Detroit Strings/Pads (DJ 3000, Rolando, ...)

[TechnoLover]

Hello everybody!

I am looking for some help, once again, and I have no doubt you are the only ones who can help me Would be really please if you agree to share your knowledge with me once again...

I've been improving a lot of the "detroit-like" sounds with your help but I am still having big problems with the pads/strings ...

I am usually working on Sylenth1, Albino and now FM 8 which I really love!

Here are some examples of great detroit strings :

my favorite (and the most famous one) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JpD5skqGOo (this track is really an objective for me, being able to produce stuff like that would be a real achievement)

and some more recent stuff : http://soundcloud.com/dj3000/dj-3000-darjeeling-sun (u gotta listen to it completely to hear the full strings/pads) and http://soundcloud.com/dj3000/dj-3000-me ... room-remix .

I don't know which VST's to use and how to configure it (tried some things with the "Soft Strings" from FM which sound good) and I have no clue of how to build the melody pattern of this kinds of strings/pads ...

Thank you once again, can't wait to read your tips

[Khazul]

Didnt know cheesy rompler strings were called detroit strings now :p

NI Seesions strings perhaps (right tone, but wrong articulations perhaps) Also Ableton EIC probably has some suitable sounds in them.
Pretty much any old rompler and you could even try the korg legacy M1.

[TechnoLover]

Rolando being cheesy? wouldn't say that... Housy but not cheesy at all

Thanks for the tips, gonna check these out

[Trypset]

sample some?

[TechnoLover]

would rather do it myself with a VST because I can't get enough "variations" with one shot samples =(

[contakt321]

Use the browser in FM8

Select "Pads"

Audition sounds until you get one that sounds close to what you are looking for, then tweak.

Plenty of great sounds like the ones you referenced in FM8.

[filterstein]

I suggest investigating the sources where he's thieving from. ie Derrick May.

[Khazul]

Rolando being cheesy? wouldn't say that... Housy but not cheesy at all

Thanks for the tips, gonna check these out

not saying his muscic is cheesey, but those were pretty bog standard cheesy strings of the sort commonly found lurking in most romplers (especiallyy korg) since the M1

[TechnoLover]

yeah I know and I am still facing issues to get the same result =(

[TechnoLover]

up

[contakt321]

Did you try what I suggested?

FM8 is pretty close to what a lot of the Detroit guys were using. You could also try LinPlug Free Alpha which is a free VST emulating the Roland Juno 2, another synth popular w/ Detroit artists.

[TechnoLover]

yes I did but still can't get the right sounds... which pressets would you use?

[alex.the.forge]

you should try what contakt321 suggested

what Khazul meant was they are pretty old string sounds in your examples, so you don't need anything that new sounding or realistic - better trying old kinds of presets, which means in the world of VSTs using things that are trying to emulate all those old synths, so FM8 is a good example as it was built on the foundations of a DX7 emulator - Yamaha DX7 synth which was released somwhere in the mid 80s and was used all over 80s tracks, including the original Detroit stuff

the DX7 is probably a really good candidate for where they might have got them from. but there are a others it could be…. any synths the UR guys would have had access to in the late 80s….. though it's possible, I personally don't think with the sample time you would have had in 1985-1990 it's unlikely they wasted it on strings sounds, so it's almost certainly a synth - so at least start with a DX7 or Juno 2 like contakt321 suggested

[theophilus]

try the free proteus VX - it's basically an old rompler, so it has realistic strings, synth strings, etc. maybe you can find what you are looking for.

[TechnoLover]

I've some problems with my FM ... It's like if I lost 80% of my presets... Can anyone know why this happened?