https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=10&v=4Cl8k2jKXY4
https://youtu.be/fvA5T92POxY?t=160
Making a pluck like this has stumped me for the longest time. I know this particular artists uses Harmless a lot and I've managed to recreate a lot of the synths that he normally uses with it, but dat pluck man...
So who uses Harmless? Could someone figure how he got that sound?
And he uses Nexus a good amount too... So maybe he messed with one of those presets?..
How in the blue heck do you make a pluck like this?
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 3 posts since 7 Feb, 2014
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UltimateOutsider UltimateOutsider https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=216800 - KVRian
- 810 posts since 5 Oct, 2009 from Portland, OR
The sound itself is really simple. You can make it in any subtractive-capable synth that has good mod options plus configurable unison and spread controls (DUNE, Spire, Zebra, Alchemy I think?, Virus TI...). But the patch itself is only part of what you're hearing in those tracks.
For the patch, just use a saw OSC with an amp envelope with fast attack, no sustain, and decay/release set to roughly the same value so that the sound rings out just a little bit. Enable unison on the synth and bump the voice count to at least 4. Detune the voices to taste, and engage the stereo spread as far as it can go.
Set up your filter envelope in a similar manner- no attack or sustain, but a shorter value for both the decay and release than you used in the attack envelope. Set up a 4-pole (24db) lowpass filter on the patch with a little bit of resonance. You want to make sure the filter envelope just affects the filter a little bit to give you a defined attack.
His patch also routes velocity to filter cutoff (about 50%), and to volume (75-100%). Once you have your filter envelope and velocity routing set up, start adjusting the cutoff and modulation amounts to taste.
Next, he's got a high pass filter going (I was able to get a similar sound to his with a 24db filter, setting the cutoff at ~470Hz). Most synths only have one filter, so if that's the case, just apply the high pass to that channel in your DAW.
So that's the easy part!
His MIDI programming is really good; his pluck parts are using swing/shuffle, and he varies velocity to affect both the dynamics and the sound of the patch. The really interesting thing though is he's got a LOT of automation going on with his reverbs and even (I think) the main volume of the synth channel. He shortens the tails on the pluck (and mutes the reverb) when he wants the track to pause for a moment, and uses the reverb to kind of swell in the background during more active sections. EDIT: Lots of filter automation going on too, but don't know whether he's doing that directly on the patch or on the various channels.
I'd never heard any Froxic before- really enjoyed both those tracks.
For the patch, just use a saw OSC with an amp envelope with fast attack, no sustain, and decay/release set to roughly the same value so that the sound rings out just a little bit. Enable unison on the synth and bump the voice count to at least 4. Detune the voices to taste, and engage the stereo spread as far as it can go.
Set up your filter envelope in a similar manner- no attack or sustain, but a shorter value for both the decay and release than you used in the attack envelope. Set up a 4-pole (24db) lowpass filter on the patch with a little bit of resonance. You want to make sure the filter envelope just affects the filter a little bit to give you a defined attack.
His patch also routes velocity to filter cutoff (about 50%), and to volume (75-100%). Once you have your filter envelope and velocity routing set up, start adjusting the cutoff and modulation amounts to taste.
Next, he's got a high pass filter going (I was able to get a similar sound to his with a 24db filter, setting the cutoff at ~470Hz). Most synths only have one filter, so if that's the case, just apply the high pass to that channel in your DAW.
So that's the easy part!
His MIDI programming is really good; his pluck parts are using swing/shuffle, and he varies velocity to affect both the dynamics and the sound of the patch. The really interesting thing though is he's got a LOT of automation going on with his reverbs and even (I think) the main volume of the synth channel. He shortens the tails on the pluck (and mutes the reverb) when he wants the track to pause for a moment, and uses the reverb to kind of swell in the background during more active sections. EDIT: Lots of filter automation going on too, but don't know whether he's doing that directly on the patch or on the various channels.
I'd never heard any Froxic before- really enjoyed both those tracks.
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- KVRist
- 30 posts since 29 May, 2015 from Joisey
Really enjoyed that second tune.. Great production and chordal stuffz going on. Will have to check out some more of their work. And thanks to UltimateOutsider for the patch recipe - gonna give it a spin when I get home later. Great post! 
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- KVRian
- 834 posts since 2 Mar, 2008 from Melbourne, Australia
As I've been saying on this forum for 7 years, its the chords that make the difference.
When everyone wanted to know why they couldn't get the 'Deadmu5 sound' - it was always the chords.
When everyone wanted to know why they couldn't get the 'Deadmu5 sound' - it was always the chords.
Sound Engineer / Musician / Producer......but I'm always learning.
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 3 posts since 7 Feb, 2014
This is the closest I got on Sylenth
https://soundcloud.com/lethal-input/what-the-pluck
Yes i'm aware that the end of the midi is a bit off.
Also I know there's a bass layered in there too, I just didn't have to get that together at the particular point in time that I was trying to put this together.
https://soundcloud.com/lethal-input/what-the-pluck
Yes i'm aware that the end of the midi is a bit off.
Also I know there's a bass layered in there too, I just didn't have to get that together at the particular point in time that I was trying to put this together.
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- KVRian
- 834 posts since 2 Mar, 2008 from Melbourne, Australia
@Lethal-Input
Close, getting there. Still to trancey
Less unison, more pluck, more notes, less reverb.
So back off on the trancey supersaw detune and get it back to more just a 'thick' saw. A bit more envelope send to let more of the sound through, and a tighter Filter Envelope so it's snappier.
Also play around with your chords. Try a bit more open voicing/more voiced chords.
Made this quickly in Massive...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wtmyavp62dke9 ... k.mp3?dl=0
Close, getting there. Still to trancey
Less unison, more pluck, more notes, less reverb.
So back off on the trancey supersaw detune and get it back to more just a 'thick' saw. A bit more envelope send to let more of the sound through, and a tighter Filter Envelope so it's snappier.
Also play around with your chords. Try a bit more open voicing/more voiced chords.
Made this quickly in Massive...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wtmyavp62dke9 ... k.mp3?dl=0
Sound Engineer / Musician / Producer......but I'm always learning.
