Remaking the lead synth from the 2013 song "Long Live A$AP" by A$AP Rocky can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "Long Live A$AP" lead patch and play this iconic sound on most hardware or software subtractive synthesizers (Serum, Vital, Pigments, Prophet, Korg, Moog, etc). We've included the preset download directly for your convenience, but we strongly recommend you use our programming tutorial to recreate it yourself.
Original Audio
That reverby, vocal-like lead in A$AP Rocky’s “Long Live A$AP” arrives at 0:15 together with the impact and sits under the vocal. It is a midrange, breathy pulse with a softened amp and filter attack to take off a touch of edge on the attack. The patch is drenched in long reverb and noticeable delay and appears lightly high-passed to keep the low end clean.
Our Remake of The Lead Synth sound
This audio clip is how close we've matched the original tone of the lead synth from the song "Long Live A$AP" by A$AP Rocky , 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
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 allx 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
Oscillator Setup
Oscillator 1
- Mix: 71%
- Wavetable: Basic Shapes
- Wave Frame: Medium Pulse (position 213)
- Routing: Filter 1
- Random Phase: 0%
- Phase: 80°
- Unison Voices: 2
- Unison Detune: 9%
- Unison Stereo Spread: 100%
- Morph:
- Wave Morph Amount: 11%
- Spectral Morph Amount: 7%
- Spectral Morph Type: High Pass
Filter Settings
Filter 1
- Model: Analog
- Style: 24dB Slope
- Blend: Low Pass (0)
- Cutoff: 67% (1183.955 Hz)
- Resonance: 0%
- Keytrack: 35%
- Modulations:
- Env 2 → Cutoff
Envelope Settings
Envelope 1 (Amp)
- Attack: 32 ms
- Decay: 371 ms
- Sustain: 69%
- Release: 25 ms
Envelope 2
- Attack: 130 ms
- Decay: 1.00 s
- Sustain: 1%
- Release: 90 ms
- Routed to:
- Filter 1 Cutoff (17%)
- EQ Band Cutoff (19%)
Effects Processing (Ordered)
Eq
- Low Mode: High-Pass
- Low Cutoff: 473.536 Hz
- Low Resonance: Default (32%)
- Band Cutoff: 1230.267 Hz
- Band Resonance: 38%
- Band Gain: -6 dB
Compressor
- Mode: Default (Multiband)
- Mix: Default (100%)
- Attack: Default (50%)
- Release: Default (50%)
- Low Values
- Low Gain: -21 dB
- Low Upper Ratio: 90%
- Band Values
- Band Gain: 12 dB
- Band Upper Ratio: 86%
- High Values
- High Gain: 16 dB
Delay
- Mix: 22%
- Sync: Default (Tempo)
- Delay: Default (1/8)
- Feedback: 23%
- Filter Cutoff: 91
- Filter Spread: 30%
- Style: Default (Mono)
Reverb
- Mix: 62%
- Size: 72%
- Chorus Amount: 5%
- Chorus Frequency: Default (0.250 Hz)
- Time: 0.415 s
- Low Shelf Cutoff: 26% (56.534 Hz)
- Low Shelf Gain: -6 dB
- Pre Low Cutoff: 66% (1055.316 Hz)
Modulation Matrix
- Envelope 2 → Filter 1 Cutoff 17%
- Envelope 2 → EQ Band Cutoff 19%
Note: the patch settings may slightly differ in the Syntorial challenge.
Explore More
- Long. Live. A$AP (Wikipedia)
- Long.Live.A$AP release credits (Discogs)
- A$AP Rocky – Long. Live. A$AP retrospective (Crack Magazine)
- Long.Live.A$AP release page (RateYourMusic)
- Synth discussion: Long Live A$AP (AudibleGenius community)
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:
- Vital
Comments
This recipe is the result of a Syntorial community preset remake request. Need support remaking this sound? Have comments?
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