TECH TIP: Super Trance Pads

Hello all!

In another post, a user asked how to make a certain kind of trance pad and provided an audio example. Here’s the original post:

[post=378529]Original post (click here)[/post]

There's nothing too tricky going on from a production standpoint, it's just a brute force approach: detune as many mushy-attack sawtooth waves as your ears will comfortably tolerate, and bathe it in effects!

The original poster owned a few different instruments, so let's do the example using two of them: Massive, and then FM8.

Massive
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Here’s what it will sound like when we’re done:

http://www.native-instruments.com/TechTips/MassiveTrance.mp3

Put the Massive Browser to work! click on the Browser button, then:

Processed --> Fat --> Pad --> Dance/Trance

Choose the patch called "Enjoyed" because it's already pretty close.

If you look at this patch, you'll see it's really just 3 oscillators that are all set to sawtooth, all going through a lowpass filer. It then passes through a *lot* of chorus and reverb. I'm showing you how to start with an existing patch because you should always do this...rule #1 of sound design is don't reinvent the wheel unless you have to But, if you wanted to start from scratch, note that it really isn't that complicated under the hood...just beefed up sawtooth oscillators. You can reverse engineer this patch to take in some of the finer details if you want.

OK -- so the pad I named above (“Enjoyed”) is close, but not exactly like the song in the original example. Let's fix that.

Leave the Massive Browser and go back to the Synth Tab. The first thing we should do is assign the mod wheel to the Cutoff macro (Macro knob #3) so we can get some real-time control of the filter. Right-click on Macro Control knob #3 (labeled "Cutoff") in the lower right hand side of the display, click “MIDI Learn” and move the mod wheel (or any MIDI controller of your choosing). We now have some control over the filter.

NOTE: before proceeding I recommend you reduce the CPU quality to "Eco" because we're going to do some serious stacking--you can do this by going to the Global tab, then select "Use Preset Setting," then click the "Eco" box. This will lessen processor consumption for this patch only, and in this case the only noticeable artifact is a "darkening" of the filter character which in this case actually helps our cause.

Now for the brute force Trance approach mentioned above: click on the Voicing tab in the middle of Massive's GUI, and increase the number of voices in the Unisono box to about 4. Then raise the Pitch Cutoff slider in the Unisono Spread section to a little less than 25%. Yeah, it's pretty detuned alright...don't be shy because when you play chords some of the wobbliness will go away. Trance makes good use of 10ths (for example middle C and then the E a full octave above it) and you can get away with nasty detuning like this as long as you keep the intervals sparse.

Moving the Filter Cutoff we assigned earlier is already giving us the desired effect, but you really need to dial in the filter response to give it that final tweaky touch. To set the low point: move the mod wheel all the way down so the filter is closed. Then turn the Cutoff knob in Massive's GUI (the actual cutoff knob at the top, not the Macro) until it represents how you want the filter to sound when the mod wheel is at its lowest position. Now set the high point: raise the mod wheel all the way, then click and drag up and down on the box with the yellow "3" on it below the same Cutoff knob until the filter sounds like what you want it to when it is fully open. This “3” represents Macro knob #3, i.e. this knob is modulating the filter cutoff and we are adjusting the amount of the modulation. Play a little while moving the mod wheel and recalibrate as necessary.

For extra credit points (lol), try switching the filter type from the Lowpass 4 to the "Daft" filter. This one has an edgier character, and adding just a touch of resonance can really bring things out. You will need to recalibrate the mod wheel filter sweep as above so that you dial in the sweet spot.

One final note: key velocity is also assigned to the Filter Cutoff, and you may find this interferes with the predictability (as I do). Just right-click on the yellow "V" below the Cutoff knob and set it to OFF. Recalibrate the modulation range as necessary.


FM8
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Here’s what it will sound like when we’re done:

http://www.native-instruments.com/TechTips/FM8Trance.mp3

Open FM8, and once again select in the Browser: Processed --> Fat --> Pad --> Dance/Trance

Choose the patch called "08-15," which is also pretty close. The mod wheel is already assigned, so move it up and down to get a feel for the range of the filter.

There's a little too much resonance—we want a rounded sound and nothing too pointy: click on the "Ops" button in the sidebar and turn "Reso 1" on operator Z (at the very bottom middle of the page) down to zero. Much smoother!

Again with the brute force trance approach: click on the Master Page in the sidebar, and increase the Voices in the Unison section (not the Polyphony section) all the way to 4, then raise the Detune as high as you can tolerate, I say about 60%, don't be shy

Move the mod wheel very slowly to open and close the filter and hear the result.

I also went to the Easy / Morph page and turned down the attack on the Timbre envelope so the filter would "bite" a little faster.

For these trance sounds, don't be shy with the layering and detuning. No reason to feel insecure

Here are the actual patches used in the audio demos if you want to take them apart:

Massive: http://www.native-instruments.com/TechTips/EnjoyedTranceMod.ksd

FM8: http://www.native-instruments.com/TechTips/08-15TranceMod.ksd

Have fun!

Josh

 

Thanks a lot for your post. Very informative and good fun.

 

Yeah, thanks a lot for the tutorial. Massive can be somewhat overwhelming, so it's nice to have someone hold my hand through some editing : )

 

My only complaint about NI synths is that they generally have very few bread and butter patches to work off, so more tutes like this would be great.

 

Whoa... wondering if the recent "Maintenance" shut down on forum is related to complaint(s) re: support..

 

Tutorials like these help me to leanr new stuff on a daily basis. Some tutorials even showed me ways of doing stuff that I thought was not possible before. So thanks for sharing this tutorial with us.

 

thank you for this lil tut!
the ksd are offline :S

 

want them too!

 

hmm they are so hard to do - will do them now and upload
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ok massive preset sounds very close - but a bit to much detuned for my taste - i added a bit of Noise to fill the gaps when the Filter is fully opened!
FM8 one is pretty close imo - but i cant get right of that stupid ENV click at the start of each note :/
maybe somebody has a tip for me there

http://www.mediafire.com/?nykdtcqt26fpx5a

cheers
~Ameyah

 

Trance

Thanks I'm goin to give it a try

 

Great post!

 

Hello....the links do not work?