Remaking the drone synth from the 2020 song "Children of the Omnissiah" by Warhammer 40,000 OST can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "Children of the Omnissiah" drone patch and play this iconic sound on most hardware or software subtractive synthesizers (Serum, Vital, Pigments, Prophet, Korg, Moog, etc). We've included the preset download directly for your convenience, but we strongly recommend you use our programming tutorial to recreate it yourself.
Original Audio
“Children of the Omnissiah” from the Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus original soundtrack, composed by Guillaume David, combines dark ambient textures with industrial soundscapes to create an unsettling atmosphere befitting the grimdark universe. The track features a massive bass drone synthesizer built from a heavily filtered saw wave with unison voicing that creates a rumbling, pulsating foundation beneath the mix. This drone employs slow portamento for pitch bending between notes and is drenched in heavy reverb to achieve its cavernous, space-filling presence that reinforces the mechanical and otherworldly themes of the Adeptus Mechanicus. You can hear this booming bass drone become prominent at 0:17 in the song, where it establishes the ominous low-end that carries throughout the composition.
Original Performing Instrument
Unknown
Our Remake of The Drone Synth
This audio clip is how close we've matched the original tone of the drone synth from the song "Children of the Omnissiah" by Warhammer 40,000 OST, giving you a reference point as you design your own synthesizer preset. Play it as often as you need to familiarize yourself with the nuances of the sound.
Synth Patch Programming Recipe
Remake This Sound Yourself
Learn how to program this synth preset with Syntorial, all by ear. Download the demo and try unlimited famous sound challenges for free.
Getting Started
- Start by initializing your synthesizer to a plain saw with no filter, modulation or effects. For soft synths use the "init"/"default" preset or the the button to reset all parameters to their default factory values.
- No two synths are exactly alike, so treat the values below as approximate, and use your ear.
- Percentage values (e.g. 50%) represent the relative position of a knob or slider within its full range. The full range of each parameter may differ from synth to synth, so use your ear.
Voices
- Voice Mode: Mono Legato
- Portamento: 170 ms
Amp Envelope
- Attack: 0 ms
- Sustain: 100%
- Release: 20 ms
Oscillators
- Oscillator 1
- Waveform: Saw
- Volume: 100%
- Sub Oscillator
- Waveform: Triangle
- Pitch: -1 Octave
- Volume: 125%
- Unison
- Oscillators: All
- Voice Count: 2
- Detune Range: 24 Cents
- Reset All Oscillators Phase On Note Start: Yes
Filter
- Type: Low Pass
- Cutoff: 40%
Reverb
- Mix: 20% Wet
- Size: Big
Note: the patch settings may slightly differ in the Syntorial challenge.
Explore More
- Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus (Wikipedia)
- Professional Analysis of Children of the Omnissiah Composition (YouTube)
- Guillaume David – Official Soundtrack Portfolio
- Focus Home Interactive – Soundtrack Development Insights
Preset Downloads
Don't want to learn synth programming now? Use our synth preset as your starting point and tweak it from there. Register an account with Audible Genius and download the presets for free for the following synths:
- Primer, our free synthesizer VST
Comments
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