PRODUCTION

How to create the ultimate FX riser, the easy way

This month it’s time to design your own rising effects. Creating your own effects sounds gives you unprecedented control over their timbre and length. Simply changing the modulation rates and waveforms provides you with new variations so the effect remains interesting throughout your arrangement.

For this tutorial we’ll design a dynamic FX riser that increases its intensity over time. This is achieved by using two LFOs, one of which is modulating the other’s rate. When it comes to waveforms, most can be a suitable choice for designing FX sounds. We deliberately chose a sawtooth for its rich harmonic structure for this feature, but it’s also available across multiple subtractive synthesisers.

Our tool of choice is Arturia’s Pigments as it offers creative modulation options. These include the ability to modulate unison voices, spread and phase position of the wavetable. Also, being able to adjust the curve shape from linear to exponential is a very useful option.

Bandpass filters work wonders with FX, allowing the producer to target a specific frequency range and control its energy. This will play a big role in developing the sound we are creating today.

The final piece of the puzzle will be adding effects such as a delay and flanger. These effects will increase the stereo image of the sound as well as introducing additional movement and sonic interest.