Zebra Oldskool Project

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pdxindy wrote:all around spectacular stuff!
Yep! I check Mike's never-ending thread at least 4 times a day...
BTW: I wish there was an audio-specific word for "spectacular"

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glokraw wrote:Zynaddsubfx has a 24 patch Rhodes bank, excellent variations, I'll bet if you look at the settings in the edit page, you'll get some ideas for the nuance you're seeking! Plus another 23 related sounds in the SynthPiano bank...good luck!
Zynaddsubfx is a brilliant piece of work, but i rarely turn to other synths to see how a thing was done because then it would be a emulation of a emulation. The way i mostly work is that i brainstorm a synth and save any sound that just have a sparkle of something and then later on i try to pursue it and get it isolated as much as i can to see if its enough. If its not enough i turn to regular synthesis by building up from the ground, but that method has a 50% chance of coming out as a layered sound instead of a hmmm pure and whole sound.

I think its about perception on how you think people percieve a certain sound. Many of my sounds are not perfect but they just have the right amount of body to be identified as a sound like-but a bit different type of sound. On top of that i think of where the sound should be positioned in a mix so i put my full focus on the body that actually will be heard and disregard the minor details which will drown in the mix anyway.

Another thing is the last test which is does the sound have enough body to stand on its own. Imagine playing a solo to some backing music and then the backing stop, will the sound be able to carry it self alone or not.

Thats some of my thoughts when i'm doing sounds :)

/Michael
www.xsynth.com - Sound Synthesis with Vintage flavour

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mkastrup wrote:Thats some of my thoughts when i'm doing sounds :)
Thanks for the insight, Mike. Until your recent suggestion about EQing my "Hoover" patch, I never thought much about how a sound would fit in the mix - I just went for the "can it stand alone" bit.

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Thought it might be an idea to post an example of the workflow in making a sakamoto like thing. I think its 13 saves i made of the workflow and i put them up side by side so you can hear how the initial sound turns into a sound with body.

Its not finished yet but the second last thing you hear is where i am at the moment and now its something i can work with. Last thing you hear is the initial idea.

http://www.michaelkastrup.com/synthdemo ... oto_01.mp3

/Michael

EDIT: changed text since i did last minute changes to the mp3 demo.
Last edited by mkastrup on Sat Jul 21, 2007 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
www.xsynth.com - Sound Synthesis with Vintage flavour

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mkastrup wrote:Its not finished yet but the last thing you hear is where i am at the moment and now its something i can work with.
must....purchase....Z2 oldskool vol 2...can't...wait...

I just hope Reason 4's release this fall doesn't take you away from Z2 design. I'm enjoying the daily progress mp3s as much I'm sure I'll enjoy learning from these presets!

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Another brillant effort!

At around 0:48 the patch sounds like it's being layered with a bowed/string pad. Is that for effect? Then at 1:35 the oad goes away. I'm not complainging since both sound amazing. I'm just curious.

Off topic (sort of): What is your workflow is for developing a song?

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glokraw wrote:Zynaddsubfx has a 24 patch Rhodes bank, excellent variations, I'll bet if you look at the settings in the edit page, you'll get some ideas for the nuance you're seeking! Plus another 23 related sounds in the SynthPiano bank...good luck!
... Link to that bank ?


mkastrup wrote:After sitting with that rhodes thing for so long i needed to chear up so i had an idea, why not make something to go with one of my favorite tunes, infact it should be all independant sound designers fav tune :hihi:

http://www.michaelkastrup.com/synthdemo ... ordion.mp3

Excuse the sloppy play style but its real early around here :)

/Michael
Very nice but you should use velocity and a more natural playing, it sounds too MIDIish right now (but I guess your first plan was to "build" the sound I know) but sounddesign is great, as usual.

And yes I'm tempted by Z2 just for its comb filter, I already heard great sounddesign by pdxindy using that filter... and I'm more and more tempted

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bmrzycki wrote:I just hope Reason 4's release this fall doesn't take you away from Z2 design. I'm enjoying the daily progress mp3s as much I'm sure I'll enjoy learning from these presets!

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No worry, seems like propellerheads have covered the all the sound design aspects of Thor by inviting a team of sound designers. So it will prolly be redundant if i was to make something for Thor too, which again means i can put my focus elsewhere.
chardin wrote:At around 0:48 the patch sounds like it's being layered with a bowed/string pad. Is that for effect? Then at 1:35 the oad goes away. I'm not complainging since both sound amazing. I'm just curious.

Off topic (sort of): What is your workflow is for developing a song?
At 0:48 i put in strings to see what is kept of the koto'ish sound when blended with other sounds, to me the koto'ish thing still has its body so i continue with small nuance settings and tuning. Finally i play the Sakamoto like theme and after that i play the initial sound as it was when i first got the idea.

Regarding song workflow, ill get back to that at some point.
Boulotaur2024 wrote: Very nice but you should use velocity and a more natural playing, it sounds too MIDIish right now (but I guess your first plan was to "build" the sound I know) but sounddesign is great, as usual.

Yep, the thing you heard was my third attempt of making a accordion body and it will be dealth with later :)


/Michael
www.xsynth.com - Sound Synthesis with Vintage flavour

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The original koto sound has tons of character. Doesn't matter that it's "thin", it's a keeper :)

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Howard wrote:The original koto sound has tons of character. Doesn't matter that it's "thin", it's a keeper :)
Yap 2 octaves of character and then it blows and is completely useless in any direction :) Agreed, the initial sound has alot of character but to me the inital sound is more like a Roland D10 on a 50 KB ROM card coming out of my neighbors kitchen radio :hihi: The almost finished one covers 6 octaves and have some of its original sound back plus some more. There will be 2 versions 1 with ARP and one without so they can compliment eachother.

Here is a example of the ARP patch so far: (poorly played but you get the idea)

http://www.michaelkastrup.com/synthdemo ... oto_02.mp3

That concludes the little demonstration of a typical "from idea to finished" patch.

I'll save the finished ones for the Oldskool 2 release.

EDIT: havnt found a way to produce those strummings like i want them yet, dunno if its possible to have MSEG affect the gate on ENV. My first try at it didnt go well :?

/Michael
www.xsynth.com - Sound Synthesis with Vintage flavour

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Today i tried making a New Age like kinda thing while testing some bells, tamborine, flute and a weird oboe.

Normally people would throw this kinda music thru a reverb like Artsacoutstic but is it really necessary cause i think Zebra Rev and Delay do a splendid job in this case:

http://www.michaelkastrup.com/synthdemos/Z2_NewAge.mp3

Not one thing in this piece is quantized so bare with me ;)

/Michael
www.xsynth.com - Sound Synthesis with Vintage flavour

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Apart from excellent sound-design skills you're music is also beautiful!
All the examples you have given in this thread are patches from your Oldschool vol.1 soundset? (and upcoming vol2 set)

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sushishiva wrote:Apart from excellent sound-design skills you're music is also beautiful!
All the examples you have given in this thread are patches from your Oldschool vol.1 soundset? (and upcoming vol2 set)
Thank you sushishiva :oops:

All Vol 2 demos are made with use of Vol 2 stuff only, except for the Happy Zebra song which uses from both 1 and 2.

I have 5 patches from the Vol 1 soundset that have been improved ( if you ask me :) )

I can quickly name them:

MK Brassoletto : Altered the ARP sequence to be non melodic. This was the initial purpose with this patch.
MK Kick Small : Made a new kick which is between the MK Soft and MK Small ( This kick is also used in the New Age demo)
MK Saw Octave Piano : Made a dual version to give the ABBA style of synth.
MK Soft Male Voice : New version controlled by Aftertouch.
MK Wannabe Solina : Made to respond more soft to velocity play and have a (better) phaser modulation.

I will make a note if something is used from Vol 1 but i try to avoid doing it.

/Michael
www.xsynth.com - Sound Synthesis with Vintage flavour

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mkastrup wrote:Today i tried making a New Age like kinda thing while testing some bells, tamborine, flute and a weird oboe.

Normally people would throw this kinda music thru a reverb like Artsacoutstic but is it really necessary cause i think Zebra Rev and Delay do a splendid job in this case:

http://www.michaelkastrup.com/synthdemos/Z2_NewAge.mp3

Not one thing in this piece is quantized so bare with me ;)

/Michael

it is beautiful... I keep listening over and over

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:shock: Another amazing effort!
Are the conga/bongo sounds done by Zebra too?

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