How did they create this sound?

[gvb]

Hello,

I asked this before in another thread but it wasn't appreciated so I do another attempt here...
(please move it if it doesn't belong here)


In Some really old tracks the sound is sounding a lot more 'full" than what I can find in thousands of Synth1 and other synth VSTs presets.

Here's an example (the main chord or stab or whatever they call it you hear at the start (0:00) and through the song )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRRuowaAgQE

(upspeeded commercial version also from Frank De Wulf > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGX8EOH82pc )

If you listen to it a lot you can almost hear that it are 2 overlayed instruments or something like that.

What's the trick they used on this? and expecially back then (1989).

[Gps]

I think I am hearing a sampler.

A keyboard with a sample function.

Something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf61mYDtt64

I think however that synth 1 might be able to make a sound like that.

https://blog.wavosaur.com/chris-bank-synth1-reup/

Acid house 89 preset, from the chrisbank.
And the Jeso funk stab.

[musikbear]

you hear at the start (0:00) and through the song

Hæ.. :] is not a piano.
First the style: Its called "Detroit-chords" And they are 'jazzy' in nature, and done as stabs, eg as very short notes!
So jazz-chords played in synkopation, and that leaves us with the instrument..
I hear a sharpness that could be a diode-shape (doable in zynAddSubFX) together with a 'hollow' almost like a 'knock' on a plastic bucket.. That could be a square, but maybe its as Gps suggest, a sample
I remember that Brandy made a 'bucket-guy-instrument', and gave it to LSP, but we better have Brady chime in :)

?

"Bucket-instrument" Brandy -What was it called? :)

[Gps]

Interesting, Detroit stabs.

Googled it and found this:

https://www.musicradar.com/how-to/how-t ... val-chords

And this on KVR.

Record a piano playing a classic C-E-G chord. Now load it in a sample player (most software will let you play any sample across a keyboard). Now play a simple melody with this sample. So its still a C-E-G chord but you are now transposing the sample of a chord rather than playing an actual chord across the keyboard.

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=209384

Although the topic also says not all stabs were samples.

[gvb]

Thanks for the infos! I will check it out.

And being a sampled sound or not someone must've created it atleast once.

I see references on youtube videos to the "Big Fun" sound but it's not the same thing.

[gvb]

thanks for the hint on the detroit chord.

a search on you tube brought this in sight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeteyxeH4Hg

which seems quite close but what an amount of parameters that thing has

[Gps]

Synth 1 only has a few less knobs.

Most of what he does, you can do with zynth 1. Zynth 1 does not have 4 oc though.

From the top of my head is has 2 oc , and a sub one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnAuhj2schY

First time you work with a synthesizer, you will be overwhelmed, by the amount of knobs.

You can also start with the triple oscillator from LMMS, and try to follow the tutorial you showed.

You will find out, that allot of synthesisers have roughly all the same knobs.

[gvb]

yes, unfortunately the one in the video ain't free.
and for a routined sfx maker maybe piece of cake but for starters it's indeed overwelming and hard to understand what's happening.


I had a look at triple osc of LMMS but it's kind of limited.
I guess you need to add a lot of additional effect filters to get near Synth1 sounds.

Do you mean with Zynth1 LMMS's ZynAddSubFX?
That one seems powerfull but with a lot of sub screens or sub panels which makes it even harder than 1 screen with 20 knobs.
When I opened it a second time it (that second UI) almost locked my machine.

[Gps]

Synth1 and ZynAddSubFx are two different synthesizers.

https://www.kvraudio.com/product/synth1 ... chiro-toda

I already gave you a link to a preset file, with those stabs in it.
An extra bank for synth1. (there are many extra banks, but be carefull were you get them from.)

[musikbear]

I had a look at triple osc of LMMS but it's kind of limited.

No it is not!
You can make excellent presets with 3OC!
It depends on EQing, and of cause as you point out Adding good effects on the FX tab, but with zasfx you need to ad same kind of effects, just inside the instrument, so there are no 'shortcuts'. Making great instruments take time and you need to study, before you know what you are doing.
Following this tut, you can improve instruments a lot!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mFHDyWGh9c