Creating the iconic synth lead from “Big Mess” by Devo can be an exciting venture for any synth enthusiast. The process involves a few specific steps that transform a plain sound wave into a distinctive audio signature that is immediately recognizable. Here’s how you can recreate this classic sound.
Starting with the Basics: The Saw Waveform
Begin with the most fundamental element—the saw waveform. We’ll be changing this waveform in a bit, but it’s a great universal starting point for any patch.
Modulating the Sound: LFO and Cutoff
Once you have your plain saw waveform, the next step involves modulation. Use a Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) to modulate the cutoff frequency of the sound. Start by switching your LFO waveform to saw and increase the speed to introduce that repeating-note effect. Carefully adjust the cutoff frequency and the LFO amount so that the modulation starts at the brightest point and only brings it down about halfway through the frequency range.
Changing the Waveform: Medium Pulse
After getting the modulation right, switch the waveform from a saw to a medium pulse wave. This change adds a somewhat hollower and more videogame-like character to the sound.
The Smearing Effect: Doubling and Detuning
To give the sound that smeared, thick quality, you’ll need to double it and apply a slight detune. This moves the sound away from a solid stagnant timbre, and introduces a soft-textured pulsation.
Adding Depth: The Sub Oscillator
Finally, to add some weight to the sound, bring in a sub oscillator set to a square wave. This underpinning layer enriches the synth lead, providing a solid bottom end that will carry the lead and give it a full-bodied presence.
By following these steps, you can create a synth lead that not only emulates the Devo “Big Mess” sound but also gives you a foundation on which to build your own unique synth sounds. Experimentation is key, and as you become more comfortable with these techniques, you can start tweaking and adding your own personal touch to make it truly your own.
Let’s explore how to import an audio file into the Serum synth to create a wavetable that says “Serum”. This is not about creating a simple sampler; rather, Serum analyzes the audio to capture the essence of the sound through a process that breaks it up into subtables. This method provides a unique way to generate distinctive waveforms and wavetables from audio inputs.
Importing Audio and Adjusting Subtables
The process begins by importing an audio file where I clearly pronounce the word “Serum”. Serum then breaks this file into 256 subtables. Now, it’s possible to hear the word “Serum” within the wavetable, though it may sound distorted so we’ll need to smooth it out to enhance clarity.
Selecting the Optimal Number of Subtables
During the import process you can compare different Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) import sizes, such as 256 and 512. This will affect how smoothly the word “Serum” appears as you modulate through the wavetable. For this, we found 256 gave us our best initial sound.
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Next we remove unnecessary parts, such as silence at the beginning and redundant subtables at the end. This process is crucial for focusing the wavetable on the essential sounds. After trimming, we then remove 3/4 of the subtables. Initially this creates a jarring jump between subtable sounds. But it also sets us up for spectral morphing, which will smoothly interploate between each subtable, resulting in a crystal clear and smooth “Serum”.
Conclusion
Through meticulous editing and strategic use of the Serum synth’s powerful synthesis features, users can transform a simple spoken word into a complex and usable wavetable.
In the realm of electronic music, the epic EMD Dance lead is an iconic sound that stands out for its richness and fullness. The key to this sound is the supersaw, which might seem complex, but with a straightforward approach, anyone can achieve this powerful sound. Here’s a simplified guide using Reveal Sound’s Spire.
Unison: The Foundation
The essence of the sound’s big washiness lies in its unison. More voices equate to a richer, more enveloping sound. By maxing Spire’s Unison Density, our sound officially becomes a supersaw that fills the audio spectrum with its aggressive, bright presence.
Adding Oscillators
The next step involves bringing in two additional oscillators, set to the same settings as the original. The magic happens when these are slightly detuned from each other. This detuning is crucial as it introduces a lush, phasey quality to the sound, and makes are sound even more lush and aggressive.
Filtering and Bite
To sculpt the sound further, a basic high pass filter is applied. This helps in cutting out the low frequencies, ensuring the overall sound doesn’t muddy the mix. Then, to add bite and definition, the sustain level is reduced. This adjustment allows the attack of the sound to be more pronounced, making it stand out in a mix.
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Often, the process of shaping the sound can lead to a loss in overall volume. To compensate, the volume is increased. Following this, a bit of distortion is introduced, clipping the sound slightly. This is not just about making it louder but adding character and warmth to it through subtle drive and distortion.
Compression and Reverb
To ensure the sound is really punchy, compression is applied. Compression is usually used to control dynamics, but in this scenario it’s more about squeezing the tone. After compression, reverb is added to give the sound space and depth. However, it’s essential to dampen the reverb to prevent it from overwhelming the mix, ensuring the sound remains clear and focused.
Conclusion
Creating an epic supersaw-style EDM dance lead is about more than just stacking sounds; it’s about carefully shaping and controlling those sounds to achieve a desired emotional impact. Through the use of additional oscillators, strategic filtering, volume adjustment, distortion, compression, and reverb, a simple waveform can be transformed into a powerful musical expression. This step-by-step approach demystifies the process, making it accessible for producers at all levels to add the iconic supersaw to their sonic toolbox.
In the fascinating world of sound design, creating the signature bell-like Taco Bell sound involves a mix of technique, creativity, and a bit of experimentation. This guide breaks down the process into manageable steps, using a combination of sine waves, FM synthesis, and effects to achieve a captivating bell sound.
Starting Point: The Plain Saw
The journey to crafting any sound is a simple saw wave.
Shape: The Tail
Next, we add a tail. This involves extending release stages of our amp envelope, providing a lingering resonance that mimics the natural decay of a bell after being struck.
The Magic of FM Synthesis
FM synthesis is key to achieving the bell’s metallic and harmonic character. By modulating the frequency of one oscillator with another, we can create the complex overtones characteristic of a bell’s tone.
Fine-Tuning Oscillators to nail the Taco Bell sound timbre
Changing both oscillators to a sine wave purifies our sound, providing a cleaner base for the FM synthesis. This step is crucial for getting that clear, bell-like quality.
Dialing in the FM Amount and Pitch
By increasing the FM amount and adjusting the pitch of oscillator 2, we refine the bell tone’s timbre and pitch, bringing it closer to the Taco Bell sound.
Sculpting the Transient
The attack transient is what gives the bell sound its initial strike impression. Adjusting the amp envelope’s attack, sustain, and decay shapes the sound’s onset and fading, mimicking the striking and damping of a real bell.
Volume Adjustments
If the overall volume is too low, a simple adjustment can ensure your bell tone cuts through the mix, maintaining its presence.
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Using Pitch Wobble to capture the realism of the Taco Bell sound
A slow LFO applied to the pitch introduces a subtle wobble at the end of the sound, adding a realistic but subtle out-of-tune feel to the synthetic bell.
The Finishing Touch: Big Reverb
Lastly, a generous application of reverb envelops the bell tone in a spacious ambiance, simulating the natural acoustic reflections of a bell in a large space.
Conclusion
Creating a bell sound, especially one as iconic as the Taco Bell sound from scratch is a rewarding process that blends technical skill with creative expression. By following these steps and adjusting parameters to taste, sound designers can craft unique bell tones suitable for a variety of musical projects and soundscapes. Whether you’re designing sounds for a track, a game, or just for fun, these techniques offer a solid foundation for exploring the limitless possibilities of sound design.
The unmistakable sound of the Parliament Funkadelic Flashlight bass is a milestone in funk music, largely due to Bernie Worrell’s ingenious use of the Moog synthesizer. This blog post delves into how to replicate that fat analog sound characteristic of “Flashlight,” regardless of whether you have a Moog or not.
The Essence of “Flashlight” on the Moog
Bernie Worrell’s mastery in crafting the “Flashlight” sound on the Moog synthesizer serves as our foundation. Here’s how to start:
Initial Setup with the Moog
Waveform Selection: Begin with a plain saw waveform.
Oscillator Configuration: Modify the first oscillator by dropping it down an octave and switching its waveform from saw to square. The Moog’s square wave isn’t perfectly square, contributing to a unique pulse sound that’s slightly brighter.
Adding Depth with a Second Oscillator: Introduce a second oscillator, tuned an octave higher than the first and slightly detuned to create subtle movement and depth in the sound.
Filter Adjustments: Utilize the low-pass filter to cut off higher frequencies and adjust the resonance to sharpen the sound. Enhance the analog warmth by driving the filter through Moog’s distinctive feedback system.
Vibrato for Expression: Incorporate vibrato via the mod wheel, using either the original complex method with the third oscillator or a simpler modern LFO system for dynamic playability.
Emulating “Flashlight” on Modern Synths
If you’re working without a Moog, you can still get close to the Parliament Funkadelic Flashlight bass sound by focusing on certain features in your synth.
Using Serum for Analog Emulation
Analog-Style Waveforms: Select analog-emulating waveforms, such as Serum’s MG wavetable, to mimic the imperfect shapes of analog synth waveforms.
Filter Emulation: Employ a Moog-style filter (also known as Ladder filter), indicated by Serum’s MG label, and use the drive function to simulate the Moog’s external feedback system, crucial for that rich, warm sound.
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For synths lacking specific analog-style features:
Basic Waveform Adjustments: Opt for a square wave but tweak the pulse width to make it slightly narrower to achieve a sound similar to Moog’s square wave. Ensure your low-pass filter has a steep cutoff (24 dB).
Creating Drive Without the Drive Knob: If your synth doesn’t have a drive function, lower the volume of the higher oscillator for a softer sound and boost the low end with an EQ around 200Hz to mimic the warmth of Moog’s filter drive.
Conclusion: Bridging the Gap to “Flashlight”
Recreating the “Flashlight” sound is about understanding the synthesis techniques Bernie Worrell used and adapting those principles to your equipment. Whether you’re using a Moog, a synth like Serum, or a more basic model, focusing on waveform selection, oscillator configuration and filter manipulation will get you close to that legendary P-Funk sound. This exploration into synthesizer settings not only pays homage to “Flashlight” but also encourages creativity and experimentation in music production. The unmistakable sound of the Parliament Funkadelic Flashlight bass is a truly fantastic sound worth recreating.
Creating an aggressive and textured synth lead like the Daft Punk Derezzed patch, involves layering multiple parameters together. This guide will walk you through the process of building a complex synth sound from the ground up. By starting with a basic waveform and methodically tweaking one parameter at a time, you can create a sound that’s both unique and dynamic.
Starting with the Basics: The Saw Wave
The journey begins with a simple saw wave. This waveform provides a bright, full-bodied foundation upon which we can build.
Adding Layers: Octave Adjustments
To add dimension, we introduce a second saw wave, this time one octave higher. This enhances the harmonic content by bringing in a bright upper-register tone. Second, add in a Sub Oscillator with a pulse wave one octave lower than the original saw wave to get that guttural low-end buzz.
Shaping the Sound: Filter and Distortion
The most noticeable trait in the Daft Punk Derezzed patch is the aggressive distortion. But before we introduce angry grit with distortion, it’s crucial to shape our sound using a Low Pass Filter. Lowering the cutoff prepares the sound for distortion by giving it a round sound as a palette. Distortion then reshapes this round sound with a warm edge. Then add Resonance to sharpen the sound, and emphasize certain frequencies. Finally, use Key Tracking to brighten only the higher notes.
Dirty White Noise
Further, enhance the dirtiness of this patch with white noise. This also introduces a raw, textured layer, contributing to the complexity of the sound.
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Unison widens the sound, creating a sense of space and fullness. By spreading the sound and reducing the detune, we avoid unwanted wobble, ensuring a clean, expansive effect. Incorporating a phaser adds movement and a touch of psychedelia, but we flatten it out to keep the effect subtle.
Fine-Tuning: Delay and Legato Mode
A tight, fast delay simulates a small, clean room, adding a sense of environment without overwhelming reverb. By minimizing feedback, we achieve a singular, precise delay. Activating legato mode ensures smooth transitions between notes making for a less choppy-sounding melody.
Conclusion
Through strategic layering, shaping, and effect application, a basic saw wave can be transformed into a complex, textured Daft Punk Derezzed synth sound. Each step, from octave adjustments to the incorporation of effects like unison, phaser, and delay, contributes to creating a dynamic, rich sound. By experimenting with these techniques, you can craft unique sounds that elevate your music production.
James Blake’s “Retrograde” is renowned for its haunting and ethereal synth lead. This article will guide you through the process of recreating this iconic sound, providing a step-by-step approach to achieve that mesmerizing effect.
Understanding the Sound
Before diving into the creation process, it’s essential to understand what makes the “Retrograde” synth lead unique. It involves an extreme and slow bending of multiple pitches at once to create an intentionally out-of-tune sound that eventually resolves into one still-kind-of-out-of-tune sound. This intentional dissonance creates an intense tension that adds to the song’s emotional depth.
Required Synth
To recreate this sound, you’ll need a synthesizer with three oscillators, and the ability to route an envelope to those oscillators’ pitch. The envelope will also need to allow for both positive and negative modulation. Vital is a great choice. Additionally, a basic understanding of synthesis is beneficial.
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Oscillator Settings: Enable three oscillators, all with saw waves.
Filter: 24 dB Low Pass Filter. Bring the Cutoff down a little, just enough to take a bit of bright edge off the top.
Pitch Envelope: Modulate the first Oscillator’s pitch with an envelope. Set the Envelope’s Sustain to 0 so that the pitch jumps up and decays back down to the pitch you played. Adjust the modulation amount so that it jumps just the right amount. Make the Decay very slow, around 5 seconds. And if your synth allows it, give the Decay a pretty steep curve so that its descent moves faster at first and then really slows down as it approaches the Sustain.
Repeat the same thing for Oscillator 2 and 3 with one difference: use negative modulation so that the pitch jumps down and decays upward. For Oscillator 2 use just a small level of modulation amount. And for Oscillator 3, use more.
Smear and Pulsate: Tune Oscillator 1 up 10 cents, and Oscillator 3 down 10 cents. This will create a smearing, kind-of detuned sound as the pitches approach the Envelope’s sustain level.
Filter Envelope: Modulate the Filter Cutoff using the same pitch-routed envelope above (or an additional envelope with the same ADSR settings) and give it a healthy amount of negative modulation. This will start the sound dark and get brighter over time.
Amp Envelope: Lastly, swell in the sound by adding about 1 second’s worth of Attack.
Conclusion
Recreating the synth lead from James Blake’s “Retrograde” is a rewarding exercise for any synth enthusiast. It’s not just about replicating a sound but also about understanding the elements that make a sonic signature unique. With patience and experimentation, you can not only recreate this iconic sound but also apply these techniques to develop your unique patches.
In this blog, we’ll explore the steps to recreate the iconic synthesizer sound from Paul McCartney’s holiday classic, “Wonderful Christmastime.” This guide is perfect for musicians and synth enthusiasts who want to capture the essence of this festive tune.
Starting with the Saw Waveform
The journey begins with a simple saw waveform, a universal starting point for any patch.
Increasing Polyphony
Next, we switch the synthesizer to Poly mode. This allows us to play Paul’s chords, adding depth and complexity to the sound.
Changing the Waveform to Medium Pulse
To mimic the distinctive timbre of the song, we change the waveform to a pulse wave with medium pulse width. This is kind of similar to a saw waveform, but with a slightly more hollow and artificial sound, in a good way!
Adjusting the Amp Release
Make the Amp Envelope’s release a little longer. This tweak allows the notes to fade out more naturally, instead of abruptly cutting off. This gives the sound playable feel, much like you get from a traditional keyboard instrument like a piano.
Creating the “Meow” Sound
The signature “meow” shape is achieved using the filter envelope. This involves setting the cutoff to the desired endpoint, adjusting the envelope amount for the starting point, lowering the sustain so that the decay moves the cutoff down, and then shortening the decay and release parameters. The goal is to have a quick, sweeping effect. To make the sound “juicy,” we increase the resonance. This “squeezes” the filter and creates that “meow” shape.
Implementing Key Tracking
Key tracking is used to make the lower notes darker and the higher notes brighter. While you could use this sound without it, key tracking gets us closer to an exact match.
Incorporating Pulse Width Modulation
Pulse width modulation (PWM) is added to introduce movement into the sound, giving it a subtle “smear” effect. This is a subtle step that removes stiffness and adds a little life.
Softening the Attack
Slightly increasing the amplifier’s attack time softens the onset of each note, reducing the percussive element and creating an almost “compressed-like” sound.
Adding Delay
The finishing touch is the addition of delay. This effect is prominent in the original track, echoing each chord we play. Set the rate to 1/8 so that we hear an echo between each chord during the chorus.
Conclusion
By following these steps, you can recreate the unique synth sound from Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime.” Each step in this process contributes to capturing the essence of this festive classic, allowing you to add a touch of holiday spirit to your own music creations. Whether you’re a fan of the song or a synth enthusiast, these techniques offer a fun way to engage with one of the most recognizable holiday tunes.
In this synth tutorial, Joe Hanley, the creator of Syntorial, will take you step-by-step as he creates an analog-style bass patch. Don’t forget to download the Monark patch below:
Hi, I’m Joe Hanley, creator of Syntorial, and welcome to a quick synth tutorial on how to create a fat analog-style bass. Here’s what it sounds like. It’s a really simple patch, doesn’t require a ton of programming. But it’s a collection of very subtle changes, and some changes that not many people even think about. And it’s kind of a sought-after tone, how do we get that fat, warm analog bass particularly from a soft synth?
This isn’t your ordinary synth tutorial. This is Syntorial. Making programming synths easy. With videogame-like training, teaching you how to program synth patches by ear. Each lesson starts with a demonstration, then an interactive challenge with over 200 lessons. Once you complete the program, you’ll be able to create the sounds you hear using almost any synthesizer. Try the award winning Syntorial today.
Now this is a soft synth modeled after a analog synth the Moog. This is called Monark by Native Instruments, but there’s tons of synths like this. And really, to get this sound, all you need is a synth that has an analog style filter with a filter drive option, which I’ll talk about in a second. All right.
First, I’m gonna initialize this, so you have a plain… Sound. And I’m gonna increase our range up one octave. And I could have just played up higher on the keyboard but I had to do this because later on, we’re gonna get into key-tracking and it’s dependent upon this setting. Now, we have a square wave right now. But I wanna go with a saw. A square would work as well, but after all the settings are done, you’ll see how this saw really gives us that kinda true, warm, classic synth sound.
Now, to get our bass sound, we need to take some highs off so that our sound is more focused on the low end, so… Let’s bring our cut-off down. And now we have a simple round bass. This is fine. This is good for just like a subtle low end. It’s great for layering in with other bass sounds. Let’s say you’ve created a bass sound that’s got way more personality. It’s brighter, but it’s missing bottom end. Sometimes a simple analog style synth with a saw, cutoff turned down layered in just gives you that nice bottom.
But we want this sound itself, to be a bit more noticeable and a lot fatter and that’s where our filter drive comes in. Now this synth they call it load, but it’s the same idea. We are increasing the level of sound going into our filter. So listen. You hear this overdrive. A little bit of a warm distortions that’s coming out of the filter. Analog style filters love to be overdriven. Oh, such a nice sound.
This is really the key to getting an analog character out of an analog filter. It’s all about this filter drive. And you see this on other synths, so then our example would be Sylenth1. It has a really nice analog style filter, and its filter drive gives you the same distortion, same overdrive. So that’s really the key to getting that analog tone.
But there’s other subtle things we could do to get a fatter sound. One is increasing our amp release by just a little bit. So, in this synth, we have attack, decay, sustain, but there’s no release option, which, yeah, it’s a bit odd right? Well, there is a release option it’s hidden. And if I enable these switches, our decay knob controls it. So whatever our decay knob is set to, also sets a release time.
So right now, when I let go of a key… It cuts off very abruptly. If I increase it just a little bit. It just gets rid of that awkward cut-off. If I increase it a lot. You hear the note fade over time. Zero. It’s kind of unnatural, but also it makes the sound a bit smaller. With this tiny tail, it just creates a bit more sound, and it actually creates fatter notes.
It’s one of those really subtle things you’d never think to do when you’re going for kind of a fat sound. It also mimics an actual electric bass a little bit more. You know, when you stop a note, it’s not zero milliseconds, it’s the real world right? The string stops vibrating quickly, but there’s a tiny tail. So we get just a bit more of a kind of a human real sound here.
Next. Again, to get a bit of a sort of a real sound to this give it some subtle character, we want the note to start a bit brighter, and then get darker. We wanna add a subtle attack transient. We could do that with our filter envelope. So I’m gonna turn up our decay first. Nothing’s gonna happen yet. But if I increase the contour, I’m gonna do it a lot so you can really hear what happens.
What happens is our contour, sets a higher cut-off point, for our sound to start at. And our decay takes it from that brighter point, down to our cut-off. If I increase our decay, it’ll take longer But we want pretty quick, so it’s just at the beginning of our sound. Let’s do around here. And, we don’t want it to get so bright. It’s just that tiny little transient at the beginning. Now that’s just a little bit more playable. It’s not so static, it’s not so stiff. It just feels better.
Now, remember what I said before it was actually starting as a square. Well, let’s try square let’s see what it sounds like. It sounds pretty good. A little bit of a heavier feel to it, but… There’s something about how the saw interacts with the cut-off. It just gives us a nicer bottom end. That’s why I went with the saw. All right, so here we have a nice fat analog bass. It’s got a bit more of a playability to it because of our filter and our amp. Sounds nice.
But let’s say we wanna take it a step further, we wanna do some kinda little bass fills with it. We want to be a bit more noticeable, but we don’t wanna lose that bottom. Key-tracking. Key-tracking when we enable both of these switches, will make higher notes significantly brighter than lower notes. So here’s my lower note without key-tracking. It’s a little brighter. But this change is pretty subtle. Now let’s compare the higher note. Way brighter. So now I still have these low notes. When I jump up there, the note really sticks out. And since I got a little bit of extra brightness on that low and I’m gonna back off on the cutoff. So now I get both my low end for that bottom, fat bass and then these nice… Fat fills up top.
And then I’m gonna boost the resonance a little bit. And what this does is, it kinda does two things. It actually makes the low note a bit boomier, a bit bottom endy-er, and it makes the higher notes a bit more shaped and pointed, so let’s, first let’s listen to the bottom. I’ll crank it so you could really hear. It’s subtle but it almost kind of adds this boom underneath. So that’s nice, now what about the high note. You hear that? It kinda just shapes ’em a little bit. Makes them a little pointier. We just want a subtle.
Why is this happening? Well, our resonance boosts our sound at our cut-off point. So if your cut-off is turned down, you’ll get a boost in the lows. If your cut-off is in the middle, you’ll get a boost in the mids etcetera. But we have key-tracking enabled, right? So even though our knob is set to here, the higher we play the higher our cut-off actually is. So when I play that low note. I’m getting a boost in the low end. When I play the higher note. I’m getting a bit more of a boost in the mids, so it’s giving it shape instead of bottom end.
Again, a simple change but really subtle. It’s these kind of things that separate you know, okay patches from great patches, these tiny little finishing touches. And last, we want to add a little bit of kinda swagger on those top higher notes. Let’s increase our glide so that the notes bend between each other. That’s a little too much. Compare.
They just kinda bend between each other, they get a little bit of attitude. Problem is when when I wanna go back down. it takes a while. So if I enabled legato. When I play notes separately, space between them. No bend. But when I connect ’em. They bend. So now with my playing, I can choose when the glide kicks in and when it doesn’t. So I can… I can connect the upper notes to get that bend, and separate the lower notes so I could jump back down to that heavy bass. So there you have it, a nice fat analog playable bass.
This isn’t your ordinary synth tutorial. This is Syntorial. Making programming synths easy. With video game like training, teaching you how to program synth patches by ear. Each lesson starts with a demonstration, then an interactive challenge with over 200 lessons. Once you complete the program, you’ll be able to create the sounds you hear using almost any synthesizer. Try the award winning Syntorial today.
Watch Joe Hanley, the creator of Syntorial, as he demonstrates how to draw a distorted waveform in Serum’s Wavetable Editor. In this excerpt from the Serum Lesson Pack, we’ll be taking a look at exactly what distortion does to a waveform’s shape.
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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
In this video, we’ll be going over how to draw a distorted wave form in Serum’s wavetable editor. So we’ll be looking at exactly what distortion does to a waveform shape. And personally, I find this really fascinating.
Now this video is actually an excerpt from the Serum Lesson Pack for Syntorial. Syntorial is a synthesizer training app that teaches you how to program synth patches by ear. It does this by combining video demonstrations with interactive challenges in which you program patches on a built-in soft synth.
The Serum Lesson Pack adds 55 videos that show you how to take everything you learn in Syntorial and apply it to Serum as well as covering all of the many additional features that Serum has to offer. And you can get the first four videos from the Serum Lesson Pack for free by going to syntorial.com, clicking Try For Free, and downloading the Syntorial demo for Mac, PC, or iPad. This has the first 22 Syntorial lessons but also the first four videos from the Serum Lesson Pack.
Once you download Syntorial, just go into this dropdown, Download Lesson Packs, and you’ll see this Serum Lesson Pack at the top. Just click the Download button. We also have lesson packs for Massive, Sylenth, and a couple others. And I like I said, the demo will have the first four or five videos from each of these packs. When you buy Syntorial, all of the packs and all their videos are included. Alright, on to the excerpt.
Let’s start with distortion. At the end of the day, distortion gives us really two types of sounds. They can create this sort of warm tube saturation distortion, or it can create this sort of nasty, top-end, buzzy sort of distortion. And in order to draw these shapes in, we need to understand better what distortion is actually doing to our shape. So here we have an oscilloscope.
An oscilloscope just shows us the actual wave form of whatever sound that goes through it. So right now I have a plain saw, so when I hit a note, you’ll see saws. So, I’m gonna put on a distortion, so you can visually see what it does to the sound. First I’ll start with some filtering, and let’s do zero drive, what do we get? Okay, so we’ve rounded out those sharp turns. Now watch the shape as I increase the drive. It becomes more square-like. That’s kind of the essence of this sort of warm tube-like distortion. It’s just adding a kind of square tendency to your shape, and it will put in that sort of warm tube distortion.
Let’s try it with a random wave-form. Let’s go in here and I’m gonna freehand. Okay, there’s our sound. Add our distortion, no drive, So look at this big square that was put into it. We still have some other things go on in there, ’cause it’s a way more complex wave form than saw, but again, we have put in a square-like tendency. So if we wanna create a wave form, that’s got some distorted tube warmth in it, we need to draw in this square-like tendency.
So to draw a distortion, I like to start with a square. And then I’m gonna shift it over a little bit so we can see all the edges. And I’m gonna freehand a sort of rounding, of these sharp corners. So now, instead of having this really clean square, we have this slightly rounded square. And it has a nice distorted sound. This is similar to what we got when we cranked the drive into the distortion unit.
Now we can kinda mess with this, and try to create a sound that maybe doesn’t sound so typically square, but still has that distorted body. Like if I kinda take a harder slant here, Now it’s kinda like a distorted saw. Or if you remember one of those end results of that random shape I made, kinda had an extra guy in there like this. So still has that nice tubey squarish body, but now we’re throwing in and editing our highs as well.
And that’s the key here, you know, can you change this wave forward without losing that distorted body? So let’s take that back out. So we have a nice smooth sound. And that second type of distortion, I mentioned that sort of top end nastiness. I find the best way to add that is with just some random jagged shapes.
So let’s take our kind of round and square back. And we can kind of throw in, and we started to get that top end buzz in there. We can actually apply it across the board with this noise here. And when you’re at zero zero, if I just click in here and drag up and down, I’m not getting a whole lot. So what you want to do is kinda shimmy up and down As you go from the left to the right side like this. And if I want more of it, I just wanna shimmy up and down a little higher on the screen like this And that’s drawing distortion. Next I wanna talk about creating 8-bit and Lo-Fi sounds…
To see the rest of this video and the 54 other Serum videos, you’ll need the Serum Lesson Pack for Syntorial. But again, you can get the first four videos for free. If you download this tutorial demo here and then in Syntorial, go into Download Lesson Packs, and, Download This Lesson.
