Audiobus: Use your music apps together.

What is Audiobus?Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.

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Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

Sound Design: PVD's "Glistening" Sound

I've been a huge fan of Paul Van Dyk since I first discovered him at age 16. One of my alltime favourite tracks of his, a b-side no less, is the full version of "Avenue". The track has a great flow to it, fast speed, great layering and sound design (including that hard thumpin 909), and a simplistic melody line to accompany the chord progression (and simple works quite fine. Back when I was learning how to produce and to design sounds, that was one track I tried to recreate as a means of learning various techniques, but one sound has ALWAYS eluded me - that "glistening crystal" sound which comes in around 29 seconds.

I still have no idea if it's synthesized somehow, or if it's a sample of something I can't tell, or a sample of something synthesized, or what the story behind the sound design is. It's damn near impossible to find out what type of production gear Paul used in 1998/1999 around the time this masterpiece was composed and produced.

At first, I might've thought it was a Waterphone, but even then I have my doubts. Can anybody help me out here? Thanks. :)

Comments

  • edited February 2017

    Damn the highhats are so loud in dance music.

    Anyway, have you ever just fiddled with Animoog? So many patches I've started have sounded so identical to this at some point, I'd say it's almost easy to replicate. Unless you're purely curious as to what THAT ONE sound is. In that case, I'd guess a bike horn. (Dunno)

  • I've tried many ways to nail that sound. Okay, not that EXACT sound but rather that sound patch if that makes any sense.

    I don't thing Animoog would be able to recreate that sound, but then again, I don't know. Anybody else have any insights?

  • edited February 2017

    Thats a modulated FM Sound. Most likely just a HP Filter ride on a simple glassy FM drone sound.

    Should be doable with animoog if you have a glass timbre in it thats coming close. Maybe there is a tad of a low SAW in it aswell for the fundaments.

    Being that the track is fairly old it shouldnt be all too complex. Equipment was rather simple back then. Two Osc synths were most common. Nothing fancy.

  • It sounds very much like a resonator type sound.

  • That's a Synclavier patch. Look to Arturia's V-Collection ;)

  • @jwmmakerofmusic said:
    I've been a huge fan of Paul Van Dyk since I first discovered him at age 16. One of my alltime favourite tracks of his, a b-side no less, is the full version of "Avenue". The track has a great flow to it, fast speed, great layering and sound design (including that hard thumpin 909), and a simplistic melody line to accompany the chord progression (and simple works quite fine. Back when I was learning how to produce and to design sounds, that was one track I tried to recreate as a means of learning various techniques, but one sound has ALWAYS eluded me - that "glistening crystal" sound which comes in around 29 seconds.

    I still have no idea if it's synthesized somehow, or if it's a sample of something I can't tell, or a sample of something synthesized, or what the story behind the sound design is. It's damn near impossible to find out what type of production gear Paul used in 1998/1999 around the time this masterpiece was composed and produced.

    At first, I might've thought it was a Waterphone, but even then I have my doubts. Can anybody help me out here? Thanks. :)

    To me it sounds like a violin bowing "false" harmonics made by resting pinky on string whilst firmly stopping string with index finger.

    Either that, or bowing on the wrong/other side of the bridge.

    Disclaimer: I acknowledge that my violin playing ear is probably biased.

  • "False" harmonics example:

  • Some bridgey harmonic bowing technique sounds on cello:

    .

  • Glissando slidey harmonics on cello:

  • Guys your talking classic trance here. Thats not an organic sound. Animoog will do just fine. Or Thor.

  • @brice said:
    That's a Synclavier patch. Look to Arturia's V-Collection ;)

    This may very well be it! Thing is, there are no Synclavier emulations in the appstore at the moment. However, I did notice Addictive Pro has FM capabilities, and if I can do FM with additive synthesized waveforms, then I should be able to get close enough.

  • reminds a lot on PPG/Waldorf wavetable sounds - imho a bit too biting for pure FM.
    Highpass filtered for shure, there are fragments reappearing a couple of times.
    Minus: in the mid of the track he borroughs heavily from the Insomnia string theme.
    Plus: he nicely extends this theme :wink:

  • @jwmmakerofmusic said:

    @brice said:
    That's a Synclavier patch. Look to Arturia's V-Collection ;)

    This may very well be it! Thing is, there are no Synclavier emulations in the appstore at the moment. However, I did notice Addictive Pro has FM capabilities, and if I can do FM with additive synthesized waveforms, then I should be able to get close enough.

    There are also several patches in Animoog under the "METALLIC" category that are fairly similar as is. You might have luck creating the PVD patch there.

  • That sound at 29seconds sounds like an fm synth with a filter sweep/modulation of some kind. You could prob get something like that out of FM4

  • I've heard that sound (or very similar) on a Gary Numan album. "Dance" maybe?

  • I can get a similar sound using the waterphone preset in iWavestation sending audio into a robot preset in Voice Synth then into a high pass filter in Aum.

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