modulation tips?
 

I have a virus A. I have had it about 1.5 years and gotten decent at programming patches amp-osc-filter-effects. I am still iffy on programming LFOs. Recently, I discovered the modulation matrix from this board (velocity routed to cuttoff) and was wondering if you guys had any tips on getting more from patches via modulation. I know the Virus A does not have all the functions the C does but any input would be helpful.

This months Sound on Sound has an article on such tips.

modulation makes your sound more alive!
you can make vibratos, open/close cutoff, morph a sound by changing its waveshapes, change the envelope's decay from linear to concave or convex.... all this fills your sounds with presence.

For vibratos it is quite simple, set lfo1 to modulat osc1+osc2 at a high rate
For cutoff sweeping, set lfo2 to modulate filter1+2
For envelope's decay, in the mod matrix set the source to the filter envelope and destination to filter decay. Positive amount makes a concave decay, a neg value makes a convex one (like moog's, this is also explained in the programming tutorial on access website)

another tip.... sync 2 saw, set osc2 semitone to +7 and osc2 to -12, using lfo1 (slow rate) modulate the osc2 pitch with a high amount, you'll get a kind of screaming sound......

etc etc etc.... just expreriment and you'll find your own preferences....

You can use modulation matrix as you wish. Basic modulations are cutoff, pitch and PWM modulations, but be creative and experiment. Try things out. There are no rules and the best kind of modulations usually come up accidentally.

One thing really makes me wonder: How on earth it took 1,5 years to find one of the most important features in your Virus? I'd really advice you to read the manual through. It might help you to develop your patch programming skills.

I got the Virus after starting a project with a friend. That eventually bombed and I decided I would just work alone. I had pretty good knowledge of subtractive synthesis before I got it just from reading on the net. At first I just loaded sound banks and would edit somewhat. By the time I started making my own sounds from scratch, Java, calculus and Chemistry started catching up with me. My school ended up taking priority over synths. So inbetween semesters (like now) I program the mess out of my virus. So far I have 15 or so patches that are ALL programed by me.

One more question. What is the best way to get Low bass from the virus. I made a patch for the Pro-53 that was pure sub bass (kinda like you would hear in the background of DnB songs). I tried similar settings on the virus and got no where near as low of tone. Can the virus do this or is this what the Pro one, Pulse and other monosynths are for?

Try out saw/pulse oscs with really low cutoff LPF with keyfollow in +32 and some resonance (also rememer triangle subosc). Virus beats Pro-53 easily.

Cool, I got the sound i was looking for in two minutes. Some one told me once sine waves were best for low bass so maybe thats why I never could get it to sound right. thanks.

To be fair to the Pro53, soundwise it does resemble a prophet.......but personally I wouldnt wipe my ass with it.

Ive compared the Pro53 (the demo version) to an Original Rev 3.3 Prophet 5.....just makes me want to keep the real one even more. The Pro3 really lacks rumble.....no where near as raw as a real Prophet. I wish manufacturers would stop calling softsynths.....Minimoog, CS80 etc etc....I think its misleading. But then again.......most Joe Bloggs walking the streets probably dont care as much as I do. Ive come to realise something in recent years. I have a very real passion/love for synthesizers......and I think my ideal job would to go and work for a synth company and help them make classic hardware synths.

I'd love to be a tester of synths.....Id enjoy giving detailed feebback and recommendations for improvements. It would be the ideal job for me....b'cos im a bit geeky hehehe

God I love synths :P

DS

No, no, no. Sines lack higher frequency components so it's very hard for human ear to determine the pitch of low sine waves. It just sounds like "WHOOOOOO" without any kind of tone. Try it out and you'll see. Alvays use complex waves in basses. Just filter them a bit to get the sharpness off.

Yeah - the problem with sine basses is that they only work on massive bass bins. On anything smaller, in order to hear them properly you'll end up having to turn them up so loud in the mix, that they'll smother everything else in the process and kill your headroom stone dead.

For basses I tend to use Saw's and Pulses. A sine+saw combo can be nice......but generally speaking VA sines are not that great. Sine waves on a Jupiter 8 are pretty awesome.

If u want to use sine wave bass use a true analog synth.

* I made a great DoubleBass patch on the Virus KC the other day using 2 Pulse waves. Really cool hehehe.

DS

yeah mixing a complex harmonic wave like saw with sine gives a very good result

Yeah, I have never really been crazy about the sine waves on the virus. The sine waves on my DW8000 sound somewhat interesting though. When I created the patch on Pro53, I know I used sine wave and it just rumbled with sub bass.

As far as being a geek goes *(digital screams), I know how you feel. When I sit down to work on some new tracks and try to get another sound from the virus, I look at the clock and realize I have turned knobs for over an hour....If i can only remember to store patches when the start to sound cool. I have a hard time getting sounds back to the way I had them after turning a few more knobs.

Nothing wrong with being a Synth geek guys! :D

Sine bass - well everything has been said already. It's a good way to smuther everything bass wise in a mix and use up all your headroom, but there are times when it can be used well - just not as often as saws or what have you.

Don't ever lose your "Synth-geekness" guys!! :wink:

When you say pulse wav. What do you mean? I know sine tri saw square. Is it just changing the pulse width on any of the above? Or is it just any of the 64 wave shapes? Damn I should really know this one. & I feel stupid for asking.

Pulse is another name for Square. Really, a Square wave is a Pulse wave at 50%.

Turn the Shape knob fully clockwise.

Using sine and pushing it through bags of distortion is great (almost resembles a square wave, but sounds phatter due to the transient-like distortions). Due to it then having more harmonic content to play with, you can then mess around with the filters + resonance to fine tune it. Square-esque type waves are just evil, mwhahahahaa :twisted:
Using two similar oscillators is good, but use very small amounts of detune only otherwise the waveform will start 'beating' (kinda like, er, flapping about a lot, lol :lol: ). Adding a very small amount of ring-mod will also add some nice dirty harmonics when used on two sine oscs. :)

[Timo proceeds to stick Spin Spin Sugar on, on the hifi]

That's a cracking tune that one.

Thanks for some good tips guys!!!!!

Before I got a VIRUS, to get good bass sounds, I would grab my Akai S2000 take a sampled wave file and hammer it as hard and as hot I could into the channel on my little Behringer mixing desk. Then record the distorted out put using the volume to control the level of distortion and re-sample it.

Same kind of thing I suppose and the Mixer added its own nuances in the distortion and distress of the mixer.

Has anyone tried modulating the wave shape effects? Im gonna give it ago tonight on my humble Rack Classic.

Peace

i agree - some great ideas guys.
look forward to putting them into practice :wink: