What is this sound effect and how is it done?

[Yamagong]

I had been hearing lots of records in my life of music lovere and, in some of them, I heard this cosmic and relaxing sound effect, and I've always wondered how it is done.

I don't know how it is called, so I'll give you few examples:

1) "La Maison" by Italian duo Gabin was a track released in 2002. You can hear this sound effect I'm talking about at the beginning of the song (just take a listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRkOmJTF1Zw. You can hear it at 0:18)

2) In "A Shower Of Sparks" by Ott you can hear the same sound effect in the background throughout the whole introduction part. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLO_3yKeEcg)

3) Another song in which the same sound effect often appears is "La Orana Tahiti". It's a song included in an old french new age album called "Pacific Islands" (unfortunately I couldn't find the song on YT or anywhere else).

I've spent these last weeks trying to figure out how it was done. Someone told me it's just a synth heavily filtered with some ping pong delay effect, some other told me it's a pad with a strong and fast LFO modulation. I'm not so sure about the accuracy of these theories. What I don't really know is what kind of basic sound was used for this effect.

Anyone knows something about it? Is there a way to recreate something similar in Ableton Live?

[lloydforth]

Sounds like a fast arpeggio setting with a bit of delay, then you roll out a scale very quickly i can get something very similar with this approach. although the patch reminds me of something from a Korg M1 or similar

[Yamagong]

Sounds like a fast arpeggio setting with a bit of delay, then you roll out a scale very quickly i can get something very similar with this approach. although the patch reminds me of something from a Korg M1 or similar

Thanks lloydforth, that's a good start point.

However, I don't have a Korg M1, so I'm still trying to figure out a way to get a similar patch that I can work on.

[SuburbanThug]

Sounds like flute trills on the second example. In the first one it sounds like a heavily layered synth version of the same idea. Start with flute trills with lots of reverb and then start thinking about how you would emulate that with a synth. Then, how you would embellish that to get the full effect you're looking for.

[geekbeats]

Anytime I hear the same sounds in different songs, I assume (maybe incorrectly) it's part of a library, and normally from a very popular keyboard or VSTi synth library

I got flamed on a film forum when I suggested the sounds I was in search of were part of a sound library vs. someone hand crafting them. I eventually figured out the source... patch library with cinema in the name

Anyway, I'd find out the year these songs were made, read interviews on the band about the track and look for pictures of them in the studio. It reminds me of Paul Hardcastle and other smooth jazz artists, so searching for his work in the way I described may help isolate the source of the sound.

[lloydforth]

Sounds like a fast arpeggio setting with a bit of delay, then you roll out a scale very quickly i can get something very similar with this approach. although the patch reminds me of something from a Korg M1 or similar

Thanks lloydforth, that's a good start point.

However, I don't have a Korg M1, so I'm still trying to figure out a way to get a similar patch that I can work on.

You can pick up the M1 soft synth via the korg user network, i'll be as bold as saying its an exact replica of the original synth. Plus UVi have just released a series which encompasses the M1

[loydb]

The technical term for that is a "glissando". It sounds to me like some kind of bell patch (FM8 maybe?) with some echo.

[Valiumdupeuple]

The technical term for that is a "glissando". It sounds to me like some kind of bell patch (FM8 maybe?) with some echo.

I second that.
It sounds like a glissando made with a fast arpeggiator. Almost sure it's a very basic FM with like 2 oscillators (sinewaves). I think the filter envelope is very fast and extremely precise though (to get this "fluid" touch, this subtle bubble feel). Lots of delay/echo/reverb. The glissando might be as well achieve with an other oscillator (modulating the others) with a rising pitch and a fast and "tuned" s&h lfo on this rising pitch.

But there might be a hundred way to get this sound...

[SilverNeedle]

dunno but random link tip (for youtube) - right click copy url at current time

eg / http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... F1Zw#t=18s