Undertale - Hopes and Dream | Strings Synth Patch Remake

Remaking the strings synth from the 2015 song "Hopes and Dream" by Undertale can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "Hopes and Dream" strings 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 strings at the start of “Hopes and Dreams” are a sampled orchestral string patch used as a soundfont in Toby Fox’s FL Studio project. But we’re going to attempt a synth recreation here utilizing multiple waveforms, a comb filter, and careful envelope modulation of various parameters. The tone is clearly a sampled string ensemble rather than a live orchestra, with the slightly synthetic attack and uniform vibrato typical of soundfont patches. Community-sourced sample lists commonly identify the patch as coming from SGM or the Saint James Orchestra soundfonts.

Original Performing Instrument

SGM Soundfont

Our Remake of The Strings Synth sound

This audio clip is how close we've matched the original tone of the strings synth from the song "Hopes and Dream" by Undertale, 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 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

• Hopes and Dreams – Undertale Wiki (Fandom)
• The UNDERTALE Music Sample List (Google Docs)
• UNDERTALE Music Sample List Archive (Scribd)
• Hopes and Dreams INSTRUMENTS (STEMS) – YouTube
• How Toby Fox Composed the Music of UNDERTALE – 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:

• Vital

Comments

This recipe is the result of a Syntorial community preset remake request. Need support remaking this sound? Have comments?