Posted - 2015/04/13 : 07:56:03
So I've recently started producing again after quite a while, I would really like to write some freeform but there are a few techniques that I hear used commonly but just can't wrap my head around. As I said to a friend "They use crazy synths that I don't know to program crazy leads using techniques I can't begin to work with on the same scale."
One thing is the acid squelch I hear a lot. There's always these crazy arpeggiated acid leads, are they using 303s in some way I've never thought, or is it a different synth?
There's another thing I've heard but can't replicate and that's what I'm going to assume is a triplet bassline, in a lot of tracks the bass isn't just one note after the kick it sounds like it's played two or three times like you would hear in psytrance or something but when I write it as triplets it just sounds shit and like it's only one note anyway.
Does anyone else maybe have any general tips or anything when it comes to freeform because unless I'm looking in the wrong place I find ****-all when I look.
I don't know, here's the last few things I've written, they're not freeform, and they're pretty terrible.
Alert moderatorEdited by - AkarinEffect on 2015/04/13 09:07:12
Hard2Get Advanced Member
United Kingdom
12,837 posts Joined: Jun, 2001
Posted - 2015/04/13 : 09:21:10
Its a very basic 303-type sound with slide on one of the notes yeah. It's slides and accents that seperate the 303 sound from all other sounds. You need either a 303 or a 303 emulator to get that sound.
Posted - 2015/04/13 : 10:14:26
I've always thought it was 303 or a clone, but every time I mess with a 303 all I get is this ridiculously fast arpeggiated abortion, rather than this slow rising and falling over 4/8/16 bars or whatever.
Hard2Get Advanced Member
United Kingdom
12,837 posts Joined: Jun, 2001
Posted - 2015/04/13 : 14:00:45
Well there are only a few notes per bar in that riff. So you will need to turn most of the notes off in the sequencer (to get that particular riff).
Audio Warfare Advanced Member
United Kingdom
3,047 posts Joined: Mar, 2009
Posted - 2015/04/13 : 14:25:29
quote:Originally posted by AkarinEffect:
There's another thing I've heard but can't replicate and that's what I'm going to assume is a triplet bassline, in a lot of tracks the bass isn't just one note after the kick it sounds like it's played two or three times like you would hear in psytrance or something but when I write it as triplets it just sounds shit and like it's only one note anyway.
If these are the sort of sounds you're looking for I can probably write you a quick tutorial on how I made them. Or if you have FL Studio, V Station and Phoscyon I could send you a cut down version of the project file with these sounds in.
I should note for starters that a triple bassline isn't a triplet. It's just KBBBKBBBKBBBKBBB in 4/4. Generally you would need to lower the volume of the first note or sidechain the bass against the kick (unless it happens to be an extremely short kick) or the low end of each will interfere with one another too much. You can still make the note quite prevalent by having a mid - high range layer that isn't affected either as much or even at all by the volume change or sidechaining.
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Listen to released and forthcoming Audio Warfare/Audio Weaponry tunes here:- http://soundcloud.com/audio-warfare
scottyd2k9 Advanced Member
United Kingdom
749 posts Joined: Dec, 2008
Posted - 2015/04/13 : 22:36:18
To make them rollbass sounds in sylenth 1
Put an envelope on the cuttoff or I think it's the other way around, in the mod env. Turn the black dial
all the way to the right, put the decay up a tad and bring down the filter.
I am terrible at explaining
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All Good Things Come To An End !!
If these are the sort of sounds you're looking for I can probably write you a quick tutorial on how I made them. Or if you have FL Studio, V Station and Phoscyon I could send you a cut down version of the project file with these sounds in.
I should note for starters that a triple bassline isn't a triplet. It's just KBBBKBBBKBBBKBBB in 4/4. Generally you would need to lower the volume of the first note or sidechain the bass against the kick (unless it happens to be an extremely short kick) or the low end of each will interfere with one another too much. You can still make the note quite prevalent by having a mid - high range layer that isn't affected either as much or even at all by the volume change or sidechaining.
That track is sweet, man. I do use FL and have a copy of Phosycon but haven't had V-station in years, would you mind being able to do a quick write-up? Because that would be awesome.
Bad Corey Average Member
United States
235 posts Joined: Dec, 2011
Posted - 2015/04/14 : 00:50:15
A lot of that signature freeform sound comes from good, sharp synths paired with some mad filter automations. I work with Evolutionize a lot, and MAN you should some some of the filter automation strings he makes. Here's a good example from our recent track Yolvenvur. I opened up the project file and took a screen shot of the filter automation on the very first bar of the preview here:
And this is what that first bar of sound looks like:
Take a wander over to Evolutionize's soundcloud for some other good examples, he does that sort of stuff in just about every track. There's so much that can be achieved by a good filter automation.
ViolonC Average Member
Germany
243 posts Joined: Sep, 2014
Posted - 2015/04/14 : 01:26:10
If you are looking for the acid i can give you a short hint.
"acid" is added by using a filter envelop on a low pass filter together with a lot of resonance. When creating in a synthesizer you broadly should follow this steps:
1. get you oscillator. Basic saw or square will do for now (don't leave the pulse with (PW) in the middle as this might not be the desired sound
2. add a low pass filter
3. Set the filter frequency (cut-of) pretty low (maybe 100 hz for a 24, 50 hz for a 12)
4. Set the resonance pretty high, maybe around 60-80% of the nob range.
5. Ad some clip distortion for the real 303 feel. If you don't have that some overdrive distortion will probably be the best replacement.
6. go to the filter envelope settings, and pull attack, sustain and release completely down. Set decay to around 500 to 1000 ms (probably around 20-30%)
7. Set the envelop amount to around half
8. now create a midi pattern which looks like below. Every _ is a 1/32 note.
|_ _ _ _ ___ _ _ |
copy as long as you want.
9. automate the filter frequency to open up and close over several bars
10. tweak all cursive parameters to your liking.
11. maybe add further oscillators
12. maybe add further FX
13. give me feedback as i'm not that experienced with this kind of synth :)
If these are the sort of sounds you're looking for I can probably write you a quick tutorial on how I made them. Or if you have FL Studio, V Station and Phoscyon I could send you a cut down version of the project file with these sounds in.
I should note for starters that a triple bassline isn't a triplet. It's just KBBBKBBBKBBBKBBB in 4/4. Generally you would need to lower the volume of the first note or sidechain the bass against the kick (unless it happens to be an extremely short kick) or the low end of each will interfere with one another too much. You can still make the note quite prevalent by having a mid - high range layer that isn't affected either as much or even at all by the volume change or sidechaining.
That track is sweet, man. I do use FL and have a copy of Phosycon but haven't had V-station in years, would you mind being able to do a quick write-up? Because that would be awesome.
Thank you. :)
BASS
The bass is just a fairly standard couple of detuned saws with a sine wave an octave below for the very low end. I then layer another instance of V-Station with just the detuned saws, heavily distort it around 500hz, and roll the bottom end off so it doesn't interfere with the other layer too much. This layer just makes it more gritty and gives it more presence in the mix. Obviously any Synth will do, V-Station is solid but certainly not unique in any way.
In terms of note layout it's just a bass note on each beat the kick isn't on. I have the first and third notes shorter than the 2nd one generally as this seems to work best for me but you can experiment with that. I then sidechain the kick against both layers of the bass, the one with the low end sine I tend to have ducking the kick more.
If you want that slide sound you get in psy trance just experiment placing a couple of notes in the bar on the octave above. Then turn portamento (or slide on some synths) up on both layers until the notes start sliding into each other a bit.
ACID
Basically it's just distorting the hell out of a 303 emulator, play with distortion and overdrive in FL. After you have the sound right you automate the cut off and resonance to make the rising and falling sounds.
For a note layout I like to use very short notes and have them playing on two octaves much like any arp lead. So _ _ - - _ _ - - kind of thing if that makes sense. ;) If you're making more of a lead sound with it you can of course use different notes on the same octave and play around a bit and you can just do something simple on one octave with one note. If you adjust the velocity on some of the notes you can make a pattern with the accent (try setting some velocities right up and some lower, you'll see what I mean).
You'll need to EQ out the low end and some of the high end for freeform and that'll give you the basic sound.
Hopefully this helps? If you have any specific questions just drop us a message on here or hit me up on Facebook.
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Listen to released and forthcoming Audio Warfare/Audio Weaponry tunes here:- http://soundcloud.com/audio-warfare
Alert moderatorEdited by - Audio Warfare on 2015/04/16 16:13:50
Dys7 Advanced Member
United States
1,231 posts Joined: Nov, 2011
I assume you're talking about this sort of thing ^
As AW said, its just three sixteenth notes, not triplets. If you don't understand music theory, basically, a measure can be split up into four groups of four. In the fourth group, he put in the last three notes and left out the first.
The sound is basically just a really tight and fat saw, but there has to be no portamento and no attack/release.
However, the trick to getting it sounding like you hear is sidechaining. The bass is chained off from the kick, so the it's only just fading in when it plays its first note, as the kick ends. That's why it sounds so fluid, the volume of the kick is directly linked to the volume of the bass.
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The above comment was likely written when I was *literally* 13, so please don't judge me too hard.
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Posted - 2015/04/13 : 07:56:03
