A serial composition using only Native Instruments' FM8 synthesizer.  Eight instances of FM8 and eaReckon's FR-COMP 87 on the master bus.  Submitted to the KVR One Synth Challenge 60 (Feb '14).

cytoSonic - An Adolescent Wideness (FM8)

"BUCHLA BONGO" Recipe

This is the classic "Buchla Bongo" patch (or a close approximation) that became ubiquitous in the early days of electronic music.  By today's standards, it is fairly primitive.  Nevertheless it does have a timeless quality about it and I have found that it is a good starting point for more "advanced" percussion sound design.

What you need: A synth with FM capability and "snappy" envelopes.

The basics:  A (keytracked) sin or triangle that is frequency-modulated by a (non-keytracked) signal sine or triangle in the 1kHz range.  Pull the filter's frequency and resonance all the way down.  Set both envelopes (amp and filter) so that the attack and sustain values are at 0.  Sometimes I like to make the filter attack *slightly* longer.  The release and decay setting should be set equally to a very short percussive burst - a few milliseconds.  That's it!  Change the timbre by adjusting the modulator's frequency, the FM amount, and/or the filter's envelope amount.

Finally: Soak the whole thing in a lot of reverb (the "springy-er" the better)!

Below is an implementation on the Synth1 VST, which is what you hear in the audio example.  Notice I used the built-in arpeggiator.  While I didn't do any modulation on the parameters for this example, you can adjust the values below that have asterisks to your liking.  If you are a more visual person, look at the accompanying image to see the patch.

OSCILLATOR 1: SIN
Detune: 0
FM: 85*
Sub: OFF

OSCILLATOR 2: TRI
Track: OFF
Pitch: +25*
Fine: 0

AMPLIFIER
A: 0
D: 48
S: 0
R: 48

FILTER: LP24
A: 6
D: 48
S: 0
R: 48
Amount: 32*
Freq: 0
Res: 0
Sat: 0
Trk: 127
Velocity: OFF

Turn everything else OFF!


Buchla Bongo Example and Tutorial

One instance of OBXD synthesizer.
Made in Reaper with...
ReaDelay, ReaVerb, SonEQ, and W1 Limiter (for good measure).

A little bit of minimalism for everyone!

cytoSonic - Conduit (OBXD)

For the KVR One Synth Challenge - April 2014
PolyIblit Synth

9 instances of PolyBlit in Reaper.
Used reaDelay, reaVerb, eaReckon FR-COMP 87, T-racks CS Classic EQ, and Yohng's W1 Limiter.

Enjoy!

cytoSonic - Fly, Fly (polyIblit)

a demonstration of how to use additively generated IRs to achieve sympathetic resonance.

Aliquot Example

An example of Native Instruments' "The Giant".

All sounds from the plugin with a little "digital manipulation" going on.

GiantDemo

GiantDemo2

Submitted to the KVR One Synth Challenge - June 2014

I made this in Reaper, using 6 instances of Swierk (by Saltline).

I wanted to try to get a more aggressive, in-your-face kind of sound to contrast the almost silly melodic parts of the song.  So I ended up using a lot more effects than usual (for me), and they are...

ReaDelay, ReaVerb, ReaComp, and ReaEQ (host effects)
SonEQ (Sonimus)
PhreePhuzz (LVC Audio)
IVGI (Klanghelm)
Transient (SleepyTime DSP)
Rough Rider (Audio Damage)
Feedback Compressor II (Tokyo Dawn Labs)
W1 (George Yohng)

There are only 5 distinct patches (the "organ" is the same sound on two tracks slightly panned out) and they were all made by me for this piece.

Enjoy!

cytoSonic - Cracks In The Spackle (Swierk)

a short demo of voix féminine - une found here... http://20patch.constructingtowers.com/patch/2762

Voix Féminine Une

For the KVR One Synth Challenge - May 2013
One (!) instance of U-He's Podolski plugin
plus space360 reverb and W1 limiter.
That's it!

cytoSonic

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