One Synth Challenge #131: Syncla-X (Voting Over, results pending)

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Well, gives me more time to look into horn like sounds for you, hehehe, might get a nice starter done?! :shrug: :) :party: ...gotta have some gift for you, don't I!? :)

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Here's a little early access birthday present "ReedsAndHorns" patch for you, Rob! :party:
The first oscillator is more reed like, the second more horn like. It's tough with this synth, but also very pretty somehow. I don't know, if I can tickle any decent trumpet or other brass out of it, but it's a neat challenge.
Slap a little bit of reverb on it, like the "Dragonfly Room Reverb" preset: [Large] Large Clear Room and you have a very nice starter to improvise! :phones:
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Thanks T. I now feel VERY old! Film was great. I'll check out the patches tomorrow- what a nice present. You're right, it's a quirky synth. Should have been easy-ish to get a FM reed or horn sound, but the way the FM seems to work doesn't quite work …

dB

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H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y, R O B! :party:
Yeah, while the frequency values of the chromatic array (is that right?) may be right on paper, they do not behave right acoustically. It's exceedingly difficult to get a "stable" tone out of it, once you add higher registers. Instant "fluttering" and so on. I would call these "questionable choices" for some reason and remain wondering, if the original Synclavier FM section was really like that?!
BUT, alas, it can sound beautiful and I'm having a blast with it! 8)

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Taron - I've been trying to make a kick and snare that sound something like yours. If you feel generous enough to share any tips on strategy I would be really grateful - I'm struggling to get close!
Thanks :hug: and understood if you have no time / inclination to do this, of course :)

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Try this and give it a pitch bend envelope! Even without the envelope, it works quite well, I find, but it's just the little extra somethin'... 8)
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As for Snare... crank up all modulation and carrier bands and find the right note and FM frequency to get a nice noise like sound. You can tweak bands to taste, of course. Also use multiple oscillators for different phases of the snare, if you wish. I would leave the first (or anyone) oscillator as almost sine for the body, of course...may only need the first band carrier. Since you can adjust ADSR virtually everywhere, it is rather comfy to design the snare's components! And it's not as mysterious as the freaking kick! Kick is scary with this one.

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Amazing - thanks so much man :hail:

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I wholeheartedly join in the gratitude! :hail: I couldn't even get close to good drums and thought about doing a track without them, as I was too shy to ask anyone for such a hint. You are a generous man, Taron!

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I just want to hear your music and if I can help you to show a clearer, stronger manifestation of it, I'm that much happier myself! :hyper:
This is our heaven and the more we understand that we make this one together with the best pieces of each of ours, the closer we get to our true potential and the reason for why we're here. Some know this more, some less, but at the end we all contribute to it. The clearer this becomes to you, the stronger your creations will get! 8)

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Taron wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2020 3:07 pm I just want to hear your music and if I can help you to show a clearer, stronger manifestation of it, I'm that much happier myself! :hyper:
This is our heaven and the more we understand that we make this one together with the best pieces of each of ours, the closer we get to our true potential and the reason for why we're here. Some know this more, some less, but at the end we all contribute to it. The clearer this becomes to you, the stronger your creations will get! 8)
You have a very unique and magical way of looking at things 8) :) . Your generosity and insights certainly help many of us here to move towards our potiential... thank you again :hug:

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Impact seems to work with LFO(FM) the amount of which is controlled by Modulation partials. What the hell does FM and global FM Mod do?

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Yeah, all very puzzling - I too am still not sure how all the "FM" parameters work in the "normal" FM sense? If anyone has a "definitive" flowchart of how all these thing interact (modulate!), then please post here. A strange, but interesting synth, with many shortcomings, but also capable of good sounds (and many many awful ones too, to my ears anyway!!!!!!!)

dB the old.

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The master FM dial seems to set a sort of fundamental multiplier for the FM frequency. The FM section ("FM", "FM Fine" and "Impact") responds like a modifier to the master FM frequency. If either master FM or FM is on zero, you will not get any difference in FM frequency ( 0.0 * 0.0 ). That means, if you wish to start dialing up frequencies, you might want to put the master FM to 50% (no idea what actual value this produces!) and then start tuning it with the FM and FM fine parameters!
Also, don't forget that you need to have the "Modulator" ADSR up in some way, be that by cranking Sustain up to 100% or any envelope. You might want to consider to adjust those later for the real nice sound design and it's pretty cool at that, too. For example, since the filter section sucks (yes, it does), you can use FM to control higher parts of the spectrum and then use those Modulator Envelopes to sculpt your sound!
Also, don't forget to set the Bands properly. FM won't show any effect, if you don't have any Mod band or Carrier band up!
My tip is to slide up Mod and Carrier on Band 1 as you start adjusting stuff and leave all else on 0.

I know, there has already been some conversation about the Carrier bands early on with Ex finding out that they are mathematically "correct", but practically you can forget Band 5,6,7 and almost 8 as well, because they will ruin any delicate FM modulation frequency, because they are not sympathetic with the base frequencies...or how ever one would say that?! If they were on stable mathematical grounds, logarithmic powers of 2 or the likes, they wouldn't destroy all hope, but...alas..they are not! And you won't need math or oscilloscopes to find that out, but just your ears! Instant information! :lol: :bang:

Thus you will have to make choices when you tune your FM, which bands you wish to favor. Luckily each Oscillator has its own set of FM dials including ADSR, which then leaves much to explore. But all the most useful sounds you may likely create only with the first 4 bands and some patience and plenty of will! :borg:

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About the LFO section... (what a mess that is, haha)...forget the Tremolo (the first LFO) and put in on zero right away! It will only mess with your volume.
The (FM) LFO only modulates the frequency of the FM and it's a weird one, too, very hard to control. Again it's a similar multiplication situation like with master FM and the FM block, except that in case of the LFO there seems to be no absolute 0 on the DEPTH, allowing you to modify each oscillators depth at varying degrees even while the master Depth seems to be on 0. If you dial up the master depth, all of them get some depth (so weird), but the first oscillator seems to get less than the others?! It's a mess, have I mentioned that already? :shrug: :bang: (Loads of :bang: s in this one, haha!)

In reality, unless you wish to go all-out with crazy effects stuff or only wish to add the tiniest bit of texture to your sound, just don't touch any LFO, except for trying to get it to 0.0 and hopefully does nothing to the sound! If you wish for a nice vibrato, just automate the pitchbend or so... I haven't even done that, yet. I have some hail-mary LFO usage in my sounds, adding the texture I was talking about, but it takes courage and tolerance to deal with it!

BRIEF: BRING ALL LFO TO 0% AND BE HAPPY TO IGNORE IT AFTER!

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