Beautiful, plain, warm pads

How to make that sound...
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@ 2:54, those pads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y9uqrlhiGo

So warm and deep. I can get close. It's a fairly plain sound. There's no spectral envelope. But it has a warmth and depth. A lot of it has to do with the way the bass notes and other parts layer with it. Those bass notes are something like an old fashioned pedal bass, very soft and the envelope dies out well before the next note.

At the moment I'm using a supersaw (Diva), with oscillator 2 accenting a harmonic at +19 semi with a distorted triangle. This adds a melancholy ring to the sound. I've got the filter cutoff low and the "dramatic" chorus enabled with a very low rate and range (otherwise, it gets too seasick). I also have a tiny amount of pitch LFO on the whole patch, to destabilize it just a tad.

I think adding something like a Dimension Expander type effect would help to make the pad more "solid". Perhaps a short room ambience.

Does anyone have any tips for getting these really warm, dark pads?
http://sendy.bandcamp.com/releases < My new album at Bandcamp! Now pay what you like!

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I think a big part is the composition. Certainly beautiful. I want to say I've heard the same kind of pads from Harmless, Crystal, Zebralette.

May not hurt to cycle through the pad presets of other synths you have and just listen for what you're looking for, taking note of what they programmed differently.

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Yeah, I think the devil really is in the details - choice of chords, and the other instruments layered with it, plus production FX, etc.

This is one of my favourite tunes at the moment, so peaceful.
http://sendy.bandcamp.com/releases < My new album at Bandcamp! Now pay what you like!

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Good find, for sure.

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Sendy wrote:Yeah, I think the devil really is in the details - choice of chords, and the other instruments layered with it, plus production FX, etc.
.
This is it.

Very often people get put off by the simpler sounds, whereas in the right context of instrumentation and harmonic structure, these 'simple' sounds become alive and serve their function perfectly.

A beautiful track, by the way.
http://www.electric-himalaya.com
VSTi and hardware synth sound design
3D/5D sound design since 2012

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Dare I say that concept goes beyond just music. Like spices in plain meat :D

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I still say there's a certain "glow" to that pad sound which seems to come from that particular sound or effect. Perhaps an enveloped chorus (with the sound starting wet and becoming dry towards the end) or something like that.

Does anyone have any tips for making warm, glowy sounds?

One trick I enjoy is to set the whole patch to wobble in pitch very slightly and slowly, then adding delay to the whole thing. That causes the pad to beat with it's echoes as they overlap, which creates a very warm and delicate sound. But it doesn't glow! :x
http://sendy.bandcamp.com/releases < My new album at Bandcamp! Now pay what you like!

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my small opinion:
subtle use of unison always introduces depth and weight to pads. and the oldest trick is to detune layers so that the sound becomes full but just a tiny bit volatile, in other words adds some dynamism. there are so many factors you can utilize, reverbs ( esp. like the valhalla plugins) and double tracking is something i often do, so you get even more dimension to the sound. as others have noted probably the crucial element is the melody or musicality. that's what i am always aiming for before i start to mess with the sonics and production. sometimes the simplest least unadorned elements can have real emotional power. enough that you don't need to add much to it with production tricks.
a case in point, been playing with this freebie: http://vst.majken.se/
...it's capable of some very emotional sound. as are the zebralette and podolski plug in synths which are also free i believe. although no links to hand at the mo..
get the music first and the sound will come more easily.
( in short, arrangement is everything)

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Podolski! That synth is way underrated! :D

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Zebra.. try kb tracked 6 db/oct LP on any PPG-ish spectral "bell" timbre. ..maybe in dual mode with some detune also for some stereo "unison"

Try a fairly damped reverb for the "glow"

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Some of the glow might come from overlapping chords because of the relatively long release. It might help to set the filter release clearly shorter than the amp release, so the sounds can overlap in a muted way, yet not sound like a mess.

Those are mostly sine and triangle waves, right?

I know that pad sound from another, much older song, am thinking hard, will add it once I remember :P
Found it, but it sounded better in my memory than in reality :P

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