> Step by step

1. Designing a Dominator- style hoover with AudioRealism ReDominator

1 Let’s dive in and synthesise the classic hoover sound for ourselves using AudioRealism’s ReDominator, a Roland Alpha Juno emulation. After importing the

Tutorial Files into a blank 140bpm project, load ReDominator onto the Hoover MIDI track. Click the preset display (top centre) and select Initialize Patch to reset the synth’s parameters.

2 We kick off by setting both the Pulse and Saw oscillators to 3(PWM); these waveshapes sound fat and will let us modulate their pulse widths later on. Turn ReDominator’s Master volume down to around 50 to prevent clipping, then set the Sub oscillator to 5. Pushing the Sub

Level to 3 mixes in the sub oscillator for extra weight.

3 Turning up the Pulse Width Modulation ( PWM) to full and PWM

Rate to around 100 gives the detuned, rasping tone we’re after, but we need to modulate the oscillator pitch as well. Start by pushing the Pitch Env amount up to

127 so that ReDominator’s envelope controls the pitch, then set Range to 3 to detune the patch by one octave. 4 ReDominator’s envelope is different to a traditional ADSR. While sliders T1-T4 nominally control the attack, decay, sustain and release, sliders L1-L3 adjust the level of modulation that sliders T1-T3 apply. This gives a greater, if slightly unusual, level of control over the envelope. Start shaping the pitch by setting the T1-T4 sliders to around 50. 5 Adjust the L1-L3 sliders until you’ve shaped the pitch envelope to your liking. We’ve set L1 at 90 for that trademark pitched attack, and L2 to 127 and L3 to around 100 to make the pitch fall more slowly. Modulating the VCA (voltage controlled amplifier) makes each note more pronounced: set the Env mode to Env and Amount to 30. 6 We dial in a bit of ReDominator’s Chorus (bottom right) to add some stereo width and depth to the sound – we set the Rate to around 60 for a cleaner, less obvious effect. To finish off, we add some analogue warmth to the finished hoover using Sonimus SatsonCM, and roll some bass off with its high-pass filter.