Vital Synth Hacks and Secrets

In this video I take you on a fast-paced tour through some non-obvious hacks and secrets and shortcuts for Vital.

HUGE shout-out to "0.5 degrees" for creating the following set of chapter markers. You rock!

0:12 Master output: red bar and (not) clipping
2:45 Kind of ignore this meter, there is no clipping below 6.4 dB
4:14 Now it starts to clip; just plain hard clipping
5:09 Set your track volume to −6.4 dB and do whatever inside Vital
6:02 Click on the oscilloscope and it becomes a spectrum analyzer
6:37 === BROWSER ===
7:27 (Obsolete) To un-filter by pack, minimize and restore the window
9:45 Finding where do duplicates come from: right-click
11:53 Reorganize files live and Vital won’t freak out
12:56 Add underscore to a bank name to float it up in list
14:01 By default anything is saved in “User”
14:56 Cut and paste a file to move it to another bank
16:08 Menu: load or create Vital banks
16:58 …they are just ZIP archives, so you can preview what will be loaded
18:45 === PARAMETERS ===
18:51 Hold Ctrl for finer increments
19:05 Hold Alt and click to enter a value (without right-click menu)
19:32 Double-click to reset
19:56 Hold Shift for changing semitones in octaves (±12)
20:47 === OSCILLATORS ===
20:51 Unison: for 4 voices and more, drag little voice bars to change spread
20:13 SP[ectral] view: where do you have harmonics in your wave
23:54 …useful to make sense of spectral warping modes
26:08 === FILTERS ===
26:12 Drive knob is loudness-compensated!
27:10 Making louder: use compressor, distortion; don’t be afraid to use master gain!
28:03 Advanced tab, click on “Hertz” to choose semitones
29:00 The default position of a peak is middle C
29:36 === MODULATORS ===
29:52 Holding Alt turns off snapping
31:08 Double click on a modulator to remove it
31:11 Don’t drop the modulator: scroll to change amount, listen in real time
31:31 …drag it anywhere and preview other options without commiting
32:03 …holding Ctrl, Alt or Shift switches to bipolar mode
33:05 Clicking on “Smooth” in LFO allows to use fade-in time instead
33:48 Pressure and Slide are MPE signals
34:39 Lift is velocity of note-up, when available
34:51 Octave Note supplies 12 values depending on which note C C# D … B you play
37:17 Stereo applies fixed offset between L and R
39:11 Random triggers per every note
40:06 === MOD MATRIX ===
40:30 Click the lane number to (un)bypass a modulation
40:51 Morphing knob allows simple waveshaping
41:05 Mod remap is more complex (check out the recommended video)
41:44 Modulate morph and amount
42:15 === EFFECTS ===
42:17 Compressor: defaults are almost exactly like in OTT
43:13 Comparing to OTT
47:00 === WAVETABLE EDITOR ===
47:24 Using a line source
48:48 Making sense of a wave source
50:21 Free-form drawing with a wave source
52:04 Line source warps other sources
53:37 Conclusion

This is NOT paid promotion. I've been a long-time beta tester for Vital and just love it to pieces and want to share useful tips and tricks.

If you enjoyed this video, please do me a solid and not only like the video (and subscribe to my channel), but also give me a follow on my TWO different artist accounts on Spotify! Thanks!

[KozmykJ]

Now that's what I call 'In Depth'.
Thanks for making this.

[MuchachoC]

the modulation preview using the mouse wheel just blew my mind away. Definitely this synth is the Serum-killer. You should be proud of yourself to have beta-tested such a nice product :)

[degrees]

Thanks for the video! 🌞
Chapters:

0:12 Master output: red bar and (not) clipping
2:45 Kind of ignore this meter, there is no clipping below 6.4 dB
4:14 Now it starts to clip; just plain hard clipping
5:09 Set your track volume to −6.4 dB and do whatever inside Vital
6:02 Click on the oscilloscope and it becomes a spectrum analyzer
6:37 === BROWSER ===
7:27 (Obsolete) To un-filter by pack, minimize and restore the window
9:45 Finding where do duplicates come from: right-click
11:53 Reorganize files live and Vital won’t freak out
12:56 Add underscore to a bank name to float it up in list
14:01 By default anything is saved in “User”
14:56 Cut and paste a file to move it to another bank
16:08 Menu: load or create Vital banks
16:58 …they are just ZIP archives, so you can preview what will be loaded
18:45 === PARAMETERS ===
18:51 Hold Ctrl for finer increments
19:05 Hold Alt and click to enter a value (without right-click menu)
19:32 Double-click to reset
19:56 Hold Shift for changing semitones in octaves (±12)
20:47 === OSCILLATORS ===
20:51 Unison: for 4 voices and more, drag little voice bars to change spread
20:13 SP[ectral] view: where do you have harmonics in your wave
23:54 …useful to make sense of spectral warping modes
26:08 === FILTERS ===
26:12 Drive knob is loudness-compensated!
27:10 Making louder: use compressor, distortion; don’t be afraid to use master gain!
28:03 Advanced tab, click on “Hertz” to choose semitones
29:00 The default position of a peak is middle C
29:36 === MODULATORS ===
29:52 Holding Alt turns off snapping
31:08 Double click on a modulator to remove it
31:11 Don’t drop the modulator: scroll to change amount, listen in real time
31:31 …drag it anywhere and preview other options without commiting
32:03 …holding Ctrl, Alt or Shift switches to bipolar mode
33:05 Clicking on “Smooth” in LFO allows to use fade-in time instead
33:48 Pressure and Slide are MPE signals
34:39 Lift is velocity of note-up, when available
34:51 Octave Note supplies 12 values depending on which note C C# D … B you play
37:17 Stereo applies fixed offset between L and R
39:11 Random triggers per every note
40:06 === MOD MATRIX ===
40:30 Click the lane number to (un)bypass a modulation
40:51 Morphing knob allows simple waveshaping
41:05 Mod remap is more complex (check out the recommended video)
41:44 Modulate morph and amount
42:15 === EFFECTS ===
42:17 Compressor: defaults are almost exactly like in OTT
43:13 Comparing to OTT
47:00 === WAVETABLE EDITOR ===
47:24 Using a line source
48:48 Making sense of a wave source
50:21 Free-form drawing with a wave source
52:04 Line source warps other sources
53:37 Conclusion

[mudia]

This is a very useful video and actually I could learn that Vital has several tricks up its sleeve which I could not find in other synths that I own and which are very interesting!
Thanks for posting this!

[sb]

Would love to see deep dives into analyzers, frequency masking, compressors and micro dynamics. Your videos are incredible man.

[darrellpidgeon]

I can tell I will be spending a lot of time learning Vital. Editing wave tables is why I decided to download this synth. It gives better control over designing sound. You covered some great tips. Thanks for the info.

[jasonw.]

Thank you so much for making this, especially since there's limited information available about the details of this synth at this point in time. Your pacing and style of explanation is really articulate and easy to follow. I had lots of little epiphanies throughout! :)

[nikhilas]

Waiting for more of your in depth videos about mixing and theory. Hope you upload soon.

[notrandom]

Incredible work man, fyi your voice is great I enjoy listening to it

[theunconciousmind]

Since about 1 year using this plugin, first a little sceptic, but now actually surprised of all the hidden features and the complexity of it. I just couldn't believe that a free software actually beats serum in many ways, besides the graphical interface.
I don't say vital is better than serum, but it's defenitly more complex and deeper...

[MagnificentlyHighAlien]

This video feels like an awkward nerd explaining Vital to you via videochat.
I absolutely vibe with that, makes me understand it way better.

[ellencooper]

You do a great job of explaining things systematically and clearly! Thank you!

[neworldemancer]

Quite a work, and what a presentation

[EXE]

Many thanks, the most helpful starter video that I've found. Much appreciated.

[StephenAntKneeBk]

Great job. I love the new Vital instrument.

[Craftal]

THE UNISON VOICE WIDENING TRICK. NO THAT WAS NOT OBVIOUS.

[spencerrobinson]

Awesome tips, psyched to dive into Vital a bit more. I literally just got it yesterday, seems sick

[bontempo]

Hi Baphometrix, hope you are well. Big fan of your work here, thank you for sharing all of this with us, its incredibly appreciated.
You have a broad spectrum of knowledge and the way you have included so much of it over your videos is an incredible feat.
I was listening to some of your music, which is an amazing standard of production by the way, and there is something that i want to get a good grasp of, but i can't seem to find any info in your video selection- and that is how to get that quantised effect on all the elements of a track.
What i'm referring to here, is a bit difficult to describe, and it may be a post-product of simple quantising, but a quick example would be a drum fill at the end of a section in the style of music you make, for example Rap Kid. I think it has simply been quantised to taste, but it has that exponential stretching effect.
I have seen ways to do that, but to me, entire tracks sound like everything is being stretched and squashed around a central pulse, which would typically be the grid, but the timing, the length of notes, the way it feels like that pulse is constantly central and relentless, it entirely feels like it is done conciously, and it is a very important part of what makes that music work. Hence you can literally throw any sounds into it, but it all fits the action and groove of the track. It really began life from the chopped sample work done on MPCs in House music, especially when the French started. The following note would gate the previous note, and other variations. And that gave the chopped effect but all perfectly to the grid and note length depended on the rhythm you inputted.
The main thing about it, is a central pulse, which is often 16th notes, sometimes triplets. Then the tension of time is played with, sounds whip and zip around the pulse, often exponentially stretching- and the length and timing of the notes is very critical to the effect.
I would love love a point in the right direction with this, as i resonate so well with this sound and would love to find an approach to making it myself, without inputting it all manually, which is not the way those artists do it, and is a painfully anal way to make music !!
Just wondering if you could provide any help here Bapho, cheers !

[rockingricky]

Boah, so many informations, I guess I have to watch this video a few times. Thanks for your effort!

[kili]

Sir you are a legend! Do you think you could do a beginners tutorial and overview of Vital in the future? Something concerning more of the groundwork. I think a lot of people would find value in that, myself included!