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Drum synthesis

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 11:14 am
by frontleft
Hey guys,

Question for those creating your own drum sounds with VSTs, what plugs are you using? Ive been using some of the ableton M4L FM Porc synths and they're great, but Id like to expand my sounds and get more variety. Im particularly keen on the FM type sound and being able to module the synth as opposed to just working from samples. Open to any other ideas!

Cheers

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 11:46 am
by buffered
tremor. reaktor.

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 11:53 am
by victer
I use mostly samples, but when I try to design synth percussions I use operator and Analog from ableton. Operator is especially handy because it does fm and has a time knob wich controls every envelopes, and you can switch the tone and algorythm to quickly get a variety of percussion.

But I guess any synth can do if you know the basics of drum synthesis. I know a lot of synth drum vsts have been mentionned in the forum if you dig a bit you'll find them

@buffered : May I ask what you use specifically in reaktor ? I have gotten into it recently but never used it for drums so far

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 11:58 am
by buffered
krypt is good.
drumachinewsky is amazing if you can deal with the interface.
maschine is great for hihats.
neuron drum also good.

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 12:03 pm
by victer
buffered wrote:krypt is good.
drumachinewsky is amazing if you can deal with the interface.
maschine is great for hihats.
neuron drum also good.
Thank you, I'll look into it.
Cheers

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 12:32 pm
by rabbit
If not abletons builtin plugins - Waldorf Attack is quite a nice drum synth.
NI Massive is not bad aswell.

For both you will find a thundrillion tutorials out there :-)

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 12:36 pm
by Amøbe
I use Microtonic, because somebody on here liked it. I like it.

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:08 pm
by Lost to the Void
Mostly use field recordings.
But also

Microtonic
Sytrus
Ogun
Fm8

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 2:40 pm
by nomadjames
Never really did much in the way of FM drum synthesis. When I use the computer, it's almost all Maschine.

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 3:18 pm
by rabbit
Lost to the Void wrote:Mostly use field recordings.
Yeah, i am getting more and more into it too.
I love it.

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 4:23 pm
by Amøbe
rabbit wrote:
Lost to the Void wrote:Mostly use field recordings.
Yeah, i am getting more and more into it too.
I love it.
I'd love to get more into this. Are there some basic processing that's a good place to begin? I'm expecting most sounds doesn't behave like a drum skin. Do you then add pitch envelopes to it or is it more a compression and filtering kind of route?

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 10:41 pm
by rabbit
Amøbe wrote:
rabbit wrote:
Lost to the Void wrote:Mostly use field recordings.
Yeah, i am getting more and more into it too.
I love it.
I'd love to get more into this. Are there some basic processing that's a good place to begin? I'm expecting most sounds doesn't behave like a drum skin. Do you then add pitch envelopes to it or is it more a compression and filtering kind of route?
All of it :-)
Depends on your material and your goal.
Most of the time i start with some pitch / filter envelopes for some nice transients, then a bit compression and layering stuff. always good for some percussion stuff :mrgreen:

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 12:48 am
by ozias_leduc
just while we're talking about VST drummachine like waldorf attack, microtonic etc - a recent cool tip i learnt is that you can use them on a drum rack with only 1 instance of the VST- just select the pad you drop it onto and choose "all notes" and voila - you have the benefit of a drum rack and having a single VST!

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 5:18 am
by Mono-xID
My DnB mates crank out some serious drum sounds out of XFer Serum and Ableton's Operator.

Current Value made whole albums with nothing else than a Nord G2. Guy is a synth wizard.

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 8:58 am
by HowieRis
Microtonic for synthesis.

TAL Sampler for processing field recordings and samples (good mod matrix for filter and pitch enveloping and nice sounding bit crusher / sample reduction / saturation etc).

I usually combine the two to some extent and use the TAL to resample Microtonic loops and hits.

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 11:17 am
by Oktagon
ozias_leduc wrote:just while we're talking about VST drummachine like waldorf attack, microtonic etc - a recent cool tip i learnt is that you can use them on a drum rack with only 1 instance of the VST- just select the pad you drop it onto and choose "all notes" and voila - you have the benefit of a drum rack and having a single VST!
Doesn’t that mean you can’t apply effects to individual sounds though? I’m using the external instrument method to rack my microtonic. Works pretty well other than you can’t use track delay and arrangement is harder. I normally extract chains when I’m happy with the patterns which is a bit of a faff.

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 11:33 am
by Lost to the Void
Amøbe wrote:
rabbit wrote:
Lost to the Void wrote:Mostly use field recordings.
Yeah, i am getting more and more into it too.
I love it.
I'd love to get more into this. Are there some basic processing that's a good place to begin? I'm expecting most sounds doesn't behave like a drum skin. Do you then add pitch envelopes to it or is it more a compression and filtering kind of route?
Not really.
I mean I just record interesting sounds around the house or when I am out.
Processing wise I just go techno with em, as in anything goes. Lo-fo sample engines, distortion, compression, reverb, resampling, ring mods, comb filters.
Whatever.

It`s hard to get anything as texturally complex and interesting in synthesis land, percussively.

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 11:47 am
by SFBM
Mono-xID wrote:My DnB mates crank out some serious drum sounds out of XFer Serum and Ableton's Operator.

Current Value made whole albums with nothing else than a Nord G2. Guy is a synth wizard.
Oh wow. I'm a huge fan of Current Value, and it seems like he knows his way around a synth/DAW/Drum machine. Must check out that Nord unit now for reference, I think.

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 11:56 am
by Mattias
Thought I was the only one using Ogun. Surprises every day.

Re: Drum synthesis

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 1:01 pm
by Lost to the Void
Mattias wrote:Thought I was the only one using Ogun. Surprises every day.
It`s the ultimate clonk synth