Remaking the analog synth from the 2025 song "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "Man I Need" analog 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 warm, analog chord synth that opens Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” (heard from 0:11) is a layered chord pad. It is built from two slightly detuned sawtooth oscillators, run through a key‑tracked low‑pass filter with the cutoff set low and a subtle filter envelope that pulls the cutoff down over time; the attack is muted and a chorus/ensemble effect is used to smear the result. The part is chordal rather than melodic and evolves across sections rather than serving as a percussive lead. Producer Zach Nahome states he played a vintage Prophet‑5 on the sessions for the album.
Original Performing Instrument
Sequential Circuits Prophet-5
Our Remake of The Analog Synth sound
This audio clip is how close we've matched the original tone of the analog synth from the song "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean, 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: Poly
- Voice Count: 6
Amp Envelope
- Attack: 20 ms
- Decay: 3550 ms
- Sustain: 60%
- Release: 50 ms
Oscillators
- Oscillator 1
- Waveform: Saw
- Volume: 50%
- Pitch: +3 Cents
- Oscillator 2
- Waveform: Saw
- Pitch: -3 Cents
- Volume: 50%
- Reset All Oscillators Phase On Note Start: No
Filter
- Type: Low Pass
- Cutoff: 15%
- Resonance: 25%
- Key Tracking: 80%
Filter Envelope
- Modulation Amount: 50%
- Attack: 0 ms
- Decay: 6250 ms
- Sustain: 20%
- Release: 70 ms
Chorus
- Mix: 100% Wet
- Rate: Slow
Reverb
- Mix: 30% Wet
- Size: Small
Note: the patch settings may slightly differ in the Syntorial challenge.
Explore More
- Inside Track: Zach Nahome & Charlie Holmes (Sound On Sound)
- Man I Need (Wikipedia)
- MAN I NEED – OLIVIA DEAN | Full Remake & Production Breakdown (YouTube)
- Olivia Dean – Man I Need (Behind the Scenes) (YouTube)
- How To Make Neo Soul Like Olivia Dean (in 10 Minutes) (YouTube)
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
This recipe is the result of a Syntorial community preset remake request. Need support remaking this sound? Have comments?
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