Korg Forums

[ebuzer52]

Hi friends,
i am interested in how to create new (from zero) sound on pa4x. For example, some one says in other blogs, "i created a violin sound from piano sound on my keyboard" how does it possible?

[QuiRobinez]

I've explained it in this thread: http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=115488

there is a lot of discussion there with some extra tips, but the basic start guide i wrote is copied here below.


How to program a sound on the Korg Pa
let me give you a quick start on how to do it on the korg pa

steps:
- press the sound button
- go to a free slot in the user area (for instance user - sound tab 2 - slot 1)
- if you only have slots filled with sounds then just select the sound you want to replace and press right top menu on the screen and select initialize sound.

If you done it correctly you will hear a dry piano sound which is the default on the Korg Pa series (on VA synths it's most of the time a Saw sound)

According to the video earlier in this thread you need to follow this structure to create a sound (recommended if you are new at sound programming)

Select Oscillator -> Set Filter -> Set Amp parameters (called EG in Korg terminologie) -> set effects

Select Oscillator
- press the menu button
- press the Basic tab on your screen
- you see that you have a sound that uses 1 oscillator. Let's leave it at that value to avoid the more complex sound setups
- press the osc tab at the bottom
- you have 1 oscillator at the top which uses the default piano sample (that's why you hear the piano sound), press the number 0000 and change it to a SAW sample by turning your jogwheel (or enter the number of the sample from your sample list in the manual) on the korg pa4x the sample number is: 1273 - Saw 1
- Now the piano is gone and you hear a saw sound to work with

There is a section below the top sample area, where you can still see the piano osc, but that one isn't used in this example, you can ignore it.

So you have finished the first part of the substractive synth tutorial and selected an oscillator to work with

Now the second part, sculp the sound to a more friendly one by adding a filter on top of it

Set the Filter:
- press the menu button again
- select the filter button on the screen
- select the default Low Pass filter resonance option at the top of the screen
- then press the number behind the frequency in the Filter A area (it's default 99)
- now lower that value to 45 by turning the wheel while you press a note, you will notice that the sound will sound darker (because you cut the high end of the frequency away this way).

the third part is to set the AMP also called ADSR or envelopes (EG) in synths.
- press the menu button
- press the amp button on the screen
- now the most important part of this section is the EG tab at the button of the screen, here you can sculp your sound like behaving as a pad or for instance a lead or bass sound. So Press the EG tab
- in this tab you can set the ADSR parameters (Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release) of a sound.
- For pads set the value 99 in the level area to 0, then you can sculp your pad in the time area, for instance Attack 77 and release 60 (the rest stays at 0), play something and you will hear a Saw Pad sound
- now change this same sound to a more trancy lead sound
- at the levels area: set Start to 0 - Attack to 99 - Break to 0 and Sustain to 0
- at the time area: set attack to 0 - Decay to 32 - Slope to 0 and Release to 0 , play something and you will hear a saw short lead sound instead of a pad.

Now the last part: add effects
- press the menu button
- press the effects button on the screen
- press the Master FX 1 dropdownlist to select a FX
- select: DEL stereo BPM delay and press the OFF button behind it on the screen to ON
- play something and you will hear a delayed trancy kind of lead
- press the exit button to return to your previous screen
- When you look at the Master MFX1 section you will see now the Del Stereo BPM delay and below that you will see the word: W/D 50/50 , select that and change the wet/dry level to your liking
- at the left you see a knob called Send 1, this determines how much of the original signal goes to that effect

the DO NOT FORGET part: Saving the sound
- press the right top menu button on your screen and select write sound
- give it a name and then you have created your first sound in the Korg PA

DONE!


Now the only thing left is your imagination, this is the most important skill a sound designer has to have. Every sound designer has it's own style. I recognise most of the sound designers just by listening to their work and this is a very important thing to develop yourself over the years. But all sounds on the korg pa series are based on the steps mentioned above. Now this was just one Oscillator, you can easely add another oscillator to add more possibilities to your sound by increasing the first step (number of oscs) to 2. Then you can for instance add a Marimba hit to your lead sound. And if you need another osc, just add the number 3, now you can create a sound that consist of three oscillators (samples) with their own behavior. The possibilities are huge then.

hope this helps a little to get you started creating your own sounds.


The above starters guide is of course a really basic start, there is lots and lots more possible then the things above, but my advise, just start with the things above mentioned. Everyone that develops sounds started with this. The more advanced things can come much later once you understand how to do this.

[ebuzer52]

Thanks very much QuiRobinez for detailed explanation., now i am Reading by one by and i will make a start to do it, if any hardness i meet, will ask here again and i did not understand.

"According to the video earlier in this thread you need to follow this structure to create a sound (recommended if you are new at sound programming) "

Which video? I checked related link but i think i did not understand correctly

[ebuzer52]

Okey okey, i found them. Thanks again boss