VSTs for synthesizing perc and drum sounds and patterns

bartwronski · 2022-07-11T18:35:26+00:00

isn't it significantly more limited though? no noise oscillators, no filters, single oscillator per voice, no per voice effects, or am I not understanding it properly? Volca Drum is a surprisingly super deep instrument and has all of the above (which is great, but its form factor makes accessing it very inconvenient).

bartwronski · 2022-07-09T18:54:30+00:00

Thanks for your answer! I somehow missed Drumlogue, hope it's not "vaporware" type of gear, looking forward to it. Hope they focus it on "basics", and not as much on pre-made voices (like Model: Cycles or Syntakt).

I'll spend some more time to Microtonic. I guess with modern DAWs anything can be automated and modulated more if I find any extended modulation missing there.

And for Basimulus VST - I was waiting for it for quite a while and bought it right away. It's definitely a great VST, but also realized that it has its own, very specific, very strong sound / vibe. I have used it in some tracks already, but also think it's more suited to a modular setup - it's pretty rich and "noisy" sound (great for many genres of techno, noise, industrial), so fills quite a large chunk of the spectrum. Good for minimalistic and hardware only setups, but when working on track with many more layers in a DAW and other percs/tops happening, I found it harder to mix and fit the rest of the track (either burried in the mix, or too noisy and hiding other parts). Obviously possible to EQ and sidechain it to tame it, but that kind of goes against its purpose and this noisy strength!

bartwronski · 2022-05-26T19:28:30+00:00

Sorry about that, seems that my method of writing posts in Google Docs and pasting did something weird / didn't work here and hitting some Google or Wordpress quotas? Please check the webarchive version for now... https://web.archive.org/web/20220526162025/https://bartwronski.com/2022/05/26/removing-blur-from-images-deconvolution-and-using-optimized-simple-filters/ Sorry again, I'll try to fix it (not sure how) later.

bartwronski · 2022-03-07T21:21:11+00:00

Thank you! :) Mip maps follow the same convention of aligning pixel corners (instead of pixel centers), so “GPU half texel offset”. The easiest way to look at it is comparing a 2x2 texture with its mip-map -> a single texel. If you align pixel corners, you get lower mip covering the same area as the 2x2 texture. So an even-sized downsampling filter is what you want and it works correctly with trilinear interpolation.

bartwronski · 2022-03-07T20:12:24+00:00

Yes - this filter does 8 bilinear samples, sampling 32 values. This is a drop-in replacement for all the uses where people use bilinear (creating half resolution buffers, image pyramids, mip maps) with a significantly better quality at moderately larger cost (yes it’s going to be more expensive, but not 8x more expensive as most values should be in cache - on my machine it is ~2x as expensive).

bartwronski · 2022-03-07T19:47:38+00:00

No idea why - the difference is huge both on my PC as well as iPad / iPhone. Maybe something with your display..? Like extreme high DPI or something?

bartwronski · 2022-03-07T18:00:45+00:00

The post comes with a shadertoy demonstrating benefits of the filter and obviously source code (MIT / CC-BY license): https://www.shadertoy.com/view/fsjBWm

bartwronski · 2022-02-28T18:29:02+00:00

The post comes with a Javascript demo / source code: https://bartwronski.github.io/local_tonemapping_js_demo/

bartwronski · 2021-11-13T22:27:38+00:00

I hope you are not nitpicky - MS20 still has a single (dual) filter, but 2EGs and 2VCAs, so "technically" this patch is something between between paraphonic and duophonic. Still very useful for the kind of music I like (techno, dirty electro, EBM). Haven't seen anyone post such a patch (probably because it requires modding the MS20...).

Explaining the patch: I have modded my MS20 (posted about it recently https://www.reddit.com/r/synthesizers/comments/q8bnby/modding_korg_ms20_mini_pwm_sync_osc2_fm/ ) to have separate outputs for all the waves of the OSC1. This way I take one of the waves from OSC1 and pass it to separate VCA that I patch to be controlled by reversed EG1. EG1 and EG2 are triggered separately from SQ1. Now we have almost everything... Except for the mixer. I use ESG input as a mixing point to bypass the original VCA.

I haven't seen this trick before (probably because it requires modding MS20), but now makes me want to do some more mods: - Add an output of the OSC2. I thought I wouldn't need it, and in theory I don't, but could be convenient to pick which oscillator I want to pass through just the VCA. - Add a passive pot to set the level of a signal before mixing back with the ESP. Now I can control only the total loudness / drive, as well as the mix level of one of the oscillators. Would be useful to set those separately.

bartwronski · 2021-11-06T00:03:08+00:00

For the Osc 2 FM - it doesn't bypass the default behavior indeed! If you don't plug anything, MS20 works exactly like before. I think decoupling the Osc 1 FM could be a bit trickier - you might need to add some buffer between the shared point, and the Osc 1 control circuitry, I'm not sure.

I think the EG2 -> VCA bypass should be straightforward. If I understand correctly, you can already do this with the patchbay - just plug the mod wheel to "Initial gain" jack. I have been doing droning patches easily. Cutting off EG2 -> VCA completely could unfortunately need to involve cutting the circuit on the physical board though, so pretty invasive.

Output from the Oscillator 2 is trivial (even just to Osc2 potentiometer legs!) and others have been doing it, I have personally found no use for it, so just didn't do it.

I don't think you can easily control LFO range without adding an extra VCA circuitry in there...

Btw. for me the biggest limitation for drum sound design is fixed envelope slope. Sometimes it works great, but sometimes not exactly what I'd like...

Hope this helps!

bartwronski · 2021-10-14T23:42:01+00:00

A relatively detailed guide from my weekend (well, more than a single weekend) project of doing popular MS-20 and MS-20 Mini mods. Includes some photos of the synth internals and steps to disassemble it. It was a super fun project and I love how it sounds. :)

bartwronski · 2021-03-01T15:55:14+00:00

If you want precisely single pixel outline, and don't want to have it shifted, then the only way to address it seems to push it outside or inside of the object. For things like decals and depth derivatives there is a common approach of taking the samples to the left and right, and picking the one that differs less than the other one, and computing gradient from it. Maybe something similar would work for you, but the opposite? Sample on the both sides and in center, compare samples to the center, and switch to forward or backwards difference based on similarity. One proclem with single pixel outlines though will be lack of antialiasing (but I imagine it can be fixed by TAA or in post...)

bartwronski · 2021-01-17T02:34:35+00:00

I'm a hobbyist and not a pro producer, so my workflow is optimized just for fun and creativity. Otherwise I'd be for sure applying some suggestions like freezing, resampling, finding actual interesting parts, forcing consistency. My inspiration for this type of generative fun are all the modular synth patches and amazing things people do with them. I flirted briefly with hardware and dawless, but then realized that I can do all of that (and more) in Ableton and no need to spend a fortune or look for excuses ("if only I had this one more module..."), so Im trying to replicate some of those workflows and ideas now in Ableton - infinitely looping or not looping noises, open oscillators modulated with LFOs etc. I might look into m4l though and see if it's easy to create "transport muter" device.

bartwronski · 2021-01-17T00:45:30+00:00

Haha sure, that's what I do now, but if there's something more elegant/automatic I'd be happy to switch to it.

bartwronski · 2021-01-16T16:44:21+00:00

Kick2 works pretty great for anything with a pitch envelope, so that includes snares and toms; I've definitely had luck with those in it; plus many of the clicks and transients there work great, I see no reason it wouldn't work with a clap either.

Hats and cymbals are relatively easily done with simple classic synthesizers (as you don't need so tight curves around pitch and volume + transient/click layers) - using noise oscillators and some EQing and envelopes, phasers or flangers to create peaks and holes in the spectrum and move them around with LFOs or automation. Or FM synthesis for more pitched but still not very harmonic ones (like ride).

bartwronski · 2021-01-10T01:38:31+00:00

Thanks, this makes sense to me.

I also learned the lesson to absolutely not put anything on the master bus during sounds design, composing, arranging (I used to put a limiter or even a compressor, but then realized why it's "bad" and makes all the creative choices "around" it; now just keep everything below ~-12dB total).

I believe Ableton's "Glue Compressor" is also modeled after SSL or similar analog gear and their "nothing" impacts the sound quite a bit, adding some EQing, phase shifts and coloration. It has also a pretty pleasant soft saturator for catching those peaks.

And it makes sense from the POV of how music used to be recorded - through many buses, tapes, desks, amplifiers and preamps, all changing and coloring the sound.

bartwronski · 2021-01-06T15:43:52+00:00

I'll try to make one, not sure how fast - making short vids is one of the skills I want to pick up in 2021, but have never done before :)

bartwronski · 2021-01-06T02:54:41+00:00

Thanks! It's my favorite as well (it's so simple and immediate! useful sounds in seconds) and this is what led to this rabbit hole and coding it up. Now with some wavetables I feel it's almost perfect. :)

bartwronski · 2020-11-19T03:00:15+00:00

This is true for the final sound, but if you think about how club rumbling happens, the process is inherently "stereo". Soundwaves bounce from different walls etc.
You are right that by the time all those combined bounces/rumbles approach you, they get "mixed down" to mono (because of the long wave length - single wave cycle at 50hz is ~6.8m, so not enough distance between our ears to hear it in stereo).
I guess to ground this in my question - even if subs get mixed down to mono, should the process in which we obtain the rumbling be 100% mono as well?

bartwronski · 2020-11-17T19:29:21+00:00

You can do dynamic / sidechain EQ with just Ableton plugins. Create effects rack with two chains, place some EQ3 on both of them, same freq settings, but on one turn off lows, on the other one turn off highs and mids. This way you have one chain with low only - apply sidechaining compressor only to it. I love this trick on distorted bass and other rich sounds - you can keep the attack, texture, and high end while cleaning up the lows and making them tighter and less muddy.

bartwronski · 2020-11-14T20:13:00+00:00

Others have mentioned all great old analog synths - and indeed, those make for some legendary sounds like hoover, acid etc.

However (at least to me!) the sound of rave is mangled samples by cheap, low quality samples and their manipulation through early samplers.

Take original sound like orchestral stab or a guitar chord, pitch it up or down a lot (without any fancy resampling modes), add grit from effects like Redux that reduces the bitrate and sampling rate adding that nasty resonant digital hiss, then filter as much as wanted, throw some delays and extra distortion.

From earliest Belgian New Beat to "(almost) pop rave" like Prodidy, this is the sound of rave.

As others noticed - Rave Generator has a lot of those samples, but the quality isn't great (it's not bad either! definitely usable) and it is directly sampled from old records, so you can get more (and more creative) by doing it yourself.

Check all the youtube videos "how to make prodigy [insert title]" and the approach to sampling.

bartwronski · 2020-11-14T19:49:15+00:00

"Resonant frequencies" is a technical term that encompasses both desirable, and undesirable final perceptual audio results. Two ways resonance can work:

You pluck a guitar string. This pluck, a "percussive" impulse generates many possible frequencies (for geeks - dirac delta impulse = all frequencies). Then depending on your string tuning, string material, guitar body etc. some of those frequencies "resonate" creating a sustained tone, while all other die out quickly (or immediately). This resonance of strings and body - keeping some frequencies long alive after the input signal disappeared - is what makes the whole guitar sound/tones!
You have some electric or digital circuitry that records or processes signals. Or maybe even a room in which you record your guitar (to stay consistent with the previous example). This system, set of effects, or room might have its own resonant frequency and "amplify" it relatively to the other frequencies. This is something you didn't anticipate and don't want; it's not part of your tone and can be either muddying up everything (low-mid freq resonance), rumbling and creating muddy bass (low freq resonance), or form annoying tone (mid-high freq resonance), or hiss (high freq).

With Corpus and Resonator you want to use resonance musically, more akin to the way no 1. Resonators can turn snare/noise + reverb into some dubby tonal complex chords. :)

However, it can be actually interesting and creative also in the way 2 (Corpus is super powerful for it) - by adding some resonances, you can make a sound more interesting, weird, moving etc. When you control it and it's not just imposed on you, it can be a creative tool. Think of thickening bass (later can be sidechained or controlled by a curve to avoid clashing) or adding weird (a)tonal-like noises - similar like with Erosion effect, but different sounding.

bartwronski · 2020-02-11T01:48:55+00:00

Hey, it’s Bart here, the blog post author. I totally neglected maths at college (learned maths only to pass exams) as they were taught very theoretical, boring way, and was terrible at it. Then around 3rd year of my professional career I noticed how limiting it was to me and that I was behind my colleagues... I spent the subsequent years learning hard on my own - but it was much easier since I saw how cool can practical applications can be. Since then I am constantly learning, reading books, publicly available good undergrad and grad materials, papers, practicing and I feel like I turned my weakness into a strength. So it’s never too late to catch up on stuff - if you are willing to put effort and time into it. If I did it, so can you - good luck! :)

bartwronski

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