25 Synth Secrets for Your Setup
Get ready for a large collection of insider tips, covering a very diverse set of synthesizers. We invite you to discover and be surprised and inspired. And don’t forget: Most of these secrets can be adapted to any synth. Have fun!
Korg MS2000 Goes Hardcore
Switch on oscillator 2 only and set OSC1 level to zero. Turn on SYNC and let OSC2 pitch modulate at high tempo via LFO with S/H wave. Activate Unison with Detune of +25 and you have a killer sound. „Hardcore will never die!“
Your Own Theremin?
Quite simple and possible for any synth: Connect an LFO to pitch at a relatively fast tempo and control the intensity via mod wheel or aftertouch. Then, set it to mono and turn up the portamento…your own Theremin is ready!
Proper Doubling with U-He Hive 2
To make a sound thicker, the doubling production trick is ideal. This tip shows a simple circuit that allows doubling stereo software synthesizers on-the-fly. In this example, we‘re using u-He Hive 2, create two tracks and load the plug-in. Send each track to its own mono bus, which you panning hard right and hard left. Now program a pattern and move the MIDI blocks on each track a little, so that you don‘t have the same sound at the same time on both tracks. Additionally, you can use effects on one track that are slightly differently from those on the other. That way, you can get a richer sound image with the same sound.
The Studio as a Modular System
What works for voices and instruments is also suitable for synths. Why not simply record the hardware instrument with a boutique studio tube pre-amp and give the sound some sweet overtones. Ok, admittedly, this tip is nothing special at first glance, but you can take this idea a step further and your studio gear as a kind of big modular system. Imagine, for example, that you record your song’s synth parts exclusively with a tape machine and use it as a kind of big effects unit. (Not everything has to be emulated.) Then take the sound back into the DAW.
Playing Synths Differently
Another interesting way to create your own sound is to run the recorded synth sounds through the sampler meat grinder. In our example, we use the Serato Sample software sampler. Load the recorded audio file into the plug-in. Now you can easily set slices and change the individual sections in order, pitch and playing direction. If you play the individual elements on your MIDI keyboard, your beloved synth will definitely sound different than ever before.
d16 Sigmund as a Drone Machine
Sigmund is fairly close to a Swiss Army knife, as the effect combines delay, rich overdrive and multiband filter under one hood, all times four and with a powerful limiter at the end. No wonder that it can create huge textures and drones from even the smallest sound. Load the plug-in on a track, activate the low pass filter (LP) and set CUTOFF to 1 o‘clock. For the Delay TIME, we have chosen 4/16 and turned on OVERDRIVE. Be careful with the PREAMP, the knob at 10 o‘clock and COLOR at 2 o‘clock should be enough. Reduce GAIN a little bit if necessary. The Delay FEEDBACK we turn up to almost full and set it to full speed at SPREAD.
The actual drone effect is achieved by setting the following modulation: Activate the LOG mode, turn TIME to 8 o‘clock, CUTOFF to 2 o‘clock and TREMOLO to 11 o‘clock. As the source for the modulation, we select MOD 1 and set its tempo to 10 o‘clock. Last but not least, turn on the LIMITER and turn THRESHOLD back a little. Again, be careful, otherwise it will get loud! Now we can start feeding Sigmund with all kinds of sounds. Tip: If you want it to get even crisper, turn up the Filter Resonance.
Hardest Kicks & Basses with Ableton Sampler
If the built-in plugins Simpler and Sampler were to have a race for user favourite, Simpler would be ahead by a long way, not least of which is thanks to its integration in Push and Drumrack. Nevertheless, its big brother Sampler has a huge advantage in multisampling, modmatrix and other little features. Due to its inconspicuous appearance, it only ekes out a niche existence: Amplitude and frequency modulation.
But enough tech talk, let’s get straight to the point: Load a kick or a bass that you would like to make hotter, activate the Osc in the Pitch/Osc section and turn up its volume to -25 dB. Very important: To avoid the effect being permanent, which otherwise only leads to scratchy, aggressive sounds, you should reduce release and decay to about 600 ms. Now the frequency modulation is only active briefly each time the sample is triggered, which provides a pleasant punch. Find a nice balance of decay, osc volume and coarse and off you go!
Re-Amping with a Smartphone
Most software synths come with a fairly large number of sounds. Sound-wise there is often nothing to complain about and even professional users sometimes work exclusively „in-the-box.“To make sounds more interesting, you can use an audio interface to run them through; a guitar amp, for example, and record them again with a microphone. But why not think around the corner? One way to create a very unique sound is to record the signal of the software synth through studio speakers with your smartphone. You read correctly - with a smartphone. The fact that most devices have, shall we say, a moderate microphone can lead to the desired wow effect in certain arrangements. In any case, the recorded sound will not sound the same in any other song and will have a distorted, dirty sound.
Make Room for Synths with MIDI Delay
The MIDI delay is one of the oldest tricks from a time when plug-ins were not so easily available. Even today, however, using this technique makes sense in order to keep sequences or tracks transparent and clean. The principle is simple: the desired MIDI clip contains not only the actual notes of a melody or sequence, but also additional notes that function like a pseudo-delay, usually at half volume and then decreasing further. It is important that, in the Synth, velocity is linked to volume. The advantage of this method is that, not only can you position the echoes exactly and thus avoid overlapping with other instruments, but you can also automate these echoes in a very specific way; for example, the panning or pitch using pitch wheel automation. And the best thing about it: You can simply copy the MIDI clip to any other track.
Layer Instruments with Absynth 5 Sounds
Recording acoustic instruments is often a complex task. On the one hand, the room sound is very important and, on the other hand, the microphones used should meet professional requirements. But sometimes the recorded instruments do not reproduce sound we’re after. The Absynth 5 semi-modular synthesizer from Native Instruments has a large sound library that covers almost any application and makes it easy to thicken the sound of acoustic instruments. Take an acoustic guitar, for example. We have a recorded track with a plucking pattern in front of us. With the Absynth 5 sound „Classical Guitar,“we can reprogram it and place it under the guitar. Done. Of course, the whole thing works the other way around, too. This way a recorded synth pattern can sound more natural through recorded acoustic instruments.
New Rooms with Native Instruments’ Raum
Many software synthesizers have countless built-in effects. But why not switch off the internal FX and replace them with third-party plug-ins? A great tool for giving sounds some freakiness is „Raum“from Native Instruments. In its default setting, Raum is a good sounding reverb plug-in; however, if you choose the Cosmic mode, „Raum“interprets the incoming signals in a very experimental way and creates spaces that give each signal its own unique touch. Load the synth sound of your choice and feed the “room” bus with it. Now activate Cosmic Mode. Wow!
More Realism Thanks to Vibrato
As mentioned in the tip above, vibrato is one of the oldest techniques of all. Here, the pitch is simply modulated by an LFO to make a leaner sound. If you apply this to a static synth sound, it will suddenly sound much livelier. Even analog synths can be emulated by setting the LFO tempo and intensity very low.
The Finest Distortion from the Korg MS10
A nice trick to fatten up your Korg MS10: Patch the phono-out to the external signal-in and turn up the external signal knob. This creates pleasantly distorted bass and lead sounds.
Control Modular Synths with Any Synth & Sequencer?
Modular synths respond to CV signals whose voltage represents the pitch or other parameter settings. Even if you don‘t have a modular sequencer, you can still control your CV-compatible gear in most cases. We use an MPC – unlike its current colleagues, it does not yet have any CV outputs – and load a simple rimshot that’s supposed to work as a clock generator. Alternatively, you can use simple rectangle or pulse waveforms. Record a 16th sequence with constant velocity and send it via a sub-out to the clock, gate or trigger-in of your modular synth. To find the correct volume, slowly turn the volume up or down until the synth responds. And voilá, your pseudo-trigger is ready to go!
Signature Sounds Despite of using Sample Libraries?
Kontakt instruments and other loop libraries often have extremely high-quality sounds and boast instant readiness. This is great when things have to be done quickly, but it has the disadvantage that owners of the same library also have access to the same loops. Say farewell to your signature sound? Not at all! Sure, loops can be completely broken up and reassembled, but if you really want it to go fast, just load a pitch correction effect like MAutoPitch onto the track and tune the sound using a selection of „allowed“pitches on the one hand and the FORMANT SHIFT parameter on the other. Both have a direct influence on the sound character without making the instruments unusable.
Double Filters for the Novation Nova
Route the output of a voice to a mono (instead of a main) output and back to the special features of an oscillator via the external input. That way, the filters are available twice. This can lead to particularly fat and electronic sounds; however, you should only try this for monophonic sounds, polyphonic sounds will quickly end up sounding muddy. A Fatter Yamaha DX200
Some synths simply live forever and the DX200 is definitely one of them. In order to make this digital beast sound a little more powerful, select one of the three amps, turn the effect all the way down to zero and set its output volume (not the master out) to a value between 30-50. This makes the sound thicker and rounder without distorting it.
An Octave Pedal Makes Every Synth Sound Thicker
These are available for as little as 30 Euros and have an amazing effect on synths: Octave pedals double a sound by one to several octaves and not only make it fatter, but also help bring out a good bit of signature sound. Our tip: The Nether Octaver from TC Electronic is already available for 34 Euro – you can‘t go wrong with it.
Make Roland XPs sound more analog
Not hard to do, but maybe you‘re familiar with it: The XP‘s can sound more analog, the option for this is hidden in the „Common“menu for the patches. The „Analog Feel“parameter can be adjusted from 0 to 127 and makes the sound a bit more unstable, a typical characteristic of analog synths.
Make Sounds Sit In The Mix with Tremolo Effects
In an age of ultimate multi-effect plug-ins and synths that can do almost anything, terms like vibrato and tremolo seem extremely old-fashioned; but both have great applications. If a sound doesn‘t want to blend into the mix, you can either load a tremolo plug-in or connect an LFO to the volume of the synth. In either case, the effect should be tempo-synchronized with the song, preferably at 1/8 or 1/4 notes, and the sound will fit much better.
More Cult, More Trash!
Old Casio synths with internal speakers are very popular as they stand for cult trash sounds like no other; but, if you add trashy floor pedals to these synths, the sounds literally rise to a completely different level. Our recommendation: Boss Distortion DS-1 and Phaser PH-1 to the Main-Out and you‘re ready to rock!
Thorn Solo: Fresh Melodies thanks to Controlled Coincidence
In most synths, velocity is linked to volume. Does it have to be that way? Not at all! Specifically, in our Thorn Solo, there are hundreds of parameters available that can be modulated by any source, including velocity. For testing purposes, connect Velocity to All OSC Pitch at 15% intensity and start by playing a 16th note sequence with the same pitch but different