The answer often doesn’t lie in reprogramming the sequence or using heavy effects processing. A more simple approach can be using one or two extra synths layered with your original pattern. This can add depth and pace to the whole piece and often make the part more exciting.

Lets take a look at the entire process, from recording the original part right through to mixing the layered sounds into your existing project.

Step 1 – The Original Project

For this tutorial I have constructed a basic loop, that includes drums, bass and few effects. This is the bare bones that I will flesh out with our MIDI sequences.

I have supplied the Logic Pro project file in the download pack, so you can take a closer look at what’s going on. You will need Fabfilter’s plug-in pack installed, if you don’t have this you can get a fully functional 30 day demo here.

An overview of the original loop used.

The original loop:

Download audio file (1.mp3)

Step 2 – The Basic Pattern

To get the ball rolling I loaded a really basic patch into Fabfilter’s Twin 2 soft synth. I then played a very basic pattern and recorded the result into Logic. I ensured there weren’t too many overlapping notes and everything was in key.

The basic Fabfilter twin patch.

As you would expect the sequence sounded a bit dry at this point and fell a little bit flat when everything was played in unison. Although I was happy enough with it musically, something had to be done to bring things up to speed!

The initial, untouched MIDI sequence.

Step 3 – Some Initial Alterations

Before I started to layer some extra sounds i wanted to get this first patch sounding its best. I started by applying some basic quantisation to the sequence. Although the original recording wasn’t too far off this just brought the whole thing into line and tidied up a few mistakes.

The quantise settings.

The sequence with quantise applied.

The quantised sequence:

Download audio file (3.mp3)

I then started to look at the actual synth patch and made some adjustments that gave the sound a little more character. I added some resonance to the low pass filter and modulated it with a fast envelope generator to add some acid squelch. Other touches added at this point included some stereo unison and a touch of the synths internal delay effect.

The altered synth patch.

The altered synth patch:

Download audio file (3b.mp3)

The synth’s delay effect.

The synth with some delay applied:

Download audio file (3c.mp3)

Already these alterations made a huge difference to how the synth sequence sat in the mix but some extra work was needed to get the most out of the pattern.

The synth part in the mix.

The single layered synth part in the mix:

Download audio file (3d.mp3)

Step 4 – The First Layer

To add some pace and movement to the sequence its sometimes a good idea to use tempo synced patches or arpeggiated sounds. Often the patterns created by using your original MIDI with this type of sound will fill out a track and impart a decent amount of energy.

In this case I simply copied the MIDI part to a new track and instantiated a new Fabfilter Twin 2 synth. You’ll notice the copied part is named in italics. This simply means it is an alias or ghost copy. The advantage of this copying method is that any edits made to the original part will be reflected in the copies. This feature is available on most DAWs.

The MIDI part copied as an alias.

Once the part was copied it was tranposed down an octave and then a new arpeggiated patch was loaded in Twin 2. The new part is tempo synced so any extra notes that are added are locked perfectly with the whole project. This part really adds an extra dimension to the whole sequence and can be easily mixed to the required level, even a small amount will add body and depth.

The new Fabfilter twin patch used for the second layer.

The two layers together:

Download audio file (4.mp3)

Step 5 – A Second Layer

If you feel your pattern needs even more spice you can add another layer, in fact you can add as many layers as you like! It’s really just a case of repeating the last step and creating more instruments for the new MIDI to trigger.

I often find that a layer containing an instrument that is in direct contrast to the original can work very well. For an example I have used Logic’s ‘Sculpture’ physical modelling synth to add a bell / chime patch to the mix. It adds an ethereal haunting quality and works pretty well.

The final layer added by Logic’s sculpture.

The ‘Sculpture’ chime layer

Download audio file (5.mp3)

All layers playing in the mix:

Download audio file (5b.mp3)

But it’s quite hard to reach the stage of experimentation if you don’t even know the basics behind some kind of sounds often heard in dance tracks. This tutorial will teach you how to design from scratch a DnB trademark, the reese bass, and how to reproduce the infamous hoover sound, introducing you to the technique of resampling.

Introduction

With all the great plug-ins and soft synths available cheaply, it’s easy to forget that modern DAWs usually come with a bundle of amazing synths and plug-ins. Logic is one of these. The ES2 is a great synthesizer that allows you to create a huge variety of sounds. We’re going to use it, together with the EXS24 sampler, to create a reese bass and a hoover.

However, if you follow the steps while auditioning the sound you’ll be able to understand what you’re doing and therefore you can use this techniques virtually on any synth and sampler.

Step 1

Launch Logic, create an empty project, and create a software instrument track when prompted. Then write a 4 bars long C2 in the piano roll, activate cycle (loop), and press play. This is not necessary, but it’s useful since we want to audition the sound constantly while tuning it, so we don’t have to keep one hand on our keyboard all the time.

Step 2

Load an ES2 instance in the track you just created. This is how the standard ES2 patch looks. The ES2 interface might look a bit intimidating if you never used it, but it’s extremely powerful once you learn how to use it.

The default ES2 sound is a soft, morphing, heavily modulated sound. So it’s better if we clean up this patch before we start so that we can hear how the tweaks we make affect the sound.

Let’s start from the global parameters:

• Set the voicing to mono

• Disable unison
• Turn the “Analog” knob to 0
• Turn off CBD

We also need to clean up the effects section; You’ll need to:

• Set the “Sine Level” knob to 0 (this adds a sine wave of the same frequency as the first oscillator to the output)

• Set the “Intensity” knob to 0, because we don’t want any chorus, flanger or phaser right now.

Now turn off every module in the router. To do this, just click on “target” and select off.

We need to turn off the Vector as well.

Our goal is to create a simple, clean patch so let’s bypass the filter (click on the green “Filter” button. It will become grey, and that means it’s disabled).

Finally, let’s move to the oscillator section, and:

• Set all the three oscillator waveform to sawtooth

• Set the third oscillator pitch to 0 s 0 c
• Move the square at the centre of the triangular mix pad so that an equal amount of every oscillator is sent to the output

Now we have a simple, clean patch and we can start designing our reese. If you find it useful, save this patch so you can quickly access it again whenever you want to start designing a sound from scratch.

Download audio file (step2.mp3)

Step 3

First we’re going to tune the third ADSR envelope, which always controls the amp. We’re looking for a fully sustained sound, so set a very fast attack (15 ms), no decay, full sustain and no release.

Download audio file (step3.mp3)

Step 4

The essence of a reese is multiple detuned sawtooth waves. So let’s tune the first two oscillators up and down 15 cents, and the third one up 20 cents. Since our goal is a deep, dark reese bass we’re going to tune the first two oscillators down an octave (12 semitones). This movement in the sound is the basic characteristic of the reese.

Download audio file (step4.mp3)

Step 5

To add even more movement and depth to the sound we created, we’re going to set the number of voices to 12 (just click, hold and drag) and turn unison on. This makes 12 slightly detuned voices play at the same time.

Download audio file (step5.mp3)

Step 6

It’s time to filter the sound. We’re only going to use one filter, so move the blend fader all the way down (to 1), and then set:

• The Drive knob to 0.4

• The second filter’s resonance knob to 0.09
• The cutoff to 0.280
• The second filter’s slope to 18 dB/Octave
• Fat on “on”

Basically we just distorted the sound (that’s what the “Drive” knob does) and then filtered out all the high range of the frequency spectrum.

Download audio file (step6.mp3)

Step 7

Now we’re going to use the second envelope to modulate the filter cutoff frequency and gradually reintroduce part of the frequencies we filtered out in the previous step.

To do so we need to use the router. You have 10 independent routing modules that allow you to select a source and a target of modulation (the optional “via” parameter offers a second source to modulate the intensity of modulation).

So we’re going to select the first module’s target and select “Cutoff 2″. That’s the cutoff frequency of the second filter, the one we’ve just turned to 0.280. Then we’re going to select the source: Env2.

The small green triangle on the slider on the right of every routing module defines the amount of modulation we want to apply. In this case we don’t want to reintroduce the highest frequencies, so we’re going to set it to 0.54.

Download audio file (step7.mp3)

Step 8

Now that the second envelope controls the filter cutoff frequency, it’s time to tweak it. What I want to achieve is simply to introduce the high end of the spectrum gradually, so we’re going to set the attack to 570 ms, no decay, full sustain and no release.

Download audio file (step8.mp3)

Step 9

Now we want to add some more distortion. Leave it on “Soft”, set the tone to 6600Hz and the distortion to 6 dB.

Download audio file (step9.mp3)

Step 10

To add even more warmth to the sound we’re going to turn the “Analog” knob to 0.480. This will create some random detuning (it emulates analog synthesizers).

Download audio file (step10.mp3)

Step 11

We want some subtle extra movement in our sound, so we’re going to turn the filter FM knob to 0.14. This modulates the filter’s cutoff by the frequency of the first oscillator. Not every filter has this fuction, but you can achieve the same result by modulating the filter cutoff trough a LFO generating a sine wave.

Download audio file (step11.mp3)

Step 12

Let’s distort it even more. Add a “Distortion” insert, and set:

• Drive to 30 dB

• Tone to 550 Hz
• Output to -3.5 dB

Download audio file (step12.mp3)

Step 13

Now it’s time to add some reverb. Add a “SilverVerb” insert, and set:

• Predelay to 0 ms

• Reflectivity to 25%
• Room size to 38
• Density/Time to 40%
• Mod Intensity to 0
• Mix to 12%
• Low cut to 310 Hz
• High cut to 8000 Hz

Download audio file (step13.mp3)

Here’s our reese playing a simple line in a DnB track.

Download audio file (step14.mp3)

Step 14

Now I’m going to explain you how to design a hoover sound. If you don’t know what a hoover is, try to listen to one of the tracks that made it famous: Human Resource’s “Dominator“.

The so-called “hoover” is basically a big lead sound with a sudden rise and fall in pitch. In Logic’s ES2 you could achieve this simply by assigning an envelope to control the pitch of the oscillators trough the router, but I’m going to show you how to do this in the EXS24 to introduce you to the technique of resampling, which is fundamental in sound designing.

Step 15

Let’s repeat Steps 1 and 2, but this time with a 4-bars long note which we’re going to export that and then load it into a sampler. But this time create a C3 instead of a C2, since we’re not looking for a low sound.

Starting from the clean patch, this is what you’ll need to tweak:

• The third envelope just like we did in Step 3

• The Analog knob to .710
• Turn of the third oscillator by clicking on the green “3″ button
• Tune the second oscillator down 1 octave, and set the triangular mix pad to 50%/50%
• Enable the filter, set Blend to -1 so that only filter 1 is used, set it to Hi, then set Drive to .3, Resonance to .37 and Cutoff to .4
• Enable chorus, turn the intensity knob to full and set the speed to 2.30 Hz
• Enable unison

Download audio file (step15.mp3)

Step 16

Now you have to export the long C3 you just created and load it into a sampler. Doing this in Logic 9 is especially easy thanks to the new bounce in place function, that allows you to bounce several regions inside your project in one click. Just select the region, ctrl-click it and select “bounce in place”.

Now select a name you like, set “New track” as destination, and leave “Bypass Effect Plug-ins” and “Add Effect Tail to File” unchecked, since we haven’t inserted any effect. The three options next to “Source:” allow you to decide if the original region will be left untouched, muted or deleted.

Step 17

Now select the new region (make sure you select only the region you want to sample, or every region you select is going to be assigned to an EXS24 zone), ctrl-click it and select “convert to new sampler track”.

Make sure “Regions” is checked, select a name you like, and leave the trigger note range alone, since we’re going to edit the zone manually.

Step 18

A new ESX24 track will appear. Open the ESX24 editor and select “edit”. Then select C3 as key (since we sampled a C3 we want C3 to be the root note) and make sure that the zone is extended to the whole keyboard by selecting C-2 and G8 as Lo and Hi in the Key Range column.

Step 19

Now we need to do some minor tweaks. I’m not looking for dynamics in a hoover sound at this stage, so adjust the Level knob so that notes are always played at full velocity. Then add some release to the second envelope, and finally set the voicing to mono.

Step 20

Finally we get to create the characteristic of the hoover: a sudden rise and fall in pitch. As you can see, the EXS24 router is identical to the ES2 one. The second routing module is already set to affect the Pitch: turn “via” off, change the source of modulation to “Env1″ and set the intensity to +600 cents.

Now let’s tune the envelope: set the Attack to 130 ms and the Decay just above that, around 160 ms. You can hear how this envelope modulates the pitch creating the infamous hoover sound.

Download audio file (step20.mp3)

Step 21 – Experiment!

Here’s the hoover sound in action playing along with one of Logic’s house beats.

Download audio file (step21.mp3)

Don’t be surprised if the reese we created is not as nasty as Noisia’s basses, and if the hoover doesn’t sound like the Roland Alpha Juno 2 one. Unfortunately is not that easy.

Creating sounds that stand out in the crowd requires a lot of processing. Producers often resample sounds a huge number of times processing them in many different ways. Sounds that occupy a wide frequency range, like reeses, are often split into frequency bands that can then be processed separately.

Showing you how to split a reese into three frequency bands and how to resample them several times adding modulation and effects is beyond the scope of this very tutorial, which is intended to show you the basic techniques to create these kind of sounds from scratch and then leave the experimenting to you.

So, get your favourite synths, samplers and plug-ins and start experimenting! If you’re a bit lost, here’s some ideas on what to do after you sampled a sound: add different modulations to the filters using LFOs and envelopes, add EQs, flangers, phasers, guitar amps, distortion, saturation, compression and everything that comes to your mind. Sound designing is an art: there are no rules, and like everything else it requires time and experience to create those sounds that will set dance floors on fire!

Introduction

Unique sounding percussion is one of the keys to any quality track. Unfortunately, stock sounds are easily recognizable, not always high quality, and are rather limited in style. You could always go buy some additional drum packages from a variety of places, but of course, then you’re stuck with their drum styles. You could also record your own drum samples, but this can be a time consuming and tedious process, and it can also be costly if you don’t own a drum set.

However, there are always some ways to make stock drums sound unique, and to add your own style to them. One of these ways is layering of drums, which was discussed in another AudioTUTS+ tutorial How to Layer Hip Hop Drums in FL Studio. Aside from that, however, there are a variety of other ways, which we’ll look at in detail.

Getting the Most from Kick Drums

Kick drums generally lay down the base framework for your track. If it’s an electronic genre, such as trance or techno, it will usually use a “four to the floor” drum style, where there is a kick on every downbeat. Hip-Hop sometimes calls for a more ‘digital’ sounding kick, whereas rock music usually goes for a live feel, a warmer sound. Most producers have a specific sound in mind for a track, which helps to guide the rest of the production.

The first, major way to get the most out of your kick drums, is to run a compressor on your kick drums. Let’s do this really quickly. In Reason, go to Create->Redrum Drum Machine. Then, Create->MClass Compressor. Hit tab, and flip around to the wiring view. You’ll notice that all your drums are now wired through the compressor. We don’t want that, so instead, switch the audio input on the compressor to the output from channel 1 of Redrum, so that only the kick drum is routed. Then re-route the L/R output of Redrum back to the mixer (so the rest of the drums are still being sent to the mixer).

Now, toy with the compression, by turning the Threshold, Attack, and Release knobs down, while turning up the compression. Here’s an automated drum track, where the compression slowly increases over time. Notice, the volume also drops, so you can either raise the gain, or layer this with another drum.

Download audio file (1.mp3)

Next, make sure your kick drums aren’t clipping. A lot of very ‘bassy’ drums have very loud low frequencies, which help to give it a nice rolling sound. However, this also tends to max out the audio, so if this is happening to your songs, add an MClass EQ to your track, and soften the low frequencies, that way the drum can still be loud, without clipping.

Remember, channels 1 and 2 in Redrum are designed specifically for kick drums. They have pitch, level, length, velocity, and tone knobs. Pitch and tone are incredibly useful for changing the sound of a kick drum. However, if you really want a ton of control over your sound, you can load up your individual kick in NN-XT. Simply locate the .wav file on your computer, and open it in NN-XT, and then use the programmer to alter the sound. You can add other sounds, you can reverse the audio, and a bunch of other things with NN-XT.

Bass and kick drums go hand in hand. When you’re working with a soft or slightly weak kick sound, you can really amp it up by creating a synthesizer, loading a bass sample, and then hitting the note right on the same beat as your kick drum. You can then shorten or lengthen the attack to give it a punchier sound to match your kick drum.

Getting the Most from Snare Drums

Reason has some high quality snare drums. However, snare drums are generally a bit harder to edit, and each person likes a different snare sound. Unlike kick drums, which have a lower frequency, snare drums have mid and high frequencies, which make them stand out in the track. It’s important to be careful with compression and EQ with snare drums, as these more easily alter the sound of snares than kick drums.

To create a snare roll, simply create a rapid succession of snare hits in Redrum. Then, play with the flam, and also consider adding a delay device to the sound as well, to create a stuttering effect. In the image below, I’ve added a delay and some flam to a snare pattern. Listen to the audio and see the results.

Download audio file (2.mp3)

As with kick drums, Redrum channels 3 and 4 are designed to handle snare drums, and have some different parameter controls. Again, however, sounds can be loaded up into NN-XT for total control.

Synthesizing snare drums can be a ton of fun. To create a synthesized snare drum sound, simply create a synthesizer of your choice (Subtractor, Malstrom, Thor), and then give it a loud attack, with a quick release. Then, apply some distortion and reverb to give it a traditional sound. Make sure the pitch is correct, however.

As I mentioned above, EQing snare drums rapidly changes the sound. However, this can be beneficial, as you can get a more metallic sound by raising the EQ, or a more of a cracking sound by lowering the EQ. Just make sure the final version of your snare still is audible above the other frequencies of instruments in your song.

Getting the Most from Hi-Hats and Cymbals

Like the stock kick drums in Reason, the stock hi-hats and cymbals are worth using, though they require some tweaking to get a full sound. When adding a hi-hat or cymbal, listen to the sound, and make sure it fits in the proper dynamic range. If it’s a bit too sharp, reduce the highs in the EQ, or use the pitch knob to reduce it. You can also tune the pitch of a cymbal down, in order to provide a fuller sound.

Hi-hats are best used on channels 8 and 9, not only due to the available settings, but also due to the Channel 8 & 9 Exclusive button, which allows the channels to interrupt each other, so the hi-hats don’t conflict.

Hi-hats are often played in very rapid succession, and adding flam to hi-hats is an excellent way to create interesting rolls. However, avoid using long cymbal crashes in succession. Reason will have to cut the first crash off when the next one triggers, which will quickly max out your CPU usage and probably crash the program. Not to mention it doesn’t sound very good.

Load up a cymbal in NN-XT, and then reverse it, to get a nice buildup effect. There are some reverse cymbals as stock sounds, but this way, you can create your own. Let’s look at how to do this. Create->NN-XT. Right click, then choose “Initialize Patch”. This will present you with a blank NN-XT. Next, hit “Show Programmer”. Click the folder icon next to “Load Sample”, and navigate to Reason Factory Soundback/Reason Drum Kits/Xcluzive Drums (Sorted), and choose Cr_JC.aif. This will load the file up for editing. Next, locate the knob titled “Play Mode”, and turn it until it says “BW”. This will play the audio file backwards. Press and hold a key on your MIDI keyboard (middle C works pretty well). Listen to it play.

Download audio file (3.mp3)

I don’t like that abrupt sound at the end. Let’s get rid of it by turning the start knob to about 4.0%. After this, we can just play with the ADSR envelope to get the sound we want.

Be very careful about adding reverb to your hi-hats and cymbals. Typically, a small amount of reverb will do the trick, as larger amounts of reverb will cause the sound to become washed out and turn it into an amorphous noise.

Compression is the name of the game here. Hi-hats have different dynamics to snare drums, so you can run a compressor and really get some unique and different sounds, and they’ll still stand out above the track.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we looked at some of the many ways that you can enhance your drum sounds in Reason. Luckily, these techniques can be applied in virtually any digital audio workstation, as long as you have access to a compressor, an equalizer, and a sample editing plugin. Just remember the basic architecture of your music, and remember that each drum sound is designed to rest in a given frequency. Also, it is key to avoid clipping with any form of audio, but drums especially can be very noticable when they are maxing out the signal.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and as always, I’ll be checking the comments for requests, comments, and questions. Thanks for reading!

In this tutorial, we’ll take a brief look at synthesizing vehicle sounds using samples, subtractive synthesis and post-processing. Rather than create a realistic sound of a particular vehicle, we’ll use more generalized techniques to provide some creative ideas about the base elements of vehicle sound, as well as inspire you to experiment with your own tools and talents.

Deconstructing Vehicle Sounds

Flickr photo by mickb6265

When designing sound for vehicles, we first must look at the most fundamental question: How does this vehicle move? In other words – what type of engine does the vehicle have, and what means does it use for transport? For example, if we’re designing sounds for a car, we most likely will consider that the car has a combustion engine, and uses four rubber wheels upon various surfaces to travel. A boat, on the other hand, uses a combustion engine with a submerged propeller – or possibly a jet-engine – to skim across the surface of water. Clearly delineating these makes creating our ‘constituent parts’ list much easier. Let’s create a sample hierarchy of types and states, with further delineation of each component part.

• Engine Type
  • Combustion, electric, jet propulsion, or something entirely new?
• Vehicle Terrain
  • Wheels, rotors, propellers wings, treads, skim/skiff, or something entirely new?
• Vehicle States
  • Start-up
  • Idle
  • Engine accelerating
  • Engine turbo (if applicable)
  • Engine at speed/under load
  • Vehicle turn (if turning the vehicle causes some other additional sounds, such as wing-flap movement, etc.)
  • Engine brake (if braking is a unique event separate from deceleration – such as with an automobile)
  • Engine decelerate
  • Engine stop
• Vehicle Effects
  • Environmental noise (e.g. rumble, road noise, wind noise, water noise)
  • Cabin noise (if we’re listening from inside the vehicle)
  • Self-noise (if the vehicle is large, heavy, clunky, perhaps it has creaks, clanks or groans while moving)

These are just a few ideas to get started. When designing for a very specific type of vehicle, these delineations will be easy for you to discover. And don’t be afraid to go into detail – the more you know about a given vehicle, the easier it will be for you to design for those elements that give that particular vehicle its unique character.

Constructing Vehicle Sounds

Flickr photo by visualmsg

Now that we’ve collected our ideas on the constituent parts, we can take a closer look at each one to determine the synthetic components we’ll need to design a sound for each one. It is important to note, that in the vast majority of cases for vehicle sound design in film, games or television, a combination of real, recorded sound, post-processing, and synthesized sound is used in the creation of vehicle sounds. For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll use a combination of samples pulled from Logic’s library, as well as simple subtractive synthesis and post processing.

Step 1 – Reverb

For our first engine sound, we’ll use the following:

• Sample: Airplane Prop Start and Stop (Logic Pro 8 library)
• Synth: Logic ES1 (simple subtractive synthesizer)
• Effect: Space Designer Reverb
• Effect: Clip Distortion (Logic Distortion plugin)

The first thing I’m going to do for Engine 1 is to setup my reverb in Space Designer. Because I’m using samples and synthesis, I’d like to try to make the sounds seem as though they’re coming from the same acoustic space.

• Add a new Aux Channel Strip in the Logic Mixer Window, with Bus 1 set as the Input.
• Add a new Arrange Track for this Aux Channel Strip.
• In Logic’s Library Browser, search for the 1.4s Parking Garage Preset and double click it.
• I’ve named this track Engine Verb.

Step 2 – Sample

• Add a new Stereo Audio Track to the Logic Arrange Window.
• In the Logic Loop Browser, search for and double click on “Airplane Prop Start and Stop”.
• From this particular sample, I only want to use the startup sound, so I’m going to trim the sample, as well as add a volume fade to the end of it.
• Lastly, I’ll assign the Aux Send for this channel to Bus 1, using the pre-fader send option. I create a short curve that sends the sample signal to the Reverb bus and fades it out near the sample’s end.
• I’ve named this track Engine Start.

Step 3 – Synth

• Next we’ll create a new Software Instrument track in the Arrange Window.
• Load the ES1 software synthesizer instrument in the I/O slot for this channel.

The ES1 is a fairly straightforward subtractive synthsizer. We’ll use it to synthesize the body of the engine sound. I’ve outlined my settings for this particular engine sound below, but I encourage you to experiment to find out how each setting affects the overall sound.

Step 4 – Synth Setup

• Select the Sawtooth Oscillator for the Primary Osc, and set the octave to 16′.
• Select the Noise Oscillator for the Sub Osc, with the Wave Mix set to about 75%
• Set Cutoff and Resonance to about 40%, Drive to 100%.
• Set the Glide level to Long.
• Set the LFO to Sawtooth, with a high frequency, such as 24Hz.
• Set the LFO to affect Volume, with Intensity set to 100%.
• Set the envelope to have a medium Attack, and long Decay, Sustain and Release.
• Set the Voices to Legato mode, and enable the Ensemble Chorus effect.

Your patch should look something like this:



Engine Start Sample Setup

And an unaffected sound sample:

Download audio file (es1_sample.mp3)

Step 5 – Final Routing and Mixing

We’ll configure our Reverb Bus routing for the ES1 synth the same way we did our sample – with Pre-Fader sends and volume adjustment. I’ve used curves opposite the start sound, such that the sound of the idling engine is mute when the start is happening, and fades up as the starting sample fades down. Lastly, I’ve added the Logic Clip Distortion plugin to the first Insert of the Synth track, which simply adds a bit of warmth and balance to the overall engine sound. I used the “Blues Clipping Guitars” preset here. Simple!

Final Routing

Step 6 – Engine “GO!”

Because we have a mono synth patch with a long glide, we can create a sense of motion in the playback of our engine sound. At the onset of the sample, with the synth muted, I start the engine idle sound. As the startup sample finishes, I trigger a higher note, which gradually increases in volume. The result is that the engine sounds like it slowly comes up to speed from zero.

To create more motion, I’ll add a few more notes higher on the scale, which will result in a sound not unlike a plane leaving a hangar. Additionally, you might experiment with adjustment of filter cutoff as the vehicle moves.

Step 7 – The Result

Our final sound is a combination of a sample and a synth patch, played back in such a way as to create motion. We could take this further and layer additional sounds, such as wheels squeaking, servos moving, or parts of the vehicle rattling as it moves by. I encourage you to experiment with these techniques to find your own voice. I’ve included a Logic Playpack with a bonus sample and engine to experiement with. Enjoy!

Download audio file (final_mix.mp3)

edit the file size estimate

Introduction

This technique dates back to the 80s when artists began to use electric instruments and tape recorders to sample sounds, which they later used to construct kits. We will use only Subtractors to create a kick sound, a snare sound and closed and open hats.

Step 1

Create a new empty rack by hitting File > New ( Ctrl-N ). This will create a default workspace, with a default mixer as in the picture. Add a Subtractor device by right-clicking and choosing Subtractor Analog Synthesizer.

Step 2

Right-click on the Subtractor and choose Initialize Patch to reset the synth to its default values.

Step 3

First, sequence a low sound in a 4/4 pattern in the Sequencer window. Make sure you sequence the sounds in a low octave, as we’re create a bass sound.

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Step 4

Let’s begin tweaking! Set the following values to the pitch section of the Subtractor:

• Set the shape to a sine wave
• Set the octave to 4
• Set the phase all to the right and the Phase mode (the little button that says Mode) to linear
• Set the Mix knob to 0 as we will only use the first oscillator

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Step 5

In order to have a good house kick, we need to use a little trick. The modern house kick has a fast drop of pitch which creates that boom. Listen to a
couple of kicks taken from the Reason Soundbank:

Download audio file (step5.mp3)

So far, our beat looks more like a bass, but we’ll change that in a bit. We will try to generate the fast drop of pitch with the use of the Mod Envelope on Subtractor. Here are the settings for the Mod Envelope:

• Attack: 0
• Decay: 34
• Sustain: 0
• Release: 0
• Amt.: 91

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Step 6

It’s time to make the drum sound a little more powerful! Set the filter cut-off frequency to 54. Later, we can tweak the filter to muffle the drum more
or less.

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Step 7

The drum kick sound is almost there, but we can add some compression and some equalization to boost the low frequencies. Add an MClass Equalizer and set the following parameters:

• Parameter 1 Freq.: 94.1
• Parameter 1 Gain: 12.9
• Parameter 2 Freq: 7.5
• Parameter 2 Gain: 13.1
• Parameter 2 Q: 2.7

Add an MClass Compressor and set the parameters as follows (or go with your own taste):

• Input Gain: 3.4
• Threshold: -7.4
• Ratio: 1.95:1

There you have it: a super punchy kick drum perfect for tweaking in your own house loop.

Download audio file (step7.mp3)

Let’s continue with the rest of the drums.

Step 8

The second drum we will generate is a snare drum. Snare drums are created with tight drums, and sound more like a noise, so we will use the noise
generator in Subtractor to create the snare patch. Create another Subtractor and initialize the patch as we did in step 2.

Step 9

First, in the oscillator section, set the Mix to the right to activate the noise oscillator. You need to enable only the Noise Oscillator, otherwise the second oscillator will be heard, and we don’t want that? Anyway, set all the noise parameters to the right:

We’ll also tweak the filter and amp section:

• Filter Freq.: 83
• Filter Env. Decay: 49
• Filter Env. Amt.: 62
• Amp Env. Decay: 36
• Amp Env. Sustain: 60

Step 10

The snare sound is not quite what you’d hear in a commercial song, but it’s close. We still need to add reverb to make the snare sound snappy and loud. I’ve added a RV-7 Digital Reverb and I have used the preset ALL Medium Stage with a dry/wet of 14.

In the sequencer window duplicate the kick beat and erase the 1st and the 3rd beat to create the snare rhythm and move it to C5 so it’s higher.

Download audio file (step10.mp3)

Step 11

It’s time to duplicate the technique we used on the snare and apply it to the hi-hat sound. The hi-hat is almost entirely built with noise, so these are the parameters:

• Noise Decay: 46
• Osc Mix: 127
• Filter 1 Freq.: 119
• Filter Env. Decay: 34
• Filter Env. Amt.: 83
• Amp Env. Decay: 70
• Master Vol.: 66

Download audio file (step11.mp3)

In order to hear the hi-hat I’ve duplicated the kick and snare parts and also the sounds so as to build a hi-hat arrangement. You can also try quantizing the notes for a more human feeling.

The next step is optional. I’ve added an MClass Equalizer to boost the high frequencies and a RV-7 Digital Reverb with the preset ECO Space Echo 1 and a dry/wet of 32 to create a bouncy hi-hat, but that’s only if you go for that sound.

Step 12

We are going to create the final drum, an open hat drum that will go in counterpoint with the kick drum on the middle of the beat. Create a new
Subtractor and initialize the patch like in step 2. Duplicate the kick part and move it onto the open hat track. Inside the part, offset the notes
1/2 off the beat to place the hat in between the kicks.

Step 13

We need to set the following values in the Subtractor:

• Noise Decay: 86
• Noise Level: 107
• Mod Env. Decay: 38
• Mod. Env. Amt. 23
• Filter 1 Freq.: 30
• Filter 1 Res.: 16
• Filter 1 Type: BP12
• Filter Env. Decay: 66
• Filter Env. Sustain: 28
• Filter Env. Amt.: 60
• Amp Env. Attack: 12
• Amp Env. Decay: 48
• Main Volume: 66

Download audio file (step13.mp3)

Step 14

I’ve created a short house/techno track to show you how these synthetic drums sound in action. Sellers of items on AudioJungle.net will recognize the Envato watermark! It’s vocoded with the BF512 Vocoder.

Download audio file (step14.mp3)

Step 15

We are done! I recommend you save the sounds as presets so you can use them in your own compositions. There is also a way to save the whole drum kit along with the effects, if you own Reason 4. Just select all the devices used in the kit, right-click and select Combine from the menu and you have a Combinator patch which you can save as a whole preset. Everything inside the Combinator will be saved, along with the presets and tweaks you have created.

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Soon you’ll be constructing your own drum kits and sound libraries! Good luck and if you come up with a better kit post it as a comment so we can all use the sounds in our next hit.

Introduction

Several months ago, I published Your Guide to Getting Started with Synthesis in Reason. Since then, many readers have been asking for a more ‘hands-on’ article to using Thor, one of Reason’s polyphonic synthesizers, so today, that’s what we’re going to cover.

For this tutorial, we’re going to need the following:

• Reason 4.0, as we need access to the Thor synthesizer.
• Reason Refill Packer

It is also highly recommended that you read Your Guide To Getting Started with Synthesis in Reason before attempting this tutorial, as that article contains much needed background information about synthesis and, in particular, the components of the Thor synthesizer.

Step 1

The first thing that we need to do is install the Reason Refill Packer. This is available as a free download for registered Reason owners from the following download link: Reason Refill Packer. Download the installer, and install it into your Propellerheads Reason directory.

Running the program should reveal the window as seen above, which we will come back to after we’ve built the synthesizers.

Step 2 – Synth Piano

The first synthesizer that we will be building today is a synthesized piano, with a sort of “outer space” feel to it. This particular synth would be something you might see in various electronic genres.

The first thing we need to do is open Reason, create a Mixer 14:2, and then create a Thor synthesizer. Note that “Epic Poly” is the default synthesizer patch, so we need to reinitialize the patch before we start building. Right click on the Thor synthesizer, and select “Initialize Patch”. Now we have an essentially blank synthesizer to work with.

Click on “Show Programmer”. We can see that the default is a single analog oscillator, with a low pass ladder filter. If you play a few notes, you notice that it’s a standard analog synthesizer sound.

Download audio file (1.mp3)

Let’s start seeing what we can toy with. Click on the down arrow next to Low Pass Ladder filter, and change it to a Comb Filter.

Download audio file (2.mp3)

If you’re listening, you probably noticed that the synth now has a “grainer” sound to it. Okay, now let’s move to Filter 2 and Filter 3’s empty spots, and let’s choose a State Variable Filter for both of them. You probably won’t notice a real difference in the sound, maybe just a faint whisper sound in the background.

Okay, now we’ve got the essential base for our synth piano. Doesn’t really sound like a piano, does it? That’s because we haven’t touched some of the essential components of the Thor synthesizer yet. Turn the shaper on, and set the mode to “Saturate”. Again, not a big difference, right?

Here comes the really fun part. Turn both Delay and Chorus on.

Download audio file (3.mp3)

Big difference there. The delay and the chorus are both taking our oscillator sound that is run the filter, and adding to it.

Time to modify some settings to get a better sound here. Set the following values:

Analog Oscillator:

• OCT: 3
• PW: 93

Download audio file (4.mp3)

Comb Filter:

• FREQ: 2.69 kHz
• RES: 93
• ENV: 59
• VEL: 47
• KBD: 6

LFO 1:

• RATE: 3.80
• DELAY: 220 ms
• WAVEFORM: #1 – Triangle

Mod Env:

• DELAY: 0
• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 122 ms
• RELEASE: 3.82 s

Shaper:

• Drive: 25

State Variable Filter #1 (Filter #2 Slot):

• FREQ: 9.30 kHz
• RES: 0
• ENV: 0
• VEL: 0
• KBD: 0

Amp:

• VEL: 24
• GAIN: 0

Delay:

• TIME: 4/16
• FBACK: 74
• RATE: 0.59 Hz
• AMT: 39
• D/WET: 35

Chorus:

• DELAY: 13.6 ms
• FBACK: 13
• RATE: 0.76 Hz
• AMT: 46
• D/WET: 18

State Variable Filter #2 (Filter #3 Slot):

• DRIVE: 103
• FREQ: 39.4
• RES: 79
• ENV: 0
• VEL: 0
• KBD: 0
• SELF OSC: ON
• LP/HP: PEAK – 66

Filter Env:

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 3.82 s
• SUSTAIN: -00
• RELEASE: 29.6 s

Amp Env:

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 705 ms
• SUSTAIN: -5.2 dB
• RELEASE: 1.6 s

Global Env:

• DELAY: 0
• ATTACK: 0
• HOLD: 0
• DECAY: 1.24
• SUSTAIN: -21.8
• RELEASE: 1.24 s

Now, flip the arrow on the Shaper > State Variable Filter > Amp. Previously, the shaper was heading straight to the amp, but now we’re routing it through the State Variable Filter first. However, for this patch, we’ll keep the Osc1-Filter2 button turned off, if we turn it on, it will act as an amplifier for the sound.

Now, as a bonus, we can create a synth run pattern. Turn the “Run” button on, choose “Repeat” as the mode, “Pendulum 1″ as the style, 1/8 as the rate, and then program this pattern: G4-G3-D4-G4–G2-G4-C5-D#4–C3-G2-D4-G4–G3-F3-C5-F4.

Download audio file (5.mp3)

You should hear a nice synthesizer pattern that you can use in your music.

Step 3 – Lead Synth

The other synthesizer that we will be building for this tutorial is a lead synth to accompany our synth piano. Again, start by creating a new Thor synthesizer, and reinitializing the patch by right clicking and choosing “Initialize Patch”. For this synthesizer, we’ll be using 3 analog oscillators, a low pass ladder filter, a formant filter, and a state variable filter.

Start by choosing “Analog Osc” from the drop down list for Oscillator 2 and Oscillator 3 on the Thor synthesizer.

Next, choose a formant filter for Filter 2.

Lastly, choose a state variable filter for Filter 3.

Let’s take a listen to what this ‘default’ setup gets us.

Download audio file (6.mp3)

Curious, it sounds just like our other synthesizer. Let’s try to see why. Look at the buttons next to “Low Pass Ladder Filter” and “Formant Filter” that are 1-2-3. Notice that only 1 is lit. What happens if we turn on all 3?

Download audio file (7.mp3)

It sounds louder, but still the same. Let’s turn on the Formant Filter for just #3, and let’s also toggle the arrow so the Formant Filter is routed through the amp.

Download audio file (8.mp3)

Now we’re getting somewhere. If you listen carefully, you can detect a ‘metallic’ sound to the synthesizer now. If you were paying attention to the last synth we built, you’ll probably remember that most of the magic occurs when we turn on Delay and Chorus. Let’s see if it happens again. Turn on Delay and Chorus.

Download audio file (9.mp3)

Sounds different, a bit more like a lead style synth, however, it doesn’t sound all that good at the moment. Let’s fine tune our synth by setting the following values:

Time to modify some settings to get a better sound here. Set the following values:

Analog Oscillator #1:

• KBD: 127
• OCT: 3
• TUNE: 17
• PW: 93

Analog Oscillator #2:

• KBD: 127
• OCT: 3
• TUNE: -17
• PW: 93

Analog Oscillator #3:

• KBD: 127
• OCT: 4
• TUNE: 0
• PW: 127

Download audio file (10.mp3)

Low Pass Ladder Filter:

• DRIVE: 64
• FREQ: 41.4 Hz
• RES: 8
• ENV: 79
• VEL: 47
• KBD: 16

Download audio file (11.mp3)

Mixer:

• OSC 1 and 2 BAL: 64
• OSC 1 and 2 LEVEL: -0.9
• OSC 3 LEVEL: -7.6

Download audio file (12.mp3)

Mod Env:

• DELAY: 0
• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 4.35 s
• RELEASE: 4.35 s

Filter Env:

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 105 ms
• SUSTAIN: -00
• RELEASE: 29.6 s

Amp Env:

• ATTACK: 0.4
• DECAY: 423 ms
• SUSTAIN: -0.0 dB
• RELEASE: 705 ms

Global Env:

• DELAY: 0
• ATTACK: 0
• HOLD: 0
• DECAY: 1.24
• SUSTAIN: -21.8
• RELEASE: 1.24 s

Download audio file (13.mp3)

Formant Filter:

• DRIVE: 67
• GENDER: 38
• INV: ON
• ENV: 33
• VEL: 47
• KBD: 0
• X-Y: 78, 67

Download audio file (14.mp3)

For the above audio clip, the sample audio was raised an octave.

Amp:

• VEL: 24
• GAIN: -4.2

Delay:

• TEMPO SYNC: ON
• TIME: 3/16
• FBACK: 72
• RATE: 0.5 Hz
• AMT: 31
• D/WET: 38

Chorus:

• DELAY: 17.6 ms
• FBACK: 31
• RATE: 0.66 Hz
• AMT: 34
• D/WET: 40

State Variable Filter:

• DRIVE: 104
• FREQ: 39.4 Hz
• RES: 77
• ENV: 0
• VEL: 0
• KBD: 0
• SELF OSC: ON
• LP/HP: PEAK – 66

Download audio file (15.mp3)

Okay, now that’s done, but it still doesn’t sound exactly how I was thinking. The Formant Filter section sounds pretty good, but something doesn’t sound right about the sound from the Low Pass Ladder filter.

To fix this, we’re going to manually program some values into our source/destination programmer.

Refer to the image below and set the values accordingly. I would list them out, but in this case, images speak far better than words.

Essentially, the image above is a routing table, that defines routing of various Thor components. For example, the first two things we routed (the Key Velocity and the Mod Wheel), correspond to the components on your MIDI controller. We also programmed the rotary wheels and the buttons on the Thor, and did some other routing as well. Let’s have a listen to our finished product.

Download audio file (16.mp3)

Now, let’s program something into the sequencer like we did for our piano. Let’s try the following pattern: C4-G3-D#3-C3–C4-G4-D#4-C5–C4-G3-D#3-C3–D#4-G#3-C4-F3. Set the sequencer mode to “Repeat” the style to “Random”, and the rate to “1/8″. Also, let’s go back to our piano synth, and set the rate to 1/8 there as well, so they are in the same time.

Download audio file (17.mp3)

Now if we play the two synthesizers at the same time, we get something like this.

Download audio file (18.mp3)

Pretty cool, not exactly the prettiest composition, but each of these synthesizers would work perfectly in an electronic or atmospheric song, or a space-themed soundtrack.

Step 4 – Build the Refill

We now have two pretty awesome synthesizer patches. Let’s build a refill using them, allowing these sounds to be distributed around the internet. Run the Reason Refill Packer that we installed before. In order to create a refill, we need sounds, a splash image, and an info.txt. If you navigate to where you installed Reason Refill Packer, you should notice a folder titled “Sample Folder”. Inside this folder is a splash.jpg image that has the typical Reason Refill icon as the image, and an info.txt with the following contents:

NAME=”Sample ReFill”
COPYRIGHT=”© 2001-2005 Propellerhead Software AB”
URL=”www.propellerheads.se”
COMMENTS=”Sample ReFill for ReFill Packer”

Now, create a new folder on your desktop, and title it “The New World”. Open Reason again if you closed it, and hit save for any sounds you want in the refill, and save them into our new folder.

Copy the info.txt and splash.jpg into the new folder as well. You should now have 2 sounds, info.txt, and splash.jpg in the folder. Open info.txt and edit the contents to the following:

NAME=”The New World”
COPYRIGHT=”© 2009 AudioTUTS+/Envato”
URL=”http://audio.tutsplus.com/”
COMMENTS=”The New World Refill by Eric Shafer”

Now, click the browse icon next to the “input folder” textbox, and choose “The New World” as the directory.

Alright, we’re ready to go, so click “Create Refill”.

Congratulations, that’s all there is to it. You’re now the proud owner of your own Reason refill!

The files associated with this tutorial are downloadable from the Play Pack, including the Reason refill with the two sound patches. They are yours to use, but if you create anything awesome with them, at least leave a link to it so we can all hear it. Enjoy, thanks for reading, and hopefully you learned something. If you have any questions, I am always willing to answer them in the comments section.

Close the curtains and inform the neighbors, because in this tutorial we will transform your own voice into a monster you never thought you had inside you!

Thumbnail image by shanewarne_60000.

Step 1: Recording Your Voice

First, fire up Logic Pro. Record your voice making some screams and squeaks into a microphone. Try to make it sound something like the examples, but almost anything will do. If you can’t record your voice, try to get some samples from the Internet or use my voice.

Download audio file (Screams.mp3)

Use ‘Strip Silence’ to cut the different screams. Set threshold to the right percentage until you see that your screams are cut away from the rest of the audio. Click OK and remove the rest of the audio around the screams, if there is any left.

Select all your audio and right-click on one of them. Click on ‘Convert to New Audio File(s)’ and call them “Screams”. You will see the names of your audio files change to Screams, Screams #1 and so on. (If you wish to change these names press Esc and 4 to get the text tool. Click on each scream and name them what you want. Press Esc and 1 to go back to your normal cursor.)

Step 2: Using the EXS24

Now you have your audio screams chopped up and ready to go, we’re going to get one of them into the EXS24. While there already are many tuts about this, I will explain this process shortly. Open a new software instrument track for your EXS24. Click on edit in the upper right corner of the EXS24 which will open the Instrument Editor.

Click on ‘Zone’ to open a menu, then click ‘Load Multiple Samples’. Click on one of your screams and press ‘Add’ and then ‘Done’.

After this Logic will ask you where to put the note on the keyboard. Normally you would put the sample on one single note, but in this case we want the scream to be on every single note possible. In order to do so select “Auto-map” to get the scream widely spread on the keyboard.

Click on Instrument and “Save” and call this sampler “Half-Life.” Close EXS24.

Step 3: Creating the Monster

You’ve got your voice samples and have put them in the EXS24 sampler on every key, so now it’s time to get the monsters out of your speakers. Press Command 6 to get the piano roll out.

You can press any key on the virtual keyboard on your screen to hear the sound of your voice. You will probably notice some strange sounds. On the C3 key you will find your original voice, but if you move higher you will start to sound like a little baby. That’s cool for a trick, but we want the monster inside of you to come out! The more interesting parts of this piano roll are the keys below C3, where you will find your voice processed much lower than your original voice. This is where the fun starts. Press Esc 2 to get your pencil tool out of the box and start drawing some lines below C3.

You will now hear a creaking monster waiting for his dinner.

Download audio file (CreakMonster.mp3)

Step 4: Scaring the Neighbors

Once you’ve got the hang of this it’s time get the neighbors to call the cops. “There are monsters in the house next to us!” Get your other screams and creaks into another EXS24 and combine them. Every scream you have made will sound like something else once you’ve processed it with your sampler. You can drag your MIDI file up to get instant results, or make new ones on the track to make them more unique.

At this stage your imagination is your most deadly weapon. Go wild drawing in notes and the darkest creatures will come out. Start panning channels left and right to get you monster sound bigger and bigger. Don’t turn off the lights because you’ll end up in an institute.

Here’s the creature I created:

Download audio file (Monster.mp3)

Step 5: Adding Effects

From this point on you’ve got your own army of monsters backing you up. But the fun doesn’t end here! You can add all sorts of effects, which will make your monsters even scarier. There are no rules on which effects you should use, but try some reverb, phaser or distortion on your outputs. Try other effects as well, start experimenting!

Download audio file (Monsterwfx.mp3)

Step 1

The first thing to check is to make sure we have Software Monitoring enabled so we can play through Guitar Amp Pro. To do this, go to Logic>Preferences>Audio and make sure the Software Monitoring box is checked.

Step 2

Let’s set the input for our guitar. On audio track 2 make sure you have the right input selected. I have my guitar connected to input 3 of my RME interface.

Step 3

Insert the Guitar Amp Pro plug-in on audio track 2. To do this click and hold on the first insert of track 2 until the pop-up menu appears. Then from the pop-up menu choose Amp Modeling>Guitar Amp Pro>Mono. The Guitar Amp Pro Plugin will now now appear on screen.

Step 4

Choose a preset from the library. To do this click and hold at the top of the Guitar Amp Pro window and choose: 03Distorted>Modern UK Stack (Bright).

Step 5

This preset is a little over the top for me, so let’s modify it a bit. I have reduced the gain, bass, mids and also the treble. Please see the screen shot for my settings.

Step 6

Let’s record some guitar with these Guitar Amp Pro settings before we replace the cabinet with an IR. This way we have something to compare to when we change the cabinet.

Set audio track 2 to Record Enable. To do this, click on the R button at the bottom of audio track 2 and it should turn red. You will now be able to hear your guitar with the Guitar Amp Pro settings applied to it. If you have a good signal coming into this channel, hit the record button on the transport control, wait for the count in and record away.

Download audio file (GAP_mp3_01.mp3)

The sound so far

Step 7

So far so good. We are getting closer to replacing the cabinet with an IR, but there is just one more thing we have to do. We need to bypass Guitar Amps Pro’s speaker cabinet. To do this click and hold on the pop-up menu for the speaker, and then choose DI-Box. This bypasses the speaker and the mic for the preset we used in step 5.

Step 8

In order to use an IR we need a plugin that can read one. Logic has a plugin called Space Designer that can read IRs. Insert a mono Space Designer plugin on audio track 2, insert number 2.

Step 9

Let’s load an IR into Space Designer. Click and hold on the IR Sample button until the pop-up menu appears, and then choose Load IR.

When the dialogue box appears select the .wav file called Sperimental01.wav that you will find in the Play Pack.

Step 10

You should now see the IR name Sperimental.wav loaded in the Space Designer window. Let’s change a couple of settings in the Space Designer Plugin. Change the slider Dry to zero and the slider Rev to around -11.0db.

Hit the Zero key on your keyboard to move to the beginning of the time line, then hit the space bar. What you are now hearing is a Marshall amp with a Mesa Boogie cabinet recorded by a C414 off axis, and in a great room.

Download audio file (GAP_mp3_02.mp3)

The sound with IR applied

Step 11

Let’s add a little reverb for good measure. We will do this with a bus. On audio track 2, click and hold on the first send until the pop-up menu appears, and choose bus 1.

Logic will automatically create a bus for you called bus 1. In the first insert for bus 1 insert a Space Designer plugin. We do this the same as we did in step 8 but this time simply choose stereo instead of mono.

Step 12

With Space Designer open choose the preset 0.7s Recording Stage. To do this click and hold on the pop-up menu at the top of the Space Designer plugin. Choose 03 Small Spaces>01 Rooms>0.7s Recording Stage.

Step 13

Let’s add a bit of reverb by increasing the send amount on audio track 2.

Download audio file (GAP_mp3_03.mp3)

The final sound

I hope you can see the possibilities with using IRs to create something a little different with Logic Pro’s Guitar Amp plugin. A quick search on the net will find you dozens of IRs to play around with. Just about any cab can be found with different mics and mic placement and a ton of different rooms.

I have to say my favorite plugin to do this has to be Amplitube 2. You can get brilliant results with this plugin.

To help clear things up let’s start by taking a look at the ever popular area of subtractive synthesis and how to create a basic effects patch. I will show how the patch is made and explain each step and also recreate the sound using some instruments from popular DAWs. Obviously the recreations may not be exactly the same as the original patch but they should show that any synth can be used to create a good range of sounds.

Step 1 – FAW Circle Soft Synth

For this tutorial I have chosen to use a synth called Circle to demonstrate the initial creation of the effects patch. Unfortunately it’s not free but when I was searching for the right instrument to use, it ticked all the right boxes. It is available as VST, AU and a standalone application, and it’s also Windows and OS X compatible. It runs for 20 minutes in demo mode, so there should be plenty of time to try and recreate the patches. You can download the demo here.

The demo has limited load and save functions so you may have to settle for the screen shots when following the steps. Alternatively, you can recreate the sound using your favorite soft synth or load one of the patches in the Play Pack. If you have Ableton Live, Reason or Logic, you are in luck.

Step 2 – The Initialized Patch

The best place to start when programming any sound, on any instrument, is a blank initialized patch. It’s sometimes a good idea to have one oscillator switched on but all envelopes, filters, LFOs and modulators should be at zero. This way you won’t be influenced by a particular preset or routing that was previously loaded.

Looking at the initial patch I have constructed using Circle, you should be able to see that only one oscillator is turned on and that it is a saw wave. Most synths tend to use one saw wave oscillator in their default patch, more out of tradition than anything else but it is certainly a good idea to build your new patches this way, then any synth you use will have the same starting point.

Moving on we can see that the filter is set to a low pass model, it is also completely open with no resonance dialed in. The filter is also not modulated by any other part of the synth, and in fact there are absolutely no modulations going on anywhere at this point. Circle displays its modulations in a very innovative fashion, using colored circles in each area of the instrument. These can be simply dragged and dropped to achieve the desired routing.

The envelopes are also reset, creating an on/off effect, with no attack or release at all. Both the amplitude and filter envelopes have identical settings at this point to avoid any confusion. The LFOs are all at their default values and no routing is taking place. The result of all this initialization is a very simple and straight-forward saw wave patch with no frills. Try making one of these for your favorite synth, or maybe there is one included in its sound bank.

Initialized patch

Reset oscillators

Reset filter

Reset Envelopes

Download audio file (2.mp3)

Step 3 – Setting up the oscillators and filter

Once we have initialized our patch we can start to build the sound from the ground up. It’s a good idea at this point to visualize the sound you want to make and picture the steps you will have to make to achieve it. In this case I want to make a resonant, falling effect that is modulated by an LFO as it falls. I need the sound to have a decent amount of impact and play back at no particular pitch. Think of this stage as writing yourself a brief for the sound you want to make, you can then work through all the requirements to construct your patch.

I have decided to opt for a noise oscillator as this will provide a good base for an effects patch and it will prevent the sound from playing back at a certain pitch and therefore will lend itself to being used in any project. Circle has a dedicated noise oscillator, so I have turned off the saw wave. Other synths may have oscillators that can simply be switched to noise, every instrument differs in its operation so be prepared to spend a few minutes finding the right parameter.

Your noise oscillator should now play back in the same way as the saw wave in the initial patch, with an on/off type effect. We are now ready to add some resonance to the sound using the synth’s filter section. I have chosen a low pass filter model as this is what we will be using to create the downwards sweep. I have then turned the resonance up to nearly full. I haven’t gone all the way due to the fact some filters will ’self-resonate’ at very high settings and in effect become their own oscillator, masking any other sound source used. I wanted to hear the noise really come through in this patch, so I held the level back a little.

To let you hear the effect of the filter on the noise waveform I have performed a manual sweep across most of the filter’s range. You can really hear the resonance as the sweep takes place here and it compliments the noise really well. The sound is starting to take shape but is still very rough around the edges.

Noise Oscillator

Resonant low pass filter

Download audio file (3.mp3)

Basic noise oscillator

Download audio file (3b.mp3)

Resonant noise sweep

Step 4 – Envelopes

The manual sweep in the previous step gave us a good idea of how the final patch will sound but now it’s time to automate that sweep so it happens every time we hit a key. We do this by using an envelope to control the movement of the filter’s frequency. This involves setting up a modulation mapping that enables the envelope to control the filter. Don’t worry, this is pretty easy and with most synths (especially Circle) it is a transparent process.

To allow the envelopes to control the filter in Circle, it is simply a case of dragging the small colored circles that are situated in various places on the synth to the desired location. The mapping is then complete and the two sections of the synth linked. Of course in other instruments the process may be different and can involve modulation matrices or a group of dedicated knobs but the theory always remains the same.

The amount of modulation can now be set, and here I have moved the fader all the way to the bottom giving the envelope a negative polarity. Using the snap control on the filter you can adjust the curve of the fade which has now been created. A perfectly sculpted filter sweep has now been created which sounds considerably smoother than the manual version.

Filter modulation

Inverted values

Filter envelope fade

Download audio file (4.mp3)

Envelope filter sweep

Step 5 – LFO modulation

To add some extra movement and interest to the sound we can use LFOs to modulate any part of the sound we like. Here I have used one LFO to control the cut off frequency as the envelope sweeps it. The result is a wobbling effect as the frequency drops.

For further depth the LFO speed is then modulated by the original filter envelope, and this causes the LFO to slow down as the sweep progresses. A really nice effect and very simple to create. When all the different components come together you have a really usable effect that can be created with just about any synth.

LFO modulations

Download audio file (5.mp3)

Final synth effect patch

Step 6 – Patch Recreation

To show this sort of sound can be created on most synths, I”ve quickly recreated the patch as closely as possible using some popular synths that are bundled with well-known recording software products.

Reason’s Thor:

Download audio file (6.mp3)

Logic’s ES2:

Download audio file (6b.mp3)

Ableton Live’s Analog:

Download audio file (6c.mp3)

Play Pack

The design of the bass sound is fairly simple. One needs a simple mono synthesizer – preferably with filter parameters that can be key-tracked (in this case we’ll use FL Studio’s popular Sytrus synth), a guitar amplifier simulator with a speaker cabinet impulse response for bass sounds, an EQ and a standard compressor. In addition, some effects on sends might be added – we will discuss those at the end of this tutorial. Here’s how it works: first, a filtered saw signal is dramatically attenuated with EQ, then it passes through the amp simulator, and is finally compressed.

Step 1

Firstly, if you don’t already have a guitar amp VST, you’ll need to get one. Other plug-ins needed for this tutorial are already in FL Studio and are perfect for the job.

I strongly recommend the Voxengo Boogex freeware plug-in.

Step 2

Now we’ll program our bass patch. Load a new Sytrus instance into the step sequencer and pick the "Default" preset – it should be the first one on the presets list.

Choose the first operator (OP 1), change the shape to saw and tweak the freq-ratio parameter to 0.2500 – you should get the result pictured below:

Next, set the routing up. We need to patch the first operator (OP 1) through the first filter (FILT 1) with the following parameters:

• Filter Type : SVF x2 (with high quality)
• Cutoff : ~15%
• Resonance : ~80%

The routing matrix is showed below to make things easier. Additionally, we’re setting up the key-tracking for the cutoff parameter:

You can always tweak that key-tracking according to your taste. It’s easier to set up the border points in the first place.

Finally, it’s preferable to switch our bass into monophonic mode with some legato. We do this by setting up channel settings on the Misc tab:

Our patch is now configured. Let’s move onto configuring the FX rack.

Step 3

Bring up the mixer and set the routing from the Sytrus plugin to Insert 1. Load up Parametric EQ 2, Voxengo Boogex and Fruity Limiter.

Focus on the Parametric Eq 2 plug-in. We will do dial in attenuation with peak band in the range between 100 and 400Hz. Depending on which frequency we choose, we’ll get a darker or brighter sound. This decision should be made according to other elements in the mix, such as the bass drum or keys (for example, a Rhodes). In this tutorial we’ll make it 150Hz and a ~12dB boost:

Bring up the Boogex, load up the Speaker Cabinet F Impulse Response and turn the drive parameter to 0dB. Notice how boomy this sounds. Turn the gain parameter to about -18dB.

Our bass setup is nearly ready. Still, the instrument could use a better attack and be more stable, depending on the key. We will try to fix this with the Fruity Limiter, which provides us not only with limiting functions, but has a functional compressor. First, switch the tab to COMP. Then, configure the parameters roughly as follows:

• Threshold: ~ -25dB
• Ratio: 1.6
• Attack: ~40ms
• Release: ~50ms
• Ahead: 0ms
• Envelope curve: -4

Then, switch to the LIMIT tab and configure:

• Gain: 1.0 dB
• Limiter Ceiling: -3.2dB

Here’s the result so far:

Download audio file (audio_sample_1.mp3)

Step 4

We can take this texture a bit further and make it more exciting, for example by adding a proper chorus send effect. To do this, first select the send track in the mixer and load another instance of Parametric EQ 2 – we will use it to cut low frequencies off sharply. Next, load any chorus effect plugin (in this case we’ll use Fruity Chorus) after the EQ. Load the “40Hz cut” preset and change it to approximately 200Hz.

This will prevent low frequencies being processed by the chorus – we want to leave them as they are, mostly to ensure the lower sounds remain stable after merging to mono. The chorus plugin can be adjusted to taste. In this tutorial we’re using the following settings:

• Delay: ~6 ms
• Depth: ~3 ms
• Stereo: 128 degrees
• LFO 1 Freq: ~0.36 Hz (other lfo’s disabled, ie. 0Hz)
• LFO 1 Type: Sine
• Cross Type: Process HF
• Cross Cutoff: ~200Hz
• Wet Only: Yes

After setting up the Send 1 rack, we need to route some amount of signal from the Insert 1 track. Turn the Send 1 amount knob to ~64%.

The result should sound similar to this:

Download audio file (audio_sample_2.mp3)

Step 5

If we want this particular bass sound to have more edge, we can use another send, again with high pass and with additional distortion. Set up a Parametric EQ 2 in similarly to Step 4 (this time make the cutoff frequency higher, ~300Hz). Load up Fruity Waveshaper after the EQ and select the “Softmunched” preset from the plugin preset menu.

This time we will send a considerably smaller amount of signal – tweak the Send 2 amount knob to ~10%.

Here’s the final result:

Download audio file (audio_sample_3.mp3)

For a more personalized result, you should experiment with different filter setups, frequencies of attenuation, or different bass cabinet impulses.