Recreate TB-303 on any synth?

[cdbaksu]

Can I theoretically recreate the TB-303 "iconic acid sound" on any synth? Even if it won't sound exactly the same due to how the filters and LFOs sound, but still retain the glide legato, the accents, and the sweeping controls that make it 'scream'?

How would I go about learning how to do it? Any advice would be very much appreciated!
​I'd love to try making this on a bunch of synths just to test out their capabilities and what they sound like.

[j wazza]

yes you can create this kind of sound on any synth. a 303 is essentially an envelope on the filter cutoff with resonance. You might want distortion too. Tons of tutorials on making 303 or acid sounds, you should google it. Heres a video on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHC_QXv32hU&t=313s

[chk071]

Sure, you can recreate those sounds on any moderately featured synth. It just won't sound the same, as you pointed out.

The above recreation with Dune 1 is already pretty good, but, you can hear obvious differences in the filter resonance sound. Which, to be fair, are present in most 303 plugin emulations as well. Actually, I don't know a single one which gets it right. Yes, that includes ABL3.

Do listeners care? Probably not. But, that shouldn't prevent people who think they have golden ears from geeking around.

[cdbaksu]

yes you can create this kind of sound on any synth. a 303 is essentially an envelope on the filter cutoff with resonance. You might want distortion too. Tons of tutorials on making 303 or acid sounds, you should google it. Heres a video on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHC_QXv32hU&t=313s

Thanks for your reply. I'm a complete beginner and tried searching for tutorials on youtube, but they all rely on me having previous knowledge about certain behaviours about the synths. Is there an in-depth guide that can walk me through each step from the beginning? As basic as it can get.

[chk071]

Check out the patch settings in the video above. The 303 has a sawtooth and a square waveform (actually, the square isn't an exact square, rather a tiny bit of dialed in pulsewidth). The rest, j Wazza pretty much described. Essentially an envelope (with decay and envelope amount settings on the device),and an accent option, which emphasizes certain notes (meaning that they play louder, and also have more filter envelope amount, I think).

Many 303 sounds have distortion. Like he says in the video, I had good results with pre-amp plugins, like the Lindell 6x-500. Or tube distortion emulations.

[cdbaksu]

Check out the patch settings in the video above. The 303 has a sawtooth and a square waveform (actually, the square isn't an exact square, rather a tiny bit of dialed in pulsewidth). The rest, j Wazza pretty much described. Essentially an envelope (with decay and envelope amount settings on the device),and an accent option, which emphasizes certain notes (meaning that they play louder, and also have more filter envelope amount, I think).

Many 303 sounds have distortion. Like he says in the video, I had good results with pre-amp plugins, like the Lindell 6x-500. Or tube distortion emulations.

Awesome reply! Now how would you go even further back in learning how to apply the filter envelope with the decay you've mentioned? Surely there must be some videos that teach these on a bunch of synths so I can get an idea of how to handle them? I'm just not sure what to search for...

[chk071]

As I said, check the settings that you see in the video above. And, adjust them by ear on the synth you are using. The ranges and parameter amounts depend a bit from synth to synth. What I found is that you don't have to use much envelope amount, as the range in the 303 seems to be quite on the lower side. And, a bit of filter envelope attack will give that that "smudgy" attack that the 303 has. The filter envelope decay should be somewhere around 50%, and, on Spire at least, it also sounded good when I dialed in around 50% filter envelope sustain as well. But, again, it depends on the synth you use. The parameter ranges are a bit different, and the filters also have different pivot notes.

For the 303 accent, you have to use velocity modulation on the volume and filter envelope amount (not sure about the filter envelope amount though, I might be wrong in that regard).

[j wazza]

a 303 can make a range of sounds, so play around with the settings until you like it. The envelope brings the filter cutoff up. It shouldnt need a very long attack or decay. It can help to do the main volume envelope first, before applying the envelope to the filter. Also, it helps to play around with the filter cutoff and resonance by hand to find the right ballpark before adding the filter envelope. You could also try finding presets and tweaking them.