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Beachboy · Post by **Beachboy** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 12:11 pm

Hi,
first of all I have to say that Zebra 2 is a very fantastic synth and I use it a lot.
Now my question goes to the sound designers because I don't know where to start. Is it possible to create a choir sound, like the ahhhhs and ohhhhs of many hardware workstations? With just using the formant filter I don't get that sound, so I think the secret lies in the waveforms. It would be great if you could share your ideas with me.

Thanks
Andreas

mellotronaut · Post by **mellotronaut** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 12:20 pm

I'll check it out...never made a choir-sound yet, but there was an issue in 'Keys' maybe two years ago, how to get it (was it Synth One or FM7?).
I'll come back later.

Mello

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:26 pm

Well, when I started working on the oscillators, my intention was to actually recreate that old Fairlight ahhhh sound. That's what the turbulence effect in the osc fx section was meant for. But d'oh, it's hard to get even close.

However, there are quite some patches for Zebralette that do feature that rough voice thing, but mostly for brass sounds. I guess one has just to accidentally come up with the right settings one day...

(or maybe I have to add a special choir-like osc fx that works better than turbulence)

Later,

Urs

Beachboy · Post by **Beachboy** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 9:03 pm

(or maybe I have to add a special choir-like osc fx that works better than turbulence)

this sounds like a very welcome feature for a future update.

After reading Urs' post (I love those Fairlight ahhhhs too!), I tried to use the turbulence fx in combination with expander and formant filter. It's getting better and better, but I don't really know, how a suitable waveform for choirs should look like...

Andreas

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:20 am

I think that there might have to be a little comb filtered noise to add that breathy part of it... it's just not easy to bend the comb filtered stuff into something non-metallic and warm... I'll give it another try when I have a couple of hours...

Urs

Beachboy · Post by **Beachboy** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:02 am

I gave it another try with turbulence and formanzilla and added some combed noise as Urs suggested. I created a small sample with 3 chords which could be heard here:

http://download.free-transfer.de/2702_Y ... 0VNY0.html

It would be great if you comment on that and what could be improved.

Andreas

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:06 am

There's a Nord G2 patch called Isao's Dream that has the best synthetic vocal sounds I've heard - something like this would be great:

http://electro-music.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9124

Boulotaur2024 · Post by **Boulotaur2024** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:13 am

@aMUSEd : omg, superb patch

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:18 am

Yeah - all Coolcat's (Menno) patches are great - this one does some great solo and choir voices - male and female - sounds better than Virsyn Cantor to me.

Beachboy · Post by **Beachboy** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:25 am

it's really nice sounding! Isn't it possible to analyse this patch and maybe try to have similar parameters in Zebra? Unfortunately I don't have a Nord G2 but someone who has one could give it a try.

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:28 am

I'll take a screenshot so people can see the layout - its all built out of basic modular components so that's why I thought it might serve as a model.

spuddle · Post by **spuddle** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:30 am

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:35 am

Without cables (to show modules)

With cables (to show routings)

mellotronaut · Post by **mellotronaut** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:53 am

Thanks a lot for this, amused!
I wanted to try to do some choir-preset (in Zebra 2 beta)too, but my external hard-disk said goodbye yesterday and now I have to solve a lot of problems.

Mello

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:41 pm

Here is a Choir preset I made. I read the thread and wanted to see if I could come up with a Choir I liked.

Definately better in the high range, where I am happy with it. I had to do some heavy eq tweeking to get the high and low to be anywhere near the same volume...

and whatever you do, don't turn up distort in the comb modules! It goes into heavy feedback... ouch...

http://draigathar.org/zebra/choir%203.fxp

edit - the Zebra2 formant filter is not quite like others I have used... I wasn't really able to get good aaahh, oohhh etc... anyway, here you go, and maybe someone can use this and improve it too...

I used 2 comb modules... with 1 I could only get a noisy vocal sound though I liked it, but it was very quiet even with all volumes turned max. The second comb module takes the output of the first and then mixes back in so the volume is increased, but the vocal character is bit less...

u-he

KVR Audio

Choir sounds