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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July 2018 Sound Design Fest - Audiokit Synth One
in Other
Post your thoughts, tips, comments and general opinions here. All submitted presets will be collected at the end of the month and released in early August.
Comments
Looking forward to what you all come up with!
We can include the bank in an official update when it’s done — reaching 10s of thousands of musicians!
I bet @brice has some good sound design tips...
Brice's patches are so, so good. Agree that I would love to get some tips.
He’s got a lot of good init patches in the “starter” bank
This is gonna be great! I’m not used to the way the filter envelope works on this, so it’s going to force me to be creative. Shocking how easy it is to get good sounds of it this baby.
Here's a note about Filter Envelope for folks. Best explained by James Edward Cosby
"Here’s a tip regarding the Filter Envelope...It is “subtractive” so set the Filter Frequency to the highest desired level then use the Envelope Amount Knob to set the lowest desired Filter Frequency achieved by the Envelope floor (zero) level. The Envelope will Sweep between these two levels. This means that the Envelope will never clip the Filter Frequency.
This also means that when the Mod wheel is assigned to Filter Frequency, it works “In Reverse”.
All the LFOs are all individually fine-tuned and different.
Here are some tips on how each LFO works:
pitchLFO: additive, range 1 semitone
detuneLFO: additive, with magic numbers
fmLFO: multiplicative, meaning the value goes from 0 to the knob amount ("subtractive")
decayLFO: multiplicative ("subtractive")
oscMixLFO: additive. [there are subtleties to this one]
resonanceLFO: multiplicative ("subtractive")
filterCutoffLFO: multiplicative ("subtractive")
filterEnvLFO: multiplicative ("subtractive")
noiseLFO: multiplicative ("subtractive")
bitcrushLFO: magic. lfo operates in log2 space.
tremoloLFO: multiplicative ("subtractive")
reverbLFO: multiplicative ("subtractive")
I’m still finding new things with this synth, but here are some thoughts you guys might find useful in your patch making endeavors.
Experiment with the extreme ends of the BPM range (1 - 200).
For a pure sine wave use the FM Oscillator with no modulation. You could also achieve a pure sine wave by lowpass filtering a triangle wave (DCO), but that commits the entire patch to being lowpass filtered. Using the FM Oscillator will allow the filter to remain open for additional harmonics via the DCOs, sub or noise oscillators while maintaining the pure sine.
Modulate the reverb for rhythmic pumping / sidechain effects. Set “SIZE” to a high amount (80-90% range) with the “MIX” set to 100% wet. Then use the mod matrix to assign various modulations to the “REVERB” parameter.
Experiment with odd number step lengths (3, 7, 9, etc.) on the sequencer.
Experiment with different values on the “INTERVAL” knob when using the arpeggiator.
Tuning scales. Set an arpeggiator pattern to “HOLD” and then audition a variety of tuning scales. Some will be subtle, some more drastic, all worth exploring.
For a pseudo flanger effect, set both DCOs to a Saw Wave at the same octave, and then apply a very small amount of detuning (somewhere around -0.20hz) until you begin hearing the flanging effect ...
... To add more width and movement to the above effect, set Phaser “MIX” to 100% wet with “NOTCH” and “FEEDBACK” to 0%. Adjust the “SPEED” dial as needed. It’s subtle but you’ll hear the sound open up a bit in the stereo field. This can be useful in a variety of situations, not just as an add-on to the pseudo flanging effect mentioned above.
Use the Bitcrusher to add subtle texture and crackle. This works best on brighter, buzzier timbres. Rotate the “BITRATE CRUSHER” knob (counterclockwise) ever so slightly. It might take several attempts to get the least amount of reduction possible. The sound your listening for is more akin to vinyl crackle than bit reduction. It really depends on the underlying patch and timbres, but this effect can be useful to add a layer of dirt and grit to an otherwise clean sound.
Tap and drag envelope shapes to adjust—as opposed to using the individual knobs. This can offer a finer level of control over the individual stages. Additionally it tends to feel a bit more organic.
Fast sequences + slow LFOs
Slow sequences + fast LFOs
Try a minimalist approach. Limit yourself and see how far you can take a patch that uses just the Sub Oscillator. Then do the same with just the Noise Oscillator ...
... Then try the opposite ... give it everything ... extreme settings ... then craft something compelling from there.
Pay attention to the scope. Particularly if you are new to synthesis and want to learn about basic waveforms and how to identify them visually and audibly. Hold a C2 while auditioning the various DCO waveforms, noting their visual signature on the scope.
Don’t forget to save your presets to either the “USER” bank, or create a new bank and save them there. I’ll let @analogmatt confirm this, but I believe if you save any custom presets to any of the factory banks they run the risk of being overwritten when Synth One receives an update.
Wow, @brice! This is tremendous. Have you considered making a sound design tips video for Synth One?
Thanks for the reminder. I can make it so patches can be added to banks without overwriting the existing presets.
I have! And for LayR, Zeeon, Kaspar......the problem is I’m terrible at making such videos. Best leave it to the pros
Ah, come one. ...you could be the Dan Worrall of iOS.
It would be amazing if some people wanted to recreate some famous synth sounds...
JEC came up with a pretty good “On the Run” sound, for example
Coupla questions:
Is there a flow chart somewhere that shows how synth one's modules are connected?
How is the FM wired in? What is it frequency modulating?
Tx
p.s. I spent more than an hour in thrall to one of Brice's drone patches after wiring some hardware knobs into Synth One. I'm afraid I might become lost in time and space if I do it again.
Only speculating but I believe the architecture is this; 5 Oscillators (DCO x2, Sub, FM, Noise) with independent level controls all pass through a single filter and amp, both with their own ADSR envelopes. The FM Oscillator is independent and its modulation has no effect on either DCO or the sub. @analog_matt ?
p.s. You should definitely do it again. I’ve been lost in time and space since 2009 and could use the company.
Setting the sustain to zero seems to cause some weirdness, key presses only occasionally register (almost like an LFO is affecting them). Setting it just above zero seems to fix it so I'm not sure if that's actually a bug.
Any particular patches you’ve noticed it on? I just tried it on a number of the starter patches and couldn’t replicate.
Start from Starter Patches --> 0 Init and then just set the Decay and Sustain to zero. (Actually the decay is the problem, not the sustain, sorry).
With a 0 decay and sustain on the amp you’d essentially have a silent patch. But it does appear that an occasional blip leaks through. There might be a way to take advantage of this*.......I’m going in.
Update: Yes there is. Run the sequencer and get excellent percussive patterns.
Highly recommend Jakob Haq's new video on Synth One for learning some tips w/ Synth One:
Easter egg panel just opened a whole new world. Praise to Jacob and his detective work.
For some reason, I started by only trying to make drum sounds. I hope this secret panel helps. I’m having a bit of trouble getting some drum sounds, but doing it anyway and won’t stop until I have a full “kit”. I’m not a huge bit crusher fan, but it’s helping with “drums”. Way to go Jakob!!
@jakoB_haQ is a wizard. Since he discovered it, it should probably be named after him.
It is a hacker panel... so...
"The HaQ Panel"
How are things going with this... any questions I can answer?
JEC has shared a patch sheet for a new preset he made. He wanted to share it the old fashioned way, as he thought it might help people get a hand on creating sounds for Synth One:
"To start, here's a Patch Sheet with the settings for the Beautifully Warm Synth Brass from Toto's Africa...
Entering the values will help you to get to know the synth much more intimately"
-- James Edward Cosby
Ok that’s pretty cool!
I feel like this is exactly what this synth was meant for. Learning and sharing. I vote you start shipping Synth One with blank patch sheets.
Featured in the USA App Store right now! 🎉
Talking to my mom: "My app is on the App Store homepage"
My mom, "I picked 6 spaghetti squashes today".
No pleasing her. 😂
And, in the UK app store, it's super. That's pretty cool.
Congrats!
How to make drum sounds w/ AudioKit Synth One
Coming down to the wire for the July sound fest.
This is an opportunity to impact a HUGE amount of musicians with your creations. I say that not to brag. But, to emphasize what a singular opportunity this is to have your sounds featured in a worldwide free and accessible music-making tool! 🎉
Really looking forward to your sounds!
OK I need to collate everyone's entries - unfortunately I'm really busy with work this week so there is likely to be a delay. But if people could post links to DropBox with their presets I will try and put everything together ASAP.
So - it's looking like no-one is going to submit anything for this sound fest?
I have a few patches, but if that's all we've got this month then it's a bit disappointing...