Dear friends,
I'm looking for some help with very basic synthesis.
It is for the main chord in this nice piece (fades in at ~20 seconds and remains almost solo at end of piece):
It is basic but somehow I completly miss its essence.
What chord is it? How to synthesize it? Any tips for sylenth opr zeta user?
Thanks,
Ross21
Basic synthesis help
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- KVRian
- 852 posts since 28 Oct, 2004
Cmaj7 or Em/C = C E G B E
Take simple square wave sound and lowpass with low reso, add a slow LFO triangle/sine mapped to cutoff to get some animation
Remove the C and it sounds much less complex
Take simple square wave sound and lowpass with low reso, add a slow LFO triangle/sine mapped to cutoff to get some animation
Remove the C and it sounds much less complex
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- KVRAF
- 1595 posts since 17 Nov, 2007 from Seattle, WA
In case it helps, here's how I figure out chords.
First, look for the bassline. If it's not obvious, try to hum a note that you could hum for the entire time, no matter what chords get played. That's the root. This narrows things down a lot.
Second, try out building a common chord from the root. Sometimes it's major but more often it's a minor chord:
Root, +3 semitones, +4 semitones, +3 semitones, +4 semitones, +3 semitones + 4 semitones.......
Try out taking the top note or two, and dropping those by an octave. Or raise the root by an octave.
If that fails, in your DAW start clicking the notes in one at a time based on the single tones you CAN discern. Find the highest note first, since it's easiest. Then try to get the lowest note, sometimes tough if it's muddy but sometimes easy. Then try to get the second highest note. Once you've got two or three tones plugged in that you're certain of, you've only got at most two or three more notes to go, usually. A bit of trial and error with those two isn't so bad, so long as you're systematic.
A useful way to practice: Memorize the sound of the intervals of a minor seventh. Hum them with your voice. Get so that you can hit any note on the keyboard, and then hum those note in sequence to build a m7.
Once you've got that memory in there, it's kinda like the Rosetta Stone of music, and you'll be able to figure stuff out based on your familiarity with that chords intervals. It's usually just a matter of raising or lowering one or two notes by an octave.
First, look for the bassline. If it's not obvious, try to hum a note that you could hum for the entire time, no matter what chords get played. That's the root. This narrows things down a lot.
Second, try out building a common chord from the root. Sometimes it's major but more often it's a minor chord:
Root, +3 semitones, +4 semitones, +3 semitones, +4 semitones, +3 semitones + 4 semitones.......
Try out taking the top note or two, and dropping those by an octave. Or raise the root by an octave.
If that fails, in your DAW start clicking the notes in one at a time based on the single tones you CAN discern. Find the highest note first, since it's easiest. Then try to get the lowest note, sometimes tough if it's muddy but sometimes easy. Then try to get the second highest note. Once you've got two or three tones plugged in that you're certain of, you've only got at most two or three more notes to go, usually. A bit of trial and error with those two isn't so bad, so long as you're systematic.
A useful way to practice: Memorize the sound of the intervals of a minor seventh. Hum them with your voice. Get so that you can hit any note on the keyboard, and then hum those note in sequence to build a m7.
Once you've got that memory in there, it's kinda like the Rosetta Stone of music, and you'll be able to figure stuff out based on your familiarity with that chords intervals. It's usually just a matter of raising or lowering one or two notes by an octave.
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- KVRAF
- 1595 posts since 17 Nov, 2007 from Seattle, WA
Now that I'm checking it out, its an Am9, but the root is eliminated. The bassline part of the song plays the the A instead of the pad. Its the same notes Larm suggested, but I claim it's technically a different chord. 
If I were doing this in z3ta, I'd build the chord in the oscillators instead of via midi.
Osc 1: +3 semitones
Osc 2: +7 semi
Osc 3: +10 semi
Osc 4: +1 Oct, +2 semi
Osc 5: +1 Ost, +7 semi, 50% volume.
Lowpass filter it to taste.
You could run the oscillators in multimode, but it might not even need it. Some mild chorus might be good if it doesnt sound too phasey. Heavy reverb is a must.
If I were doing this in z3ta, I'd build the chord in the oscillators instead of via midi.
Osc 1: +3 semitones
Osc 2: +7 semi
Osc 3: +10 semi
Osc 4: +1 Oct, +2 semi
Osc 5: +1 Ost, +7 semi, 50% volume.
Lowpass filter it to taste.
You could run the oscillators in multimode, but it might not even need it. Some mild chorus might be good if it doesnt sound too phasey. Heavy reverb is a must.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 76 posts since 25 Jun, 2011
Hi,
Thanks for the tips ! Digging into this.
The problem I find with programming a synth to a constant "chord" or pre-known intervals, is that it it "nails" you down to that chord within the right key.
Anyway, I will practice this all, thanks.
Ross
Thanks for the tips ! Digging into this.
The problem I find with programming a synth to a constant "chord" or pre-known intervals, is that it it "nails" you down to that chord within the right key.
Anyway, I will practice this all, thanks.
Ross
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 76 posts since 25 Jun, 2011
Speaking of "Out Of Key" - Isnt't oscilator 4 "throwing" us out of key:
Osc 1: +3 semitones
Osc 2: +7 semi
Osc 3: +10 semi
Osc 4: +1 Oct, +2 semi
Osc 5: +1 Ost, +7 semi, 50% volume.
?
Ross.
Osc 1: +3 semitones
Osc 2: +7 semi
Osc 3: +10 semi
Osc 4: +1 Oct, +2 semi
Osc 5: +1 Ost, +7 semi, 50% volume.
?
Ross.