How to make a Daft Punk-style synth guitar sound

Getting started

Step 1: A great deal of the character of the classic Daft Punk synth guitar sound comes from the processing the synth is subjected to, and Logic Express comes packed with plenty of excellent plug-ins. Create a software instrument track and insert an ES2 synth.

Choosing a sound

Step 2: You don’t really need a complex synth patch to get this kind of effect, but as ES2 has some cool built-in presets, we might as well use one of them. Select 01 Synth Leads»Brightest Fuzz. This is a big, thick synth lead that already packs plenty of punch.

Overdrive

Step 3: It doesn’t sound particularly guitar-like yet, but we can swiftly remedy that by adding some distortion. In the channel’s Inserts section, select Distortion»Overdrive. Turn the Tone knob fully up and crank the Drive up as high as possible. This processing is unsophisticated, but it gives us a chunky tone to play with.

Chorus

Step 4: To warm up the sound, let’s apply some chorus. Add another insert effect -this time select Modulation»Chorus. Set the Rate to 1.633Hz and the Intensity to 25%. Not only does this give the sound a much more organic feel, it also adds stereo width and movement.

Tape delay

Step 5: Let’s add another Insert before we start to program the part. This time, select Delay»Tape Delay from the list of effects. The default settings are OK for our purposes but the Wet level is a little high, so turn it down to 10%.

Ptich bend/modulation

Step 6: You’ve now got a Strat-ospheric synth sound that you can really rock out with. For that authentic Daft Punk feel, you’ll want to get a bit widdly, so we recommend liberal use of pitch bend and modulation to get as convincing a guitar feel as possible.