Chapter 10: Patches With Welch's Synthesizer Cookbook

Every synth is different, but many are made to perform the same functions. Knowing this, it is possible to create a preset sound, known as a patch, that can be used on many different analog synths or virtual analogs like DSN. One book that has a bunch of good universal patches is Welsh's Synthesizer Cookbook.

This may be a bit last minute for your holiday wish list, but this book helped me when I first got my Realistic MG-1 synthesizer and had no idea what to do with it. The book really is mostly a cookbook with recipes for sounds and it is designed to be used on most 2 oscillator subtractive synthesizers. I first bought this book 5 years ago and lost my copy during a move. I have been thinking about it recently because of how easily the recipes can be implemented in DSN, with a brief explanation.

The values in this book are actually quite easy to figure out, because in addition to listing absolute values in seconds, he also has relative values. Again, not every synth is exactly the same, but the patches here are close enough that you only need small adjustments to get it sounding right. 

Let's start with the detune of VCO2, listed in this book in octaves, semitones, and cents. Semitones and cents are subdivisions of an octave, so there are 12 semitones in one octave (each note is a semitone apart) and 100 cents in a semitone. This means that moving up from the key C4 to C5 goes up one octave. The distance between two keys is the same, whether or not it is a black key. So, moving from C4 to C#4 goes up 1 semitone, and moving from E4 to F4 also goes up 1 semitone. Cents are useful for doing microtonal sounds and but mostly used to detune the two oscillators o create harmonics. 

Unlike the MS-20 or the iPad version iMS-20, we don't have the ability to give VCO2 a separate octave from VCO1 in the same Track, but this could be achieved by using more than one Track with a copied sequence. The detune knob of VCO2 has a range of 3 octaves in either direction from the center position, according to my tuner. The lack of a value given within DSN makes it difficult to determine the adjustments in between, so we have to rely on hat sounds close enough to our ears. There is nothing wrong with a bit of uncertainty and imperfection in music, though, but it can be frustrating to not have all the answers.

I should also note that keyboard tracking CANNOT be turned off for our VCO2 in DSN in order to make a constant pitch drone sound, but using another track can do this, too.

This book uses LFO value in Hz, but also says in parentheses if it's slow, moderate, or fast. This is easy enough to make with our MG wave. For amplitude, route the VCO2 to VCA, this can be adjusted like our FM waves we made before.

Glide is our portamento, with glide time controlled by the amount setting, just play around until it sounds good.

This book only uses a Low Pass Filter, with Resonance meaning our Peak, and envelope amount controlled by the VCF EG INT. 

Some patches have a third oscillator that is noise, I think you know my suggestion: use a separate Track.

Voices means adding in more than 2 oscillators at once, this isn't really necessary but, yeah...additional Tracks again.

The ADSR values are in seconds. I don't have those values mapped out, but it's easy enough to just try different values until it sounds good.

On the book's Amazon page, there is a sample recipe for a cowbell (didn't I promise a cowbell in the drum chapter?). Instead of previewing the sound with the B button, I set up a sequence with a C4 note repeating, this is necessary for really getting a sound that sounds correct at the pitch you want to play it at. Here is my interpretation of Welsh's cowbell.

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Moment of Reflection-Everyone's a Musician

This post is not a tutorial chapter, but instead meant to explore an idea I had while using synthesizers. I've heard musicians like Moby and Scott from Tycho (check out the Podcast Song Exploder) make statements about the appeal of drum machines and electronic music. Usually it boils down to the guitar being a bit intimidating or full of expectations, whereas messing about on a drum machine is its own reward without feeling like you have to be special in order to use it. I think this idea is meaningful, that anyone can be a musician, but that's not to say electronic music is without challenges or somehow less than an accomplishment. I've played guitar and bass, and although it does give you calluses, sore fingers, and a better sense of timing, there is an upper limit of expressiveness that I've encountered simply because my hands can only move so fast, there are only so many chords my hand can make, and obviously the limit of the type of sounds possible (unless you really invest in fx pedals, but even then it's still guitar at its heart).

When I first started getting into synthesizers, I was intrigued by the idea that unlike my childhood Casio, a real synth would allow me to create my own sounds from basic building blocks. Not only would the patterns and notes be a way to express a song, but the timbre and sound itself a reflection. I could create a virtual orchestra of unique instruments from my own design. The more I learned about how to shape and control waveforms, the more I was able to understand natural sounds in the world, as in what they are made of and how to sculpt them. I feel it's as much of a tool to understand the world than it is an outlet for creative expression.

Using DSN, I am now thinking more about composition than playing live. Some may say this is easier, but really it makes me think more like a composer than a performer. I do this by selecting the patterns of notes for each instrument, planning out the flow and timing of changes, and deciding what instruments will be in the composition. Is it a challenging mental task? Sometimes. Can anyone do it? I still say yes, because the barrier to entry is low enough that you can get as deep as you feel like going. Just click some options and hit play.

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Chapter 9: Drums

Drums are the heartbeat of a song. I like to get lost in melodies and synthesizing new sounds, but without a beat, it's just sound effects. I have learned a lot about drums and rhythm from going to Djembe drum circles and watching MadZack's finger drumming tutorial. In this lesson, I will go over different ways to make specific sounds and I will briefly mention some things I've learned with sequencing a drum pattern. 

Keep in mind that the speakers on your 3DS do not have a lot of bass to them, so you won't be able to fully hear the low sounds without headphones.How many instruments are in a drum kit? For reference, in the GarageBand app on my phone, the drum kit has 13 distinct sounds and the drum machine type interface has 12. You don't necessarily need that many parts to make a good drum beat, but I want to go over them all.

Another super important thing I should mention is that naming your Tones will make your life so much easier. From SYNTH go to Tone and Set Name. This allows you to see on the top screen what tone you are currently working on. It may not seem like it matters at first, but as your song gets more complex, it helps to be organized. I like to jump between tracks on the synth page using d pad up and down, names help me not get lost.

The most common drum sounds in a rock drum kit are:

Bass (or kick because you step on a pedal)

Floor Tom

Hanging Toms (a low and high)

Snare Drum

Ride Cymbal

Splash Cymbal

China Cymbal

Crash Cymbal

Hi Hat, which is two cymbals together, can be closed with a foot pedal to stop the ringing.

You can also hit the two drumsticks together

Additionally, common in digital drum machines are

Clap

Cowbell

Reverse cymbal 

Maraca or shaker

Or any kind of banging or quick samples you want 

I really like incorporating world music, so I also like using gongs, bongos, and castanets. It's quite similar to other drum sounds, but with a little something special.

Most cymbal or snare sounds can be made with filtering and enveloping noise, VCO1 noise for a more realistic sound and VCO2 noise for that chiptune goodness. The kick and toms are better represented with pitch enveloped waves.  

Since there are only 12 tracks total in DSN, we can group together different sounds made by the same piece of the drum kit, because it would only be able to make one type of sound at once anyway. For example, cymbals can make a quicker sound if you strike near the center and a longer delay if struck on the outer edge. The snare can be struck on the edge to make a quick sound similar but louder to hitting the sticks together. You are probably only going to use one Tom at a time, so we can use the same track for these as well. By using some kaoss 3 manipulation on the envelope, this is not so difficult to do. 

For perspective, in the DS-10 app we were only given 4 different drum sounds. You could edit them, but essentially it was a kick, snare, open hihat, and closed hihat.

Kick, Toms, and Other Pitched Thumps

Let's start with the kick, it's usually the main part of the beat. On the synth screen, we can go to TONE and READ to see the preloaded kick sounds built in. The first is a good example of the triangle kick, seen on a few NES games actually. The essence of it is an envelope that is quick and the pitch eg int makes it fall quick. The filter eg int is also used, but doesn't really affect the sound too much in this configuration. You can switch VCO1 to square or sawtooth for a different kick sound. I really like the saw kick, it has some punch!

Kick

Set filter eg int to fully left to hear a very different kick sound. I also set the cutoff a bit lower and peak to the middle. Now that's a good thump. Unfortunately, I can't name the sound thump because DSN thinks it's inappropriate. Wasn't there a Disney character named Thumper? I named it thum, which reminds me of Skyrim. You really gotta have headphones in to hear how bassy it is.

Thum

Play your kick on the keyboard to hear it at different pitches. The toms are a variable pitch instrument, so what pitch sounds good is a matter of preference (with a bit of music theory). With bongos, there are two tones, macho and hembra (macho is the smaller) tuned to G and E below it, respectively. Click here for more world percussion tunings. I haven't quite found a believable bongo sound, though.

Snare

A real snare drum is characterized by the metal beads across the bottom face of the drum, called snares. When the top is struck, the snares reverberate against the drum to create a shaking type of sound with a quick decay. Basically controlled noise.

Snare

Try it like this for something in between a snare and a clap.

Clap or Snare

Other types of clap sounds can be created this way with different waveforms, try them all. Adjust the VCO balance and add some positive pitch EG INT (to the right).

HiHat

The hihat is two cymbals facing each other with a foot pedal to separate them. When closed, the sound does not reverberate like when open. It can be struck in the open position then closed to cut the sound off. I used Kaoss 3 to automate the change in this patch with X on Decay and Y on Release. You can use the HPF to keep your noise in higher pitch, but I have the filter fully open here.

HiHat Synth Screen

HiHat Sequence

HiHat KX Decay

HiHat KY Set to Release

Reverse Cymbal

This is the sampled recording of a cymbal played backwards. We can make this the same setup as before, but with a slow attack and fast decay. 

Other Cymbals

These can be created in similar ways, distinguishable by setting your cutoff pitch to different levels. Let's do something exciting and make a gong sound. We already established that cymbals are mostly noise, but the gong is something special, it has a distinct attack on a low pitch and a slowly rising pitch envelope. Here is what I've come up with, I admit it could use some tweaking still. FM would probably make a really good gong sound, actually.

Gongish

Castanets, clicks, and hitting drumsticks together are quick and distinct. A good trick is to set your decay lower on a snare sound. You can even hear it at different pitches.

Laser Pew

Here's a fun digital one. Using peak on noise creates a distinct pitch, easily movable with the pitch eg int. Try it with the noise wave of VCO1 or VCO2 (or mix in both). Pay special attention to my filter, it is in BPF. As a side note, noise has some really cool sounds when you turn on some PEAK and have an MG wave modulating the CUTOFF.

Pew Pew with no Patch routing

Patch Routing Sound Effect

This one is a complex sound, and I think it is very fitting for an electronic drum part. 

Whaa Synth Page

Whaa Patch

Also I like this hip hop style record scratch, I called it ERHA.

ERHA

ERHA Patch

These two are actually made with a similar patch panel, so it's important to realize that small changes can have a drastic effect when you are patching.

Mixing It Together

Mixing all your sounds in a good beat is a matter of preference, really. Try listening to your favorite songs and pick out the drum sounds and patterns they use. Repetition with slight variations is what you may notice. Volume levels should be different for each drum part (cymbals don't need the boost your kick needs since higher pitch naturally sounds louder). You can even adjust panning in your sequence to replicate the location of the drum pieces. For example, kick in center, hihats mid right, Tom mid left, snare center. From what I've heard, if you pan full left or right, it could make your song sound a bit uneven. 

The next chapter will be shorter but also applicable to rhythm, as we will be covering 8 bit sound effects in NES Part 2! 

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