Anything else than Trance/Dance patches?
 

Hi everyone,

i'm new here so, first of all, greetings everyone!

I bought a Virus TI2 a month ago, and I like it so far!

Problem is, i'm quite new to synthesis, so i've only tried presets and available patches on the internet.

But it seems a huge majority of them are trance/dance oriented, and I failed to find something else.

I love the 80's and would like to be able to find/make sounds of this era.

For example, I really love this track :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPudE8nDog0 (The Human League-don't you want me).

I tried to recreate some of it's sounds but I failed :( I only managed to recreate that kind of trumpet sound at 0'37.

I would really like to the the lead sound at 0'07, but is that possible on the Virus?
Did I buy the wrong synth ?(I did not want to buy vintage and have to service it every month)
Should i get something analog like the DSI Tetra instead?

I already have a Yamaha FS1R and this one is perfect for some cold 80's sounds but it's a pain to program.

Thanks for your help, and sorry for my poor english !

Hi, yeah of course it's possible. You have to find the right waveform, tweak the filters and envelopes, then apply some effects. I'm sorry for that ultra-fast explanation but my advice it's to start messing around from a blank patch, rather than searching through millions of ready patches. Another trick is to layer sounds, using the same midi channel for 2 or more sounds. With that method you will fatten up the virus sound, which got incredible effects, comparing it to the analog big brothers which can't have any. Hope it helps. Dan

Do you like these sounds?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElBAYV-NoDw

Was going to say there's a lot of dubstep and electro sets out there but not sure abt the 80's. would be good for some one to build a full bank of famous 80's sounds replicated. Although I can imagine a lot of them been quite simple, that is a sound set i wouldn't mind paying for. Simply just for having it organised in 1 and just at hand.

I too love the 80's sounds (in a nostalgic way), but a lot of times I end up creating them accidentally and feeling almost guilty for having done so :) The reason is they are just funamentally simpler, especially with regard to filter configurations, and with that in mind I'm positive they can be done with the Virus but I suspect your best bet is to learn as much as you can about the Virus or whatever you ultimately chose to use, start building sounds from the ground up, and IMO you're more likely to stumble on the category of sounds you want like this than to start with default banks of modern synths. Getting the EXACT sound you want of course is a different story entirely, but I really think that just understanding the cause and effect involved in each parameter of subtractive synthesis is a huge step toward getting most of the way there toward duplicating older analog sounds.

That said, I'll offer the general tip of trying some 80's replica soft synths that likely won't disappoint. One example I have in the toolbox is the Korg M1 Legacy plugin. I used to have a Korg M3r (rack version), and when I loaded up this VST I instantly recognized some really cool sounds I knew from the late 80's time frame. Going back a few years and for a more analog feel, you might try the Aturia Jupiter 8V. Also search for a free plugin called Proteus VX. In the 80's, people were nuts about the E-MU Proteus (basically a ROMpler) for some reason, and although I don't have it installed now, I did try it once and can say its worth the download when in the mood for the 80's vibe.

As far as Tetra/Mopho/Prophet, etc, I have no firsthand experience but I've heard a lot of demos and they sound VERY 80's to me so they might be something to look into, but my overall hunch is that using a Virus to achieve the analog sound of a Tetra is kind of cracking a nut with a sledgehammer?

Listening to the sound at 5 seconds in that you want to create, I actually hear two sounds, that could not be separated and still have the same effect. Remember the saying "its not the sounds but what you do with them"? That's what I hear in that riff. It sounds like the same synth in the rather unique analog bassline, and I'm not an expert but given the time frame of the song and if my ears know anything it sounds a LOT like a Jupiter 8 (which would be a good case for checking out the softsynth mentioned above), but it won't sound the same without the background melody providing the harmonics via similar chords. Literally sounds like one guy with right hand on one keyboard and left on another (perhaps two keyboardists), but the bassline sounds very 80's Roland (beautiful).

Anyway good luck in your quest. I love trying to trace the roots of older sounds and getting an understanding of how to reproduce them. If Roland would only reproduce a real Jupiter-8 using modern horsepower, a lot of unanswered questions would unfold like unsolved crimes did when DNA technology was invented ;)

Updating this post:
I didn't mention that the M1 and Proteus are not subtractive synths (Proteus was actually a rompler with sounds you're likely to recognize, the M1 being waveform based synth with lots of possibilities). I didn't get into FM synthesis (you have lots of options here but it didn't seem appropriate in the context of the human league video), but FM is a trademark sound of the 80's due to the DX7 and such, and there are some softsynths that do FM synthesis pretty well perfectly. For whatever reason I've just found FM synths to be easy to come up with great sounds accidentally, but more difficult to produce a specific sound I'm looking for. You might also check out a VST called Dune -- cheaper than Jupiter 8V and does not require dongle, with a great sound. The default patches are more modern than 80's but it can produce same category of sounds IMO.

Thx a lot for your answers :)

Yeah you are right, it seems that a jupiter 8 was used for this song, i found a video on Youtube where the guy recreated the entire song using a jupiter 8, and it sounds damn close to the original, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJthP3VPDQE

Of course, as you mentioned it, Arturia Jupiter 8v could be a good alternative, but i'm a little bit reluctant to buy vsts since i already have a virus :) I'm sure it is a very powerful synth (i still have a lot to learn), i just think it's a shame that everyone uses it as a trance machine, as i'm sure it could do a lot more than that. In a near future I might be able to create my own patches, but what I did till now just sounds like crap :)

The Jupiter 8 was an amazing synth that's still highly sought after. Roland should just reproduce the original keyboard, they'd sell like crazy. Guess it's not as easy as that. I'm told the new Jupiter-80 is really a rompler? Bizarre they would do that.

The main reason I never bought the Arturia synth is really that I hate dongle dependent synths. Pain in the arse.

The Virus is probably the most versatile synth on the market, but unfortunately I also find the factory banks are too riddled with trancey patches.

Check out some of these patches here:

http://synthsonix.com/Synth_Patches.html

They really showcase a lot of the "non-trance" sounds the Virus is capable.

The Virus is probably the most versatile synth on the market, but unfortunately I also find the factory banks are too riddled with trancey patches.

Check out some of these patches here:

http://synthsonix.com/Synth_Patches.html

They really showcase a lot of the "non-trance" sounds the Virus is capable.