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9. Stereoising narrow synths with plugins

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While many synths feature inbuilt widening features, it’s often useful to begin with a mono synth sound before adding width with choice plugin processing. Let’s use Plugins to explore some synth-widening techniques: drop Synth Riff.wav – an arpeggiated riff that’s mono and narrow – and Drums.wav onto new audio tracks in a 127bpm project. 2

One speedy way to ‘stereoise’ a mono signal is using JST and Boz Digital Labs’ SideWidener, which can add pseudo width to a narrow source while maintaining mono compatibility. Load it as an insert on the synth channel, then crank up the Width; choose from three different widening algorithms, and pull the Tone knob left to centre the widened signal around midrange frequencies. 3

Auto-panning can gently move a synth around the stereo field – an effect we can apply using Wolfram CM’s modulation routing. Call up a fresh instance (after deleting SideWidener), then head to the Patchbay. Set LFO1 as the source and Manipulator 1 » Pan as the destination. Turn up the Amount, and LFO 1 will pan the signal at a rate set by the R1 knob at the plugin’s top. 4

Short stereo delay is another triedand-tested widening technique. In Wolfram CM, turn off Manipulator 1 and turn the Filter + Delay section on. The resulting delay effect is mono by default, but the Offset parameter separates the left and right delays’ times – raise it just a touch to instantly spread them out. Set Feedback to 0, Time to 50ms and the Mix to taste. Experiment to find settings that work well in both stereo and mono. 5

Now let’s explore the use of short reverb. Delete Wolfram CM, then send the synth channel to a return track (by -6dB) containing an instance of LiquidSonics’ Reverberate CM. Load the 14: Basement Wide preset, then set the plugin to fully Wet. By setting the Envelope Shape’s Hold to around 0.003s, we create an extremely short stereo layer. Raise the IR Gain to -10dB to hear this more clearly. 6

By loading plugins before Reverberate CM on the return track’s plugin chain, we can alter the signal entering the reverb and modify the widening effect. Load a new Wolfram CM before Reverberate CM, then crank Modulator 1’s Pitch to its max. This transposes the incoming signal up an octave before it hits the reverb for a pitched widening effect. Set Wolfram CM’s Mix to halfway to blend the original, unpitched signal back in.