you don't need fancy analog hardware synths

some wavetable presets i made (patreon):

check out my other stuff:

#ableton #wavetable #musicproducer

[plusol]

this tutorial is missing one key component, Digital synths by its nature don't come in BOXES. Dave Pensado once told me that the bigger the box, the bigger the sound. I bought a Moog Modular and they had to helicopter that shit to my home just because the box was so big. But it was worth it. You can't compare the sound of the analog because your computer doesn't come in a real, analog box, it's a digital box. Even if the box is a big digital box, it's still just a digital box. You need a real, cardboard, locally wrapped and handled Cuboid

[LLusion]

i really hope this is the future of tutorials. couldn’t have made it more simple. in 6 mins you gave me a clearer understanding of creating synths to your liking. thank you for this video.

[mttlsa]

For those who are interested about the wavetable synth and maybe don't know much about it i've got a little tip to have a huge variety of wavetables. Load a sample (let's say we've got a chord stab but it could be anything even something sampled from a record or a simple kickdrum) in the timeline and zoom until you can see the single sinusoidal cycle of the sample's waveform, cut the single cycle and consolidate it, so drag it and drop it into the wavetable osc. In this way every note you play will sound with the characteristics of the sample and you'll have a completely unique, inspiring and interesting sound from the start.

[busywl]

Use what you like, it all sound truly amazing today. Hardware or software. General music listeners out there don't care how you create.

[Windkind]

I grew up using digital synths. Today I am designing both analog and digital synth circuits/code for hardware mostly. The key difference between digital and analog in terms of sound becomes ever smaller (unless we are talking about wild feedback-patches on a modular synthesizer). What is a difference tho, is the one between a plugin and dedicated hardware synths – regardless if analog or digital – on hardware you have the advantage that you usually have knobs that allow you to directly interface with a parameter and they are right there without you having to set anything up. This can change how you interact with the thing and therefore change what you make with it (not automatically leading to better results, but it is a different experience and that can have an impact on how you do music). I still use a lot of software synths if I am working on a sound design, but hardware can be more in the moment if you are in the rehearsal room with other musicians.

Ah yeah, and certain filters still sound better in analog, e.g. I have yet to hear a convincing emulation of the Wasp Filter – but there are also digital things I have never heard in the analog world and would not like to miss.

[phritzmusic]

I apologize if I’ve caused some discomfort for using the word analog too lightly, I should have phrased it ‘making it sound less digital’ or smth idk, I still like how it sounds tho

[Ethan-qecr]

In a mix. Most if not all people wouldn’t even pick if it’s analog or not.
And that’s the truth :)

[robledodub]

I finally learned how to make one of the osc’s in wavetable actually sound like noise instead of a single cycle wave from the noise. Very helpful, thank you.

[OrafuDa]

Interesting video, thank you. I agree, many digital synths and VSTs or AUs can be used to create lovely analog-sounding sounds. And people don’t necessarily need an analog synth.

The difference with analog synths is that the “warmth” happens more or less by itself. (If the synth has been designed to have “warmth” at all, that is.) It is possible to add lots of analog-y quirks to a digital synth. But it is really hard to replicate the ease and directness with which an analog synth can produce them.

Yes, analog quirks are instabilities and noise … and distortions. But there are also other subtle effects. Such as the subtle beating that multiple voices can have, which can be very characteristic for a synth. Or the subtle idiosyncrasies in oscillator waveforms, that end up in the overtone spectrum. And because everything is based on voltages and currents, there can be cross-influences across components. Something can change subtly when a key is pressed, for example. Everything is somewhat connected (although designers tend to try to isolate the components, but there is always a bit of a remaining influence between them). So, the artifacts can also synchronize in analog-typical ways. — And the typical analog artifacts appear by themselves.

I believe that all of these idiosyncrasies can in principle be replicated with digital synths. But it is not easy. And the digital synth needs to be able to support all these. And the sound designer needs to try to avoid the digital artifacts as well.

Analog artifacts can depend on lots of different things. But analog equipment typically behaves “smoothly” … and that usually means that the artifacts sound “warm”. Digital synths have long learned to simulate analog distortions, where they are prominent enough. (Digital artifacts, if not created intentionally, tend to behave “abruptly” … and that typically sounds “harsh”. But digital synths have learned to avoid these in many places, except when desired.) The remaining difference is that analog synths have smooth / warm artifacts even where digital synths do not simulate them. The sound designer can try to put them in, with some success … but it is really hard to do it in exactly the way analog equipment would do it … because it varies in idiosyncratic ways, and everything is somewhat connected.

I have many plugins for my DAWs. But whatever I use, I find it really hard to replicate the sounds that people create on analog synths. (It doesn’t matter whether I use many parameters on a capable digital synth, or if I use a digital “clone” of the synth.) The differences are clearly audible even on youtube videos, and the sound has a different character. So, yes, it is easily possible to create analog sounding sounds. But the sheer emotion that a beautiful analog synth sound can evoke is hard to replicate. And no, I don’t own any analog synths … I cannot afford them, nor do I have enough space. But the cravings are there.

Some people experience the character of a sound very consciously, even the more subtle parts. Others may not hear the character as clearly. But however much we hear it, it still influences us. The character of a sound makes us feel a certain way.

All that being said, there are a few VSTs that go a long way to simulate analog sound. For example, the U-He synths: Diva in particular. The approach is to simulate the voltages and currents in the analog circuits of a synth. Thereby simulating all the analog artifacts along the way. And it sounds amazing. — Note that Diva is still limited, because as far as I understand, it uses shortcuts to simulate the circuits, to cut down on the enormous CPU processing costs of a full simulation.

Some others use similar approaches: for example, the Yamaha AN technology is modeling analog circuits.

All in all, I believe the main message of the video is fair: creating analog sounding sounds on digital synths is possible, and those sounds can be lovely. But I think it is also fair to say that analog synths are valuable for their effortless yet subtly complex analog character. — Would I pay 10k+ for them? Nope. Not unless I was super rich. But I do value them.

[MariooDisco]

Well, I have an impression that some of us think that analog sound is just a messed dirty sound with added noise ... There is something in analog synths that to me simply cannot be emulated with any plugin or digital synth ... At least not just yet, but i am not saying we're not close, and also that it is bad, it's just the taste 😊

[fisle]

Something I do with all of my patches by default is to assign a value between 0.1-0.5 to the random column on the matrix for filter cutoff, oscillator fine tune, oscillator position, envelope attack and decay times, and amplitude. This means that every time you hit a key, you get a slight variation in the sound. I based on this on how the vintage knob on the P6 / OB6 works.

The major limitation is that each parameter is taking the same random value on each key press, but I find if I vary the modulation amount from -0.5 - +0.5, it adds a certain something.
Then you just need to add some saturation and/or tape emulation down the chain, and it usually sounds pretty good. I don't most people could tell the difference on a recording between a well-made VST patch and an analogue synth. I use analogue gear myself and I mostly keep it around because I like the device, more than because the sound is inherently better.

[lundsweden]

I most make music in the DAW, but I enjoy playing with my analog toys sometimes. I think they do sound just a little better than my plugs, but I cant usually be bothered recording them. Vintage synths evoke a strong feeling if nostalgia too, for those of us old enough to remember when they were new.

[brian]

I use mostly hardware due to IT being my day job. I cannot click 1000 times like i used to. Started getting into Ableton more. Hybrid is where it's at for me. For edge and grit... unstable sounds it would not hurt to just buy a single analog filter or module to run sounds through. Get the best of both worlds. Looking forward to more videos!

[isaacnewtech]

Yea, but there is more than the hard facts that need to be taken into account. I am an irrational and emotional being. My Moog Matriarch makes me feel special and inspires me. It is an actual physical instrument that I form a bond with. I am proud of it, it is mine. It has a smell, it gets dusty. I know how the knobs feel, I know where they are, and I build up muscle memory with it. I like grabbing patch cables and move my arms and hands around to experiment. Hear the little click when the patch cable goes into the socket. All sound generation happens right there in the electric domain. All of this for me is a pleasant and positive experience. As I often say, I LOVE PLAYING my Moog. When I step into my studio and I see it standing there, I want to fire it up, get a sequence going and experiment. I cannot not feel any of these things that I described here with a plugin on my computer screen. And the feeling is all important. The fact that inspiration starts flowing.

I have never tried a blind test comparison between say Native Instruments Reaktor Minimoog plugin, and my own Minimoog style oscillator and filter of my Matriarch. I think Reaktor sounds damn good. I absolutely think it is possible that I would not be able to tell the difference between a plugin synth bass, and a synth bass from my Matriarch. So I guess you title holds true: you don't need fancy analog hardware synths. But I sure as hell believe that getting a fancy analog hardware synth is a fantastic addition to your music making, and will inspire you for the rest of your life

[mrchairboy]

Best use of Helvetica on YT. Cuts through the crap and focuses on the sound. 👍

[morgan]

i highly recommend taking some stereo pink noise and slowing it down until it’s completely inaudible, layering whatever sound with that, running that thru distortion, and then highpassing it

[urphakeandgey]

Finally someone put it into video/words very well. I always thought of analogue gear in the modern age as kind of... Dumb. Unless you're a hardcore enthusiast and have the money, there's is NOTHING special about analogue except that it's prohibitively expensive.

[BucketOfBlueStuff]

been using ableton for 8 years and had no idea there were different filters in the stock plug-ins, i was freaked out by the acronyms so always left it😭

great vid, awesome sounding presets too 🤩

[msld_sound]

Very good demo! My main inhibition to using software synths for analogue tones is that most don't oversample at a high enough rate to do audio-rate modulation of anything besides oscillator pitch, and even then it's not consistently good. (Xfer Serum and the u-he titles are some notable exceptions; REPRO and Hive are pretty good at it.) I discovered a whole new world of textures with my Moog semimodular, but they are more like aliasing mush when I try them in software — which is so unfortunate, as I prefer softsynths for easy patch recall, portability, and DEFINITELY cost.

[FFriday]

This was delightful, seeing the thought process behind it, all the individual steps explained and to top it all of this clean look that just makes it easier to follow. What a treat, thank you very much for sharing. I would love more of this pls.