Gripe of the day: synthesis

[AK]

I might want a sound suitable for some chords, so I'll start out with a basic set of oscillators playing those chords and then work the patch into the music getting a feel of how that sound needs to be in order to be effective in its context. That just involves altering various parameters and envelopes until I reach something I like but I always start out with basic sounds and never really save or use presets as I like to feel fresh in my approach.

And this too.
Overall great tips. Thanks guys. I guess I just need to put the hours in.

Yeah, it's common sense really mate. I dunno about you but many a time when I have been uninspired, I have just played with synths and set out creating sounds, apart from short stabby or maybe some bass or percussion sounds, anything that's sustained is really nonsensical in its creation. I really believe that ALL sounds come to life in the context that they are in, I wouldn't create a massive ambient pad with loads of modulation and have it evolve over the course of 'X' amount of bars when I am just tinkering, but I would spend ages on it when it had a reason to exist: ie: - in a track. Then it has purpose and a function. This is why I reckon saving presets is a waste of time, they never work when you call em up and you always end up re-synthesizing the fecking things anyway. Practice is good though as is familiarisation with the synth/s you are working with.

The best thing I could add would be to limit yourself with a selection of instruments and stick with them and get to know them, this is the pitfall of many a modern artist, there's too much to just try out and you just end up a preset surfer and tweaker. Put the time in and it will show in your sounds, whether you use software or hardware is irrelevant, your own identity will eventually come through if you put the time in.

[oblioblioblio]

^ very good advice

[AK]

Where I struggle though mate, is if I try to synthesize a specific sound. I am really quite happy with my own sounds as they are all synthetic and they don't need to be realistic ( One of my gripes is people who use synths to try and synthesize a real sound or an acoustic type instrument ) But then I am doing a track which I actually want a bass guitar sound and low and behold, I'm rubbish, total sh!t man. I ended up with a slap type bass which wasnt my intention at all.

One word. = FAIL



I'm trying to make this 'aged' and noisy track as a kinda chilled out thing for a mate, perhaps I should get a multi sample of a bass guitar?

Bass guitar synthesis anyone???

[oblioblioblio]

i used to do OK from that actually, I found it really good practice to try and emulate acoustic sounds with synths... Not to get their sound, but to see how they worked... it's possible that that's a good way to practice if you're looking to gain experience. But synths are also good from just treating them like their own thing and seeing what they can do.

I think all synths are totally capable of exact replications of the sounds from acoustic instruments, but the reason they never sound the same is the modulation from direct human input... you can never build that into a synth.


I don't often have an idea for a specific sound these days, I just try to work out the range each subsection of my synth can do, and everything just builds up quite naturally.

[AK]

See that's where I kinda digress, I can get what I want out of a synth but I'll be wrong if I'm trying to make a synth sound like something it isn't. For me, a synth is for other worldly sounds and shouldn't replicate an existing instrument but hey, I have good organs in my Triton and other goodies but trying to get an approximation is tedious ( for me ). Bass Guitar = mindfukc.

[Hades]

See that's where I kinda digress, I can get what I want out of a synth but I'll be wrong if I'm trying to make a synth sound like something it isn't. For me, a synth is for other worldly sounds and shouldn't replicate an existing instrument but hey, I have good organs in my Triton and other goodies but trying to get an approximation is tedious ( for me ). Bass Guitar = mindfukc.

I agree with you.
I just don't see the point in imitating real life instruments.
why spend hours trying to replicate a real piano if you have romplers that do the job perfectly ?
I would much rather spend that time making synth sounds with the synth, or even sampling a real piano and then load it in a sampler and make something completely different out of it.
each instrument has its own function, and to me its rather pointless using synths to mimic real sounds.
unless you try to and end up with something completely different along the way, then it can get interesting again.

and adding to the sampler vs synths thing : you can sample your synths, or resample your sampler.
the moment I started looking at a sampler as an extremely versatile synth, I instantly started to enjoy sampling a whole lot more !!

[steevio]

i dont think theres really an argument with the synth V sampler thing, its totally down to personal preference. i started out as a samplist and ended up a synthesist purely because i get my inspiration from working with the raw materials the universe has given us, pure waveforms.

theres just something about it that drives me on to be creative, whereas i dont get the same kick out of using recycled waveforms. for a samplist its the other way round. simple.

and if you get inspirataion from both then you have a bigger palette. personally i like a small but infinitely flexible palette, i get inspiration from that too.

theres no argument.

[Hades]

i dont think theres really an argument with the synth V sampler thing, its totally down to personal preference. i started out as a samplist and ended up a synthesist purely because i get my inspiration from working with the raw materials the universe has given us, pure waveforms.

theres just something about it that drives me on to be creative, whereas i dont get the same kick out of using recycled waveforms. for a samplist its the other way round. simple.

and if you get inspirataion from both then you have a bigger palette. personally i like a small but infinitely flexible palette, i get inspiration from that too.

theres no argument.

oh I know it's not really an argument. I just said the x vs y thing to give the topic a brief "name" so to speak.

but I don't see sampling as using recycled waveforms, as you put it.
I see it as a synth with infinite waveforms.

I do agree completely with how great it is to have a flexible palette.
I was always interested in more than just subtractive, so over the years I collected a setup that contains a bit of everything : subtractive, FM, additive, wavetable, granular and of course sampling.
It's great to have all of it routed to some patchbays and then be able to run it through my eventide.
and then sample or resample if I want to...

this is always one of the first things I try to explain to people if they ask me questions about what I do with my music thing.
I try to say that it all starts with the love for sound. That it's absolutely necessary that they realise that my need to make music comes from a pure passion for sound.

You know, if you play a normal instrument, (say piano for example's sake cause I'm originally a classically trained pianist), you just have this one sound, and then all you can do is run it through some FX at most (which most people never even do, but still).
When you're into sound design and have a proper setup, you have literally thousands of sounds, but more importantly : you can make thousands of sounds yourself, and then run these through all kids of FX chains, and then resample that again, use only a small portion of the waveform, and make another sound out of it.
And then you have all these control options as well : you're not limited to using a normally scaled instrument. In fact, you can scale it any way you like. And use all kinds of different non-western standard tuning tables.
The sky's the limit ! And that feels absolutely GREAT !!

It's like before you were in a typical racing game where you were only able to stay on the circuit and do a race, and all of a sudden you're in Carmageddon and you can drive anywhere in the virtual scenery, plus now you can even jump, swim and fly with your racing car.
(apologies for using a very outdated gaming anology, but I quit playing games ages ago)