V-Synth: Ambient Machine...

I’d like to step away from the normal affair of looking at synthesizers for mainstream use in this post in favor of focusing on a more obscure, typically enthusiast-only field of sound synthesis: ambient pads. More specifically, I’d like to focus on the power that the Roland V-Synth has for creating such pads.

The Ambience Powerhouse:

Aside from the instrument’s virtual analog section, which we looked at a couple of weeks ago in the blog showing off the real potential of the instrument for analog sounds, the V-Synth also has the capability to play recorded sounds, looped and non-looped. This is actually a quite flexible system, as not only can you load up single-cycle waveforms to have an almost limitless waveform library, but you can also load longer samples for playback. Admittedly, this is not as handy as one might think for sampling in the traditional sense; the V-Synth really doesn’t work well with acoustic samples such as pianos and guitars. For situations where one would want to manipulate and mangle the samples loaded onto the instrument, the V-Synth is a dream though. The instrument has a very powerful resampling engine on-board that, in so many words, allows the user to adjust the time domain and the pitch of a sample independently of each other, which in and of itself is no small feat. This leads to some incredible possibilities for sure, and combining this intense sample mangling with the flexible virtual analog section and the myriad of on-board effects affords this keyboard an astounding ability to make ambient pad sounds.

                   

Let’s Build a Patch:

            Rather than just talking about specs though, let’s take a step-by-step look at the construction of a pad sound on the V-Synth. These steps are meant to be followed along with the audio demo at the bottom of the post, and within that clip there are comment sections that describe what step each sound byte is for:

            

Step 1: First, we will load up a sample. In this case, I’ve loaded a sample I’ve made of wind chimes.

           

Step 2: With that loaded, we will play with the time domain of the sample until we get a sound we feel is ethereal and fitting of an ambient pad. This serves to show the unique power of this resampling engine.

          

Step 3: Now having that appropriately tweaked, we will create an envelope character that fades in and fades out fairly slowly. This adds to the pad’s dynamic and lush feel.

           

Step 4: Let us add a static waveform to the mix now, as this will give us a good foundation of pitch and tone for our pad. We will enable a sine wave on oscillator 2. Consequently, the analog section allows for the use of a sub-oscillator of either -2 octaves, -1 octave or -0 octaves, and allows you to detune said sub-oscillator, so we will use a -0 octave sub-oscillator and detune it slightly to make a rich sweet tone. This oscillator also allows you to adjust the pulse-width setting, and doing so will morph the sine wave into a sawtooth wave and back as it is adjusted, giving further flexibility to this oscillator/waveform combination. Add a slight modulation routing from the LFOs for both oscillators to each oscillator’s respective pitch input, to simulate a sort of lazy drift feeling to the pitch, but be careful to be subtle with it.

            

Step 5: Now with all of our sound generation elements in place, let’s add a low-pass filter to mellow out the tone a bit. A -24dB should do well; adjust the filter cutoff frequency to a pleasant setting to your ears.

            

Step 6: The great majority of the pad is in place, it’s now time for effects: enable in the effects chain a pitch-shifter set at pleasing intervals (in this case, +7 semi-tones and -12 semi-tones) at 50:50 wet/dry ratio, followed by a long-decay reverb and a moderate chorus effect, both being set to favor wet over dry signal. This adds further ambience to the sound.

            

Step 7: Finish the patch by adjusting the levels between oscillator 1 (the chimes) and oscillator 2 (the sine wave) to a pleasant setting. Viola! You now have a deep, rich, big-sounding ambient pad, courtesy of the powerful synth engine with the V-Synth.

Audio Clip:

V-Synth Ambient Demo by Mr Blu Gruv

(P)Review: Korg Kronos:

Rarely do I see an instrument come onto the market any more than genuinely gets me excited. After owning almost every type of synthesizer at one time or another, and almost certainly at least playing every type, few things seem to impress like they used to for me. Recently there has been one glaring exception to that for me though: the Korg Kronos.

The Kronos:  

Billed as a workstation keyboard, the Kronos really looks to be nothing short of amazing. It sports just about every music technology and synthesis method that Korg has every implemented in one very sleek, very slick-looking keyboard. This list includes:

1.      SGX-1 Grand piano emulation, featuring German grand piano and Japanese grand piano models

2.      MDS Electric piano emulation, featuring both tine-based and reed-based electric pianos.

3.      CX-3, Korg’s proprietary tone wheel organ emulation

4.      MS-20EX, a software replica of Korg’s original monster monosynth, the MS-20

5.      PolysixEX, a software replica of Korg’s famous lush polysynth, the Polysix

6.      AL-1, what Korg advertises as a modern take on what an analog synthesizer should be.

7.      MOD7, an incredibly flexible model of FM synthesis

8.      STR-1, a complex string modeling instrument, featuring plucked, struck, and bowed string models.

9.      HD1, a high-definition wave playback engine, featuring massive sample libraries as well as wave sequencing.

Yep, I was excited too when I saw this list. There doesn’t seem to be a single thing you can’t do here. Every one of these engines is powerful and flexible enough that they could probably reasonably well work as their own independent instrument. In one body though, it makes you wonder if you’ll ever need any other piece of equipment again. The extensive synthesis methods aren’t the only thing that the Kronos has going for it though; this keyboard packs quite a broad variety of tricks up its sleeves.

The performer’s workstation:

            While this keyboard would sit right at home in just about any studio environment, it undoubtedly shines in just about any on-the-road gigging musician’s equipment lineup as well. Korg has developed a performance set list organizational scheme that allows you to store what is essentially over 16,000 performance combi’s (“combi’s” meaning programs for sounds laid out across the keyboard map). They can be organized into grids of 16 combi’s per page, so a large number of these performances can be reached and switched between without even changing screens. This organizational method alone is worthy of very high praise, but Korg took it a step further: on most keyboards, when you switch between patches or combi’s, the sound engine sort of resets, so any notes that were still depressed when the patch was switched go silent. Not so in the case of Kronos; switching between patches, performances, combi’s etc… allows you to still sustain notes from the previous loaded patch, even if you start playing new notes for the new patch. This allows for incredible flexibility for live performers. This scheme, coupled with the utterly jaw-dropping sound engine on-board (and the inclusion of Korg’s KARMA engine, which I will leave explanation of to Wikipedia), makes for a both a gigging musician’s and a studio producer’s dream.

Demo clip:

Unfortunately, I do not yet own one of these fantastic keyboards, so I cannot provide any original audio demo clips of it in action. I can, however, link you to a YouTube video of a premier party for the Kronos put on by Korg that demonstrates every on-board facility of the instrument, most of which by some incredibly talented musicians. I will warn you, this video is incredibly awesome to watch because of said musicians and it is an hour long, so BE PREPARED TO SET ASIDE TIME.

FM Synthesis: Not Really Rocket Science...

            When asked about FM synthesis, most typical synth users won’t have much to say. Many regard it as "rocket science", and even those that choose to use it still may not completely understand it. It most certainly requires a different approach to programming patches if one wants to get good sounds from it; however, to disregard it as some sort of voodoo magic that isn’t worth the time to invest in it is to keep one’s self from experiencing an entire world of tonal possibilities. Let’s take a look at what FM synthesis really is and what it is capable of producing.

What the FM?

            In a nutshell, FM synthesis stands for “Frequency Modulation synthesis,” and the essence of how it works is to take one waveform and modulate its pitch by the level of another waveform. This works to create very harmonically rich tones, so much so that the basic building blocks of most FM synthesizers (which are typically called “operators” instead of “oscillators”) only use sine waves; any base waveform that’s more harmonically complex than a sine wave would be too unwieldy in terms of overtones created through modulation. Yamaha essentially brought FM synthesis to the public in their DX line of synthesizers in the mid-1980’s, although they employed a slightly different variation of synthesis called Phase Modulation, or PM, synthesis (which modulates the phase of the carrier wave instead of the frequency, creating a sound that’s about 95% similar but about 1000% more stable and predictable in practice.) These synths had anywhere from four to eight operators on-board, and these operators were routed into fixed modulation paths called algorithms. The DX7, for example, was the quintessential FM synthesizer of the age, and featured six operators and 32 algorithms. By varying the pitch of each operator relative to each other, adjusting the envelope for volume characteristics of each operator, and adjusting the modulation depth each modulator had on their respective carrier, one could achieve and incredible variety of both synthetic sounding and realistic sounding instruments. Most factory patches, in fact, were designed to sound like real acoustic instruments, including guitars, brass, and electric pianos, which are particular specialty sounds for FM synthesizers.

The Stumbling Block:

            So where is it that everyone begins to lose grip with the FM synths? Surely, the fact that most FM synths treat pitch as a ratio rather than a fixed value like traditional synthesizers doesn’t help, nor does the fact that to get harmonically complex tones one must modulate one operator by another rather than use a filter to dial down the tone of a harmonically rich wave. But at its core, FM synthesis is far from being the "rocket science" many would believe it to be.

            

            Here are a few tips for working with FM synths and getting to a point where you can get the sounds you want out of them rather than just experimenting and hoping for the best:

1.       Take time to learn and get a feel for how adjusting the level of modulators being routed to carriers changes the tone, as well as changing the pitch of the modulators being routed to carriers.

2.      Generally speaking, harmonic intervals between operators lend themselves to simpler sounds like plucked string tones and brass tones, while inharmonic intervals lend themselves to complex and sometimes unpleasant tones like bells and other natural-sounding metallic tones.

3.      Envelope generators are one of your greatest assets with an FM synth, especially when trying to shape realistic-sounding instruments. Learn their nuances to get the most from your FM synth.

Audio Demo:

            The demo here is of a few preset patches from a Yamaha TX81Z, which is a smaller rack-mount FM synth, most popularly known for being used for the bassline on Madonna’s song “Vogue”. Also there will be patches played from Native Instruments' FM7, a software replica of the Yamaha DX7 that expands greatly on the original instrument. The sounds from this instrument are some of the more non-traditional FM synth sounds that can be made. With this demo, one can see the huge variety of sounds possible from the FM synthesizers, even from the simplistic preset patches from the 1980’s.

FM Synthesis Demo by Mr Blu Gruv

Sound in Motion: Wave Tables and Wave Sequencing...

        A couple of weeks ago, we briefly reviewed Blofeld, a wavetable synthesizer from Waldorf. As was (hopefully) conveyed in the sound demo, wavetable synthesis can be quite vibrant and dynamic in terms of tonality. The first mainstream application of this technology came from PPG in the early 1980’s in the form of the PPG Wave 2.2. Without a doubt it has come a long way from its beginnings, but not just in a manner confined to its own synthesis method.

Evolution:
        In the late 1980’s into the early 1990’s, a new method of synthesis came forward in a similar vein to wavetable synthesis; this method was called vector synthesis, or in some cases (Korg’s implementation, in particular), wave sequencing. This style differed from traditional wavetable synthesis in that instead of having all of the waveforms that are stored in the ROM of the instrument consolidated into one indexed table, the waves are stored independently of each other in the ROM of the instrument and the change between waves over time is programmed by the user in any fashion they choose. This lead to a huge increase in the flexibility of the dynamic changing of waveforms, and in Korg’s case, it lead to one of its flagship instruments, the Wavestation.

Where the separation begins:
        In many ways, the sounds produced by the instruments are similar: the sound evolves over time as the waves being played cycle and shift between each other, and the sheer variety of waveforms always ensures an exotic sound can be had. Most of the time, however, the underlying character can be quite different between individual instruments. Where the wavetables within a PPG/Waldorf instrument typically have waves that evolve in a harmonically linear fashion, the user is not restricted in this way with an instrument like the Wavestation, and because of this the apparent tonal shifts can be very wild in terms of harmonic content. As mentioned above, the flexibility is much greater in vector synths: where in a wavetable synth, one can only scan forward or backwards relative to their position in the wave table at a rate of their choosing, one can move freely between waveforms, typically in an x-y matrix format, in the vector synth, at any rate and on any path they should so choose.

Who has the edge?
        Which method is better, then? Given the large gaps in time between which the instruments that employ these synthesis methods were produced, it’s a hard call, and not entirely fair. Thanks in large part to PPG/Waldorf’s efforts, the common interpretation of wavetable synthesis has a sound that cannot be exactly duplicated, even by wave sequencing synths. On the other hand though, a basic wavetable synth would never be able to fully duplicate the type of sound (and more specifically, the intensely complex automation capabilities of a wave sequencing synth for waveform shifting over time) that a Wavestation, for instance, would be able to create. On a personal level, I find both types of instruments to be very rewarding, with wavetable synths giving very immediate satisfaction with a nice degree of tonal complexity, and vector synths being an incredibly engaging experience that yields stellar results when I have a lot of time to set aside for programming.

Audio demo:
        The best way to illustrate some of the differences is, of course, through audio demo. This particular demo shows some preset sound samples from a software replica of the PPG Wave 2.2 instrument firstly, then a few factory presets from the Korg Wavestation followed by a few patches of my own on the same instrument.

Wavetable and Wavesequence Demo by Mr Blu Gruv

Review: The Korg Monotron

All the talk about analog synths with my investigation of the V-Synth’s capabilities to produce the “analog” tone brought to mind another little (read: VERY little) synth I have the pleasure of owning: the Korg Monotron.
The Monotron heralds back to the days of true analog synths, and in fact pays homage to one of Korg’s most popular mono-synths. Equipped with only one oscillator, one filter, one LFO, and what essentially translates to a gated envelope generator for the amp, the Monotron is not the most full-featured synth around. This, however, is the Monotron’s real charm.

The Hand-held Mono-synth:
This is probably the smallest “synthesizer” I’ve ever held and used. There isn’t even an external control input method (e.g. no midi input and no CV input), so all control over the internal synth section is done with a ribbon controller that has a print on it designed to look like a keyboard. Surprisingly, it is pretty accurately scaled, so you are hitting the correct notes corresponding with what you press on the controller. The LFO only generates one waveform: saw tooth. It is also key-synced, so if you get creative you can use it as a sort of fixed-slope, cycling envelope generator for the oscillator pitch as well as the filter cutoff setting, and this just so happens to be a very handy way to get classic synth bass tones out of the synth.
This very limited, very unique setup makes the synth very interesting and yet very limiting at the same time. Nevertheless, there’s something about it that makes you want to keep playing it. I can’t say that it’s the easiest piece of equipment to use, but I can say that the next section makes it all worth it in the end.

Filter: The Key Ingredient:
The filter circuit was sourced from the Korg MS-10/MS-20 synthesizers, which even within the realm of analog synth filters had a character all its own. Without resonance, it could provide a huge low-end sound that was fantastic for monophonic bass sounds; this thing would easily compete with Moog’s filter in the “rafter-shaker” category. As you added resonance to the filter, it began to subtly distort, adding grunge internally to the filtered audio sound. When you really pushed it though, it began to self-oscillate, and would really scream at you if you weren’t careful. This character has been carried over into the Monotron extremely well, as it will rumble, overdrive, and outright scream at you just as well as any of the original Korg MS-10/MS-20 synths would. Just the like the originals, the filter can have external audio fed to it so it can be used as an external filter effect for other synths or any other audio signal you feel like adding an extra touch of fullness and richness to. Ultimately, the filter here is the true pièce de résistance; without it, I’m afraid the Monotron would really be little more than a toy (albeit and interesting one), which some already indeed view it as anyways unfortunately.

Audio Clip:
Being such a feature-limited instrument, there isn’t really a terrible lot I can show off here. Some of the more notable features I’ll demo here are the LFO being used to modulate the pitch of the oscillator and the frequency setting of the filter, and of course the incredible filter that it packs in its small exterior. I will show how it sounds being pushed by the internal oscillator as well as with an external synth signal and a regular external audio signal in the form of a drum beat. NOTE OF CAUTION: please don’t immediately crank up the volume of your speakers before listening. When the resonance is pushed high, it whistles and screams, and can damage your speakers (and hearing. PLEASE be careful.


Korg Monotron Demo by Mr Blu Gruv

Roland V-Synth can't do "analog"?

As an owner and avid user of the Roland V-Synth, there is one thing I hear very often about it that I take particular exception to: “the V-Synth can’t do good analog-style sounds”. I would like to take this time to show how much more capable the instrument is for this task than people like to give credit.

To do this though, we must first outline a few points that most people center on when they think of the “analog” sound. Quite obviously, the absence of aliasing in the audio is a necessity, as that is the trademark of a digital signal. Beyond that though, it tends to get far more subjective: typically, the pitch of oscillators is unstable (such that it has slight fluctuations around the main pitch it is tuned to), the tone of the oscillators is more raw and full-sounding, and the filter has more grunt to it, really starting to come into its own when the resonance setting is cranked up. It would take many books worth of investigation and exploration to explain what the actual science is that causes these characteristics present in the older true analog synthesizers, but saving that, we will focus on those main points to show how the V-Synth is every bit as capable as any true analog synth of pumping out warm, lush, fat, large, and otherwise *insert industry lingo for “pleasant sounding” here* sounding tones.

Aliasing:

I would be negligent if I were to say the V-Synth was free of aliasing. In fact, in the higher registers, it’s fairly awful. As paramount as it is to not have aliasing in order to have that “analog” sound, this synth doesn’t have to have it’s oscillators pushed too high in frequency to have that facet of its character show through. Thankfully though, some of the other critical components of the sound generation process, such as the oscillators and especially filters, breathe enough life into the instrument to give it that “analog” feel that’s only lost in the highest of frequency registers.

Oscillators:

The V-Synth has all the basic analog-style oscillator waveforms (saw, pulse, triangle) as well as some variations on them (supersaw, essentially a multitude of stacked and detuned saw waves, and x-mod, a unique Roland model based on cross-modulation of oscillators.) One very useful parameter of each oscillator is the “random” parameter for pitch. While technically not faithful to analog synths due to the actual underlying reasons for pitch instability (all of which I hope to cover in future blog posts), it provides a convenient passable way to inject the not-precisely-consistent nature of analog circuits into your sound; this entire idea is usually what most in the field consider to be “organic” sounding.

Filters:

In my opinion, the filter of a subtractive synth is the single most important aspect of the character it has, let alone its contribution to the analog sound. The V-Synth has many different options when it comes to filters, in both type and number. Unlike traditional analog synthesizers, the V-Synth offers three unique signal path options, so even aside from being able to run 2 separate filters at once, they can be arranged in multiple ways as well, running parallel to each other, in series, or even a sort of hybrid of the two. Aside from the more typical state-variable filter (or as Roland calls them, time-variable filter), which offers a very nice -24dB low-pass filter as one of its types, there is also a special filter called “TB filter”, which is designed to emulate the punchy sound of the TB-303 filter. As it turns out, with zero resonance applied, the TB filter is a fantastic filter for full and rich analog style bass sounds, and even with brass style patches and other analog style pads it is a very rich and full sounding filter.

Audio Samples:

              Having looked at the handful of areas mentioned above, let’s proceed to an audio demo. I’ve done some comparison patches on the V-Synth based on the factory presets of the Roland Super JX (JX10), which was essentially the last analog synth Roland built, as well as a made-from-scratch patch on the V-Synth in the style of vintage analog synthesizers and akin to the sound that an artist like Vangelis might employ in some of his works. Can you spot the real analog from the digital counterpart?

Vsynth analog demo by Mr Blu Gruv

Waldorf Blofeld review, pt. 2

While many synthesizers rely heavily on their oscillator and filter combinations to account for their full range of sonic possibilities, the Blofeld’s sound only begins with those two components.

Modulation:

           The Blofeld sports four envelope generators (one for the amp, one for the filter, and two that are independent), three low frequency oscillators for modulation, and an absolutely mind-boggling 16x2 modulation matrix. You read that right, 16 unique configurable routings for an absolutely monstrous degree of modulation possibility. This degree of flexibility is almost unheard of in a synth at this price range (MSRP around $700 for the table-top unit, and used deals on sites like eBay have been as low as the $400 mark). The LFOs have a frequency range from subsonic to audio range, giving you a full range of periodic modulation. The routing options within the modulation matrix itself are practically limitless; if it exists in the instrument, you can probably either route signal from it or route signal to it.

Pros:

            To sum it up, this synth is flat out awesome (as if you couldn’t tell that I felt this way already.) The sound is sharp, bright, and lush. The virtual analog capacities of the synth afford it the ability to sound very warm and full-bodied, and the built-in wavetables and wide variety of filter options and modulation routings make it as powerful as even the most expensive synths on the market, not to mention as sonically vibrant as anything on the market.

Cons:

            It is fairly difficult to find many areas of fault with this instrument, but the Blofeld is not without negative parts. The first absolutely glaring issue: NO LINEAR ENVELOPES! It is honestly mind-boggling to think that a wavetable synth doesn’t have linear envelopes to do linear wave scanning with. This can be combated slightly with the mod matrix by some fancy routing involving setting the envelope level to control the decay rate, but it takes some precise amounts to get it right and even so it’s still nearly impossible to get a totally linear response. Aside from that major gripe, the operating system still has bugs every here and then. On a somewhat frequent basis, the sustain signal from the sustain pedal gets dropped, so notes will stop holding at strange times. Also, on rare occasions, the OS will hang while trying to change patches. This has only happened with very specific patches though, and not at all on a frequent basis.

Demo Clip:

             So with all this talk about it, you must be wondering: what does the Blofeld actually SOUND like? Well, below is a short clip I made demonstrating some of the sounds that the instrument is capable of.

Waldorf Blofeld Demo by Mr Blu Gruv

From my SoundCloud page:

“Short demonstration of some presets on the Waldorf Blofeld, plus some wavetable scans towards the end, something that no one seems to investigate very thoroughly yet is a major part of what makes this synth what it is. Regular patch preset demos are from the start to roughly 3:05-3:06, then from about 3:06 on are demonstrations of wavetable scanning, played with some pleasant chords to add to the depth. All wavetable scans are using one oscillator, PPG filter, and mild chorus effect. Every melody and chord within this clip is my original work and creation.”

Conclusion:

             I find it to be an inspiring instrument that keeps me hooked exploring all the possibilities that it has within, and for the price, it simply can’t be beat. Despite the one or two little snags, it’s a truly incredible synthesizer, and holds up well with the rest of the prestigious Waldorf lineup. For any synth user, hobbyist to professional and otherwise, I would whole-heartedly recommend it.