By dtaa pla muk
Thu Oct 23, 2008 6:55 pm
it's been a long time since i've posted any tips or techniques, since my life has been kind of wild and the time i do spend with my mpc is very focused and directed on stuff i already do. i don't spend much time pushing the envelope with the capacity of the mpc anymore, but it's more of a gradual figuring out of things i establish over time. synth programming has been one of them, using jjos2's instrument program capabilities.
with the 5000, a lot of fuss has been made about an onboard synthesizer. after reading that sound on sound article about the lost art of sampling, the whole "a sampler is a synth by association" really has been on my mind for a couple months.
here's a song i made completely with INST pgms in jjos2 plus one pgm of a chopped harmonica. i often added copies of the harmonica samples to the inst pgms to murk them up a bit and give them more character. apologies if it's really dark, i try not to always sound bitter but this song is a serious one.
http://nymantics.com/hotcakes/nym-4-divining_rod.mp3
jjos2 inst pgms are "true samplers" ie keygrouped samples over a range of keys intended to achieve multisampling. this works like a charm, and i've made dozens of decent keygrouped multisampled inst pgms that i use on a regular basis. however, there are better options out there. 9 times out of ten i'd prefer to use reason's NNXT patches etc because of A, more options for modulation, B, no polyphony concerns, and C, 24 bit sound. all these are well and good, but there plenty of times when i'm just using my mpc - or i'm just drawn by the speed with which i am able to work on the mpc compared to MPC+reason. all around, i fly like a carpet on the mpc1000 while introducing other variables slows me down a little bit.
so - synth and sample inst pgms on the mpc.
first tip - have a folder full of reference tones on your mpc. 60 hertz, middle C refernece tones of the SINE, SAW, SQUARE, and TRIANGLE waves. also keep white noise and pink noise, too. all of these are fundamental - literally fundamentally important to synth programming and additive drum layers. these samples can be layered together at varying pitches to create excellent synth programs. similarly, you can grab a couple samples from a multismaple pgm and slap them in there as well - resulting in a more organic sound than if it were just the reference tones.
the opposite works as well. sometimes i'll have an accoustic bass pgm that i use for my basslines that just lacks enough low end that i'll drop a SINE wave in there and pitch it down 12 or even 24 semitones just to add some umph to it. this is a fantastic way to add power to your sounds - kick drums too.
but let's start simple - you can make fantastic programs with just a sine and saw wave. pitch your sine wave down 12 and your saw down 24. let them cover your entire key range (0-127). apply a low filter to it and set it to 50. assign aftertouch to +50. now, play those pads. note that you can selectively play your waves - sine if you just play quiet, saw+sine if you press down. this is extremely expressive.
another technique that people use is to warble their pitches by using 2 waves and bumping one up a couple cents and the other down a couple cents. ie, saw/sine combo again, but this time let's leave em both at 0.00 semitones. nudge up the saw and nudge down the sine. make sure they average to 0, and dn't push them too far in either direction. the resulting phase is a nice livening trick to use for inst pgms to unsettle the audio a little bit.
LFOs are another fantastic method of doing stuff with inst pgms. for my previously mentioned acoustic bass pgm with the layered sine wave, i like to sometimes add an LFO modulating the level, but i set it to delay something like .72 beats BEFORE THE LFO GENTLY KICKS IN. this modulation allows the sound to change a bit as it rings out, ie DEVELOPING, sounding less like a layered sine wave and more like an actual sound.
things only get more complicated from here. i play with portamento sometime, but mostly i prefer qlink realtime because it's more selective.
use of individual outs plus VST fx (nicer lfos, better filters, bitrate reducers, superior reverbs, etc all controlled by modulating CCs is another great method).
this goes on and on. however, there are tons of people who have more synth experience than i do and i really want to get some advice on what else i could do.
with the 5000, a lot of fuss has been made about an onboard synthesizer. after reading that sound on sound article about the lost art of sampling, the whole "a sampler is a synth by association" really has been on my mind for a couple months.
here's a song i made completely with INST pgms in jjos2 plus one pgm of a chopped harmonica. i often added copies of the harmonica samples to the inst pgms to murk them up a bit and give them more character. apologies if it's really dark, i try not to always sound bitter but this song is a serious one.
http://nymantics.com/hotcakes/nym-4-divining_rod.mp3
jjos2 inst pgms are "true samplers" ie keygrouped samples over a range of keys intended to achieve multisampling. this works like a charm, and i've made dozens of decent keygrouped multisampled inst pgms that i use on a regular basis. however, there are better options out there. 9 times out of ten i'd prefer to use reason's NNXT patches etc because of A, more options for modulation, B, no polyphony concerns, and C, 24 bit sound. all these are well and good, but there plenty of times when i'm just using my mpc - or i'm just drawn by the speed with which i am able to work on the mpc compared to MPC+reason. all around, i fly like a carpet on the mpc1000 while introducing other variables slows me down a little bit.
so - synth and sample inst pgms on the mpc.
first tip - have a folder full of reference tones on your mpc. 60 hertz, middle C refernece tones of the SINE, SAW, SQUARE, and TRIANGLE waves. also keep white noise and pink noise, too. all of these are fundamental - literally fundamentally important to synth programming and additive drum layers. these samples can be layered together at varying pitches to create excellent synth programs. similarly, you can grab a couple samples from a multismaple pgm and slap them in there as well - resulting in a more organic sound than if it were just the reference tones.
the opposite works as well. sometimes i'll have an accoustic bass pgm that i use for my basslines that just lacks enough low end that i'll drop a SINE wave in there and pitch it down 12 or even 24 semitones just to add some umph to it. this is a fantastic way to add power to your sounds - kick drums too.
but let's start simple - you can make fantastic programs with just a sine and saw wave. pitch your sine wave down 12 and your saw down 24. let them cover your entire key range (0-127). apply a low filter to it and set it to 50. assign aftertouch to +50. now, play those pads. note that you can selectively play your waves - sine if you just play quiet, saw+sine if you press down. this is extremely expressive.
another technique that people use is to warble their pitches by using 2 waves and bumping one up a couple cents and the other down a couple cents. ie, saw/sine combo again, but this time let's leave em both at 0.00 semitones. nudge up the saw and nudge down the sine. make sure they average to 0, and dn't push them too far in either direction. the resulting phase is a nice livening trick to use for inst pgms to unsettle the audio a little bit.
LFOs are another fantastic method of doing stuff with inst pgms. for my previously mentioned acoustic bass pgm with the layered sine wave, i like to sometimes add an LFO modulating the level, but i set it to delay something like .72 beats BEFORE THE LFO GENTLY KICKS IN. this modulation allows the sound to change a bit as it rings out, ie DEVELOPING, sounding less like a layered sine wave and more like an actual sound.
things only get more complicated from here. i play with portamento sometime, but mostly i prefer qlink realtime because it's more selective.
use of individual outs plus VST fx (nicer lfos, better filters, bitrate reducers, superior reverbs, etc all controlled by modulating CCs is another great method).
this goes on and on. however, there are tons of people who have more synth experience than i do and i really want to get some advice on what else i could do.
