:Listen: How Is This Sound Made??

rachmanoff · Post by **rachmanoff** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 6:00 pm

Alright Gumshoes,

From the beginning of Stereolab's "Feel and Triple" (left channel mono-ized):

the sounds in question are one-way arpeggios that accelerate(!) as they go up. At the top of the arpeggio, an intended high note is sustained. It sounds amazing, and I can't figure out for the life of me figure out how to program a patch like this. is it just really slick playing?

Have a Listen

nihad · Post by **nihad** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 11:55 pm

sounds like a sample of a nintendo/sid type of sound and as the higher notes are played the rate of the "arpeggio" gets higher .. maybe ..

som[e] · Post by **som[e]** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 12:26 am

it sounds like a sample from the N64 game Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, or possibly a Mario game. I don't just mean the individual note, but the whole sequence. I think nihad is right, the arpeggio rate is tied to the pitch of the note somehow.

rachmanoff · Post by **rachmanoff** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:04 am

thanks for your replies.

i have a strong inclination that the sound source is not a sid or samples from a nintendo game, but likely a modular or semi-modular analog synthesizer which has been programmed by a series of control voltage signals to achieve this result.

as i wrote in the original post, i am aware that the rate of the arpeggio accelerates as the notes go up. what i'm interested in is how this effect is achieved on a programming level.

hacktheplanet · Post by **hacktheplanet** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:42 am

I think a Grain Delay would do it. Either that or a Tape Delay.
Don't ask me how to program it though.

blank · Post by **blank** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 1:58 pm

What if you use keyed lfos in step mode to achieve this ?

related to an arpegio it will give the desired effect I guess.

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 2:48 pm

rachmanoff wrote:Alright Gumshoes,

From the beginning of Stereolab's "Feel and Triple" (left channel mono-ized):

the sounds in question are one-way arpeggios that accelerate(!) as they go up. At the top of the arpeggio, an intended high note is sustained. It sounds amazing, and I can't figure out for the life of me figure out how to program a patch like this. is it just really slick playing?

Have a Listen

This could be achieved with Live's plugins.
It'll require some serious tweaking though.
I made similar patches for an upcoming thing. Though not with the sustained note at the end. I like that touch though.

What you need to do is basically this:

Make a rack with multiple chains of arps. Each next arp playing a bit faster then the other.
Then divide those chains up into velocity zones.
Place an arp in front of that rack with gate at 99% and a velocity decay.

As the sound decreases in velocity, different chains of arps will play.
If you want to keep the velocity at a constant level, use a velocity plugin at then end of this setup.

As for the sustained note.. A pitch plugin and a note length plugin will do the trick..

If I lost you there, remind me later. I'll tweak one together.
Its getting harder to explain all this stuff.
I still haven't found a good way to relay the fact that the note length plugin is one of the greatest sound design tools ever.
Hell, I hardly got around to using it as such..
But the point is: Live's devices are not as limited as they seem.

A rack like this doesn't look pretty. But it sure does some cool stuff.
I whipped this up before i actually read your post thru

I thought you just wanted the upward arp, which is what the rack is.
Must have skimmed over the part where you mentioned the speed change..

- B

rachmanoff · Post by **rachmanoff** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 9:57 am

h2k,

sweet patch idea! i'm just beginning to appreciate this modualr flavor that ableton is bringing to live.

i tried out your idea (with 5 arpeggiators in the midi rack), but i can't get a smooth acceleration. my retriggering is always jagged. turning the rate parameter in an arpeggiator does not yield the same result as turning the master tempo control (in sync mode).

my 5 arp chain was set between 240ms and 60 ms (each one 20-40ms apart)

your patch idea seems to do exactly what i want in theory, where turning the decay on the pre-chain arpeggiator is analagous to applying control voltage to the 'rate' parameter on a sequencer. but it's just not smooth. maybe i need to make my rack higher-res, with more chains and velocity zones.

if you get a chance, i'd love to see what you can come up with. also, if you could show me what you mean about using the 'pitch' and 'note length' plugins to create the sustained note at the end, it would be much much appreciated.

thanks very much!

rachmanoff · Post by **rachmanoff** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 12:35 am

just giving this a little bump

dango · Post by **dango** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:51 am

sounds to me like an arp /sequencer with a step tie function. it transposes up then has the last 2-3 notes tied together to produce one long note.

i can get a similar effect with FM8's arp anyway.

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 11:28 am

I got another idea...

Do you have a trigger finger or something like that..

The pads can send CC's (you could do this with a knob too).
Assign a pad to the arp rate when its unsynced.
You'll be able to control the rate with pressure.
Though this is a trial and error approach.

Another idea would be dummy clips. But its also a bit tricky.

Lets says you use one pad (or note) to send out 2 different notes.
One note feeds into your arp. The other triggers a dummy clip thats in gate mode.
At that point, its a matter of using an upward arp and tweaking the automation of the arp rate.

:Listen: How Is This Sound Made??

:Listen: How Is This Sound Made??

Re: :Listen: How Is This Sound Made??