DJ Khaled - I'm On One Ft. Drake, Rick Ross, & Lil Wayne | Lead Synth Patch Remake

Remaking the lead synth from the 2011 song "I'm On One Ft. Drake, Rick Ross, & Lil Wayne" by DJ Khaled can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "I'm On One Ft. Drake, Rick Ross, & Lil Wayne" 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

DJ Khaled’s 2011 hit “I’m On One” featuring Drake, Rick Ross, and Lil Wayne features a distinctive lead synthesizer that defines the track’s atmospheric backdrop with its distorted, pitch-bending character created through heavily filtered and distorted unisoned saw waves. The sound employs portamento to create smooth glides between notes, particularly noticeable during the dramatic octave jumps that produce a record-scratch-like effect. You can hear the lead synth enter subtly at the beginning of the song and reach its full, distorted presence at 0:20, driving the harmonic progression throughout the verses and chorus.

Original Performing Instrument

Native Instruments Massive

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 "I'm On One Ft. Drake, Rick Ross, & Lil Wayne" by DJ Khaled, 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
• Glide Time: 0.033 s Always

Oscillator Setup

Oscillator 1

• Mix: 71%
• Wavetable: Basic Shapes
• Wave Frame: Saw (position 113)
• Routing: Filter 1
• Unison Voices: 7
• Unison Detune: 8%
• Unison Stereo Spread: 23%
• Morph:
• Wave Morph Amount: 0%

Filter Settings

Filter 1

• Model: Dirty
• Style: 24dB Slope
• Blend: Band Pass (1)
• Cutoff: 51% (345.796 Hz)
• Resonance: 45%
• Drive: 50%
• Keytrack: 100%

Envelope Settings

Envelope 1 (Amp)

• Attack: 10 ms
• Sustain: 100%
• Release: 90 ms
• Decay Curve: Exponential
• Release Curve: Logarithmic

Envelope 2

• Attack: 0 ms
• Decay: 17 ms
• Sustain: 0%
• Release: 90 ms

Effects Processing (Ordered)

Distortion

• Mix: Default (100%)
• Drive: 70%
• Type: Default (Soft Clip)

Compressor

• Mode: Default (Multiband)
• Mix: Default (100%)
• Attack: Default (50%)
• Release: Default (50%)
• Low Values
• Low Gain: 16 dB
• Low Upper Ratio: 90%
• Band Values
• Band Gain: 12 dB
• Band Upper Ratio: 86%
• High Values
• High Gain: 16 dB

Eq

• Low Mode: High-Pass
• Low Cutoff: 1629.671 Hz
• Low Resonance: 25%
• Band Cutoff: 3553.599 Hz
• Band Resonance: 37%
• Band Gain: -6 dB
• High Mode: Low-Pass
• High Cutoff: 9888.157 Hz
• High Resonance: 33%

Reverb

• Mix: 24%
• Size: 100%
• Chorus Amount: 5%
• Chorus Frequency: Default (0.250 Hz)
• Time: 1.868 s
• Low Shelf Cutoff: 28% (67.223 Hz)
• Low Shelf Gain: -6 dB
• Pre Low Cutoff: 46% (237.309 Hz)

Global Settings

• Pitch Bend Range: 36 st
• Portamento Scale: On
• Portamento Slope: -1

Note: the patch settings may slightly differ in the Syntorial challenge.

Explore More

• DJ KHALED hi synth tutorial .KSD DL – YouTube
• DJ Khaled – “I’m On One” – LEAD SYNTH – KVR Audio Forum
• This Synth Sound? – Gearspace Forum Discussion on DJ Khaled’s “Im On One”
• How to Create a DJ Khaled Style Lead Synth – YouTube Tutorial

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?