Synthpop Blippy Lead Synth- Need Mod Wheel Help!

tpantano · Post by **tpantano** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 8:41 pm

I just found my new favorite synthpop band, and I'm trying to recreate a lead from one of their songs. Of course, they're not popular enough for someone to have uploaded their music somewhere convenient, so you'll need to go through their myspace- (warning, do not listen to if overly happy childish synthpop scares you):
http://www.myspace.com/weareladybirds/music

listen to Oh No! the Unicorns Are Knife Fighting Again. At around 0:26 the synth comes in. If you can hear, at around 0:29 when it's playing its A#, a filter opens and it makes a 'wowwww' kind of sound. This is where I've been having trouble- I can't seem to mix the filters properly to get that woww.

Here's my patch, mod wheel is patched to my attempt at the wowww:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1715217/unicorns_lovebirds.r3p

Any ideas on making the mod wheel more like the song?

Just FYI here's the notes-
Db Eb F Ab, Ab^Bb-- Ab-- F-- Eb Db,
Bb-Bb Db-Eb-Db--, Ab-Ab Db-Eb-Db--

ultravvox · Post by **ultravvox** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:08 pm

This "rising" effect on 0:29 reminds me two things. One is to set Osc2 sync'ed and to rotate violently "Osc2Tune" knob. Other is to do same thing with DWGS "Wave Sel" on Osc1.

Rosen Sound · Post by **Rosen Sound** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 6:33 am

sounds like the cutoff being raised.
se the mod wheel to control cutoff
adjust cutoff properly

tpantano · Post by **tpantano** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:14 am

robbinhood wrote:sounds like the cutoff being raised.
se the mod wheel to control cutoff
adjust cutoff properly

I'm not sure if you were able to look at the patch, but I know that. I did that. Problem is, it's missing both the oomph and the almost formant-like effect of proper resonance, and I'm looking for help on that.

Rosen Sound · Post by **Rosen Sound** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 4:53 am

sorry, i didnt load up the patch :/
i will right now though! then i will give better input

tpantano · Post by **tpantano** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 5:59 am

robbinhood wrote:sorry, i didnt load up the patch :/
i will right now though! then i will give better input

it's an r3 patch, so if you only have a radias you'd have to convert- I don't want to put you through the trouble.

I'll upload an audio recording tomorrow and maybe you can see the problem then. Thanks for your help!

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 8:28 am

I've sent you an edited patch to try.

You have a FILT1 set to a low pass and FILT2 to a high pass, in serial. That results in a bandpass, which cuts out the low frequency components as you increase the cutoff of the high pass, which alters the basic tone.

I changed it to two low passes. Now FILT2 just emphasizes the high harmonics without cutting off the low frequencies. Since both filters have resonance, that doubles the emphasis and effect of the mod wheel.

I also bumped up the attack and releases to get rid of clicks. They are still fast, but not 0. 0 values will cause the leading and trailing parts of the notes to click.

tpantano · Post by **tpantano** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 3:24 pm

xmlguy wrote:I've sent you an edited patch to try.

You have a FILT1 set to a low pass and FILT2 to a high pass, in serial. That results in a bandpass, which cuts out the low frequency components as you increase the cutoff of the high pass, which alters the basic tone.

I changed it to two low passes. Now FILT2 just emphasizes the high harmonics without cutting off the low frequencies. Since both filters have resonance, that doubles the emphasis and effect of the mod wheel.

I also bumped up the attack and releases to get rid of clicks. They are still fast, but not 0. 0 values will cause the leading and trailing parts of the notes to click.

The patch worked great, thanks. It was a little muted for my tastes when closed, so I turned up filter 2s cutoff and a little bit of reso to compensate for the lack of as big of a cutoff opening via the modwheel.

One thing, a lot of these synthpop artists have those clicks at the beginning, I left them in intentionally. Specifically looking at owl city, a lot of his microkorg song's leads have clicks left in. The artist may not have fully realized that turning attack and release up could remove the clicks, but regardless I want to get patches as close to their as possible. In my own patches, I always turn up attack and release a tiny bit.

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 4:20 pm

tpantano wrote: The patch worked great, thanks. It was a little muted for my tastes when closed, so I turned up filter 2s cutoff and a little bit of reso to compensate for the lack of as big of a cutoff opening via the modwheel.

One thing, a lot of these synthpop artists have those clicks at the beginning, I left them in intentionally. Specifically looking at owl city, a lot of his microkorg song's leads have clicks left in. The artist may not have fully realized that turning attack and release up could remove the clicks, but regardless I want to get patches as close to their as possible. In my own patches, I always turn up attack and release a tiny bit.

Sure, glad to help. Even patches like the fireflies lead often have more intentional ways to get that sound than merely a 0 attack. Most of the sound comes from the decay and sustain parameters, not the attack. Often there will be a separate timbre dedicated just to the "strike" of mallet-type instruments, so that you can dial in the pitch of the strike itself, separate from the tone of the note. The strike of a zylophone is different than wood blocks, for example, even though the note is the same. If you change the attack from 0 to 4 on these patches, you'll still get a good strike sound. Increasing the attack can actually make the strike sound more powerful because it lets the wave build up so that the decay is more pronounced. The same is true for decay, as too short of a decay reduces the strike because the signal hasn't built up enough before it gets cut out. Speaker drivers can't move in 0 milliseconds - physics still come into play.