Processing ideas for synths?

Q

Quotec

Active Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2013
Yo hello!

Haven´t been around in this forum for quite a bit because I was temporarily away from music production but now I am back and more inspired than ever.

I am looking for some tips on processing synths so to give them a special and more unique flavor. Experimenting with blending different wave formats together hasn´t yet produced a satisfying result and I think I could achieve better results by altering the processing chain. I use different sets of saw and square waves for synths and at the moment I want to get this Culture Shock-y synth sound which I suppose is made of 2 square waves. But this sound in pure form is too boring and I am looking to spice it up. What processing techniques should I use? I have so far experimented with whacking a chorus, adding multitude of distortion, basic ADSR tweaking, adding delays and reverbs, layering with other sounds, pitch modulation etc but haven´t yet found that magical recipe for unique sound.
 
You say you want a unique flavour but you want to get a certain someones sound? My advice is don't aim for a specific sound, have a rough idea of what you want then play about with it. Allow experimenataion to take you further, you are only limiting yourself if youre aiming for something, it takes a good synth user to replicate a sound. Also square/saw waves arent unique, try different waveforms, and modulate lots of different parameters, there are infinite possibilities. And for the fx chain, filters, distortion, stereo imaging, automations, eq and compression.
 
Sorry if this is hijacking the thread but does the order in which you drop fx into the chain effect the sound?

i.e. if I put a reverb after an eq will it sound different if it was before the eq?
 
Vanden said:
Sorry if this is hijacking the thread but does the order in which you drop fx into the chain effect the sound?

i.e. if I put a reverb after an eq will it sound different if it was before the eq?
Click to expand...

Sure it matters what you put first in the fx chain.. You wont reeverb what you cut out first.. But if you put an eq after your reeverb you can cut out what you don't need in the reeverb... So in the end for 2 fx things with an eq is doesn't really matter imo

But it surely gets more interesting if you throw in distortion, chorus, phaser, ect and play around with the order of these fx's ! Your result will deffo be something else
 
even though summers has a point, this thread is worthless without an audio example of what you want to accomplish.a youtube clip will do fine, just something that demonstrates what it is youre looking after. probably good to name the thread "how do you make this culture shock sound?", the guys on this forum alwas were into helping. oh and you did check search? could be its already been discussed , you never know!
 
Instead of putting the chain on the channel, try multiple sends that deal with different things. That way you can alter the Mix and compression on each of them differently etc. also this way you can really go balls to the wall and blend in just the right amount.
 
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