> become a synth power user / synth power!

From beginner to pro, find out how to design incredible sounds and get the most from today’s modern synth instruments

After covering some of the fundamentals of synthesis in our Become A Synth Power User feature from page 12, it’s now time to dig deeper into your synths. The fact is, if you own at least one software synthesiser, it’s likely that you’re sitting on a goldmine of untapped musical potential. As a producer working in today’s digital world, we all take these powerful virtual instruments for granted, only using them for specific tasks or their bundled sounds.

So over the following pages, we’re going to use some of the world’s most popular softsynths – including Serum, Bazille CM, Sylenth1, FM8, Diva, and more – to walk you through common (and some not-so-common) synthesis features you’ll find within the majority of electronic instruments: from selfmodulation and polyphonic glide to DIY synth creation, filter tricks and much more. We have a tour of the lesser-known features hidden inside NI’s frequency-modulation powerhouse FM8, for example. There’s also a guide to creating wavetables in Xfer’s modern classic Serum. The idea is that we’ll show you around these powerful sonic weapons with the aim of inspiring your sound design adventures, no matter the genre.

We also have accompanying audio files and hands-on videos, so if you’re a newcomer to concepts, or an old hand in need of a refresher, you’ll be able to follow along at your own pace. Either way, if you’re interested in sound design and becoming a power user of your own synths, these practical examples should inspire you to fire up your favourite synthesiser and get twiddling!

Synthesis for performers

Synthesiser presets are generally designed to be played via a MIDI keyboard controller, so when creating synth patches geared for the performer, it makes sense to use these handy performance controls to modulate parameters. And even if your keyboard skills are lacking, drawing in per-note modulation within your MIDI region is an awesome way to create dynamic riffs and evolving sequences.

When playing a traditional piano, the strength of your note strike will determine how loud and bright the resulting note is. The equivalent to this in the MIDI world is velocity data: the harder you press down on a MIDI key or drum pad, the higher the value sent to your virtual instrument. Velocity is most typically used to control volume – the lighter your key press, the lower the resulting note’s volume, and vice versa – but in reality, velocity can be used to control any synth parameter. Tell it to modulate the pan of your oscillators for width; apply velocity-dependent modulation amounts for more dynamic responses; or make your filter close with higher velocity values. The more aggressive the playing, the more dubbed out the sound.

Create expressive synth patches by making your keyboard’s MIDI messages alter parameters as you play

Aftertouch (pressure sensitivity) is the MIDI data your keyboard outputs when additional pressure is applied to a key after it’s been struck. Map it to the tune of your oscillators for a different take on pitch slides, or use it to modulate other modulators – for example, route an LFO to modulate a band-pass filter, then control that LFO’s depth or rate with aftertouch. Your MIDI keyboard’s modulation wheel is another way to control synth parameters while you play. While many ready-made patches are designed with vibrato pre-assigned, the mod wheel can control pretty much any synth parameter, so go further and use it for distortion amount, LFO rate, wavetable position, filter resonance, envelope mod depth and beyond.

> Step by step

1. Designing a performance patch with Bazille CM

1 Load an instance of u-he’s Bazille CM in your DAW, then call up the Bazille Bass preset. Although the tone of this midrange bass is OK, we can use velocity and pressure modulation to turn a simple riff into something a lot more dynamic and evolving. We program a 1/4-note-long A2 note riff, and vary the velocity values of the notes.

2 Navigate to Bazille CM’s MIDI & More panel. By patching the Velocity MIDI modulator’s output (its red connector) into one of the Cutoff’s grey input ports, then applying mod depth via the knob, our filter cutoff amount will change, depending upon the incoming note’s velocity value.

3 Next, use note velocity to scan through the Sequencer’s different Snapshots (essentially eight independent sequences), then use those sequencer signals to wobble filter frequency. First, patch the Velocity modulator to the Sequencer’s Rotate input. Then, route the Sequencer’s second output to a Cutoff mod input, then increase Mod Depth.

4 The Sequencer’s Rotate control lets you rotate between different snapshots, accessed by clicking on numbers on the dial. Within these snapshots, we program different sequencer values. Now, different velocity values trigger different sequencer patterns, giving an evolving sound – perfect for this sequenced bass riff.

5

Let’s turn our attention to aftertouch modulation, which can give our patch a more expressive sound. We take the Press modulator’s output and connect it to Osc 1’s Fractalize mod input, then turn the amount up. In a nutshell, the Fractalize control modulates one waveform with multiple cycles of another. Time to dial in some aftertouch modulation…

6

Within our MIDI region, we record in some aftertouch movement, creating a short sweep at the end of the first bar and a longer one at the end of the phrase. This modulation creates a resonant, hard sync-style sweep. Although still a simple one-note pattern, our riff now has a much more interesting and ‘performed’ feel thanks to some choice MIDI modulation.