The Cracken - Vesuvius | Lead Synth Patch Remake

Remaking the lead synth from the 2016 song "Vesuvius" by The Cracken can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "Vesuvius" 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

The lead pluck in “Vesuvius” by The Cracken is a super-bright, aggressive plucked synth built on a thin pulse wave with unison. It uses a bright low-pass filter with a pronounced resonance spike and a fast filter envelope to produce the sharp pluck transient. Slow phaser movement adds a ascending layer over multiple notes, while the large reverb and noticeable wide delays add width and space. The lead enters and carries the main hook beginning at 2:46 in the radio edit.

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 "Vesuvius" by The Cracken, 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: Thin Pulse (position 254)
• Routing: Filter 1
• Unison Voices: 6
• Unison Detune: 6%
• Unison Blend: 0.21
• Unison Stereo Spread: 0%
• Modulations:
• Lfo 1 → Tune

Filter Settings

Filter 1

• Model: Analog
• Style: 24dB Slope
• Blend: Low Pass (0)
• Cutoff: 87% (5196.756 Hz)
• Resonance: 82%
• Modulations:
• Env 2 → Cutoff

Envelope Settings

Envelope 1 (Amp)

• Attack: 0 ms
• Decay: 238 ms
• Sustain: 0%
• Release: 220 ms

Envelope 2

• Attack: 0 ms
• Decay: 277 ms
• Sustain: 0%
• Release: 90 ms
• Routed to:
• Filter 1 Cutoff (19%)
• Delay Dry Wet (-34%)

LFO Settings

LFO 1

• Mode: Trigger
• Sync: Tempo
• Tempo: 1/8
• Shape: Triangle
• Destinations:
• Osc 1 Tune (amount 18%)

LFO 2

• Mode: Sync
• Sync: Tempo
• Tempo: 8/1
• Shape: Triangle
• Destinations:
• Filter Fx Cutoff (amount 28%)

Effects Processing (Ordered)

Distortion

• Mix: Default (100%)
• Drive: 90%
• Type: Hard Clip

Compressor

• Mode: Single Band
• Mix: Default (100%)
• Attack: 100%
• Release: Default (50%)
• Band Values
• Band Gain: 12 dB
• Band Upper Ratio: 86%

Filter Fx

• Mix: Default (100%)
• Model: Phaser
• Style: Positive
• Blend: High Pass (2)
• Cutoff: 24% (48.684 Hz)
• Resonance: 84%

Eq

• Low Mode: High-Pass
• Low Cutoff: 321.386 Hz
• Low Resonance: 22%
• High Mode: Low-Pass
• High Cutoff: 8339.066 Hz
• High Resonance: 26%

Reverb

• Mix: 38%
• Size: Default (50%)
• Chorus Amount: 5%
• Chorus Frequency: Default (0.250 Hz)
• Time: 2.353 s
• Delay: 0.118 s
• Pre Low Cutoff: 39% (148.469 Hz)

Delay

• Mix: 33%
• Delay 1
• Sync: Default (Tempo)
• Rate: 1/4
• Delay 2
• Sync: Default (Tempo)
• Rate: 1/4
• Feedback: Default (50%)
• Filter Cutoff: Default (60)
• Filter Spread: Default (100%)
• Style: Ping Pong

Modulation Matrix

• Envelope 2 → Filter 1 Cutoff 19%
• LFO 1 → Osc 1 Tune 18%
• Envelope 2 → Delay Dry Wet -34%
• LFO 2 → Filter FX Cutoff 28%

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

Explore More

• Patch Request: The Cracken – Vesuvius (Lead) — AudibleGenius Community
• Track listing including The Cracken – Vesuvius (Radio Edit) — VK

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?