One Synth Challenge #187: ExtraBold by Nakst (Jasinski Wins!)

[Taron]

I'd like this, too, IV!
Yeah, it's pretty curious how motivating this little synth is to play around with.
However, I wonder if it will make us appreciate 10x over when a synth comes along again that offers a little bit more control. I think it's a brilliant one to get hungry for more!

[The Sound Of Merlin]

Yeah, but that's probably why the dev calls it a beginner's synth? I also would have liked to have some sort of a mod matrix to route all modifiers freely around to the oscillators and filters. But all in all I think it's a wonderful synth especially due its limitations. My experience with many almost limitless synths is that I often walk the same convenient paths and end up with the same kind of sounds. Thanks to its limits ExtraBold brings me to new ideas. Besides its limitations it also offers some quite unexpected things one normally wouldn't expect from a "beginner's synth". So thumbs up for the Nakst dev guy! Clever, very clever synth!

[Taron]

That sums up what I love about the OSC from the beginning, hehehe. Many times we get confronted with weird little curiosities and are forced to explore novel choices, hehe. But this is one of those times when the little curiosity is sounding quite beautiful.
I sincerely hope you'll get a track for this round, TSoM!

[The Sound Of Merlin]

Working on it Taron! Having fun with this one

[whassup]

You're very welcome, whassup!
This synth might be a pretty good one to study the basics of making synth drums. If you wanted to, I could give a small explanation so you'll have less trouble making them in the future. The tips would work for virtually any synth, I imagine. At least the gist of it.

That would be awesome!

[Taron]

You're very welcome, whassup!
This synth might be a pretty good one to study the basics of making synth drums. If you wanted to, I could give a small explanation so you'll have less trouble making them in the future. The tips would work for virtually any synth, I imagine. At least the gist of it.

That would be awesome!

Generic Guide to Synth Drums (single instance)

• Kick: If possible, find a SINE wave and use an envelope with tight decay to 0 sustain for pitch modulation. Could even have some sustain and a slow release, if you play short notes with it and want such a thing. The higher you set the pitch modulation, the more the kick becomes a smatter. Check the tone of your kick on speakers, not on headphones!!! That bright click at the start can sound butt-ugly over speakers more than headphones usually reveal. If there's a NOISE, use the noise, but then you'll want to use a LOW PASS FILTER set to just about the final bass frequency you want your kick to be at and with a modulation envelope, possibly the same as for the pitch modulation. Raise the envelope influence on the lowpass until you can perceive the noise and after that to your liking. Many synths allow you to modulate the noise volume, which would be even better, because you may want to use the lowpass differently than just to drown out the noise. Then you can get a sense of a rattling drum-set by leaving the filter open enough for a slight rumbling from the noise, adding some "smoke" to your kick. Be careful with the resonance! It is brilliant to find the right timbre, but can get awkward quickly. You also might want to tune your kick to your tonic, if it has enough body, but very tight kicks would allow your bass to stay in charge. Just always watch out that kick and bass are not clashing, disturbing each other. Using velocity to suggest more dynamics is extra beautiful. Have velocity on the envelopes for sure and just check what's the least you wish to hear and what's the hardest, of course. Some synths allow envelope stages, like the attack stage, to be modified by velocity. That's a good moment to play with that, too, for a slightly softer kick when played softly. Can have a neat effect. There are many other ways to create a kick, even with pure resonance low pass on a pure noise, but many synths have troubles to maintain a consistent filter envelope modulation. Extrabold offers even more options with the FM attached to wavetable choices. Yes, many different ways you can go about it, but the above is usually a solid start.

I'm half asleep while I'm writing this. But just thought I'd start anyway. More to come. Hmmm...maybe I should record a tiny tutorial series instead? Little less complication, more action.

[] Peter:H []

You're very welcome, whassup!
This synth might be a pretty good one to study the basics of making synth drums. If you wanted to, I could give a small explanation so you'll have less trouble making them in the future. The tips would work for virtually any synth, I imagine. At least the gist of it.

That would be awesome!

Generic Guide to Synth Drums (single instance)

• Kick:

I recommend this classical soundonsound series of tutorials about drum synthesize, with the following episode about bdr: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques ... -bass-drum.
The series is based on the assumption that the reader has kind of a modular environment at hand which is actually not what we usually have, therefore the Sine-Kick Taron described is a classic for the OSC and he has really described it very good...

But though our synths are usually not modular, I took lots of stuff away from the soundonsound sereis. Look in to the episode about snare for instance - you'll find good information about the frequency content of a snare, which in you can come close too if the synth at hand has 2 - 4 oscillators. The more the closer.

Adding to Tarons BDR thing, one could talk about mixing a bdr. You could think for instance about the Pultec trick, i.e emphasize lows but at the same time dip the "mud" zone a bit to avoid frequency masking. On top of that think about adding a tiny bit of parallel compression to the drums bus to give it more body.

[Taron]

Thanks, Peter! It's great to get to the mixing tricks, too. I still feel like I have a heck of a lot to learn there. However, I'd take it step by step as everything is challenging enough by itself, but all at once might be a little overwhelming.

Thank you also for pointing out that there are already plenty of tutorials on everything.

[empphryio]

I'm hoping someone will make a track featuring violin and vocals. https://soundcloud.com/anotherjaysherma ... al_sharing

[empphryio]

And as usual the prelim playlist will be updated as new tracks are submitted. (If there's anyone only on KVR who uses a/the playlist to listen to the tracks.) https://soundcloud.com/anotherjaysherma ... al_sharing

[silverpants]

And as usual the prelim playlist will be updated as new tracks are submitted. (If there's anyone only on KVR who uses a/the playlist to listen to the tracks.) https://soundcloud.com/anotherjaysherma ... al_sharing

Thanks for doing this Emp. I find it very useful. You provide a good service.

[IV!]

Some useful tips on drums in ExtraBold:
- Hi+ mode in effects works great with snares, hats and crashes!
- With things above, it's ideal to use the HP24 body resonance filter, while the additional LP6 perfectly forms the top.
- Try to turn on the "2x Oct" unison mode for any sound you've made, it's great for percussion!

[seap]

New mix for "Hold My Bear". Probably final mix.

https://soundcloud.com/seap681/hold-my- ... al_sharing

Mostly polishing. Enabled some oversampling for high frequency content (thanks to The Sound of Merlin). Added a few notes here and there and some subtle mod wheel and pitch to the string lead to make it transition between horn, brassy and string sounds.

Also tried drums inspired by the Taron bank, great drums, but alas, I could make them fit the rave style that the track had gravitated to, so I kept my original with some slight kick tuning.

[whassup]

Generic Guide to Synth Drums (single instance)

• Kick: If possible, find a SINE wave and use an envelope with tight decay to 0 sustain for pitch modulation.
  ...
  Yes, many different ways you can go about it, but the above is usually a solid start.

I'm half asleep while I'm writing this. But just thought I'd start anyway. More to come. Hmmm...maybe I should record a tiny tutorial series instead? Little less complication, more action.

Thank you! Much appreciated!

[whassup]

I recommend this classical soundonsound series of tutorials about drum synthesize, with the following episode about bdr: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques ... -bass-drum.

Cool! Thanx a lot!