my random synth tip of the day/moment/time unit

this will mostly apply to people who use a modular (software modular myself)

- have the envelope control an amplifier after a waveshaper so the waveshaping doesn't fuck up the volume curve. or run the envelope a little bit before/after/amplify the envelope more or less for the 'before' stage than the after stage, until you have a good combination of smooth/wobbly/wonky/creaky envelope

here's a diagram: osc(nothing plugged in to volume input, or set to play at a constant volume) --> waveshape --> volume (controlled by adsr env) --> out

- cheaply make LFOs sound a little off by having a clipper after the LFO, this way you can have it oscillate a little more in the positive/negative direction, and also make a kind of debris from the clipping. I combine this with a filter after the clipper for further little imperfections

- If you're doing the first tip with the volume envelope happening later in the chain, hook a delay w/ feedback into the oscillator (which in my program plays constantly at 0db or whatever if you don't control the volume with an envelope). Have the volume almost constant but maybe modulate it a little with an LFO. Since the volume loop comes after the delay effect it won't sound like a delay really but should add some kind of weird texture to it!

sorry if I'm not good at writing/explaining these things. I'll elaborate on anything if you quote/mention it in your post

I don't know what kind of waveshapers are out there, but it's useful to have one that can translate/stretch/rotate? the waveshape because sometimes a little nudge will make it sound 10x better somehow. For the last track I'm messing around with stretching the waveshape but still having a dry/wet control along with it to try and make distortion that doesn't sound digital without 1000000x oversampling. But still has the assymetry and stuff you can only do digitally I think? (correct me if I'm wrong)

now I want to make a rotatable wavetable just to see what it sounds like

  On 7/18/2013 at 5:50 AM, Mesh Gear Fox said:

cool tips. the thing you're talking about with the LFOs and delay reminds me of something similar i've done. basically just pitch any soundfile (though some will work better than others) way way down into subsonics and use that as an LFO (add a LP filter to adjust contour)

great idea. :) What software do you use for this? I think numerology could do it. You'd have to use amplitude as the lfo's cv right?

Cool thread

I fed the audio output of my synth back intoto the filter, with a cheap pitch-shift pedal in between. Sounds phat.

  On 7/18/2013 at 10:52 PM, slightlydrybeans said:

 

  On 7/18/2013 at 5:50 AM, Mesh Gear Fox said:

cool tips. the thing you're talking about with the LFOs and delay reminds me of something similar i've done. basically just pitch any soundfile (though some will work better than others) way way down into subsonics and use that as an LFO (add a LP filter to adjust contour)

great idea. :) What software do you use for this? I think numerology could do it. You'd have to use amplitude as the lfo's cv right?

 

Num's Audio to Cv module might do the trick I guess. I'd gate the wave file too (once its pitched down), to emphasize the dynamic variations / contour. Great tip Mesh Gear Fox !

  On 7/19/2013 at 1:45 AM, lin said:

 

  On 7/18/2013 at 10:52 PM, slightlydrybeans said:

 

  On 7/18/2013 at 5:50 AM, Mesh Gear Fox said:

cool tips. the thing you're talking about with the LFOs and delay reminds me of something similar i've done. basically just pitch any soundfile (though some will work better than others) way way down into subsonics and use that as an LFO (add a LP filter to adjust contour)

great idea. :) What software do you use for this? I think numerology could do it. You'd have to use amplitude as the lfo's cv right?

 

 

Num's Audio to Cv module might do the trick I guess. I'd gate the wave file too (once its pitched down), to emphasize the dynamic variations / contour. Great tip Mesh Gear Fox !

 

ya you mean the envelope follower thingy? Cool idea. I'll try it out on an ambient track tomorrow. :)