AL-1 sound design help - Rebel Yell lead

jeebustrain · Post by **jeebustrain** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:30 am

so yea, I'm trying to program something that's relatively true to the original. This is the sound in the bridge. From my research, Judy Dozier used an OBXa and a Prophet 5 for all the sounds on this song.

It's deceptively simple. A square wave with some PWM action modulating it via envelope or LFO. I just can't seem to get it right, though. There's this certain type of hollow distortion-like sound to it that I've never been able to replicate. It almost sounds like there are some extra overtones being brought in and out, but I'm not sure. I've gotten a bit closer with my V-Synth (the raw square wave seems a bit more "hollow"), but it's still not right. I've also experimented with various effects (distortion, overdrive, flange, phaser, etc...) and nothing is right.

I've also played around with using the Polysix engine, but I'm trying to stick to AL-1 as much as possible, really for no other reason than to just get better at programming it. I had to play the song this past weekend for the first time and came up with a "close enough" sound via the PolySix, but I really want to get it right.

Video - sound starts @ 3:06
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdphvuyaV_I
(yes, I know there's a JP-8 in the video, but I've read in multiple places on the net where Judy Dozier said that she recorded the entire album with just the OBXa and a P5 and added the JP8 for the tour).

jeebustrain · Post by **jeebustrain** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:51 am

gah, I think I might be a bit closer. I'm using a HP filter to roll off the bottom @ 45 and enabled unison w/ 4 voices. It's starting to sound a little closer. Actually, a lot closer.

LZ · Post by LZ » Wed Sep 17, 2014 12:26 am

I have this on my Kronos - play it with Contagious occasionally. Still need it? I have the whole combi set up.

jeebustrain · Post by **jeebustrain** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 4:19 pm

Hi Dan - thanks for the offer. I think I have something pretty good now. I'm looking forward to the second attempt this saturday!

Ahnyxrik · Post by **Ahnyxrik** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 4:36 pm

Funny, the video shows her playing a Roland Jupiter-8 during the bridge!
Love this song! Good luck with the sound! Interested on how it turns out!

jeebustrain · Post by **jeebustrain** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 5:47 pm

Ahnyxrik wrote:Funny, the video shows her playing a Roland Jupiter-8 during the bridge!
Love this song! Good luck with the sound! Interested on how it turns out!

yea - I found a couple things on the net saying that she said they got the JP8 for the tour as a 3rd board and I guess that's what she ended up playing when they filmed the video.

HardSync · Post by **HardSync** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:11 pm

I don't hear much in the way of PWM on that sound, to be honest - although my ears sometimes fail me so I could be entirely wrong. I do hear a fast LFO modulating the pitch manually via a controller though.

For the overtones, try adding a second square wave at an octave plus a fifth (Transpose +19 or use the Octave setting at one value higher than the first square wave with a transpose value of +7), slightly detuned, and keep the volume of this oscillator down to just above half of the level of the first square wave -- it shouldn't be prominent, in other words. The timbre of a sound is most often related to pitch settings rather than filter settings.

Also, a bit of resonance to the filter might help enhance the hollowness -- not too much though.

Unison is good. Set the sound to Mono and add a bit of portamento.

There's a subtle delay on the sound, but this was certainly added at the mixing board in the studio. It would probably go unnoticed in a live setting...

NuSkoolTone · Post by **NuSkoolTone** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 6:43 pm

Forget if this param is available in AL-1: Maybe play with phase using a second square wave? Check full phase and 180 (should null or deuce volume a lot) and work from there. Maybe mess with the start points too starting with zero and a hard trigger for both.

Arizona Sage · Post by **Arizona Sage** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 10:00 pm

LZ wrote:I have this on my Kronos - play it with Contagious occasionally. Still need it? I have the whole combi set up.

Can you share? I could use it for sure.

Arizona Sage · Post by **Arizona Sage** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 2:59 pm

HardSync wrote:
Unison is good. Set the sound to Mono and add a bit of portamento.

There's a subtle delay on the sound, but this was certainly added at the mixing board in the studio. It would probably go unnoticed in a live setting...

I set a slightly different portamento value for each, which creates a slight delay/separation of the two sounds. Thanks for all the suggestions! I think I have gotten real close.