[motm] Effects Device Synthesis - MP3 Demo
2009-07-28 by Kenneth Elhardt
I was testing out my new Zoom H2 recorder that I was going to use for some
synth tutorial videos. For the hell of it I recorded a few tests of what I
call effects device synthesis. I do a couple of videos showing more and
going into more detail. It's all about using effects devices to take
worthless, cheap sounding, boringly simple, synth sounds and providing
either massively impressive Tomita-like results or something closer to
acoustic realism. 3 out of the 4 sounds only use 1 oscillator, and the
harpsichord uses 2, but could use one for 8' only sounds. That means even
near useless synths like Junos and SH-101s can sound impressive. Each demo
below plays a dry sound first followed by the processed sound. A Jupiter-8
was the synth used. Description of what you're hearing followed by the MP3
below:
1) First sound is a single oscillator pulsewave which then gets turned into
a huge pipe organ using 10 pitch shifters in the Roland SE-70 effects
device. A mild chorus plus reverb was added with a TC Electronics M-One.
(Note that I meant to provide a completely dry sound first, but realized
later that I had recorded with the mild chorus and reverb already turned on)
2) Sound sound is a single sawtooth oscillator with a little vibrato which
turns into thick Tomita-like strings using 12 pitch shifters in the Roland
SE-70 plus similar TC Electronics chorus and reverb. Gets kind of muddy in
places, but you get the idea.
3) Third are two pulsewave oscillators tuned to 8' and 4' going into a Boss
SX-700 for a harpsichord sound. This uses a technique I came up with a
couple of years ago that uses the complex phase shifting and delays in the
early reflections of reverbs as a complex filter plus some EQ. It removes
most of the synthetic quality and is good for harpsichord and clavinet
sounds plus other things.
4) Fourth is a very complex Boss SX-700 patch that uses pitch shifters with
feedback delays, EQ, and maybe some other things to turn just about any
input sound into a crash cymbal.
http://home.att.net/~elhardt4/EffectsDeviceSynthesis.mp3
-Ken Elhardt
synth tutorial videos. For the hell of it I recorded a few tests of what I
call effects device synthesis. I do a couple of videos showing more and
going into more detail. It's all about using effects devices to take
worthless, cheap sounding, boringly simple, synth sounds and providing
either massively impressive Tomita-like results or something closer to
acoustic realism. 3 out of the 4 sounds only use 1 oscillator, and the
harpsichord uses 2, but could use one for 8' only sounds. That means even
near useless synths like Junos and SH-101s can sound impressive. Each demo
below plays a dry sound first followed by the processed sound. A Jupiter-8
was the synth used. Description of what you're hearing followed by the MP3
below:
1) First sound is a single oscillator pulsewave which then gets turned into
a huge pipe organ using 10 pitch shifters in the Roland SE-70 effects
device. A mild chorus plus reverb was added with a TC Electronics M-One.
(Note that I meant to provide a completely dry sound first, but realized
later that I had recorded with the mild chorus and reverb already turned on)
2) Sound sound is a single sawtooth oscillator with a little vibrato which
turns into thick Tomita-like strings using 12 pitch shifters in the Roland
SE-70 plus similar TC Electronics chorus and reverb. Gets kind of muddy in
places, but you get the idea.
3) Third are two pulsewave oscillators tuned to 8' and 4' going into a Boss
SX-700 for a harpsichord sound. This uses a technique I came up with a
couple of years ago that uses the complex phase shifting and delays in the
early reflections of reverbs as a complex filter plus some EQ. It removes
most of the synthetic quality and is good for harpsichord and clavinet
sounds plus other things.
4) Fourth is a very complex Boss SX-700 patch that uses pitch shifters with
feedback delays, EQ, and maybe some other things to turn just about any
input sound into a crash cymbal.
http://home.att.net/~elhardt4/EffectsDeviceSynthesis.mp3
-Ken Elhardt