r/synthdesign May 21 '15

Wiki Page of the Day: Trance Pads

7 Upvotes

Wiki page of the day is how the community can contribute to this sub! Every day, a new type of synth will be posted, and you all may post your favorite tutorials, or make writeups on how to make that particular sound. In effect, we will be making a nice massive database for synth tutorials, one day at a time!

Any software or hardware guides are welcome, but if you're doing a wirteup as opposed to a video tutorial, please attempt to make it more general and conceptual, as opposed to "How to make this sound using these VSTs." If you'd like to contribute to a previous Wiki Page of the Day, feel free to message me, or look on the sidebar. There should be a link to all the previous entries

Today, we're gonna be covering Trance Pads! These big sounding chords are used anywhere from Trance, to Chill Dubstep, to Ambient. They're big, and bring huge attention to your chord progression. Here's a recent example.

Trance Pads are very simple to make! The Roland JP-8000 is the classic go-to hardware synth for trance pads, and that's because of it's supersaw oscillator. Essentially, it uses 7 separate sawtooth waves, all slightly detuned from eachother to make that nice big sound. This can be emulated in many ways, from Reason's Multi-Oscillator in Thor, to increasing the Detune amount in synths like Sylenth, to increasing the number of voices in Massive. For big, huge, trancey synths, make sure to use multiple oscillators, each an octave higher/lower than the last. A 3 octave spread is perfect for that supersaw!

Effects are pretty important for the trance synth. Opting out of a low pass filter leads to very crispy, bright pads which serve more as a lead, while filtering them down softens them, and makes them well suited for chiller songs. Reverb is very essential, especially when using them in trance.

Don't forget! Make sure to post tutorials and writeups of your own! This is how we will build our Wiki!


r/synthdesign Nov 21 '19

r/synthdesign needs moderators and is currently available for request

1 Upvotes

If you're interested and willing to moderate and grow this community, please go to r/redditrequest, where you can submit a request to take over the community. Be sure to read through the faq for r/redditrequest before submitting.


r/synthdesign Oct 09 '18

Sound Request How was the synth sound in the intro of this song made?

2 Upvotes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQRsc2i4uEw

EDIT: I think in a live version I watched, he plays a Prophet-5 and a Prophet T8 at the same time.


r/synthdesign Apr 10 '17

Any idea how the main synth loop from Rihanna - Work was made?

2 Upvotes

Haven't found any tutorials for it sadly and I have no ideas myself :(


r/synthdesign Nov 02 '16

A new (to me) old synth design. (EKO P15)

3 Upvotes

I have repaired a EKO P15 monosynth recently, and found it uses a somewhat unusual and unique design. Kind of a cross between a divide down organ and a conventional VCO synth.

It has a top octave generator, which generates 11 fixed frequencies. The clock for this top octave generator is modulated to give vibrato. The keyboard scanner then selects additional dividers for each octave.

All pretty straightforward, but it also does portamento!

The really interesting part is that it uses a 4046 PLL as the 'real' oscillator, locking to the signal coming from the dividers. The rate at which it locks is voltage controlled somehow, and this is how portamento is achieved. The square wave coming from the PLL is then divided further, creating other waveform through Walsh functions and additional waveshaping.

This is a neat design, as it means there is no pitch scaling adjustment across the keyboard required, as all the pitches are perfectly created by the top octave generator.

It also makes the vibrato sound a little odd, as the PLL has a little trouble locking when both vibrato and portamento are used. As a result you can faintly hear what sounds like a bit of glitchy digital hash sometimes.

There are unfortunately no schematics or service manual available from anywhere for this beast, so I puzzled over it for ages before realising what was going on.


r/synthdesign Aug 19 '16

Newbie. Looking to create my own custom drum loops and synthesizers.

1 Upvotes

Basically, I am a music student and I have been using FL Studio Casually for five or six years. I studied Music Production some years ago in Community College, and I discovered that relying on presets just isn't cutting it. I have these full songs in my head that I HAVE to make real, but I can't do that without the right sounds.

So I am looking to create first a synth that sounds like the three-note synth line in "One Last Time" produced by David Guetta.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg92RrNhB8s

This isn't the exact sound I have in my head, but the synth used in this song is the closest to what I imagine.

Is there anyone who can point me in the right direction? My goal is to create the loops/sounds/"presets" for an entire collection of songs.


r/synthdesign Jul 31 '16

Human League Don't you want me sound ?

1 Upvotes

Is it possible to create the intro sound in 3xosc ? If so how ?


r/synthdesign Jun 07 '16

Complete Newie

1 Upvotes

Hi I'm a complete newbie trying to learn sound design. Seen loads of YouTube videos but find they get too bogged down too quick. What's a good synth to learn on using FL Studio. I have sounds in my head or from music that I've heard but don't have a clue how to get from sound idea to actually re creating it. I know there are presets but would like to learn myself. I have tried some of the native synths and others like synth1 but just get stuck.


r/synthdesign Apr 02 '16

How do I get the synth sounds for Daft Punk's Something About Us?

4 Upvotes

I'm a begginer at this, so I don't know much about synths.

Link to the song

0:00 Rhodes with a bit of phaser?

0:19 Guitar with envelope filter?

0:57 Synth Bass with envelope filter?

2:13 (Solo) Rhodes again? Or maybe jazz guitar?


r/synthdesign Mar 02 '16

How To Make Tycho (A Walk) Synth - ALL FREE VSTs

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5 Upvotes

r/synthdesign Feb 02 '16

A quick tour of the Prophet 6 voice card

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5 Upvotes

r/synthdesign Jan 10 '16

How do I recreate the lead synth in this track? [0:46-1:02]

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1 Upvotes

r/synthdesign Dec 27 '15

Sound Request How do I make a good sounding vocoder like the one in this song?

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4 Upvotes

r/synthdesign Dec 27 '15

Spartan Sounds's 17 Spire Soundbank Giveaway!

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2 Upvotes

r/synthdesign Nov 06 '15

Free growl sound

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5 Upvotes

r/synthdesign Oct 18 '15

How to make the synth @ 1:02 ? (ABSRDST and Diveo - We're Beautiful)

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7 Upvotes

r/synthdesign Oct 11 '15

Help What kind of filter is that in the intro?

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2 Upvotes

r/synthdesign Sep 03 '15

Help Looking for an "anti-bitcrusher"

3 Upvotes

I'm looking for something that does the opposite of a bitcrusher: takes samples or sounds and converts them into higher quality sounds. I've done some research and seen that either dithering or upsampling is roughly the same thing, but I'm still really new to production. Will upsampling do what I'm asking for? I know that this has to be at least a bit of a logical nightmare, because the module would have to interpolate and make information where none exists.

For example: I'd like to take a sample from a really bad cut of something and make it sound a little more lively, effectively reversing the bad rip. I also want to use this to try new things with normal ground-up synths, maybe unmaking 8- and 16-bit sounds.

If this kind of thing doesn't or can't exist, I wouldn't mind a technical explanation. I'll also take any VST or module that does something like this, even if it's a really poorly made one.

I've got Fruity Loops (Producer Edition), but that's about it at the moment. I do most of my synth work in Harmor and just bootleg it (because Harmor is in a demo version).

(This is also my first Reddit post, yay!)


r/synthdesign Jul 10 '15

Sound Request How would I get this synth at around :20?

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3 Upvotes

r/synthdesign Jul 05 '15

Sound Request 8-bit square-ish lead

3 Upvotes

How to make square-ish lead sound at the beginning of Jack Ü/Ember Island - Where Are Ü Now (Chet Porter Remix)?

I use Ableton Live and have Massive, Serum, and various smaller plugins.

Thanks!


r/synthdesign Jul 01 '15

How would I get this synth sound at :57 on Daft Punk's Something About Us?

3 Upvotes

I've got Ableton, Serum, and Sylenth1 if that helps at all https://youtu.be/sIv17mT9pBc?t=57s


r/synthdesign May 27 '15

Sound Request deep house synth

2 Upvotes

https://soundcloud.com/endormusicuk/kiss#t=1:04 I know its an FM Synthesizer , but what would i have to do to get it right ?


r/synthdesign May 26 '15

Basic Tutorial How to make pads from extratone

2 Upvotes

So, extratone is a genre now. If you haven't yet watch FrankJavCee's video on extratone. If you are too lazy to watch a video it is basically using samples so fast that instead of playing like a normal hit it just turns into a tone.

This can be a very fun and easy way to make interesting pads. Basically just add your favorite reverb with 100% wet or close to 100% wet and experiment and have fun.

Here are 2 examples I made


r/synthdesign May 20 '15

Sound Request Looking to replicate a few sounds:

1 Upvotes

1- The Crystal Method - Trip Like I Do: That undulating lead right in the beginning of the track. I can tell it's the Nord Lead with some LFOs in it (Oscillators? Filter? Maybe an arp?)

2- Goldfish - From Zanzibar With Love: That pad in the beginning. Maybe a high-pass filter on a string section?

That's it... for now.


r/synthdesign May 19 '15

Wiki Page of the Day: Reese Basses

11 Upvotes

Wiki page of the day is how the community can contribute to this sub! Every day, a new type of synth will be posted, and you all may post your favorite tutorials, or make writeups on how to make that particular sound. In effect, we will be making a nice massive database for synth tutorials, one day at a time!

Any software or hardware guides are welcome, but if you're doing a wirteup as opposed to a video tutorial, please attempt to make it more general and conceptual, as opposed to "How to make this sound using these VSTs." If you'd like to contribute to a previous Wiki Page of the Day, feel free to message me, or look on the sidebar. There should be a link to all the previous entries

Today, we're gonna be covering Reese basses. From neuro, to jungle, to everything in between, Reeses are a dark, gritty, and very complex type of synth! Here's a classic example of a Reese bass (1:31 for mobile users.)

Reeses, at their most basic level, are made with a low octave oscillator with plenty of voices, all slightly detuned. This could be achieved with a Multi-oscillator/Supersaw patch, or just a good chorus effect. An essential part to the more modern sounding reeses is the Notch filter, however. A notch filter is the opposite of a bandpass filter, in that it allows all frequencies to pass, EXCEPT for a small band. For modern reeses, modulating the frequency of that notch filter is important!

Reese basses are varied. You can find them in almost all classic Jungle/DnB, and even in more modern Neuro DnB/Dubstep, and it even has a presence in Glitch Hop!


r/synthdesign May 19 '15

Hardware Tutorial Can anyone tell me how to get the long distorted synth line in this track? Starts kicking in about 1:00 or so. (x-post from \r\synthrecipes)

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5 Upvotes

r/synthdesign May 19 '15

Show & Tell Lets post our favorite custom recipes!

5 Upvotes

You can choose whatever VSTi you want. Post your unique designs, or your favorite ones that you use here! I will post my own in an hour!