Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
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By Lampdog Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:31 pm
.............. for a 2 sec, 40hz, sub kick, fade out
YES< you can try this at home kids.

Open a new file, goto "insert" -> "synthesis" -> "simple", here you can set all
parameters to create the sine wave you want.

For example try this:
"file" -> "new" -> (I chose 48khz/24bit/mono) "insert" -> "synthesis" -> "simple"
Preset: (Untitled)
Amplitude: 100% (0.0db)
Waveform: SINE
Length: 2 seconds
Start Frequency: 40hz
Hit "OK" to check it out......

Afterwards go to "Process" -> "Fade" -> "Out"

There you have your 40hz sub bass kick drum, nice and clean with
no background noise at all. You can start a new file with 44khz/16bit/mono and do
the same thing and then load the sub kik into your mpc.
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By Lampdog Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:44 pm
.............. for your own created synth wave to load into you mpc............YES< you can try this at home kids.

Open a new file, goto "insert" -> "synthesis" -> "fm", here you can set all
parameters to create and shape your own fm synthesis.

Test out the "heavy synth", I've loaded that into my mpc and have made some
really nice synths further expanding it with my mpc 4k tools. The "configuration"
slider layers synths on top/across/below each other and you can control which fm
waves are where....sine/absolute sine/square/triangle/saw/pink/brown/white and
filtered noise. Four of those together in any combination!

This is more for the guys that have no synth but still want some synth samples.

Create your own synth samples! it takes only 15 seconds and then your off to load
that sample in your mpc and further expand on it!
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By tapedeck Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:59 pm
should note that this also applies to the excellent (and free) audacity.

there are a number of options under the 'generate' menu, 'tone' being the most basic.

a good saw wave is handy to have around for basses / pads / hoovers / etc. keep in mind that you can double / half the frequency to get different octaves - which is handy to overcome the mpc's internal resampling.

also, a 'chirp' is a tone that starts at one frequency and ends on another (you can generate a very powerful bassdrum by generating a chirp that goes high to low).
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By Lampdog Sat Feb 04, 2012 4:38 pm
A single cycle is updown past zero and downup back to zero voltage.

As a simpler reference you can think of the zero voltage as zero volume, that's not what it technically is but you can think of it that way if you want. Trying to not be too technical here.

The dotted line is zero voltage, and when the wave crosses that line/point it's known as a "zero cross point". Chopping a sample at that point "usually" ends up with no pops/clicks. There are people that want pops/clicks but I won't get into that 'cause that is a creative individual preference. This is just a basic understanding of waves.

The sawtooth wave below is not a single cycle. It's more like 1 3/4 and it doesn't start/end at zero cross points. Chopping a sample in this non-zero crossing fashion "usually" results in pops/clicks on both ends as many just getting started (read newbs) to their dismay have already found out :lol:

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Placing these waves in a sampler and looping would be a very basic normal single synth sample. As long as you hold the pad it will continue to re-trigger every cycle and it sounds like the sample will never end. Actually it's ending and starting again and again so fast that it just "sounds" like it's never ending.

In your own sampler tweak your lfo, adsr, osc on this very same sample and you'll get varied results and now you have turned your (I'm going to use mpc as an example) mpc into a synth (I use my 4k, it has lfo / osc and stuff). Layering these types of waves can yield SUPERB results depending on your gear AND your own tweaking ability. Above I spoke on Sound Forge and the "configuration slider", you can do this same thing inside your mpc, layer these wave samples on a pad/program whatever inside your mpc just like many peeps do with several kicks on one pad.

YES< you can try this at home kids.
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By damien907 Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:34 pm
wow, im gonna go try this on audacity tonight, i never thought of doing that. very innovative guys! 8)
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By Lampdog Sun Feb 05, 2012 4:20 am
damien907 wrote:wow, im gonna go try this on audacity tonight, i never thought of doing that. very innovative guys! 8)

Lemme know what you get good outta this 'cause some will read this and promptly move on to just finding that synth sample and not even try or wanna learn to create their own.

I'm big on making my own synth samples and using hyperion that was stated in another thread a few weeks ago (to shape some drums). I like to create/shape my own sounds as much as finding good sounds.
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By thx Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:33 am
fee years ago i was creating some sine wave samples with steinberg wavelab, never tried soundforge. the fm synthesis tool seems cool.
maybe i'll try this with Audacity (it got a synthesis tool?).
thanks for the tips
:)
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By Lampdog Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:26 pm
I've never tried it with audacity, but I bet you can do something very similiar to this or possibly this exact thing. I remember using wavelab years ago, it was and still is a good wave editor. Soundforge isn't the only one that can do this, it's just that that's my fave wave editor is all.

You can take the single cycle wav and loop them in mpc's, drop the pitches and use em as basslines. For my 2kxl I had to filter the wav first in SF cause it has no good in the box filter tools. On my 4k, no problems, filters galore..
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By tapedeck Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:34 pm
Lampdog wrote:You can take the single cycle wav and loop them in mpc's, drop the pitches and use em as basslines. For my 2kxl I had to filter the wav first in SF cause it has no good in the box filter tools. On my 4k, no problems, filters galore..

i've noticed on my 2kxl that ONE cycle won't work properly - it will do some weird click.

simply copy and add the same wave to the end of itself, creating a 2 cycle wave, and that will work fine.

thankfully those extra few samples probably won't be eating up your ram.

:mrgreen:
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By Lampdog Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:37 pm
Audacity

GENERATE -> DTMF Tones or TONE
and it's pretty much the same thing but with different looking menus.
You'll already recognize stuff I wrote and stuff that's in the
Audacity menus.
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By Lampdog Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:43 pm
tapedeck wrote:
Lampdog wrote:You can take the single cycle wav and loop them in mpc's, drop the pitches and use em as basslines. For my 2kxl I had to filter the wav first in SF cause it has no good in the box filter tools. On my 4k, no problems, filters galore..

i've noticed on my 2kxl that ONE cycle won't work properly - it will do some weird click.

simply copy and add the same wave to the end of itself, creating a 2 cycle wave, and that will work fine.

thankfully those extra few samples probably won't be eating up your ram.

:mrgreen:

Yeah I forgot to add the click is there because 2kxl (I don't know about other mpc's) needs a sample to be a certain length, I think at least 20-30 samples long or something like that. Nah the cycles are super small and won't eat up RAM at all. EASY way to get basslines and not use up precious RAM. takes some fiddling but it's worth it if you like to experiment and tailor your own waves, I do.

I do this same stuff on my 2kxl, triton ex and 4k. Back in the mid 90's I used to do this on ASR10 with the transwaves and bi-direction/bow-tie loops and all that and it was super fun then too. Just like that dude in that on ASR10 video that's popped up recently, it's the exact same thing I used to do.

Also, on the 2kxl in that PARAMS menu, mess with the resonance as well, it can act as a sort of filter when combined with lower pitches, sort of, not perfect but sort of.
You can also set the NOTE OFF a certain way where as long as you are holding the pad the bassline will sound off and when you let the pad go the bassline will stop, abruptly or fade out (adjustable with the decay in that PARAMS menu if I remember correctly).
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By Lampdog Mon May 21, 2012 2:46 am
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By manji Wed May 23, 2012 1:48 pm
Man, Lampdog, I dunno if you remember this but like 2 years ago I got a 4k and noticed how good the sample architecture was and posted a question about whether it'd be worth while to invest in some raw waveforms and use it as a synth. And you gave me some pointers (like this)...and dude, it totally was. Good looking, man.