Voicing/Sound Programming Tips ( Triton )

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Tue May 07, 2002 12:44 pm

Hi, One of the chaps asked me if I would kick off a thread on the subject of Sound Programming or what fancy types like Jerry call 'Voicing' (cool term

) Some time back Mastermalleus (the king of this art) and myself put together a document called the Triton Field Manual detailing the process of creating a sound from scratch and also providing an intro to the synthesis model used by the Triton. You can download that document and the example programs that go with it here : http://ns9.super-hosts.com/~irishacts.c ... p I also recently found a well written document for the Triton Le by a guy called 'master' that is worth checking out too : http://www.tritonhaven.com/downloads/do ... r> Here is a great document by Phill MacDonald who has voiced for Korg and Novation, although its for the SuperNova it really gives some great insight into the process of creating sounds: http://www.btinternet.com/~p.macdonald/ ... r> Read through that lot and then come back for questions

The most important thing IMHO to get into your head is that don't be afraid of experimenting. Try tweaking around some of the existing sounds just to see what things do. Only a few people really understand exactly what all the settings mean, but many programmers do understand the effect of changing them and which parameters need to be tweaked to achieve certain effects. For example what is the real difference between a 12dB/Octave and 24dB/Octave Low pass filter ? Well the answer is mostly 'scientific' and relating to how the quickly the filter response curve drops after the filter cutoff frequency. LOL, so what ? Which one sounds best for different types of sounds, likes pads and basses is what is really important, and the knowledge you'll use when creating a sound. The same goes for resonance, which accentuates certain frequencies around the cutoff point, so what ? Whats key is that it adds that kind of whistling/squealling noise when you turn it up and turn down filter cutoff. Feel free to offer any tips, tricks and links you might have too ! Daz.

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Tue May 07, 2002 5:26 pm

Okay lets start with a real basic lesson, just to give you a feel for what it is all about. Firstly select one of the initialized programs in Bank E. It just gives you a really simple piano type sound. This program has all its settings set to default values and is an ideal place to start programming. Hit the Menu button and press P1:Edit Basic on the screen. Then press the tab at the bottom with "OSC Basic" written on it. On the screen you will see that this program is using the "A. Piano" multi-sample. Change the value from "000:A.Piano" to "236:Saw". Now hit a key. Sounds like a really simple old school analog synth

Hit the Menu key again, and this time press "P3:Edit Filter". On the screen select the parameter called Frequency (short for Frequency Cutoff), and try slowly changing the value from 99 down to 0 (using the value wheel to the right of the screen); pressing a key every now and then to hear the effect it is having. You'll notice the sound seems to be getting less bright as you take the value from 99 down to 0. This is because the filter is 'filtering' out the high frequency bits of the sound. Its kind of like the tone control on a hi-fi, just a little more expensive

Try setting the Frequency value to 44. Play a chord. Thats a very smooth sound, that might be good to gentle pad. Now set Frequency to 66, and start slowly changing the Resonance parameter from 0 up to 99, playing a note/chord in the middle of the keyboard as you change the value. Cool, it adds some new squeally/metallic kind of vibes to the sound. Nice for synthy lead sounds. So you've had a tinker with the basics of the filter. Hit the Menu key again and press P4:Edit-Amp. Then press the Amp1 EG tab on the screen. You see a kind of graph thing there, right. The graph looks like a square, it goes straight up to the top, across for a little bit and then straight back down. That graph is describing what happens to the "Amp" (i.e. the Amplitude or Volume) when you hit a key. At the moment if you hit a key the sound starts immediately at full volume, and then stops immediately (ie the volume goes down to 0) when you let go of the key. Lets try tweaking it. Change the value that says "Release:00" to 75 . Now hit a key and listen to what to happens when you let you go of the key. The sound sort of lingers for a bit, rather than just stopping dead. Look at the graph doodah too, its changed shape too. That graph is a handy visual display of how the volume now fades out slowly rather than just stopping dead. Cool for things like bell sounds or hits that ring out after releasing the key. Lets tweak some more. Change the "Time Attack" value from 00 to 60 and the value above it called "Level Start" to 00. Now hold down a key. You'll notice that the sound now fades in more gradually. Look at the graph, it kinda seems to be suggesting that too. This effect is cool for creating pad or string sound that gradually build up. Hope that was fun, and I'll be sure to introduce some more. Daz.

Post by **Sharp** » Tue May 07, 2002 5:39 pm

Ooohhh NICE ONE !!! :) Great work Daz.

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Tue May 07, 2002 5:59 pm

Thanks

Okay for those people who are more advanced with this stuff, I have a little present courtesy of Jerry. Here is a document that gives some great tips about assigning the Triton's realtime controls (joysticks, knobs,ribbon etc.) when creating sounds. http://www.irishacts.com/support/tutori ... c I always forget to do this

But it really turns a good program into a great performance if you get these things right. This document really gives you some great advice on this subject. Additionally there is an associated PCG file containing the sounds referenced in the document: http://www.irishacts.com/support/tutori ... It contains Bank E programs. The first 8 programs are the Triton defaults, but programs E008 thru' E023 are all created using just the Saw wave multisample I mentioned above, and are a great example of just how many different sounds you can program using this basic multisample. Play some of the sounds, and then go to the settings pages I described above, and see how those settings were used in these various sounds. These resources were created by Jack Hotop, the senior voicing guy at Korg. He's been doing it for 18 years, so don't feel too bad if you find it difficult to create such cool sounds if you only just read my tutorial above

Daz.

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Tue May 07, 2002 6:56 pm

From my first basic lesson you got some idea of what the filter does, and some idea of how the Amp Envelope (i.e. that graph doodah) affects the way a sound behaves. Start from an initial program again and set the multisample to "263:Saw" again like we did the first time. Now press menu and go to the P3:Edit Filter page. Put your finger on the Frequency parameter, so it becomes highlighted. With your right hand hold down a note, and with your left slide the Value fader (to the left of the screen) up and down slowly. Try sliding it up and down over and over again at a slow/regular speed. You get a cool kind of wah/wah effect, right ? It would be great if the synth could this one its own, changing the Frequency value up and down for you. Well that is what LFO's are for

Lets get an LFO to change the Frequency value for us, rather sliding that the Value fader up and down manually. Firstly set the value of Frequency to 60. Then press the tab at the bottom of the screen that says "Filter 1 lfo Mod". The value we want to change is the value at the top of screen called "Intensity to A:" in the LFO1 box. Try setting this value to 12 and press a chord. Try some bigger values too. Yum, nice wavering effect, but its a bit fast. Lets slow it down a bit. Leave the Intensity to A value set to 12. Hit the menu key and press Edit Common LFO. Do you see the Frequency parameter there ? Well that is what sets how fast the LFO is running. At the moment it should say 70, set it to 20. Now hold down a chord. Cool, its just like sliding the value slider up and down slowly, but now the synth is doing it for us. This effect is cool for pads, and many other types of sounds. So you can see what an LFO does now. Its kind of like saying to the synth "I don't want to keep changing a parameter up and down over and over using a knob, I want you to keep changing it for me automatically. After all I did pay for $1500 for you and why should I do all the work." It can be used with many other settings other than just filter cutoff frequency, such as volume for creating tremolo effects or pitch for creating vibrato effects. For each oscillator you have two LFO's, and each one can be made to work on any number of parameters you like. The great thing about having two of them is running them at different speeds for different types of effects. So now you know a little about Filters, Envelopes, and LFO's . If you understand everything so far, you've really learned alot more about this than you might imagine

Daz.

dzm · Post by **dzm** » Tue May 07, 2002 8:50 pm

Daz, nice one!!! :) I'll have a go later. My damn cable connection is playing up and it's really really really slow! So I'll grab that stuff later. Thanks though. This stuff is great. dzm

delerium · Post by **delerium** » Tue May 07, 2002 10:30 pm

Great stuff Daz! It's these types of tutorials and discussions that make this forum so valuable. Nice work!

-delerium

Canadian · Post by **Canadian** » Wed May 08, 2002 10:07 am

Sure alot of nice people, helping people on this forum. too kewl.

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Voicing/Sound Programming Tips ( Triton )

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