Patch 014 - Trumpet

While trawling through YouTube late one night I found the following excellent tutorial for synth noobs explaining the basics of subtractive synthesis:

In it Adrian Scott (BabyGrandOz) programs a trumpet patch on his Roland Gaia (starting at 3 minutes or so in the video) which I am going to try and recreate on the microKORG. Adrian has a fantastic way of explaining things in layman terms which means this task should be straightforward enough...

The amp and low pass filter (with a little resonance) were both modulated by the amp envelope (tweaked to give the "parp" like attack of a trumpet). This left the filter envelope free to modulate LFO2 such that there was a noticable delay in the modulation of the cutoff and for a little vibrato (so it was only noticeable on the sustained notes).This was the only way round the fact that there is no way to delay the onset of the LFOs. Finally I added a reverb-like delay.

Here are the settings (starting from init, shift+3):

Voice: SYT, SGL, PLY, ---, --- (unchanged)
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 2, 5 (unchanged)
Osc 1: SAW, 0, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Osc 2: SAW, OFF, 0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Mixer: 127, 0, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Filter: 12L, 23, 10, 0, 0
Filter EG: 60, 36, 127, 45, ON
Amp: 127, CNT, OFF, 0, --- (unchanged)
Amp EG: 20, 53, 55, 44, ON
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 10, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 6, ---

Patch 1: AEG, CUT, 63, ---, ---
Patch 2: FEG, LF2, 63, ---, ---
Patch 3: LF2, CUT, 19, ---, ---
Patch 4: LF2, PTC, -2, ---, ---
Mod FX: FLG, 20, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Delay: STR, OFF, 38, 40, ---
EQ: 320, 0, 6.0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 1 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)

As ever, I consulted with Sound on Sound's Synth Secrets while programming this which I found to be of great interest, you can read the relevant article here which goes into things in a bit more detail. I am going to sign off by quoting the final paragraph of that article, which I found to be particularly relevant when programming in this patch:

You may have access to the perfect brass patch, or to a perfectly recorded trumpet sample, or even to the physically modelled brass patches on a Yamaha VL7 or a Korg Z1. However, none of them will sound authentic unless you play them in a manner that is sympathetic to the original instrument. Some synthesists — Wendy Carlos is an excellent example — manage to coax remarkably lifelike performances from their synths. You and I, on the other hand, may find ourselves unable to approach the same level of authenticity, even when playing the same patches on the same instruments. When this happens, our natural inclination is to blame the equipment, the outboard effects, or the person who gave you the patch settings. But before you do this, consider your playing technique. Synthesis is not just about sounds; it's also about performance. And no amount of signal-routing diagrams can help you with that.

Patch 013 - Decaying Bass

After working on my microKORG ADK for the last couple of weeks I am keen to get back to tuned sounds so this week I am going to concentrate on a bass sound to accompany the drums. My favourite synth bass sound ever probably comes from the Moog Taurus bass pedals, which bellows out the most fantastically rich bass sound. I have used a sampled Taurus sound (from a Future Music cover disc I think) in a lot of my tracks over the years and am keen to squeeze something like that out of the microKORG. I was also inspired with the sound of a bass guitar, where you can't get infinite sustain.

Starting with the initialized patch, I changed the voice assign to monophonic and the trigger to single (so the envelope doesn't reset on each successive note, like sliding the fingers up and down the bass guitar). I also added a little portamento to simulate the change in pitch as you work up and down the frets.

I experimented with the oscillator types (twin saw or saw / square) and settled on twin saws, with the second detuned slightly. To beef up the sound further I modulated the pitch of waveform of Osc 1 using LFO1 by altering Control 2, fattened things up further by dropping Osc 2 and octave and added distortion (reducing the levels in the mixer so it wasn't too overdriven). For a bit more oomph I turned unison on, with a small detune amount. Filter-wise I closed the 24dB LPF filter a bit (with very little resonance) and added a little bit of envelope modulation.

For the amp envelope I increased the decay time but dropped the release time. I wanted the sound to decay when held but drop away quickly if released (like a bass guitar). I started with a sustain of zero but increased this slightly as I thought it sounded more natural. I made sure the patch was velocity sensitive but unfortunately couldn't work out, even on single trigger mode, how to ensure that the amp level was dictated by the initial note on velocity (any suggestions??). To combat this, I only increased the modulation amount to 20, any higher than that and the change in level sounded off unless you sequenced it or played very skillfully. [Try it yourself, increase the sensitivity and then strike the initial key softly and subsequent keys hard, it sounds dreadful.]

I finally added a flanger and can't really describe the effect it has except to say it seems to add definition to the lower notes, which, for a bass instrument, has to be a good thing! And apart from some minor EQ tweaks that was it. Unfortunately I haven't done a sound comparison with a Taurus bass yet so can't tell how close it sounds, but I like it. Probably more for slow, brooding lines, rather than rapid bass runs but it works for both.

Here are the settings (starting from init, shift+3):

Voice: SYT, SGL, UNI, SGL, 2
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 2, 10
Osc 1: SAW, 0, 10, ---, ---
Osc 2: SAW, OFF, -12, 5, ---
Mixer: 76, 103, 0, ---, ---
Filter: 24L, 80, 3, 2, 27
Filter EG: 5, 121, 0, 69, ON
Amp: 127, CNT, ON, 0, ---
Amp EG: 5, 121, 6, 56, OFF
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 10, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 70, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: VEL, AMP, 20, ---, ---
Patch 2: LF2, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 3: LF1, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 15, 12, ---, ---
Delay: STR, OFF, 40, 0, --- (unchanged)
EQ: 1.00, 5, 16.0, -6, ---
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 1 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)

ADK Samples / Reason Refill

As promised, all eight samples from the first MPAW Series, the Analog Drum Kit, are provided in the following zip file:

ADK Samples

All samples are in .wav format, 16 bit, 44.1kHz. If any of you are interested they were sampled dry directly via the line input of my Zoom H2 digital recorder and subsequently trimmed / normalized in ReCycle / Bias Peak Pro.

For all you Reason users, I have also created a custom Refill using these samples:

The microKORG ADK

The samples are provided with the Refill container in the same format as given above, but I have also provided these all wrapped up in a Combinator with programmable Matrix Sequencers for the Kick, Snare and Hi Hat samples. The microKORG ADK Combinator comes resplendent in a custom skin as shown below:

Special thanks must go to a Discovering Reason article on the Propellerhead website, and the associated .cmb file, which formed the basis for my microKORG ADK Combinator.

NOTE - I have now included "The microKORG ADK" Refill on my new blog dedicated to Reason where I intend dumping a lot of my archived Combinators and Refills as well as any new stuff I dream up. Check it out here Reason users.

Patch 012 - ADK Drip

I doubt that many of you were trembling with excitement about reading about the intended subject of today's patch in the introduction to the Analog Drum Kit series, the conga, but if you were then I am truly sorry. One for another day perhaps? The main reason for ditching the conga was that you really needed different conga sounds to create an interesting sequence (from striking different parts of the drum skin) and this just wouldn't work in a sampling situation.

Instead of the conga however you are getting a kind of drip sound which is basically a noise source with a low pass filter (with the resonance cranked up) with a filter envelope driving the change in pitch. An amp envelope with decay but no release means that you can get some cool stuttering rhythms (and squelches) by playing the patch on the keyboard rather than sampling it (although you could get the same effect using a sampler).

Here are the settings (starting from init, shift+3):

Voice: SYT, SGL, PLY, ---, --- (unchanged)
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 2, 5 (unchanged)
Osc 1: SAW, 0, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Osc 2: SAW, OFF, 0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Mixer: 0, 0, 127, ---, ---
Filter: 12L, 52, 127, -19, 0
Filter EG: 0, 72, 0, 0, ON
Amp: 127, CNT, OFF, 0, --- (unchanged)
Amp EG: 0, 48, 0, 0, ON
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 10, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 70, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: LF1, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 2: LF2, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 3: LF1, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 20, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Delay: STR, OFF, 40, 0, --- (unchanged)
EQ: 320, 0, 6.0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 1 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)

And that concludes the ADK Series! As promised I will be releasing this as a sample set and Reason Refill, watch this space!

Patch 011 - ADK Tambourine

I actually started today's patch using the settings for Patch 010 (the ADK Shaker) as I felt I was close to a tambourine sound. I felt it was missing two things however - the ringing like repetitions of the tambourine plates shaking, and a metallic tone.

I will deal with the metallic tone first. I played about with the filter settings (mainly with the resonance) on both the LPF in Osc 1 (set to noise) and the standard HPF and simply by adjusting these controllers the sound became more complex (as I discussed in the ADK Cymbal post, a complex harmonic spectrum is needed for metallic percussion), and thus more tambourine-like. I increased the higher frequencies further by adding a boost to these via EQ.

To give the impression of multiple shaking jingles, I simply added a delay and adjusted the settings to taste (also tweaking the amp envelope slightly).

The result is a not entirely convincing tambourine, but for the same reason given in the posts for the other metallic ADK percussion elements (i.e. it is hard with a simple synth like the microKORG) I shouldn't be too downhearted. Having said that, I am sure a seasoned synthesist could make a better attempt than this...

Here are the settings (starting from init, shift+3):

Voice: SYT, SGL, PLY, ---, --- (unchanged)
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 2, 5 (unchanged)
Osc 1: NOS, 115, 51, ---, ---
Osc 2: SAW, OFF, 0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Mixer: 127, 0, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Filter: HPF, 68, 59, 0, 0
Filter EG: 0, 64, 127, 0, ON (unchanged)
Amp: 127, CNT, OFF, 0, --- (unchanged)
Amp EG: 3, 46, 0, 46, ON
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 10, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 70, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: LF1, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 2: LF2, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 3: LF1, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 20, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Delay: STR, OFF, 40, 47, ---
EQ: 320, 0, 2.25, 6, ---
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 1 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)

Note 1 - For some reason, unbeknown to me, today's patch sounds better in the upper octaves (does the LPF for Osc 1 track the keyboard?)
Note 2 - As an alternative to the use of noise alone, I did experiment with using a sawtooth wave in Osc 2 ring modulated with the noise in Osc 1 (Osc 1 turned off, or down low in the mixer) and although I liked the results, felt that the patch I ended up using fitted in better with the other ADK patches to date.

Patch 010 - ADK Shaker

In a similar vein to Patch 009, I have pilfered all the settings for this shaker patch from a stock
factory patch for the Subtractor synth in Reason. Although I actually lifted the settings from the Tamburine (sic) patch, you'll see in my write-up of the next patch (actually a tambourine!) that these two patches are very similar.

Starting with the init patch, I dialed in a typical percussion amp envelope (instant attack, no sustain, moderate decay / sustain) and switched Osc 1 to noise with a bit of built in LPF that Osc 1 provides. I then added a high pass filter with a lot of resonance (thanks Subtractor for the settings!). It is already starting to sound shaker-like, but not quite. I didn't like the sharp attack and after slowing this down a touch the sound suddenly sounded just like a shaker. Finally, this patch was really quiet so I added more noise through the mixer and we were done.

Here are the settings (starting from init, shift+3):

Voice: SYT, SGL, PLY, ---, --- (unchanged)
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 2, 5 (unchanged)
Osc 1: NOS, 88, 0, ---, ---
Osc 2: SAW, OFF, 0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Mixer: 127, 0, 127, ---, ---
Filter: HPF, 105, 105, 0, 0
Filter EG: 0, 64, 127, 0, ON (unchanged)
Amp: 127, CNT, OFF, 0, --- (unchanged)
Amp EG: 12, 47, 0, 50, ON
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 10, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 70, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: LF1, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 2: LF2, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 3: LF1, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 20, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Delay: STR, OFF, 40, 0, --- (unchanged)
EQ: 320, 0, 6.0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 1 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)

Patch 009 - ADK Clap

I've had a lot on this week so apologies for the lack of patches (I had promised four and you're getting one at the end of the week).

I must admit I didn't have a clue how to start with a clap sound and had made a number of aborted attempts of one before now. Initially I started with a burst of noise shaped via an amp envelope with fast attack and decay / release with no sustain and basically found myself with a hi hat. A low pass filter made the sound duller but listening to a clap from my sample library there was more tone to it than a low pass filtered burst of noise. I turned to google and found a very interesting site - Advanced Programming Techniques for Modular Synthesizers which was written for the Nord Modular hardware synth. Still a lot of the techniques were valid for any synth (hardware or software) and on the page relating to Percussion Synthesis a synthesized clap was discussed.

According to this site, the key element I seemed to be missing was the delay added to the sound to simulate the "echoes and reverberations produced in an enclosed environment from the slapping together of the hands". That made a lot of sense so I added some onboard delay over the top and I was almost there. The sound still lacked a bit of interest so I turned to Reason's Subtractor synth and checked out the clap sound in the Factory library. The Subtractor synth is very similar in terms of architecture to the microKORG so I basically ripped off the filter settings (BPF with cut-off of 81 and resonance of 42) and I was finally getting close.

I realised that I could use two filters with noise if I used the noise oscillator in Osc 1 instead of just adding noise in the mixer. This meant that I could filter out the higher frequencies and add a BPF on top. The level was a bit low so I boosted it a bit by adding distortion. The level is still a bit low but I am happy with that for now (I guess you could add an identical patch on timbre 2 if you wanted).

Here are the settings (starting from init, shift+3):

Voice: SYT, SGL, PLY, ---, --- (unchanged)
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 2, 5 (unchanged)
Osc 1: NOS, 63, 0, ---, ---
Osc 2: SAW, OFF, 0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Mixer: 127, 0, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Filter: BPF, 81, 42, 0, 0
Filter EG: 0, 64, 127, 0, ON (unchanged)
Amp: 127, CNT, ON, 0, ---
Amp EG: 0, 25, 0, 25, ON
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 10, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 70, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: LF1, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 2: LF2, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 3: LF1, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 20, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Delay: STR, OFF, 20, 18, ---
EQ: 320, 0, 6.0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 1 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)

Patch 008 - ADK Cymbal

As discussed on the ADK Hi Hat patch, obtaining a realistic cymbal noise from a simple synth like the microKORG is difficult. This is due to the fact that a cymbal sound is an inharmonic sound that cannot be replicated with two oscillators (or four for a layered patch). I was keen to give it a go though...

From my web based research, I learned that ring modulation could be used to generate a complex spectrum of frequencies and started with that. First I used a DWGS waveform in Osc 1 in conjunction with a square wave, detuned heavily in Osc 2. I used the DWGS waveform solely for ring modulation / synch purposes and therefore turned this off in the mixer and set Osc 2 to the maximum. Fast or instant attack and zero sustain for both envelopes together with moderate (and equal) decay / release. I made the filter decay a little quicker than the amp decay.

I found that adding distortion amplified the metallic nature of the patch and I also liked some movement in pitch and the filter through modulation with an LFO. As per the other ADK pitches I turned keyboard tracking of the pitch off.

I then thought that the sound could be further enhanced by adding a second timbre, . after all, this is a monophonic patch so the lack of polyphony wouldn't be a problem. After messing with a noise based sound I settled on using another DWGS waveform, this time without ring modulation. I left Osc 2 off in the mixer and used a similar (but quicker) amp envelope than timbre 1. As you can hear, timbre 2 has a lot less "noise" than timbre 1, being more like a ringing bell, so I made sure it didn't overshadow timbre 2. After making some adjustments to the filter (HPF, negative envelope), I panned both timbres slightly off centre. Timbre 2 has identical virtual patch settings to timbre 1. Finally I EQ'd both timbres to accentuate the higher frequencies.

Here are the settings (starting from init, shift+3):

Timbre 1

Voice: SYT, LAY, MON, SGL, ---
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
Osc 1: DIG, ---, 60, ---, ---
Osc 2: SAW, R-S, 10, 40, ---
Mixer: 0, 127, 0, ---, ---
Filter: BPF, 75, 75, 34, 0
Filter EG: 6, 84, 0, 84, ON
Amp: 127, R3, ON, 0, ---
Amp EG: 0, 80, 0, 80, ON
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 10, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 70, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: TRC, PTC, -48, ---, ---
Patch 2: LF2, CUT, 2, ---, ---
Patch 3: LF2, PTC, -2, ---, ---
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 20, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Delay: STR, OFF, 40, 0, --- (unchanged)
EQ: 320, -12, 6.0, 12, ---
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 1 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)

Timbre 2

Voice: SYT, LAY, MON, SGL, ---
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
Osc 1: DIG, ---, 28, ---, ---
Osc 2: SAW, OFF, 0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Mixer: 87, 0, 0, ---, ---
Filter: HPF, 41, 52, -43, 0
Filter EG: 6, 84, 0, 84, ON
Amp: 127, L4, ON, 0, ---
Amp EG: 0, 60, 0, 60, ON
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 10, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 70, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: TRC, PTC, -48, ---, ---
Patch 2: LF2, CUT, 2, ---, ---
Patch 3: LF2, PTC, -2, ---, ---
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 20, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Delay: STR, OFF, 40, 0, --- (unchanged)
EQ: 320, -12, 6.0, 12, ---
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 1 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)

And that is that, very obviously a synth sound, but it does vaguely resemble a cymbal! The one thing I am not sure I am altogether happy with is the pitch of this patch. I could re-enable keyboard tracking of pitch and play it up and down the keyboard, and perhaps I will in the future. But for now, I am going to leave it as is. Also, if keyboard tracking is not enabled for the filter, amp or pitch, or any of the other modulation sources in the virtual patches, why does this sound different played up and down the keyboard anyway? Perhaps one of you clever people can give me a clue..

microKORG Patch Sheet

Not sure if this will be useful to any of you or not, especially given that there are software editors for the microKORG as well as the standard MIDI dump method for storing patches. But just in case you like to be old skool and archive your patches by hand here is an example of the patch sheet form I use:

There are 4 blank pro formas per sheet of A4, pre filled out with the init patch settings. Only record what has been changed. Here is the pdf file:

microKORG Patch Sheet

Patch 007 - ADK Hi Hat

According to Gordon Reid (in his Synth Secrets articles on the Sound on Sound website), synthesizing realistic metallic percussion on a simple analog (in our case virtual) synth is impossible. This is due to the inability to generate the complex spectrum of frequencies with simply two oscillators (and a noise generator) although with layering we can utilise four oscillators (and two noise generators). As you will see below however, the open hi hat patch that forms the subject of today's post is relatively simple being based on white noise only and doesn't to my ears sound too bad, especially for it's intended use, within an electronica composition. I suspect I will have a harder time of it however when programming the cymbal patch (ride or crash, I have not yet decided which) for tomorrow.

As I will be synthesizing just the single hi hat sound for use in my sampler I will need to create a sound that can be used both as an open and closed hi hat. I was also therefore keen that the hi hat in today's patch could be played on the microKORG as either open or closed (either manually or via an external sequencer). This will be achieved by having an amp envelope with zero sustain and a shorter release than decay which means that playing normally will result in open hi hat sounds while playing staccato will result in closed hi hats.

Firstly, change to voice to monophonic as we don't want any open hat tails to overlap. Next up I turned off the vibrato on the mod wheel. Although I left the pitch bend assignment on, I reduced this to 1 as I may want some subtle changes in pitch as the patch plays (although have since realised that this has no effect given only noise is used).

Next I turned down both oscillators and the noise level up to 127 in the mixer. The filter was of the high pass variety with a medium degree of resonance. The filter and amp envelopes were similar, although the decay and release for the filter envelope were faster than the amp envelope (so we can hear the full ADSR of the filter envelope before the sound fades out). And that is pretty much all there is to it, except for some EQ to accentuate the higher frequencies further.

Here are the settings (starting from init, shift+3):

Voice: SYT, SGL, MON, ---, ---
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 1, 0
Osc 1: SAW, 0, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Osc 2: SAW, OFF, 0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Mixer: 0, 0, 127, ---, ---
Filter: HPF, 107, 28, 22, 0
Filter EG: 0, 20, 0, 20, ON
Amp: 127, CNT, OFF, 0, --- (unchanged)
Amp EG: 0, 54, 0, 33, ON
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 10, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 70, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: LF1, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 2: LF2, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 3: LF1, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 20, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Delay: STR, OFF, 40, 0, --- (unchanged)
EQ: 280, -12, 6.0, 5, ---
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 1 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)

Patch 006 - ADK Snare

Like the ADK Kick patch from yesterday (Patch 005), I did a fair bit of reading up on what constitutes a snare sound. This time round though I followed the tutorial provided in the Fast Guide to Propellerhead Reason by Debbie Poyser and Derek Johnson closely, where a snare drum was synthesised using the Subtractor synth.

The sound of the stick hitting the skin is provided by a triangle wave while the vibrating metal snare across the bottom of the drum was provided by noise. A fairly open LPF was used (we wanted to retain a lot of the character of the white noise) with a filter envelope with moderate attack, decay and release with no sustain. The amp envelope has an instantaneous attach and moderate to fast decay and release (again, no sustain).

As with the ADK Kick patch from yesterday, put the voice into monophonic mode and turn keyboard tracking of the pitch off using virtual patch 1. I used Osc 2 so I could drop the pitch by a further octave. If you wanted to use a sine wave you'd have to drop the pitch by the same method as the ADK Kick patch (using the mod wheel) or of course you could have a higher pitched snare. Finally, I made some minor adjustments to the EQ.

Here are the settings (starting from init, shift+3):

Voice: SYT, SGL, MON, ---, ---
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 2, 5 (unchanged)
Osc 1: SAW, 0, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Osc 2: TRI, OFF, -12, 0, ---
Mixer: 0, 84, 127, ---, ---
Filter: 12L, 75, 0, 0, 0
Filter EG: 25, 40, 0, 40, ON
Amp: 127, CNT, OFF, 0, --- (unchanged)
Amp EG: 0, 36, 0, 36, ON
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 10, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 70, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: TRC, PTC, -48, ---, ---
Patch 2: LF2, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 3: LF1, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 20, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Delay: STR, OFF, 40, 0, --- (unchanged)
EQ: 180, 4, 1.5, 4, ---
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 1 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)

Patch 005 - ADK Kick

The first patch of the Analog Drum Kit (ADK) Series is a kick drum. Not knowing where to start I did what I usually do and turned to my synth bible, Gordon Reid's Synth Secrets series first published in Sound on Sound Magazine and now available online. Rather than regurgitate the relevant articles on bass (i.e. kick) drums, I will instead point you in the direction of the following links:

Synthesizing Drums: The Bass Drum
Practical Bass Drum Synthesis

Other sources of information I turned to in preparing this kick drum patch included Programming Drum Sounds, a PDF guide to how the classic drum machine sounds were synthesized (provided with the Attack Percussion Synthesizer by the great German synth company Waldorf) and the Fast Guide to Propellerhead Reason by Debbie Poyser and Derek Johnson which includes tutorials on how to program kicks and snares using noise in the Subtractor synth which is available in hard copy only (I have a rather well thumbed volume).

From my research I learned that just as there are many ways to skin a cat, there are many ways to program a kick drum. Start by selecting a monophonic voice. Next I selected a sine wave in Osc 1 and a triangle wave in Osc 2 (dropped an octave) in equal measure which provided the low end rumble to the sound together with some noise, which provided the initial shorter sound of the beater striking the drum. I introduced a very short (but not instant) attack to the amp envelope together with no sustain and moderate decay and release. I closed the low pass filter almost completely and added a reasonable amount of resonance. A very short filter envelope controlled the short click like sound of the beater, provided by the noise.

I wanted to turn keyboard tracking to the pitch off (since this is meant to be an untuned instrument) but I couldn't really work out how to do this satisfactorily - I ended up routing keyboard tracking to the pitch by -48. This had the effect of increasing the pitch however and for some reason I can't quite fathom editing the pitch transpose value had no effect (I would welcome any suggestions!). In the end I routed the mod wheel to pitch as well in order to drop the pitch further (you need to remember to do fully apply the modulation via the mod wheel once you load the patch). Finally I added a little low end boost via EQ.

Further editing would be possible (for example adding distortion, introducing some cross or ring modulation, tweaking the envelopes and filter settings further, etc) but you have to stop somewhere and I am actually rather pleased with this first attempt. Hopefully it suits the other analog drum sounds I will shortly be creating!

Here are the settings (starting from init, shift+3):

Voice: SYT, SGL, MON, ---, ---
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 2, 0
Osc 1: SIN, 0, 0, ---, ---
Osc 2: TRI, OFF, -12, 0, ---
Mixer: 127, 127, 50, ---, ---
Filter: 12L, 10, 68, 7, 0
Filter EG: 0, 2, 14, 5, ON
Amp: 127, CNT, OFF, 0, --- (unchanged)
Amp EG: 1, 60, 0, 50, ON
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 10, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 70, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: TRC, PTC, -48, ---, ---
Patch 2: MOD, PTC, -63, ---, ---
Patch 3: LF1, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 20, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Delay: STR, OFF, 40, 0, --- (unchanged)
EQ: 320, 5, 6.0, 0, ---
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 1 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)
[NOTE - Always remember to push the mod wheel fully away from you prior to playing the patch, otherwise the bass drum will be an octave too high.]

MPAW Series - Analog Drum Kit (ADK)

Last night I decided to record a 100% microKORG track using the patches I have blogged about up to now. The only problem though, is that there are no drums to provide rhythm! Rather than compromise on my all microKORG philosophy I thought I would have a go at generating my own analog drum sounds on the microKORG. I could then load my hardware sampler of choice (the much underrated Zoom Sampletrak) with these to accompany my track.

Therefore the idea for the first MPAW Series was born! There are 8 samples in each bank on the Sampletrak so I decided to limit this series to 8 common drum and percussion sounds, as follows:

Patch 005 - ADK Kick
Patch 006 - ADK Snare
Patch 007 - ADK Hi Hat
Patch 008 - ADK Cymbal
Patch 009 - ADK Clap
Patch 010 - ADK Shaker
Patch 011 - ADK Tambourine
Patch 012 - ADK Drip

Obviously if I stuck to a patch a week this series will take me the best part of 2 months to complete. I therefore plan to publish 4 patches a week - traditional drum sounds next week and percussion sounds the week after (but this may change depending on how tricky the sounds are to program!).

As a bonus extra - I will then conclude the series by issuing the drum kit as a sample set (WAV audio files) so you can use in your own sampler without even having to program the patches yourselves (or even having to own a microKORG). Especially for Reason users I will also provide a refill ("The microKORG ADK") including a special Combinator patch housing a Redrum drum kit with all the samples preloaded. Hopefully these will be useful to someone. Check out the page with all the goodies here.

I haven't created any bass sounds for this blog yet either, which is something I'll address soon as well...

Note - The ADK Drip was a late replacement for a conga.

Patch 004 - Oscillatorless Wonky Arp

If any of you followed my Alesis Micron - Patch a Day blog, you may recognise the concept of this week's patch - a melodic patch using no oscillators. How? Read on...

The first thing to do is to go to the mixer and turn off both oscillators. The sound for this week's patch will come solely from the self oscillation of the resonant filter (both the LPFs will work for this). Close the filter completely and crank up the resonance to 127. To be able to play a melody with this patch you will need to assign keyboard tracking to the filter (how much modulation you apply will affect how "in tune" your patch will be). Further tuning can also be made by opening the filter cutoff. By how much is up to you, experiment! I have found that playing with the resonance level while playing the pitch can cause problems without some noise so I have added this in the mixer.

To shape the sound I added a bell like amp envelope and then applied the arpeggiator. The effect is most pleasant, amplified with the use of delay in my opinion.

Here are the settings:

Voice: SYT, SGL, PLY, ---, --- (unchanged)
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 2, 5 (unchanged)
Osc 1: SAW, 0, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Osc 2: SAW, OFF, 0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Mixer: 0, 0, 127, ---, ---
Filter: 12L, 0, 127, 0, 46
Filter EG: 0, 64, 127, 0, ON (unchanged)
Amp: 127, CNT, OFF, 0, --- (unchanged)
Amp EG: 2, 88, 127, 77, ON
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 10, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 70, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: MOD, NOS, -63, ---, ---
Patch 2: LF2, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 3: LF1, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 20, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Delay: L-R, ON, 1.8, 88, ---
EQ: 320, 0, 6.0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 2
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)
[ARP ON]

You'll notice that I've assigned the mod wheel to the noise level. When you're playing the arp try playing with the resonance, filter cutoff and noise level to get some cool glitchy effects when combined with the delay. Further fun can be had if you route LFOs to the cutoff or add a filter envelope. Get wonky!

Patch 003 - Solina Strings

I've always loved the classic string synthesizer sound (think Oxygene and groovy 70s soul records), and one of the original machines which defined the sound is the ARP Solina String Ensemble. The all analog Solina has two bass voices (contra bass & cello), and depending on what version of the keyboard you have, up to four preset standard voices (viola, violin, trumpet & horn). The standard voices can all be layered.

Here is a video showing off this cool synth:

Of course, the easiest way to be able to have that classic Solina sound would be to buy an original 1970s (creeping into the early 1980s) string synthesizer, but sadly I haven't got the spare room or cash at the moment (according to Vintage Synth Explorer you can expect to pay $100 to $600 for a Solina, which I think is actually pretty good value). Another alternative would be to use a sampled approximation but I have chosen to try and recreate that sound on my microKORG. There are string sounds in the presets but hey, that would be cheating...

Not knowing where to start, I consulted what I consider to be the bible of synthesizers, the Sound on Sound Synth Secrets series, written by Gordon Reid and totalling 40 articles from May 1999 to July 2004. Thankfully this wonderful resource is available online here:

Sound on Sound's Synth Secrets

The article from February 2003 dealt with Synthesizing Strings and I used that as my starting point for creating this week's patch.

I increased the Osc 2 volume in the mixer so that both were audible and changed Osc 1 to a square wave. Next I varied the pulse width and pulse width modulation via Control 1 and Control 2 for Osc 1 until I got a sound I was happiest with. I then dropped Osc 2 by an octave and slightly detuned it to get a thicker sound. Nice, but a bit bright so I closed the filter to about halfway and changed to the gentler cut-off of the -12dB LPF. No resonance.

Next I added an amp envelope of a moderate attack, slow release, a sustain level of not quite 100% and a slow release. The Synth Secretes article suggested no decay at all but I liked the subtle movement provided by a slight drop when sustaining. The Synth Secrets article also suggested no filter envelope but I added a touch to provide some movement to the tone which I found to be pleasant but not drastic. I also added some keyboard tracking of the filter.

Modulation wise, I just added some subtle modulation to the Osc 2 tuning and Osc 1 control, both by LFO 1. Again, the amount was very subtle. Finally I added an ensemble (of course!) and added some extra brightness through EQ. I played about with the delay settings until I found a delay time I was happy with but in the settings given below I have left it turned off. Feel free to add some to suit your taste!


Here are the settings:

Voice: SYT, SGL, PLY, ---, --- (unchanged)
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 0, 5
Osc 1: SQU, 55, 10, ---, ---
Osc 2: SAW, OFF, -12, -3, ---
Mixer: 84, 118, 0, ---, ---
Filter: 12L, 67, 0, 5, 14
Filter EG: 85, 81, 53, 62, ON
Amp: 127, CNT, OFF, 0, --- (unchanged)
Amp EG: 34, 80, 120, 94, ON
LFO 1: TRI, VOC, OFF, 32, ---
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 70, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: LF1, 2.TN, 1, ---, ---
Patch 2: LF1, 1.CT, 2, ---, ---
Patch 3: LF1, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: ENS, 41, 82, ---, ---
Delay: STR, OF, 63, 0, ---
EQ: 320, 0, 1.5, 5, ---
Arpeg. A: 140, 1.16, 20, AT1, 3 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: ON, 0, OFF, 8, --- (unchanged)

Enjoy!

The microKORG on YouTube

Here are five of the best examples I've come across when trawling the net for video tutorials showing off the microKORG:

1 - In my opinion, one of the most impressive examples of how flexible the microKORG is, great performance!

2 - How to program a fantastically organic mellotron flute patch (settings in description).

3 - What the DWGS organs sound like (nice organ riffing too).

4 - How to make your microKORG sound like a piano (kind of...).

5 - How to use your microKORG for funky tempo controlled effects of incoming audio.

Found a great video starring the microKORG? Share it here!

Patch 002 - Ambient pad

Last week I started with an initialized patch (shift+3 if you've forgotten how already!), this week I decided to take a factory preset I quite like but am not altogether happy with and tweak it to my own taste.

The starting patch is b.62 - "Stairs pad".  If you've already overwritten this with a custom patch then you can restore it by pressing shift+7, selecting 1Program (1P9) with knob 1 and b.62 with knob 2. Confirm by pressing the 7 key again. Remember you'll need to have turned the write protect off first (shift+8, turn knob 1 to off and then press the 8 key again to confirm). If you don't want to overwrite your custom patch saved to b.62 already then copy this to another program position first.

So now I have the "Stairs Pad" loaded on my synth, the first thing to do is try it out. I actually really like the pad sound as it is, great for ambient landscapes, but I wanted to play more than two note chords (although the patch is  polyphonic it is limited to two voices because it is layered) and I didn't want the arp voice playing as it doesn't fit with the track I am working on.

Therefore, the first thing I do is change the program to single but what you'll notice is that now only the arp plays. This is because single patches use timbre 1 only and the pad I want is on timbre 2. Therefore you'll need to swap the timbres (shift+2, you'll need to set it up to be layer first or you'll get an error message). Now reverting to a single program only the pad will play. If the arp is on, turn it off as this is arpeggiating layer 1 (now the pad).

Now, call me boring but I like this patch pretty much as is. What I do like to do though is save the patch to a free program, select it to go out of edit mode and then play with the performance controls which can result in noticeably different sounds. For example, turn the EG Attack counterclockwise and you'll get more of a brass sound (especially with the cutoff increased). You'll notice how important the envelope controls are in ensuring that what we are left with is a pad sound. From playing about with these controls though, the only thing I did and kept was closing of the filter cutoff a little so that the pad was a touch brighter, although you could always just use the mod wheel for this as the mod wheel is currently assigned to the cutoff.

Here are the final settings of the patch I called Ambient Pad (where "unchanged", this is relative to timbre 2 of the Factory preset b.62 - "Stairs Pad").

Voice: SYT, SGL, PLY, ---, ---
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 2, 0 (unchanged)
Osc 1: SQU, 0, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Osc 2: SAW, OFF, 7, -7, --- (unchanged)
Mixer: 127, 110, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Filter: 24L, 38, 0, 14, 30
Filter EG: 115, 122, 53, 115, ON (unchanged)
Amp: 127, CNT, OFF, 0, --- (unchanged)
Amp EG: 22, 64, 127, 122, ON (unchanged)
LFO 1: TRI, VOC, OFF, 75, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, VOC, OFF, 42, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: TRC, LF2, 42, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 2: LF2, 1.CT, 42, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 3: MOD, CUT, 24, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 4: LF2, PAN, 24, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 32, 46, ---, --- (unchanged)
Delay: CRS, ON, 3.16, 80, --- (unchanged)
EQ: 320, 5, 11, 4, --- (unchanged)
Arpeg. A: 140, 1.16, 20, AT1, 3 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: ON, 0, OFF, 8, --- (unchanged)

Patch 001 - Glockenspiel

The first thing I did when I got my microKORG a couple of weeks ago was to restore the factory presets (I bought my synth used on ebay) and go through them one by one taking note of which ones to keep and which ones to ditch. In the end I was happy to keep 78 of the 128 presets and set about initializing the other 50 patches (shift+3).

If, like me, you're a new microKORG user then it is worthwhile taking the time to check out the settings of an initialized patch - a single oscillator (saw wave), no detuning, filter fully open and a basic amp envelope of fast attack and decay, full sustain and no release. The mod and pitch bend wheels take on vibrato and pitch bend duties respectively with no other modulation controls operating. The effects and EQ settings are both off. If all of that makes no sense to you then you'd best do some reading up on synthesizer basics!

You'll soon find out from my sound experiments that I tend to steer clear of harsh, in your face, sounds, preferring instead lush pads, synth strings, ambient drones and musical blips and bleeps, etc. I am also interested in how to recreate acoustic instruments on a VA synth. Therefore, for my first patch in this venture I thought I'd keep it simple and try and recreate a glockenspiel.

The first thing I did was to edit the amp envelope to have a fast attack (2 rather than 0 to avoid an unpleasant click sound), zero sustain and relatively high decay / release. The ADSR characteristics are clearly a lot more like a percussive instrument (the initialized patch has an organ like ADSR envelope). The saw wave is not suitable for an xylophone so I changed this to a sine wave and already the sound is beginning to take shape, especially in the upper octaves. The sound was lacking something though, that metallic quality of the glockenspiel (perhaps more xylophone-esque).

I read in the manual that ring modulation can give a bell like sound so I messed about with that for a while but to be honest didn't have a clue what I was doing (definitely something to explore another time). Then I remembered the digital waveforms (DWGS) and so I worked through them and settled on number 7, which was definitely a lot more like it. The sound was a bit static so I added a little flanger and delay and I was nearly there. I wanted how hard I played the notes to respond as it would with a glockenspiel so I routed velocity to amp in the modulation matrix. I turned off the pitch bend. The only other thing to try and model was the change in tone as you up the actives and so I routed keytrack to the cut-off filter, which I closed about half-way (I only noticed after that there is a fixed routing already on the microKORG, oops!).

And I was pretty happy with that for a first try. Definitely sounds better in the upper registers though and I would like to be able to route keytacking to the decay / sustain so that the lower notes ring out a bit.

Here are the patch settings (in the end I also saved a version without flanger / delay, I like both):

Voice: SYT, SGL, PLY, ---, --- (unchanged)
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 0, 2
Osc 1: DIG, ---, 7, ---, ---
Osc 2: SAW, OFF, 0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Mixer: 127, 0, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Filter: 12L, 71, 20, 0, 0
Filter EG: 0, 64, 127, 0, ON
Amp: 127, CNT, OFF, 0, --- (unchanged)
Amp EG: 2, 92, 0, 92, ON
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 10, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 70, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: VEL, AMP, 48, ---, ---
Patch 2: TRC, CUT, 48, ---, ---
Patch 3: LF1, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 20, 6, ---, ---
Delay: STR, OFF, 56, 42, ---
EQ: 320, 0, 2, 0, --- (unchanged)
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 1 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, OFF, 8, --- (unchanged)

I like how this sounds running through the arpeggiator, try for yourself!

Ditch those presets and join me on a journey, into sound!

It has been two years since I concluded my Micron - Patch a Day project. I love the Micron, and no doubt will go back to it at some stage (or maybe even an Ion, one day...) but back in March 2010 I sold my much loved silver and red box and bought a Novation A Station. A great synth for tweaking but sadly I don't have the room to keep a rack of gear anymore and so, after only a few short months, it too moved on to pastures new.

Although I have a number of soft synths which I love messing about with (especially Reason), I very rarely sit down and get stuck into some patch creation; I dunno, just too may distractions I guess (and as my soft studio is laptop based it isn't always set up). Bottom line is I missed a hardware synth, there is something very seductive about sitting down and using a user interface designed solely for the purpose of making noises. And sometimes (occasionally!) very nice noises too.

And so I bought one. A new synth.

So what have I chosen? What have I plumped for over and above another Micron? I can almost hear the yells of Judas from the Micron users amongst you but yes, I got a microKORG  (!). I have a few reasons for choosing the Korg over another Micron, or something like a Novation K Station (the only other serious option I considered in my budget), as follows:

• It runs on batteries (so can grab it while I have a spare half hour sat about on the sofa)
• Although not as easy as synths with a non matrix UI, editing is a bit easier than the Micron (especially away from a computer)
  
• The simpler architecture means that copying / sharing patch settings can be done via a few lines of text rather than .sysex files (for posting on blogs for example)
• The simpler architecture also means that creating patches is not as daunting

And with my new synth comes a new project, similar in nature to Micron - Patch a Day... microKORG - Patch a Week! I really struggled to create a new patch every day so I have ditched that concept for a more realistic timescale of a new patch every week. Patches will generally be posted in simple text format although I plan on posting videos, audio files and maybe .prg files too if there is a demand (bear in mind I run OSX though).

So there you go. I appreciate a lot of you Micron users won't be able to follow my sounds on the new blog since the hardware is so different but I hope a few of you will read what I am getting up to, and possibly even try things out on your synths as we go along. Feel free to even post your results here, the more the merrier! microKORG  users, ditch those presets and join me on a journey, into sound!