Leads should be very similar to pads but with more resonance, higher filter cutoff etc. so I'll mostly just give advice for pads.

Try putting on phaser, chorus and flanger to start with, they might help add a bit of interest.

Try adding some modulation, so a subtle slow lfo on the pitches of the oscillators, and the filter cutoff.

Then add some more different wave types, if you have a synth that can use those, and link them to the LFOs and envelopes.

Finally, try modulating the oscillators themselves if your synth supports it, by using FM/Ring mod/AM/PM methods. Link the audio rate modulation to some LFOs and envelopes etc.

Its all about adding movement and interest really. Also remember that a lot of pads are actually samples that have either come off a workstation or have been heavily manipulated. These are usually my favourite kind of pads.

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Yet more "genric crap" here as you put it but the video shows how each part is layered to create 1 sound.





Its all nexus stuff so everything kit has mentioned goes straight out the window lol..

To me, 4 layers is a bit ott but each to their own.

Last edited by Andy28 on Mar-15-2011 at 11:21

Layering a bunch of presets hardly requires a tutorial IMO.

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True, but aswel as the info you give him, its kinda what he's asked for, the video shows how the guy went about eqing each part to fit them together, its not like he just slapped them all straight on top of each other.

quote:

Originally posted by Sylee points you would mention to a beginner.

Its a starting point of how to layer in general, thought it was easier to post that than to try and explain it.
If its no use to nobody then my bad!

quote:

Originally posted by Andy28 True, but aswel as the info you give him, its kinda what he's asked for, the video shows how the guy went about eqing each part to fit them together, its not like he just slapped them all straight on top of each other. Its a starting point of how to layer in general, thought it was easier to post that than to try and explain it. If its no use to nobody then my bad!

It was SOMEWHAT of use, thank you. Watching other people work is a great way to learn, as you see how you can approach things differently. Sadly, that's the pad I am already familiar with, and as kitpphillips said; it only shows the layering and eqing.:/

kitphillips: Thanks for the input! Definitely gonna try these things out.

Btw, can you explain further what you meant with "Also remember that a lot of pads are actually samples that have either come off a workstation or have been heavily manipulated. These are usually my favourite kind of pads." How would I go about making one of these?

Thanks!

There were lots of workstations around in the 90s and early 2000s which had lots of choral sort of pads. The last one in that video is similar to what would have been on those machines. Keyboards like the Korg Triton and Roland Phantom had lots of pad presets which were created using real string samples, real choral samples etc. Then you've got all those old machines like underworld used for long dark train to make that choral sound there, which was mentioned on here a few weeks ago if you use the search.

On top of which, some of my personal favourite pads that I've made have come from messing around with samples, using granular synthesis, frozen reverbs, time stretching, found sounds etc... There's a lot to be done in that vein and sometimes those sound sources can really add some polish and interest to your pads.

So basically, there are lots of pads that can't be made using traditional synthesis methods, and sometimes they're really useful. A lot of the most distinctive pads you'd recognise aren't from synthesisers at all.

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Thanks for the answer! Some nice ideas there that I will definitely try out.

Following up on Kits points, I do have a Roland Fantom7 hardware digital synth which does indeed have great pads. I have yet to find as nice a pad on any of my own softsynths, althought the softsynths are often better at other sounds.

But of course you can create great pads on software synths - it's all about you needing to spend time experimenting and don't forget things like making the reverb just right - listen to some pro tracks and try and pin point the reverb style.

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