Phenomonia - Who Is Elvis | Gritty Synth Patch Remake

Remaking the gritty synth from the 2009 song "Who Is Elvis" by Phenomonia can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "Who Is Elvis" gritty 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

Phenomena’s 1985 track “Who Is Elvis” features a bright, mangled synthesizer sound that stands out at 1:13. This distinctive lead synthesizer sound is characterized by its sharp, piercing quality. The sound is prominent throughout the track, adding a dynamic and edgy texture to the music.

Our Remake of The Gritty Synth

This audio clip is how close we've matched the original tone of the gritty synth from the song "Who Is Elvis" by Phenomonia, 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 up to three challenge packs for free.

Open the lesson Download Syntorial

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.

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

Explore More

• Who Is Elvis? – more early ’90s Techno stories (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