Could someone please help me?

[erolz]

Hi,

Could someone please help me to recreate these 2 sounds?

1. http://youtu.be/rnZDiLWPuog (sound begins @ 1:35)
This sounds like a saw lead with some portamento but I can not figure out how to recreate it.

2. http://youtu.be/vQGXliVkirE (sound begins @ 1:53)
I think these are 2 layers. 1 square and 1 saw? Somehow I can not recreate this..

Thank you in advance!
Regards.

[Rick Boogie]

A basic understanding of subtractive synthesis would help greatly. Find a resource that explains the basics, and run with it.

[erol]

I will. But in de meantime, could someone help me?

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by erol

I will. But in de meantime, could someone help me?

Erol as you know I've attempted to help you with sound recreation on a couple of occasions over the last year or so, but Rick is right.

On a forum like this, as we type back and forth we can identify certain characteristics of a given sound, but most of the time what gets typed is not going to result in any reasonable replica of the target sound. The only way to achieve that is to refine and tweak by ear using some knowledge of synthesis and sound design technique (most of which you get simply by practice).

I think synthesis is best learned from VSTs inside a software host, because the limited screen display and knobs of hardware and the fact you cannot compare notes easily across half a dozen separate synths at once can hinder your academic exercise, so I recommend starting there (and you can assume everything I say next will be easier on softsynths than hardware gear).

One helpful learning exercise is to find some sound that you really like or want to understand. Now, side-by-side in your DAW software, have that sound and a new uninitialized patch sitting side by side so you can switch between them. Your goal is to make the init patch sound like the ideal one, referring to the settings on the ideal one whenever you aren't clear where to take a certain parameter. Doing this one parameter at a time will help you really understand what gives a sound a particular characteristic. Not just the synth parameters but the FX. Repeat this process with multiple sounds. To become really good, take the ideal sound in one synth, and try to faithfully reproduce it using a different synth. What you will find is that most synths have the capability to sound like any other synth, but you will find subtle differences in things like filter algorithms that can impact what you actually hear. Understanding those subtle changes from synth to synth is key, because if you only know how to work with one synth, you will accept the current characteristics or limits of that particular synth as the way things are rather than understanding the concepts beneath. Sometimes just subtle changes to the slope of a line applied to a filter envelope make all the difference in the world.

So there ya go. Understanding synthesis at the level you need to is not really hard, just takes practice. There's really no alternative to investing the time to learn it if you want good results in electronic music, except simply acquiring libraries of sounds that others created, and even then you will sometimes want to tweak so the knowledge goes a long way.

[Timo]

First sound: Use two sawtooth oscillators, one an octave above the other for greater frequency spread. Set detune of Osc 2 to 0 (zero). Use Unison and set it to 4 voices, detuned to the max (127), and change pan spread to 0 (zero) if you wish. It still doesn't have that ear-piercing sharpness or bite to it, so use FM. Crank the FM amount up to around 41 or so, just so that it's slightly detuned. Set Amp attack and release to zero, sustain to maximum, and add loads of reverb. That's effectively it.