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23 next-gen VST synth tips

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:43:00 +0000

One of the great things about software instruments is that they've freed developers from cost restrictions and enabled them to create synths that are as powerful and feature-packed as they can imagine.

But just as synth creators have raised their game, users also need to work a bit harder to get the most out of today's monster instruments. Read on to discover 23 tips that will help you to do just that.

For a complete guide to state-of-the-art synthesis, check out the March issue of Computer Music magazine (CM175) which is on sale now.

Learn your waveforms

The basic waveforms - sine, triangle, square and saw - all have distinctive tones. They all respond differently to filters, and they each have a unique character when stacked in unison. Familiarise yourself with these basic waveforms and experiment with your synth's settings so that you learn which waveforms are useful for which tasks.

Get a handle on the modules

When you first take a look at a synth, you might feel daunted or overwhelmed. Get over this by viewing each synth as consisting of sections or modules, then learning what each one is for. Treat the synth like your lover - 20 minutes of patient exploration early on will lead to hours of rewarding fun later!

Tweak and go

If you're not yet comfortable with making your own sounds from scratch, it's not a sin to use presets - far from it! However, no matter how limited your knowledge is, you must be willing to tweak the presets from day one. That way, you can fine-tune the patches to your track's needs and start to build your signature sound.

It's good to share

When you learn something on a synth, share it with someone. Trading tips and comparing notes with friends is beneficial to all parties. There are always multiple ways to achieve a timbre, so it's a good idea to find out the other methods people are using to get a more rounded understanding of the art.

Reverse engineer

you want a head start to learning what every knob on a synth does, start by exploring the preset patches. Be aware that not every control will have an audible effect on every preset - that's just the nature of synthesis. Open presets that you like the sound of already and try to figure out how they work.

Use references

If you're not sure whether your lead is as screaming or your bass is as thunderous as your favourite record, put on your favourite record. It really is that simple. Too many people neglect to make a direct comparison between their work in progress and the records they wish it to be played alongside. Close scrutiny is an absolute necessity.

Overanalysing

Spectral analysers won't do any synthesis for you, but at least they can help you to learn about sound. Fire one up to learn what's going on in your reference tracks and figure out where there are problems that you need to address in your work. Just make sure you pick the analyser that's right for you and set it to the fastest, highest-quality setting that your system's CPU can handle.

Get it on with a random

If your synth patch is running low on originality or character and you're running low on ideas or creativity, don't be afraid to try something random. Not every good idea will come intuitively, especially if you're looking to innovate. Maybe something you couldn't find a use for before is worth trying.

Creative restrictions

You don't necessarily need the flashiest synth on the market in order to come up with the flashiest sounds. If you're limited to the synths built in to your DAW or the freebies you can find online, you might have an additional challenge ahead of you, but you should try to view these restrictions as a reason to flex your creativity even further.

Saving banks

Even if you're not that good yet, you should keep your presets organised and save your own banks of them. This way, you'll always be able to refer to your work at a later date. Sometimes the stuff that doesn't turn out to be useful when you made it turns out to be just the thing you're looking for later on!

Get curious

Play with the different modes and settings on your synths. What does pulse width modulation do to a saw? Does the patch sound better with x2 oversampling, or x4 oversampling? What does saturation type 3 sound like? These are the sorts of questions you should be asking yourself.

Mighty morphin'

Synths such as LinPlug's MorphoX can morph from one patch state to another. This technique is a great way to put motion into a patch, even if the two states that you're morphing between aren't radically different.

Unique freak

If you're after a unique sound, look for synths with quirky and unconventional features. XILS-lab's PolyKB II boasts a morphing oscillator, for example, while Tone2's ElectraX can make sounds using fractal synthesis.

See you later, oscillator

A lot of modern synthesis is about breaking away from traditional waveforms (although you still need an understanding of these). Hamburg Audio's Nuklear, for example, employs pulsar synthesis. The stranger the things you can do with those oscillators, the better.

Layer synths

If producing the desired timbre with one synth is proving to be a challenge, try two or more separate patches. Layering sounds on different octaves is a surefire way to fatten up any mix, so long as each layer is neatly tucked into its own frequency space.

Layer acoustic sources

Layering acoustic and synthesised instruments can work a treat - they add an extra dimension to the sonic texture that's difficult to reach with synths alone. If you don't have access to live musicians, try an acoustic sample library.

Hybrid beasts

Hybrid synths are those that combine, say, FM synthesis with subtractive and wavetable. Synapse Dune does just that, so you can use multiple forms of synthesis in new contexts. Want to try FM patches in unison? No problem.

Noisy buggers!

A noise generator is an extremely powerful addition to any synth. Bursts of noise that are controlled with the filters and envelopes can add extra bite and presence to the attack of your patch. Alternatively, you might find that a bit of noise mixed in quietly fattens up your sound or gives it some high-end sheen.

Translate patches

If you've figured out how to produce a particular timbre in a synth, it's a good idea to take the time to open up a second synth and put both interfaces side by side. Do your best to convert from one synth to the other. They'll have to be using the same synthesis style for this to work, but you'll learn an awful lot about synthesis and those particular synths even if you don't get decent results.

Use audio editing

When you feel you've taken a patch as far as you can, you might want to take it out of the sequencer and put it into an audio editor for further work. Such software tends to offer editing at the sample level. You'll be able to zoom right in, copy and paste and generally bend the usual laws of physics.

Synthesise now, add effects later

Some synthesists hold the view that it's better to leave any FX until the end of the synthesis process. The argument is usually that you have more control over a timbre at the synthesis level, and it's better to modulate the oscillators or whatever instead of using distortion or something that might have negative side-effects.

Demo stuff

Most plug-in developers are generous when it comes to demo versions and trial periods. If you want to test out a new type of synthesis or find out whether an alternative synth would be better for producing the sound you have in mind, there's no excuse for not trying before you make your purchase decisions.

Take the plunge

There's no place for fear if you want to master an artform. Some people are put off by things that seem alien at first, but knowledge really is power. Just go easy on yourself and be patient! The time that you invest in learning new skills will be made worthwhile when you're trying to nail a sound later.

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Liked this? Now read: The 20 best VST plug-in synths in the world today

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Get the drum sound of Michael Jackson's Thriller

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:14:00 +0000

We set ourselves the daunting task of trying to recreate the sound of Thriller's verse groove using Logic and a few choice plug-ins.

The key to the sound of Thriller is nailing the Linn LM-1 drum machine kick, snare and hat/open hat parts and the Minimoog bassline. Try employing Logic's 'Varispeed' function in 'Speed only' mode, to slow down the original track so that you can learn the bassline and rhythm parts comfortably.

50 steps to better electric guitar tone

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:20:00 +0000

Tone... that mysterious, elusive quality that you know in your bones but can't define in your head. The world's top players spend their lives in its pursuit, while the rest of us chew over the minutiae of their sonic journeys.

It's time to cut to the chase – here are the 50 steps that are stone cold guaranteed to help you sound better. It's all pro advice, with no snake oil. Let's do this.

Click here to read 50 steps to better electric guitar tone.

How to make a breakbeat-fuelled DnB beat with Friction

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:39:00 +0000

Step 1: The starting point for this beat is the break from Jimmy McGriff's The Worm, as used on such DnB classics as Origin Unknown's Lunar Bass and Friction & K-Tee's own Overtime. Friction chops and plays back the break via Logic's EXS24. He has the snares coming from a separate EXS24 so that they can be processed independently later.

Free music software round-up: Week 103

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:39:00 +0000

We haven't seen a great deal of non-Apple music software on the Mac App Store yet, but there's an intriguing little freebie for you to try here. Plus, we've got drum, audio analysis and dynamics plug-ins.

If you've got a new free music software release, make sure you let us know about it by emailing musicradar.pressreleases@futurenet.com with all the details.

Oli Larkin pMix

Platform/format: Mac Download

An interesting VST plug-in chainer (pMix is a host) that enables you to morph between presets on a graphical interface. Each preset is represented by a coloured ball, and morphing can lead to the creation of new, hybrid sounds. You can use up to four plug-ins at a time and a selection comes included.

Toscanalyser

Platform/format: PC, Linux Download

Designed to help you mix and master better, Toscanlyser's job is to compare - audibly and visually - your tracks to commercial recordings. There's a range of analysis options on offer, and at the end of the process you're given a detailed report that you can act on to resolve problems.

JME-Audio Chip Rhythm

Platform/format: PC/VST Download

A programmable drum machine that gives you kick, snare, clap, hi-hat and tom sounds. Each of these has its own Volume, Filter and Tone sections, and you can program patterns of up to eight steps in length.

Voxengo AnSpec

Platform/format: PC, Mac/VST, AU Download

Another freebie from the generous chaps at Voxengo - this one is an analogue-style third-octave spectrum analyser. It's basically a visual tool that gives you graphical feedback (including peak level indication). There are no adjustable parameters, though you can change the level meter ballistics and resize the plug-in's window.

Direct Approach LimitX and BoostX

Platform/format: PC/VST Download

These two plug-ins were previously available for $29.99 each but are now free. LimitX is billed as a transparent limiter with 64-bit internal precision, while BoostX is an 'upward' compressor.

Dream Theater's John Petrucci and Trivium's Matt Heafy on right hand technique

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:16:00 +0000

Dream Theater's John Petrucci and Trivium's Matt Heafy recently sat down with Roadrunner Records to discuss guitar technique.

In this clip, right hand picking is the subject of discussion, with Petrucci demonstrating some great performance and practice tips in a A-list guitar lesson! Check it out and improve your playing today.

Also check outJohn Petrucci and Matt Heafy talking sweep picking via our friends at Total Guitar.

John Petrucci and Matt Heafy talk sweep picking

Dream Theater's A Dramatic Turn Of Events and Trivium's In Waves are out now. Special thanks to Roadrunner UK.

13 pro mastering tips

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:49:00 +0000

This might sound clichéd, but we're going to say it anyway: what Mazen Murad doesn't know about mastering isn't worth knowing.

His credits include releases from a raft of modern-day superstars, from the quirky talents of Björk to Duffy's sultry swing, Groove Armada's laid-back tracks and the raw rock muscle of Muse.

We asked him to contribute to our collection of pro tips for aspiring mastering engineers, and he duly obliged…

Move the bass

If your bass is muddy, try using mid/side EQ. "You can take out the bass where it doesn't need to be - say if there's a bit of spill into the stereo," says Mazen. By reducing the clutter from the stereo field, the centre bass can poke through, plus it's not getting muddled up in the busy side signal.

Compression affects width

A narrow mix can be widened using mid/side processing, as compression and gain on the outer frequencies will accentuate them. Just be careful not to obscure important parts in the centre, like bass and vocals. An overly wide mix can be reigned in by compressing the centre signal, then raising its level back up.

Tricksy kicks

If your kicks are cutting through too much yet turning them down takes out too much, try compression with a fast Attack and/or slow Release. Conversely, if your kicks don't come through enough, try a slow Attack to let the crack of the kick through, plus a fast Release. Multiband compression can zero in on kicks.

Drop the output

When creating MP3s, you'll often get better results by converting from a WAV that has been mastered to a slightly lower output level than 0dB. Mazen recommends -0.5dB. "I did the tests myself," Mazen shares. "The difference was unbelievable."

Use multiple limiters

"Don't just use one limiter," says Mazen. "I have two or three, each doing a little bit." This allows you to gradually scale up the limiting. Two limiters with 1.5dB of gain reduction could sound louder and punchier than the same limiter with 3dB reduction.

Too loud to be proud

It's a misconception that mastering alone is responsible for loudness, as any track's potential for 'going loud' is really down to how well it's mixed. If your mixes fall apart when pushed as loud as commercial ones, it's likely your mixing that's at fault, not the mastering.

Cut before you boost

"If your mix is too dull, don't add top end," suggests Mazen. "Try taking out some bottom end first." There's only so much space in a mix, and too much of one thing will obscure others.

Know the limits

"For the radio, sometimes louder isn't better," Mazen reveals. "Most people think that to get your tracks really loud on radio, you need to limit them, but we've done tests and if you limit it too much at mastering, it will be quieter on radio once it's gone through their system."

Do dither

Dithering is a complex subject, but all you really need to know is that you should apply it at the very end of your mastering chain, after all other processors (many master limiters include dither for this very purpose). Dither makes a very subtle difference that you may only hear on the quietest parts of your track, but it's dead easy to apply, and there's no reason not to do it, especially when rendering out to 16-bit WAV (eg, for CD). So just do it!

Notch the kick

"Don't use shelving EQ to boost your kick," Mazen warns. "When you do this, you are boosting all the harmonics too. Always use notching to just control the thud of the kick. Make sure you actually need to boost the kick, rather than making space for it in your bass using EQing and sidechain ducking."

Ramp up the vocals

If a vocal isn't cutting through, Mazen uses EQ. "I go to the centre and add some mids. I boost around the 2, 2.7, 3kHz range , depending on the vocal tone." He may also use a mid/side processor to make the centre channel louder.

Have some restraint

"Just because I have these great tools doesn't mean I have to use them on everything," Mazen warns. "If the music's well-balanced, maybe I don't need a compressor. It's all about gain structure. You want to turn your track up but you don't want to ruin the transients."

Back to the drawing board

If you find yourself using effects to excess, chances are you aren't dealing with a good enough mix. While a pro engineer might have to make the best of things in this situation, we DIY types have the luxury of being able to revisit the project and make the necessary adjustments right there. So, make sure your mix is up to scratch rather than trying to force it over the final hurdle that is mastering.

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Liked this? Now read: 9 pro mastering tips for beginners

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Drum kit maintenance 101: how to clean your drums

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:34:00 +0000

Your acoustic drum kit is a pretty straightforward instrument. It does, though, consist of hundreds of small items, each of which you need to keep an eye on and maintain properly functioning and squeak-free.

Some drummers like to keep their kit in sparkling condition at all times; others prefer the funkier approach, preferring to leave well alone, particularly their cymbals. And for most of us an occasional wipe-over with a clean cloth is all that's needed for day-to-day maintenance.

VIDEO: Sound design in Ableton Live

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:07:00 +0000

Once you've got a handle on the basics of music production, one of the things you can do to personalise your tracks further is to start designing your own sounds. And if you're an Ableton Live user, the tutors at Point Blank can help you out with a dedicated course on the subject.

Ableton Live 2 -Sound Design, is billed as "an insightful and bang up-to-date journey through the creative processes involved in making your own, unique sounds and textures at the cutting edge of music production". We have three preview videos from the course that deal with FM synthesis, the formant filter and making tech riffs.

The course runs for eight weeks and costs £645. Forthcoming start dates are 5 March and 30 April.

What is frequency modulation?

Psy Arp using the formant filter

Return FX rack - tech riff maker

Free music software round-up: Week 102

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:47:00 +0000

Money's generally a bit tight in January, but that doesn't mean you have to go without your hit of new plug-ins. Why? Because, as ever, we're here to tell you about all the new ones that are available for free.

If you've got a new free music software release, make sure you let us know about it by emailing musicradar.pressreleases@futurenet.com with all the details.

Igor Nembrini Crunck

Platform/format: PC/VST Download

A virtual guitar amp that takes inspiration from the developer's Marshall JCM800 mod 2210. It offers multi-stage distortion and two stages of output EQ, while its control panel keeps things simple.

Fsynthz The Teen Bundle

Platform/format: PC/VST Download

A free synth bundle that contains 10 instruments, all of which are based on a similar sound engine and the same control philosophy. They're designed as "a playground for morphing and randomness", so dive in and experiment.

Oceanturtle Fnequalizer

Platform/format: PC/VST Download

A paragraphic 7-band EQ that gives you bell, high and low shelf shapes to work with. There are additional low- and high-pass filters for bass/treble roll off, while a 'curve scale' feature amplifies the overall frequency response of all the bands.

Kuassa basiQ

Platform/format: PC, Mac/VST, AU Download

A nice-looking 3-band EQ that's modelled on a classic baxandall equalizer and is designed to achieve smooth shelves and natural-sounding responses. The controls are simple, and the plug-in is designed for both mixing and mastering duties. Use it to sweeten up your sound or give it some transparent 'tilt'.

How high should I wear my guitar?

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:21:00 +0000

There was a time when wearing your guitar up high on a short strap was about as cool as Death Valley marathon runner.

A low-slung guitar was an almost political statement, aligning you with punks like Johnny Ramone and Sid Vicious and sticking two defiant fingers up to the cape-wearing prog virtuosi and stuffy folk artists of the age.

Similarly, the pouting hair metal prima donnas and the guitar anti-heroes of grunge and alternative rock all tended to prefer their guitars slung low – with Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello an agit-rock exception that proved the rule.

Postmodern lovers

The end of the 20th Century ushered in a wave of new artists who shredded the rulebook. When The Strokes arrived on the scene, we scratched our heads.

There was Nick Valensi, stage right, sporting an Epiphone Riviera beneath the belt with the cold allure of a catwalk model. And yet over on stage left, Albert Hammond Jr was not only bashing away at a white Stratocaster that almost grazed his chin, but he was making it look brilliant into the bargain. Trousers got tighter, guitars got higher, lines were blurred.

With British guitar bands like The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys following suit and a new generation of metal players doing whatever the hell they liked, many teenagers forming rock bands in the noughties chose to keep strap lengths defiantly short, harking back to the mop-topped British pop heyday of the 1960s.

But back when London swung and there were 240 pennies in the pound, it wasn't all guitars-as-bow-ties. Keith Richards – a fully paid-up low-slung guy – would often poke fun at John Lennon because of the height at which the Beatle chose to play. And by the end of the decade, Jimmy Page had set the image of the male rock guitar hero in stone with a Les Paul dangling somewhere around his ankles and a cigarette hanging from his bottom lip.

Accepted wisdom and sensible guitar journalists suggest that, from both a medical and technical perspective, you have found the 'ideal' strap length if your instrument sits in the same position whether you are standing or seated. So how the hell do players like Slash manage to blaze away at the dusty end of the fingerboard when they wear their guitars so low?

Watch any video of the former GN'R man playing live and you'll notice that he usually changes position when intricate soloing is called for by pulling the guitar almost vertical, often resting the butt of the body on his knee. That's having your cake and eating it, right there.

The bottom (or top) line

These days, whether you decide to go high or low seems less of a badge of identity. As ever in rock 'n' roll, it's being committed that counts. If your six-string is hovering sensibly somewhere around your middle and nestling against your belly, you might just find that you've made the most conservative style choice of all.

Although we can't deny that our own instrument has crept up towards the middle in recent years, we encourage you to throw caution to the wind and be bold. Your heroes almost certainly did, and when it comes to gaining entry to the pantheon of rock greatness, sounding good is only part of the equation...

16 Maschine music making tips

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:53:00 +0000

Native Instruments' Maschine products have sparked something of a mini revolution in the world of hi-tech music making. Thanks to them, the groovebox/sampling drum machine concept has been reborn for the computer music age, and it's far more powerful than ever.

Maschine boasts vast sound libraries and total hardware control. It benefits from the well-structured workflow of a unit designed to be controlled without a computer screen, while also providing the power and in-depth editing only made possible by the use of a computer interface.

In later version updates Native Instruments has even added neat features such as hardware modelling, which allows us to capture the sound of old-school grooveboxes.

Here, we present 16 tips for anyone who's using Maschine or Maschine Mikro - either in the studio or on stage.

Cut out the middle man

To avoid problems when performing live with Maschine, disable any third party plug-ins you aren't using for the show. You can even switch them all off and deselect Scan On Startup for instant boot-ups without the risk of a crash…

Picking up plug-ins

…But do make sure Maschine is set to scan for new plug-ins on your system. To be sure it will pick them up and avoid frustrating headaches in the future, run Maschine in standalone mode straight after installing a new plug-in.

Tidy up your beats

Maschine can quantise the drum pad inputs (or other incoming data). When making beats in the studio, it's nice to have this off for more natural timing; but when creating rhythms and triggering samples on the fly, turning quantise on ensures a tidy performance.

It don't mean a thing…

If you've had fun creating cool drum buildups using the Note Repeat button and various effects, try using the Swing control to add and remove syncopation. This works really well on repeated 16th-notes.

Think past the obvious

Try not to use Maschine for just one thing; try to use it in as many different ways as you can. It's an instrument, so don't lose sight of that. However, don't feel like you have to use it on everything for the sake of it.

A case in point

If you regularly take your Maschine hardware on the road, get a case. The unit is tough, but it's not indestructible. After all, nobody likes having a broken knob, do they?

Save first, experiment later

When you're creating glitches and patterns with Maschine as a plug-in, render your best results as audio right away, before you keep making edits. This way, you won't ever lose your first idea, plus you can re-import the rendered version and mess with it some more!

Hip-hop inspiration

Nothing beats taking a sample from an old track and spanning it across the pads, then playing your own melody with the snippets. This classic hip-hop trick has never been so easy to pull off, so have a go yourself!

Length matters

Whatever you're sampling, always try playing with the lengths. Maschine is meant to be a performance instrument, so make sure you treat it like one - the length of a sample can really affect its swing and feel. Once you have a pattern down, play with the length of that, too. We love that old-school vibe of chopping samples off dead with the Length dial.

One-shot to win

Always experiment with switching One-shot on and off. With it off, you can make and automate changes using the ADSR envelopes. Try messing with this while you have a beat up and running so that you can hear the effect on different pads - you might find that you want to set each up differently.

Play other instruments

Unlike a ReWire slave in your main DAW, Maschine can open plug-ins. So, try loading a soft synth inside Maschine as a plug-in, then play it with the pads, apply auto-quantise, insert effects and whatever else you fancy. The way you play the synth might be very different, providing new inspiration.

Truncate terror

Be careful of the Truncate button when you are editing a sample - it completely ditches the unused audio either side! We aren't dealing with a wave editor here, where you can undo time right back to the second before you became a little too happy with the trim command. We've often truncated one slice of a phrase, worked on it, got it just right and then realised we actually wanted the whole thing. D'oh!

Get your effects right

When you add an effect to your freshly made sample groove, make sure you add it to the first free tab to the right. You can undo if you add it to the wrong module, but it's a pain in the backside, and we find it ruins our vibe!

Rescue shoddy drums

Maschine makes it really easy to add reverb and delay tails on the end of drums, creating little pumps and tails on the end of boring samples or drums that cut off too quickly. You can automate these. We also like to bounce them down, then reimport them and slice them so that we can play them with the tails.

Add your own samples

Make sure you add your own sample libraries. Most packs are categorised into kicks, snares and so on, so importing them all and then tagging them for style and description in Maschine takes seconds. Once that's done, you've created a ready-to-go library!

Switch up your timbres

Maschine is great for quirky beat creation. One of our favourite tricks is to replace, say, a tom pattern with vocal or other musical samples - you just drop them on the pads so they play instead. We're inclined to play drums like drums and synths like synths, so mixing it up often creates unique results.

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