but you might also consider it’s less abrasive cousin, the triangle wave (harmonics decrease exponentially versus linearly for square/pulse). Add some filtering, with some noise as plosives for the flute, and then some delay and reverb… This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FDOD7HL6RI goes through flute sound creating with a hard synth and should be helpful.

[Bill Lear]

This is a good question. I think the best tool by far is a set of well-trained ears you use in a process of deductive analysis. Understanding the harmonic qualities of basic waveforms (sine – single harmonic, saw – all harmonics descending linearly, square – odd harmonics descending linearly, triangle – odd harmonics descending exponentially which is essentially a dull square wave), what instruments they typically emulate, and how they are practically used is pretty essential.

However, if you are not yet an expert, I do think visual analysis tools can help to a limited degree. I do occasionally use the Tuner in Ableton to detect pitch, if possible, which in many cases does not work terribly well. I also often examine the image of the isolated waveform to determine its general type and to manually measure the frequency of different parts of the sound, by checking the time from one peak to another in the waveform.

The Utility plugin in Ableton can be used to determine if the left and right channels are the same, or nearly the same, by setting it to Mid-Side mode and setting the Mid/Side Balance to 100s. You will hear nothing if the two channels are identical…

These are really pretty crude tools, though, and can only get you so far… Complicating things can be sounds that are layered or “glued” together closely in time to appear as a single sound. For example, the hard-hitting bass sound from DJs from Mars that I queried about, which is a request here https://www.syntorial.com/community/topic/patch-request-hard-hitting-bass-sound-from-djs-from-mars-song-babylon-justice/, is probably a composite sound of a thick, punchy kick drum sound and a heavily distorted sine-based bass growl.

[Bill Lear]

The higher bass sounds like an FM bass to me: a sine wave modulating another sine, with envelope automation of the modulation amount. I’ve attached a Serum patch that’s somewhat close. The lower bass sound in the original is very nice, haven’t tried that yet.

Attachments:

1. WSL-FM-Bass.fxp_.zip

[Bill Lear]

Let’s try this again …

Attachments:

1. WSL-House-Organ.fxp_.zip

[Bill Lear]

Ballpark, perhaps, but not quite there. Seemed that sine wave was needed, one detuned from another by a fifth plus an octave, maybe. Add sub oscillator, some chorus and reverb. Just doesn’t sound the same, though. Serum patch attached.