Tong organ

Fancy a bit of house or garage in your bass? Let’s build a contemporary classic, with our similarly classic ZebraCM soft-synth

When we look back at the sounds used in music production over the last 30 years or so, there are certain seminal elements that seem to keep coming around, continuing to offer a contemporary angle on production, despite the fact that their origin harks back many years.

One such sound is the patch which is often referred to as the Tong organ. So called, because of its organistic qualities, the Tong patch emphasises the harmonic from the series that reproduces the 5th above the note being played. It’s the principle on which Hammond organ drawbars operate, hence the association with the organ.

However, it is entirely possible to create a similar sound using a subtractive synth, and that is our guiding principle today, using ZebraCM. Some iterations of this form of patch may employ a second oscillator, tuned to a fifth above the main oscillator, to replicate the harmonic emphasis. The more classic and desirable approach to creating the perfect Tong, employs the filter to generate a sinusoidal timbre, via the use of resonance to emphasise the desired harmonic. This also requires the filter to use Key Follow, where the cutoff frequency of the filter follows the pitch played on the keyboard. It sounds far more complex than it is, as we will find out below…