SYNTH MASTERCLASS

Dave Gale on how to recreate a synth favourite on a favourite synth

Some patches have an immediate sonic identity, a little like that earworm that you hear in a song, but can’t quite place. That’s our synth patch this month, often referred to in synth circles as the Oscillator Sync. Strangely, this is not a sound which is possible on machines such as the Minimoog, but was certainly implemented on later Moog models, most likely due to the presence of the Sync mode on synths made by competitors, such as the ARP Odyssey. Hence, you’ll find that the ability to sync oscillators was implemented on many of the mono and polysynths that occupied the tail end of the 70s and early to mid 80s and beyond.

The first prerequisite for creating this lead sound, is that your chosen synth must have two oscillators; it’s impossible to sync oscillators, unless you have at least two! Secondly, there must be a switch labelled Sync, which will normally reside somewhere between two of the oscillators. Once you know you have these, you’re in business, and that business will allow the creation of a classic lead sound that you’ll hear on tracks as diverse as Jean-Michel Jarre’s

Laser Harp, which was originally created on an oscillator-synced Elka Synthex, and Daft Punk’s

Let’s sync!

Robot Rock.

This new synth series is designed to show you some useful production techniques employing the free synths in the suite of plugins we give you each month at FileSilo. Download them now from filesilo.co.uk.