Hey guys,

am after some advice as to which vsti or hardware synth is best to make that attacky sound from such is life (rank 1), it comes in at the 1 minute mark. I was looking at sylenth1 possibly, but hardware isnt out of the question either. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I have a jp but have had no success in creating this sound properly.
cheers,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bHNnyGv3TE

sounds like a normal synth with enveloppe on the cutoff, i think that what makes the sound is the fact that its chords and not single notes

yeah, tried a lot of different cutoff and envelope settings but its the actual tone im struggling with, im fairly confident I can get the shape of the sound correct as far as attack/decay/sust/release goes. Ive tried all the different waveform types and various combinations of them on my jp but just cant get it, its killing me! Im missing something, i know it!

quote:

Originally posted by madmuso yeah, tried a lot of different cutoff and envelope settings but its the actual tone im struggling with, im fairly confident I can get the shape of the sound correct as far as attack/decay/sust/release goes. Ive tried all the different waveform types and various combinations of them on my jp but just cant get it, its killing me! Im missing something, i know it!

It was probably made with a JP since its Rank 1 from that JP period...

Post a sample of what you've done and I'll see if I can advise.

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This pluck is fairly common though. Most important are the envelopes of both the amp and filter. Turn the OSCs to saw. The amp attack, sustain and release on 0, same for the filter. Play with the decay a bit and possible the sustain and you should be there real quick .

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quote:

If less is more think about how much more more would be. -Frasier

I just spent a few hours tweeking again, and yes you're right, i discovered that the saw waveform seems to be the best for this sound, but, I still cant get the front edge of the sound to be as attacky and flicky just by using the filter and amp envelopes alone on the jp, perhaps there is a fair bit of post synth production on the rank1 track.
The frustrating thing about the jp (which has been mentioned before) is that with the attack and release on 0 you get an annoying "glitch" or "tick" sound, you have to have the attack slightly up to get rid of it which does effect the sounds shape. I'll keep tweeking and when I feel ive gotten at a good point i'll post a clip and you guys can criticize for me, cheers,

God I love that song.
Don't be afraid to try detuning OSCs too, as well as potentially some glide. Can often give it that extra edge that you can't get by playing around with just the envelopes.

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ANY subtractive synth can make it. But since you have the JP its probably your best bet as most trance from that period was made using JP. Anyhow it sounds more like a juno.

quote:

Originally posted by madmuso I just spent a few hours tweeking again, and yes you're right, i discovered that the saw waveform seems to be the best for this sound, but, I still cant get the front edge of the sound to be as attacky and flicky just by using the filter and amp envelopes alone on the jp, perhaps there is a fair bit of post synth production on the rank1 track. The frustrating thing about the jp (which has been mentioned before) is that with the attack and release on 0 you get an annoying "glitch" or "tick" sound, you have to have the attack slightly up to get rid of it which does effect the sounds shape. I'll keep tweeking and when I feel ive gotten at a good point i'll post a clip and you guys can criticize for me, cheers,

Hehe you could use just about any other (soft)synth though . It's a fairly common sound. If you don't mind putting VST effects over your synths then you might want to try flux bittersweet (use Google, it's a free plugin) which can help you get that initial timbre even more upfront.

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quote:

If less is more think about how much more more would be. -Frasier

Yes, as Storyteller suggests, you often find such sounds are enhanced with something like Flux Bittersweet or the SPL Transient Designer. Your DAW amy also contain such devices for getting that snappy fullsome tonality. Beware when you then go on to sidechain such an instrument as it's a fine balancing act needed on things like the sidechain compressors attack and decay and using a nice snappy sidechain impulse. Get it wrong and you end up with a sound which ducks too much at the wrong moment and often in erratic manner that sounds like the synth is comming and going in a haphazard way.

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also try using a compressor with a piano, acoustic guitar or similar type preset, gives that extra snap to the attack.

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