Ableton Forum

i want to achieve a certain pad sound. can't really find anything i like in presets on quite a few synths, and my ability to create my own is poor.

so i was thinking of using a bass sound from one synth to beef up a light pad sound from a different synth to try to get one sound... do you guys do that? i know it may sound incredibly obvious and simple to many of you, but this is a newish concept to me so i wondered if you do it like that, or if you use something to merge them in to one sound (other than having them playing the same notes at the same time on different live tracks)

cheers

for epic pads. use unison, pulse width about half way.
On the nord lead, since you can have 4 banks playing at same time with 20 voices. I normaly set bank A and b the same, Only only bank B has a bit more FM andpulse with a wee tad different. Ands some times an oct lower.

But thats just me.

People layer synths all the time...............However, you might want to understand things like EQ, and why you are layering....

If you are layering to make bass, for example its not uncommon to have 3 bass-lines in one dance track, or if you are layering to make a phat lead... also not uncommon..............


Your other option, it to post an MP3 link to the sound you want, and see if you can't find some guys, who might be able to tell you how to go about achieving it......

Hearing attack, decay, sustain, and release, is all about practice...Same thing with being able to discern what waveforms are being used in the oscillators, and what filters are going on.......

It can be quite difficult to hear a sound and know exactly how it was created, and the concept is further complicated if the sound is something like a vocal, that has been changed to a violin using kotakt3... but, it is very possible, and probable, that somebody will hear a pad and be able to reverse engineer it, with his brain............


anyways...

Hope that all makes sense.....


Post a link to the mp3, I'll have a guess, I bet its saws...... and your better off with massive polyphony and big chords for epic pads, than you are with monophonic unison......

IMHO

Simplest method:

Create three MIDI tracks - one for the notes, two for the relevant synths. Drop the synths on channels 2 and 3

Assing "MIDI FROM" on channels two and three to Channel 1

Play notes

The synths should play in unison.

Nice little video tutorial to layering synth sounds via the instrument rack in Live here:

http://www.cuttingsounds.com/tutorials/ ... php?id=151

Layering instruments is a common technique. If you don't know how to program the synth to achieve the sound in mind, it is common to find a few presets that are similar to what you are looking for. Find one that has interesting bass, one with nice mids, and one with the highs you like. Then with an eq, cut the low and mid frequencies from the sound you want the highs from, cut low and high for the mid sound, then cut the high and mid for the low sound. Then mix them.

I use chainer :
http://www.xlutop.com/html/chainer.html

eco wrote:I use chainer :
http://www.xlutop.com/html/chainer.html

u know ableton has this built in right? in the form of racks (which have "chains").

I used to use presets labeled as bass only for bass, but not anymore. Whatever sounds good. For pads I prefer sawtooth, 2 osc slightly detuned, but it always depends what you want to sound like.

sweetjesus wrote:

eco wrote:I use chainer :
http://www.xlutop.com/html/chainer.html

u know ableton has this built in right? in the form of racks (which have "chains").

lol, I know now. In my defense I only have version 5 at the moment

eco wrote:

sweetjesus wrote:

eco wrote:I use chainer :
http://www.xlutop.com/html/chainer.html

u know ableton has this built in right? in the form of racks (which have "chains").

lol, I know now. In my defense I only have version 5 at the moment

valid defense, nothing which can't be rectified however by robbing a bank and sending the money to berlin.

robbing banks is no up to date choice.
the don´t have money any more

Saxer wrote:robbing banks is no up to date choice.
the don´t have money any more

oh there's money in the bank, it's just not worth anything anymore.