Advice on making sounds sound more analouge

[xTsukasa]

So i got rid of my microkorg for an r3 because i like to make pads and strings with depth, but as you alreayd know the microkorg only offered 4 voice polyphony. Im liking the R3 but all the sounds (even the "vintage" ones) seem to sound very digital. Ive modded them to sound a bit more analog but theres so many new parameters i havent worked with before on this thing. Any advice on settings to make the sounds sound more crips and rough?

[tpantano]

So i got rid of my microkorg for an r3 because i like to make pads and strings with depth, but as you alreayd know the microkorg only offered 4 voice polyphony. Im liking the R3 but all the sounds (even the "vintage" ones) seem to sound very digital. Ive modded them to sound a bit more analog but theres so many new parameters i havent worked with before on this thing. Any advice on settings to make the sounds sound more crips and rough?

All of the patches won't give you the warmth an analog will. However, somethings I do to make a patch analoguey:
-For leads, use a bit of analog tuning. Page 3 on the R3.
-If using unison mode, a second oscillator, or two timbres, make sure to set the tunning slightly off (1-10 should be good)
-Add a tiny bit of noise, page 7 on the r3
-Maybe add a tiny bit of decimator waveshaping, page 13
-make a fast LFO (6 hz is good, page 18) and patch it to level (page 20-25) for 1-4 value, gives it a very small vibrato
-Effects, effects, effects! Pages 29-31. Distort, Stereo Decimator, Reverb, TapeEcho, talk modulation all give a vintage feel.

Just a few tips.

Still doesn't sound truly analog, but hey, its better than it was.

[xTsukasa]

So i got rid of my microkorg for an r3 because i like to make pads and strings with depth, but as you alreayd know the microkorg only offered 4 voice polyphony. Im liking the R3 but all the sounds (even the "vintage" ones) seem to sound very digital. Ive modded them to sound a bit more analog but theres so many new parameters i havent worked with before on this thing. Any advice on settings to make the sounds sound more crips and rough?

All of the patches won't give you the warmth an analog will. However, somethings I do to make a patch analoguey:
-For leads, use a bit of analog tuning. Page 3 on the R3.
-If using unison mode, a second oscillator, or two timbres, make sure to set the tunning slightly off (1-10 should be good)
-Add a tiny bit of noise, page 7 on the r3
-Maybe add a tiny bit of decimator waveshaping, page 13
-make a fast LFO (6 hz is good, page 18) and patch it to level (page 20-25) for 1-4 value, gives it a very small vibrato
-Effects, effects, effects! Pages 29-31. Distort, Stereo Decimator, Reverb, TapeEcho, talk modulation all give a vintage feel.

Just a few tips.

Still doesn't sound truly analog, but hey, its better than it was.

Thanks for the tips, tweaked some sounds a bit and theyrre sounding alot better. Guess ill just have to drown everything in small amounts of effects to make it sound dirty.

[xTsukasa]

So i got rid of my microkorg for an r3 because i like to make pads and strings with depth, but as you alreayd know the microkorg only offered 4 voice polyphony. Im liking the R3 but all the sounds (even the "vintage" ones) seem to sound very digital. Ive modded them to sound a bit more analog but theres so many new parameters i havent worked with before on this thing. Any advice on settings to make the sounds sound more crips and rough?

All of the patches won't give you the warmth an analog will. However, somethings I do to make a patch analoguey:
-For leads, use a bit of analog tuning. Page 3 on the R3.
-If using unison mode, a second oscillator, or two timbres, make sure to set the tunning slightly off (1-10 should be good)
-Add a tiny bit of noise, page 7 on the r3
-Maybe add a tiny bit of decimator waveshaping, page 13
-make a fast LFO (6 hz is good, page 18) and patch it to level (page 20-25) for 1-4 value, gives it a very small vibrato
-Effects, effects, effects! Pages 29-31. Distort, Stereo Decimator, Reverb, TapeEcho, talk modulation all give a vintage feel.

Just a few tips.

Still doesn't sound truly analog, but hey, its better than it was.

Thanks for the tips, tweaked some sounds a bit and theyrre sounding alot better. Guess ill just have to drown everything in small amounts of effects to make it sound dirty. In this aspect i miss my microkorg

[X-Trade]

Not sure about the decimator - it is supposed to be a digital artefact effect that simulates lower sample rates and bit depth. a very digital thing.

I often use about 5-25 depth in just normal drive mode (not waveshaper), or pickup for some sounds.

If you want a fat sound, set the drive position to pre-filter, however if you want screaming resonant dirty filters, leave it post-filter (pre-amp)

Also, the microkorg presets had a lot of EQ applied to them to beef them up. it is okay to add a bass boost, particularly around 80-200Hz. Or alternately a high-drop. I also use a limiter insert or master effect to squeeze dynamics out of the sound, it does seem to do something to make the sound a lot more analog-ish.

I always use analog detune - the init default is 5 which is okay, for poly analog sounds or pads I sometimes take it as high as 28 or 30.

Also if you have a LFO or mod seq free, you can route that to resonance and apply very slow, small variation to the resonance, osc2 pitch, drive, etc.

the tube amp, distortion, rotary, tape delay, and amp cab simulation effects are very useful too. Generally avoid reverb, use more delays.

[bobborries]

Voice Card Trick

In the old days, a polyphonic synthesizer was 4 or more mono synths tied together. Each note played would use a separate synth sequentially, one after another. Because each synth was a little out of tune, it sounded very rich. Here's how to create the same effect on the Radias.



Set LFO1 to Sample & Hold
Set LFO1's frequency to the lowest setting
Set LFO1 to key sync Voice.

Use Patch1 to configure LFO1 to pitch at about +10
Use Patch2 to configure LFO1 to pan around +32
Use Patch3 to configure LFO1 to Filter1 cutoff at +10

The Sample & Hold will produce a different random amount for each key pressed. The Pitch, Filter and Pan will be slightly out-of-tune for each note played, just like an old school synth. Try higher settings for spastic drunken madness or crazy sound effects.

Vintage Waveforms



Stick to the simple waveforms, since most analog synths only had these to choose from, but to really sound vintage process the waveforms with a high-pass filter.

Set the filter routing to Serial
Set Filter1's balance to HPF
Set Filter1 to keyboard track at 1.0
Set Filter1's cutoff to where you just begin to hear the bass drop out
Make sure Filter1's resonance is low
Set Filter2 to Lowpass (12db) and use this filter for your sound sculpting




By emulating the waveshapes of an Arp-2600 and Mini-Moog you have a better start of mimicking the classics.