TECH TIP: A good way to get a deeper understanding of Absynth 4

Hey all, I have a few moments of downtime between travels, and thought I would share a little knowledge for those of you trying to get a deeper understanding of Absynth. Yes it's a deep instrument, but as your schoolteachers said, break large jobs into smaller tasks This particular post is more like a full-fledged article than a "quick and dirty" tip, so you should probably have Absynth fired up in the background so you can try the examples.

I am usually surprised to discover how few people know about Absynth's module templates and the Universal Library. Even seasoned users overlook this feature. For those of you trying to learn Absynth (or just crank out sounds quickly and easily), this is the proverbial bee's knees. In case you don't know, Absynth has a Universal Library, in which are stored all kinds of pre-fabbed objects for your benefit: waveforms, channel settings, effect presets, etc. In this example we'll focus on the templates available for modules on the Patch page.

Getting to the templates is easy: click on the Edit drop-down menu located inside any module on the Patch page (such as an Oscillator or Filter) and you will see an option to load a corresponding template. For instance, if you click on the Edit menu on an Oscillator module, you'll see options to load an Oscillator template, or a template for the entire Channel in one go (such as an Osc + Filter and/or Waveshaper combination). Either will bring in specialized modules that are already tweaked for a specific purpose, and will make meaningful sound right away. And, the template will bring any envelopes with it; a filter template might bring in not only a 4-pole filter that is dialed in just right, but a steady sweeping effect controlled by Absynth's crazy envelopes (or several of them).

OK so what's the point of this In other words, why would I be advocating the use of "presets" in such a flexible instrument? Because the template-for-module approach focuses on individual components and the ways they work together. A completely finished factory patch can have modulations and combinations of objects that make it difficult to understand as a whole. By starting with simple building blocks that already have a bit of "polish" on them, you can really get a sense of how sound design in Absynth is accomplished from the lowest level.

Try this: start with a blank patch, then go to the first oscillator's "Load Oscil Template" dialog, then choose the template called "Step Seq Basic." Play a note and look at the settings on the Osc module. It's a saw wave, shifted an octave up. Clicking on the Uni tab in the Osc module, you'll see it is stacked on top of itself three times for some depth, with a little random transposition for some fat wobble. Now click on the Envelope page at the top of Absynth, and click on either of the first two envelopes in the sidebar on the left. Here you'll see what is causing the step sequencer effect: one envelope is controlling the amplitude for the actual gating effect, the other a classic step sequencer-type envelope that is creating the pitch modulations. But that’s just one oscillator so far: go back to the Patch window, and try loading templates for the other two oscillators (B and C) so that they sound in parallel with the step sequencer part. Try a few templates until you have something that blends nicely (maybe a different rhythmic part for counterpoint). You're getting a feel for what is happening under the hood in Absynth to make all these sounds you’ve likely heard in the factory library.

You’ve probably noticed by now that all of Absynth 4's templates are categorized by type. For example, the Channel templates have a drop down menu at the top that will allow you to choose between Bass, Drums, Evolving, etc. If you couldn't find any good rhythmic templates to compliment the patch above, I'll bet you can now Go to the Bass category and choose the template called "Bass Underground" and you will get a pre-polished Oscillator/Filter/Waveshaper combination that is just what it sounds like. Or do it piecemeal--if you choose to load an Oscil template instead of an entire Channel template, you will get a useful starting point for the oscillator module only, and the other modules will remain untouched. This way you could hand-pick a Bass-friendly Oscillator from the Bass category, then a classic analog Filter template to compliment it, then a dirty Waveshaper / Mod template and so on. (btw many of these templates specifically leverage features new to version 4, such as wave morphing; try the "Morphed" category in the Oscil Template library to hear examples).

To see how classic synth sounds might be put together, start again from a blank slate, choose "Load Channel Template" from the first oscillator, select the "Bass" category at the top, and choose the "Normal Synth Bass" template. This yields a classic analog type of sound, with a sweeping filter section to match (take a look at the Envelope page to see what envelope(s) this template brought in).

In case you haven't noticed already, you always hear your template choice in context before committing--merely selecting a template name calls it up in real-time so you can hear what it will sound like in that particular place in the signal path. This is very much like swapping out different components in a modular environment. You are exploring how your choices affect Absynth's sound character. Then, after you select a given module's template that you find interesting, take apart the module to see why it sounds that way!

Note that when you change a module's type from the “Type” drop-down, its templates also change: try changing one of the Filter modules to a Mod by going into the Filter's "Type" drop-down and selecting "Mod." The templates available for the Mod category are a radical tour de force of modulation examples…try it.

As you might guess, Envelopes have their own templates as well: choose "New" from the left sidebar on the Envelope page, then click on the "Use Template" button. This will expose several ideal starting places for envelopes, particularly for rhythmic material.

The Effect section has its own templates too. They are not as extensive as the options for things like Oscillators and Filters, but make good launching points on your road to discovery. (Note that the Effect templates are accessed from the Effect module in the Patch window, not from the actual Effect page).

In closing, this isn't just a good way to learn Absynth, it's a good way to go about building patches. Have a good patch but it needs a different sweeping filter treatment? Go get a sweeping filter template and tweak it to taste. If you need an evolving texture but don’t want to draw in a wandering envelope, steal one. And OF COURSE you can save your own module/channel templates when you get something sounding right…recycle, recycle! We bill Absynth 4 as a "semi-modular" instrument, but I would say this kind of template behavior (in tandem with the switchable module type between Filter / Waveshaper / Mod) brings its behavior closer to “true” modular for those of you used to this kind of working style.

Have fun out there…

 

Good job, thanks

 

I just LOVE these tips!

Many thanks Josh.

 

Very nice. You should send this to VirtualInstrumentsMag.com.

Thanks!

 

Terrific tips. Thanks for the contribution.

 

Thanks - this tip/tutorial is very helpful for a quick unintimidating look at the templates!

If you have time - please more of this!

 

Very helpful, Thanks!

 

Josh,

Thanks, man. Very helpful.

 

Thank you very much!

 

Very interesting, thanks a lot!

 

Thanks for the tips and lucid description.

By the way: I found a bug... In Envelope Mode the Purple Position bar representing sound over time shows up PPC Macs, but not on Intel Macs.
This is a very useful feature and I'm surprised it's not fixed yet.
I'll fill out a bug report, but I'm wondering I'm the only on seeing this?

I don't mean to spoil this nice thread with a complaint, sorry. I still love Absynth.

Rick B.

 

very nice post, thanks

 

Thanks for this - very useful

 

Of course the reverse is also true and very useful too. If you have a patch that you like it can be de-constructed into oscil, channel and effect templates that you can then re-combine with other templates into new patches to your heart's content.

 

thanks Josh for your help tutorial
Best regards and Happy new year

Gennaro

 

Thanks much, really useful tip. I'm currently chopping presets into templates like crazy

 

thats a great tip, thank you!

 

This was helpful, thank you.

 

I've always felt there was way more to Absynth than I had considered. I really do need to visit these forums more often to accelerate my knowledge of NI software. I'll be back to look at this again 9when I have Absynth up & running). thanks for the thread.

 

I have to add more thanks to Josh on this thread! This tech tip was wonderful. Still fairly new here to NI synths, have had Komplete 6 now for a little over two months. I was learning how to program Massive and FM8, not too difficult. But I kept having this aversion to Absynth. I couldn't figure out how to program it, to "tame" it before I unleashed its wildness once again. But with Josh's tip of starting out with templates, and then applying a little mutate here and there, and finally subtly tweaking where I need to in order to get the sound I want... ah, this is turning out to be the perfect beast! Now, rather than staying away from Absynth -or better said, avoiding Absynth - I can't keep my hands off it! OK, gotta... go... back... to... work... now......

Thanks Josh!