KVR Audio

JD1101 · Post by **JD1101** » Mon Sep 21, 2020 4:19 am

Dear PluckMasters,

I cannot figure out how to create this pluck and it's driving me nuts!

Specifically, the start of it has a tube/bottle/kalimba/Finger Piano sound to it that I am just not figuring out.

Personally, I have not heard this pluck before and I find it very intriguing.

I prefer Serum but any help would be great on creating this patch.

Even a sample to get that first portion sorted, and then synthesizing the rest would be just great.

The pluck is heard at the start of this song. The first chord is A C# E I believe.

Any ideas!?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F1tj02SlAA

CHOOS · Post by **CHOOS** » Mon Sep 21, 2020 7:00 pm

You're gonna laugh but all it is is sines making chords.
randomize the volume of each note a bit so it doesn't sound too digital.
Maybe a hint of drive cause you can see some slight higher harmonics but that's it

JD1101 · Post by **JD1101** » Mon Sep 21, 2020 7:35 pm

Hey thanks for the reply!

I started feeling that it was sine based, too.

Can you take a shot at it and post your results with a audio file? I think the devil is in the details here and haven’t been able to nail it down to get that snappy “thhhhHHCCCK” sound at the start.

CHOOS · Post by **CHOOS** » Mon Sep 21, 2020 8:37 pm

Now that I've done it. I admit that it's not 100% sines.
I do hear another layer through it but a guitar pluck attack or even some percussive sounds mixed through it with give extra nice textures

https://vimeo.com/460321569

JD1101 · Post by **JD1101** » Mon Sep 21, 2020 10:40 pm

Thanks for putting that together!

Lol, at 8 seconds I got the chills because I thought you NAILED it. But it was the reference, lol.

At a glance, you have the base really close. The extra notes you added in sound good, too.

That's about where I've landed as well. But missing that first snappy “thhhhHHCCCK” part is where I get stuck. I think I hear some noise in there in the first part as well. The noise gives it the sound of a finger plucking a wooden tongue (like a popsicle stick flick). To me, similar to what you were saying, it seems like there's another pluck layered in. Perhaps a muted guitar, or a finger piano-type instrument?

Looking forward to watching your vid in more detail which I'll do in a bit or tomorrow at the latest.

Great effort, and thanks again for the reply. Let me know if you're able to crack the code!

CHOOS · Post by **CHOOS** » Mon Sep 21, 2020 10:52 pm

throw in a muted guitar sample and you'll be 95% there

JD1101 · Post by **JD1101** » Tue Sep 22, 2020 1:51 am

Great use of your tools.

Here's where I landed after lots of hunting for a decent guitar pluck to layer in. It's pathetic compared to the original, mainly due to the sample most likely.

https://www.mboxdrive.com/Cool%20Pluck%20Fail%2001.mp3

CHOOS · Post by **CHOOS** » Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:57 pm

I looked for a guitar sample but couldn't find any so i thought I'll create some artificial pluck attack to it.

https://vimeo.com/460686955

Then put this after it.
Reverb first > OTT

Capture.PNG

JD1101 · Post by **JD1101** » Thu Sep 24, 2020 3:30 am

Great effort.

I looked through hundreds of guitar samples and couldn't find a good fit either.

I spent all last weekend trying to replicate it so I need a break haha.

You're in the right ballpark there, but it's not quite there. It seems like you have the base synth dialed pretty nicely but that initial pluck sound is the missing magic I think.

If you end up working on it more I'd love to see how close you can get. I'll try again eventually as well. The example I posted was based on your approach, I've also tried a bunch of Ableon devices and even a Rumba Box (Kontact Player Instrument) but no luck.

I'll be royally impressed if you can get a match.

Thanks again for the posts!

kgdrum · Post by **kgdrum** » Thu Sep 24, 2020 3:53 am

@JD1101

just a suggestion but can you change the thread title to:

What the pluck?

JD1101 · Post by **JD1101** » Fri Sep 25, 2020 4:24 pm

Haha, great idea kg!

(I don't think I can change it though, unfortunately).

Unique pluck, can't figure it out, please help!