KVR Audio

DrGonzo · Post by **DrGonzo** » Mon Mar 20, 2023 6:53 am

What's your favourite sound design trick at the moment?

I've been working for a couple of months with a vintage analogue thing for Omnisphere, and I just realised how much I absolutely adore the cutting of voices when you set the polyphony to 3 voices.

So damn cool. Especially with pads.

/C

Cyforce · Post by **Cyforce** » Fri Mar 24, 2023 5:27 am

Multiband compression - is always a good tool to shape the frequency picture of a sound very intense while keeping it`s core character, at least for me. Serum with it´s OTT in it`s fx rack = <3

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Fri Mar 24, 2023 6:19 am

They're features, not bugs:

Here's a trick from the JD-XA: layer two synths and set one to a low polyphony (the other full polyphony). Now the sound will thin out and sound balanced as more notes stack.

Time stretch x 100: Acid used to do funky thing where if you cut audio, it would time stretch it to fill in the space. That's fairly pedestrian when you're talking about 1 bar loops (which is what that version of Acid was expecting), but if you recorded yourself making noises for 5 minutes and then cut out your favorite 3 seconds, it would stretch those 3 seconds to fill in the 297 second gap, creating all kinds of noises and glitches that worked great as ambient beds. This probably works better if you use a low quality time stretch algorithm.

DrGonzo · Post by **DrGonzo** » Fri Mar 24, 2023 6:43 am

Cyforce wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 5:27 am Multiband compression - is always a good tool to shape the frequency picture of a sound very intense while keeping it`s core character, at least for me. Serum with it´s OTT in it`s fx rack = <3

Ohh I love multiband compression when making sounds. The only problem I find with it is that it's easy to introduce insane clicks and pops. Never tried it with Serum though.

DrGonzo · Post by **DrGonzo** » Fri Mar 24, 2023 6:45 am

Uncle E wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 6:19 am Time stretch x 100: Acid used to do funky thing where if you cut audio, it would time stretch it to fill in the space. That's fairly pedestrian when you're talking about 1 bar loops (which is what that version of Acid was expecting), but if you recorded yourself making noises for 5 minutes and then cut out your favorite 3 seconds, it would stretch those 3 seconds to fill in the 297 second gap, creating all kinds of noises and glitches that worked great as ambient beds. This probably works better if you use a low quality time stretch algorithm.

That reminds me of the old drum n bass stretching technique on the Akai S1000. Yeah I agree - a fantastic way to create coherent and slowly evolving soundscapes.

HOTF · Post by **HOTF** » Sat Mar 25, 2023 12:56 am

I load up the PS-20. I patch the cable randomly without reading anything turn a few knobs ... I resample the madness i created and put it in a sampler and mess around with it

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sat Mar 25, 2023 1:12 am

Cherry Audio PS-20?

Cyforce · Post by **Cyforce** » Mon Mar 27, 2023 4:09 pm

DrGonzo wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 6:43 am
Cyforce wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 5:27 am Multiband compression - is always a good tool to shape the frequency picture of a sound very intense while keeping it`s core character, at least for me. Serum with it´s OTT in it`s fx rack = <3
Ohh I love multiband compression when making sounds. The only problem I find with it is that it's easy to introduce insane clicks and pops. Never tried it with Serum though.

True, the clicks and pops are an issue. But still sometimes - especially in combo - a great tool. Like within Serum`s own FX rack, combining the mini OTT with distortion (e.g. post distortion) to tame the frequency picture but keeping the raw sonic character the distortion gives the core sound and so on...

And of course, it also highly matters (in terms of tools or kinks in sound design) ... which genre you`re focused in. Like EDM/Techno drive/distortion is more used as a phaser. On ambient, the chorus is probably the primary tool, etc...

martiu · Post by **martiu** » Mon Mar 27, 2023 8:08 pm

DrGonzo wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2023 6:53 am What's your favourite sound design trick at the moment?

hi, i place some random samples into granular synths, lower the pitch, add some tape saturation and plate reverb and hope for the best

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Mon Mar 27, 2023 8:39 pm

Where's me glasses...

Your sound design stinks!

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Mon Mar 27, 2023 8:45 pm

i like attaching contact mics to my table, then drilling it, adding wires from audiothing and some huge reverb.
or my box with a spring on it, bowed, through a contact mic, plus effects...

lot of contact mic and effects business.

dobetter37 · Post by **dobetter37** » Mon Mar 27, 2023 9:13 pm

I like the PS-20 plan, Uncle E!

cthonophonic · Post by **cthonophonic** » Tue Mar 28, 2023 1:21 am

I figured out that the little EMF coil mics I got for recording the sounds of electronics etc. also work great as pickups for vibrating metal objects (provided said metals are ferrous/magnetic). So now out in the shed, I've got a bunch of rebar and wire mesh suspended from the rafters by twine and black bungees. It does in fact look a bit kinky...

DrGonzo · Post by **DrGonzo** » Tue Mar 28, 2023 3:24 am

BertKoor wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 8:39 pm Where's me glasses...
Your sound design stinks!

After a while you've been doing this you start to approach some zen like even horizon where things are just starting to become incredibly silly, fun and bonkers. One year ago I started recording the noise floors of all my gear. I can still listen to that and feeling some strange perverted happiness. I have no idea what to do with them though. Maybe me and 5 others would be interested in a collection like that. That's what mesmerises me about gear from SOMA - is their absolute passion for the weirdest of things.

Stinky sounds are like stinky cheese. Lots of opportunities

DrGonzo · Post by **DrGonzo** » Fri Mar 31, 2023 2:09 am

Cyforce wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 5:27 am Multiband compression - is always a good tool to shape the frequency picture of a sound very intense while keeping it`s core character, at least for me. Serum with it´s OTT in it`s fx rack = <3

I was just experimenting with the multiband compressor in Pigments and although it's really easy to make it pop and click, it's a really fun tool to use as an alternative eq. Used with extreme settings and sampled external soundsources, it also brings out the noise in the samples, which gives the sound a kind of old-school sampler vibe.

Your sound design kinks!