MusicRadar

Those all important hoovers are easy to program in Steinberg's A1 synth

1 of 7 » View in gallery

15. For hard-style tracks the percussion is generally a bit more minimalistic, and is more about processing on the kick and the arrangement of the fills rather than layers of percussion. Using different velocity levels can add a dynamic touch to your kick drum fills, but you may find it plays havoc with extreme compression or gate settings.

16. Hoovers are as prominent as they've ever been in the hardcore scene, and knowing how to program your own can help you develop a more individual, face-banging sound. All you need are a couple of detuned saw or pulse oscillators with a high sustain level and short attack and release times on the amplitude envelope. From this template you can create a wide variety of hoovers rather than relying on standard presets or samples.

17. Adding a filter to your hoover is a handy way to build in a bit of movement.Low-pass filters are good for bringing the sound and out, but high-pass or band-stop ones are better for general sound shaping. Try tying the cutoff to your controller's mod wheel for high-precision control. Remember, you'll want to keep the resonance levels quite low unless you're going for an acidic effect.

18. If your hoover's sounding weedy, there are plenty of ways to beef it up. For a nastier sound you could use a parametric EQ with a high Q value to cut a notch into the sound. Alternatively, if your hoover doesn't have enough weight, try layering it up with a sine wave, but be careful it doesn't interfere with any basslines you've got playing at the same time.

19. One final hoover tip: for an old-school/ DnB-type effect, put your synth in mono mode, and turn its portamento value up to a fairly high level - it should take about 0.1 of a second to reach the new value. If the result just sounds too inebriated, turn the portamento value down for a somewhat more sober effect.

Catch my riff

20. If you're a piano-head you'll need a half decent piano sound, as a poor quality one can make your track sound cheap and nasty. 4Front Piano Module is a superb free VSTi that's very light on CPU usage and features the sort of clear, solid tones you'd expect from a pro keyboard.

21. Although the pounding kick drum provides a fair deal of hardcore's low-end, you're going to need a decent bass sound for the accompanying bassline. You'll probably want to keep the low-pass filter cutoff value quite low so the bass doesn't clash with the mid of the bassline. To beef up the sound, try adding some sub-bass via a sine oscillator, preferably at the lowest audible octave your bassline will allow.

22. Because hardcore's low-end is so busy, it's possible to really pull sounds out with astute use of EQ. If you've got a pad that needs bringing out in the mix, try a low-cut EQ at 200Hz or an EQ peak at around 1kHz. Be careful, however, as the delicate subtlety of a good pad patch can be ruined by overzealous EQing, so start out with small gain values that you can tweak until they sound perfect.

23. When using short, stab-style synth sounds, try playing your riffs on and then off the beat to get an idea of the different rhythms and vibes that can be fashioned. Variations in note length can add a bit more interest to a sound - turn up your patch's sustain level if this doesn't seem to have any effect.

23. A bit of pitched percussion can spice up your track - try pitchshifting a snare or whole breakbeat up an octave, then fine-tuning the pitch so it works with your track. Pitch the snare hits around to create complementary percussive melodies.

Around the web: