There's this particular character that the synths have in a lot of Boards of Canada songs. Someone else did a BoC tribute song that perfectly exemplifies this:
http://forum.watmm.com/index.php?showtopic=6655
My question is: how do they make that sound?? It almost sounds like they ran a synth through some distortion, but when I try it it comes out wrong (too harsh, without the little harmonic(?) nuances, etc.).
- Jer
How to get old synth sound?
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- KVRist
- 103 posts since 27 Jan, 2003 from Zagreb, Croatia
I would think they were using hardware equipment...Everx piece of analog gear adds a certain amount of hiss and distorts in a pleasing way when pushed into red...don't know about the mp3 you gave a link to, but Boards of Canada most probably used analog synths...
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- KVRAF
- 2548 posts since 7 Jul, 2003 from Huntington, WV
It's possible to achieve some fuzzy effects sort of similar to this by feeding a distorted signal into the input of a synth's VCF. The VCF knocks off a lot of the rough edges that were present in the original signal. I once modified one of my old synths to accept external signals from other instruments and process them through the VCF, and then subsequently the VCA. I remember sometimes getting some effects sort of like this when the signals coming in were distorted before entering the synth.
take care,
McLilith
take care,
McLilith
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- KVRist
- 103 posts since 27 Jan, 2003 from Zagreb, Croatia
Moog modular 2 and Minimoog V have this feature. You can use their filters and FX to process the external sound fed into them...
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- KVRAF
- 3964 posts since 31 Aug, 2003 from In a foreign town, in a foreign land
BoC have been known to record their stuff to tape, bouncing it up and down until the original was thoroughly mangled.
Groet, Erik
Groet, Erik
Pop music delenda est.
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- addled muppet weed
- 111299 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
this months computer music has a sound like BoC tutorial
i use orions on board noise fx generator which gives that grainy quality im sure there will be a few freebies out there of the same ilk
i use orions on board noise fx generator which gives that grainy quality im sure there will be a few freebies out there of the same ilk
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- KVRAF
- 3964 posts since 31 Aug, 2003 from In a foreign town, in a foreign land
Come to think of it, I once made a pretty faithful Boardism with my TX-81Z, using an E-Piano sound as basis.
Made it a bit more sine-y, looooong release, set a slow LFO to modulate pitch, sounded great.
I'd post the *.syx if I could find a way to export it with my setup.
Groet, Erik
Made it a bit more sine-y, looooong release, set a slow LFO to modulate pitch, sounded great.
I'd post the *.syx if I could find a way to export it with my setup.
Groet, Erik
Pop music delenda est.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4330 posts since 20 Feb, 2004
That would be awesome if you could do that!
What do you mean by making it "more siney"? Did you edit the waveform or something like that? I don't know what kind of synthesizer a TX-81Z is, that may explain my bafflement.
What do you mean by making it "more siney"? Did you edit the waveform or something like that? I don't know what kind of synthesizer a TX-81Z is, that may explain my bafflement.
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- KVRist
- 52 posts since 24 Jul, 2004
Boards of Canada "old" or "f*cked up" sound it's not hard to get.
Tips:
* Use synths like impOSCar or PPG, they emulate hybrid digital-analog. Old harsh low bit digital sound passed through analog-like filters lead to very strange fx.
* Pass your synth sound through something like Amplitube or GuitarRig. You are emulating the sound of an amp, certain amount of overdrive, speaker and microphone. That can be enough degradation.
Virsyn TERA has "speaker emulation" capabilities.
* You can make judicious use of things like PSP VintageWarmer. It never fails to make things thicker or more distorted but in a strange way.
Have fun.
Tips:
* Use synths like impOSCar or PPG, they emulate hybrid digital-analog. Old harsh low bit digital sound passed through analog-like filters lead to very strange fx.
* Pass your synth sound through something like Amplitube or GuitarRig. You are emulating the sound of an amp, certain amount of overdrive, speaker and microphone. That can be enough degradation.
Virsyn TERA has "speaker emulation" capabilities.
* You can make judicious use of things like PSP VintageWarmer. It never fails to make things thicker or more distorted but in a strange way.
Have fun.
"Épater les bourgeois"
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4330 posts since 20 Feb, 2004
I have the impOSCar demo and love that fat sound... Some of the presets come pretty close to what I'd want in a BoC knockoff although without the distortion & lo-fi degradation. Pro53 also has a very nice old-skool analog sound, tho not quite as nice at impOSCar IMO.
I tried passing various sounds through Amplitube at various settings and didn't get anywhere close to the sound in that example song. Did manage to make my synth sound like a screamin' guitar lead, tho.
Is PSP Vintagewarmer like Magneto? I've messed around with Magneto and it seems to get the sound a little closer in the direction I want.
I tried passing various sounds through Amplitube at various settings and didn't get anywhere close to the sound in that example song. Did manage to make my synth sound like a screamin' guitar lead, tho.
Is PSP Vintagewarmer like Magneto? I've messed around with Magneto and it seems to get the sound a little closer in the direction I want.
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- KVRAF
- 2217 posts since 15 Jul, 2003
some of daniel dummer/ daniel drummer's fx can push things in a pleasantly distorted way
Grease Tube, Tube Limit, his Pre-amp fx
do a search on TLS Maximizer and you'll find his site
Grease Tube, Tube Limit, his Pre-amp fx
do a search on TLS Maximizer and you'll find his site
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4330 posts since 20 Feb, 2004
Thanks to everyone who has provided advice!
Okay, I am getting _close_ to the sound I want, through various methodologies:
- There's a Martin Brinkmann (the Reaktor meister) ensemble called QuadRez or somesuch at the Reaktor User Library that takes audio and adds resonance at 4 selectable frequencies. Got kinda where I wanted to the BoC sound using a Pro-53 bass patch routed through Quadrez with the appropriate tweaking.
- As for running noise throw a VCF: I tried running both white and pink noise through Absyth's filters but it just sounded like "whistling" or something like that. Not the warm fuzzy distortion. Am I doing something wrong?
- Now here's a possibly fruitful approach: I took a vintage-style lead in Absynth that takes 2 of the 3 osc's, then for the third osc I put a constant-note sine osc. All 3 osc's are run through the waveshaper and then a lpf. The waveshaper will, of course, add "distortion" to the sine osc; adjusting the relative gain of the 3 osc's to put the sine in the background makes a sound somewhat similar to the BoC "fuzzy synth". Maybe I need to add some envelopes to vary the sine osc's gain or the master filter cutoff... Anyone here an Absynth master who can perfect this idea or tell me that it won't work?
- Another idea that I have yet to try: Take a noise wave as a modulator and a classic-type lead again as a carrier in a vocoder setup. Vokator might be able to do the trick here. Anyone want to comment on the approach?
Finally, if anyone can make an example patch for any SW synth out there that does this elusive BoC sound (well, elusive for me anyways but that's possibly because I'm incompetent) and put it on the web, I would be forever greatful.
Okay, I am getting _close_ to the sound I want, through various methodologies:
- There's a Martin Brinkmann (the Reaktor meister) ensemble called QuadRez or somesuch at the Reaktor User Library that takes audio and adds resonance at 4 selectable frequencies. Got kinda where I wanted to the BoC sound using a Pro-53 bass patch routed through Quadrez with the appropriate tweaking.
- As for running noise throw a VCF: I tried running both white and pink noise through Absyth's filters but it just sounded like "whistling" or something like that. Not the warm fuzzy distortion. Am I doing something wrong?
- Now here's a possibly fruitful approach: I took a vintage-style lead in Absynth that takes 2 of the 3 osc's, then for the third osc I put a constant-note sine osc. All 3 osc's are run through the waveshaper and then a lpf. The waveshaper will, of course, add "distortion" to the sine osc; adjusting the relative gain of the 3 osc's to put the sine in the background makes a sound somewhat similar to the BoC "fuzzy synth". Maybe I need to add some envelopes to vary the sine osc's gain or the master filter cutoff... Anyone here an Absynth master who can perfect this idea or tell me that it won't work?
- Another idea that I have yet to try: Take a noise wave as a modulator and a classic-type lead again as a carrier in a vocoder setup. Vokator might be able to do the trick here. Anyone want to comment on the approach?
Finally, if anyone can make an example patch for any SW synth out there that does this elusive BoC sound (well, elusive for me anyways but that's possibly because I'm incompetent) and put it on the web, I would be forever greatful.
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- KVRAF
- 3964 posts since 31 Aug, 2003 from In a foreign town, in a foreign land
Don't hold your breath, though, I've never been able to export .syx from my TX-81Z.JerGoertz wrote:That would be awesome if you could do that!
Not as straight-forward as my Pulse. Much to my frustration, because if the memory goes all my patches wiil be lost. With those 1.000.000 parameters I'll never be able to reproduce them.
The TX-81Z is one member of Yamaha's family of FM synths.What do you mean by making it "more siney"? Did you edit the waveform or something like that? I don't know what kind of synthesizer a TX-81Z is, that may explain my bafflement.
Great little beasty. I've been hearing it's presets on a ton of house, techno and early EBM records since I got it.
The E-piano sound is build from modulating sine-waves, I edited the envelopes and chose a different algorithm for modulation.
Groet, Erik
Pop music delenda est.