Sweeping Electronic Sound effects

In the last section I focussed mostly on the noise oscillators of thor and give a couple of examples on how we could approach on to creating sweeping sound effects using that. In this perticular part I want to focus more on the electronic music style of effects. These are kind of random when it comes to its sound design, yet that is also why they would distinct themselves from the other sound effects (such as reversed rides, crash cymbals and wind effects).

electronic music effects are often generated by an analog type of sound. This is probably most likely why the sounds are different then any other 'real life' instrumental effect. They work pretty well in most electro house type of genres (since the music style itself is already in that type of sound), however one could for instance also try to experiment with the basic concepts and use them inside trance, dnb or other type of music genres.

The basic understanding of LFO patterns

LFO patterns are often one of the key features to setup a sound effect, time it right, and get the parameters to change as you want them to change. As an overal tip, I can say the following: if you have no clue how a pattern inside any LFO would work, you might concider connecting the pattern to the Pitch of the oscillator/waveform. For instance, when you take a malstrom, it has over 32 different patterns in there. By using the Modulation A of the malstrom, one might start to understand just a little bit on how the pattern changes the complete waveform when applying a little bit pitch. Just as a simple example one could learn understanding it with the following basic template:

RNS download: Pitch LFO
MP3 download: Pitch LFO

Making some rhythimc effect

Most of the patterns inside the LFO can be used as rhytmic patterns. So, in a way we could make a trembling pulse generator and slightly let it fade in. This could be some form of replacement for a sweeping in kind of sound effect and quite interesting from time to time. Since there are 2 things changing at the same time: the volume (by the amplitude envelope) and the amount of trembling due to the fact that the volume is increasing, thus the effect becomes more noticable while the sound progresses.

Just as another simple example:

RNS download: Pitch LFO Fade in
MP3 download: Pitch LFO in

The idea behind an effect is just simplicity by itself, it repeats the same pattern over and over again and in this case the sound is being changed with the help of the amplitude envelope attack (set on pretty high) and second the attack of the filter envelope. Where the filter is attached to a comb + filter setting.

To make the sound become just a little bit more rhythmic based, we could for instance apply a mod B to A set up in this case (since the malstrom allows us to do so). When we use the Mod A amount inside the modulation B, this will mean the the parameters change along with the amount of modulation which we apply to it. This method is often handy when one wants to create patterns based longer then a 16/4 pattern base.

Just for instance, I am using a half square lfo for the modulation B, and this results into a following effect:

RNS download: Pitch LFO Fade in
MP3 download: Pitch LFO Fade in

Even though this almost sounds more like a lead, since it all based on a sawwave form. I thought using a sawtooth just to make it noticable what we are trying to do here. But there are some descent voices that we can use by using the above mentioned technique just to make something sound like a soundeffect. For instance, take a voice called throat. Throat by default has the tention to just be a kind of voice sound effect. However, by slowing down or speeding up the motion settings, one could create some cool effects with them.

RNS download: Pitch LFO Fade in
MP3 download: Pitch LFO Fade in

and imagine it with a tiny bit of drum and bass thrown agains it...

RNS download: Pitch LFO Fade in
MP3 download: Pitch LFO Fade in

What is happening here is the following, the Mod B act as a modulation on the Mod A. Which means, while mod b is changing, it will change mod a at the same time. Yet, keep in mind that mod A is changing as well. While mod b is set on 3/16th, it means that the modulation on mod A is also being changed on a 3/16th part yet, the change amount is determined by the Mod A amount on the Modulator B (that just rolls of your tongue right there...).

The effect gets some emphasis because I threw in a little bit volume and a little bit filtering on the modulation B. Because it is just a minor setting (minor increase and minor decrease) these changes will be subtle, yet noticable while the effect gains volume over time. So at some point it is a rhythmic thing that is going on, while on the other hand it is just a random sound effect due to the pitch changes that take place inside the modulation A.

A similar setup we could make inside Thor, yet it requires a bit programming since default there is no Mod B to Mod A. But what we could do is tell thor to use an LFO 2 and connect it to the Amount (or Scale) on the LFO1. Which means that the LFO1 is changing amount by the amount of LFO2 again. Which can be a cool effect from time to time.

Just like the following example, where I am using the programmer to change the lfo amount using the scale and connect it to the position of the WaveForm (Wave oscillator):

RNS download: Pitch LFO Fade in Thor
MP3 download: Pitch LFO Fade in

It could be used as some form of lead, however it would probably sound odd as a lead. But I do think that effects such as these are often the key between having something complete as a sequence. At least, there are some points when someone might miss something inside the sequence and often something 'simple' as this might just fill up the bits and pieces to tie certain parts together in the song.

In a lot of cases the LFO will be a vital part with setting up constructions such as these. Since they determine the progression of the sound. Also make use of some descent envelope settings, since these determine the starting point and the ending of the sound. For sound effects such as these, I do believe that 'gradual' gain works best, since having them thrown in in an instant, it might scare the listeners socks off.

I also believe that these kind of sound effects work like a charm in the background, so make sure to go easy on the gain on these. Even though I haven't done it yet, since I am just here to demonstrate the noizy effects and such... but it is something one could keep in mind when making patches such as these. On the other hand, if the producer finds it too loud, one could just easaly drop the gain by using the mixer or the overal output level of the instrument.

Combinator

The combinator is probably the ideal solution for making complexed patches such as these. Since the combinator allows unlimeted amount of instruments to stack, unlimited amount of CV wiring, and ehm.. did I mention the word unlimited already?

For instance, lets make something weird here. To start off, I will add a mixing panel (it can be 14:2 or 6:2, we are only going to use 2 different channels). Next, we'll connect two times a subtractor. These 2 subtractors will have to play the same sound effect, so we might start working on one (mono) and copy/paste the patch when we are done.

Lets just start of with something simple as this. We'll mute channel 2 of the mixer panel (since in this case it just plays the same sound twice). And other then that it is the default router. The first subtractor goes into channel1, the second one goes in channel 2. I will explain why I am using 2 subtractors soon (ps, I am using a subtractor in this case, but the idea can be applied to any instrument or synth).

Next up, lets shape it to become somewhat like a strange sweeping synthetic effect thing. Initially, I am going for a bell shaped kind of sound effect this time, and make it swell during the progression. Wave form is set to 10, using osc 1 on octave 4, and osc 2 on octave 2 (so it is 2 octaves lower for the second oscillator). I am using a bit of tuning to make the sound tremble a bit (+8 and -8).

From this point on we could still take it anywhere. So, I am going for a modulation setup to kick in the phase modulation. To make the Phase workable, we'll have to use Phase mode set on - (subtract) or on X (multiply). Subtract usually works best, multply can often have some strange pitch events making it sound offnote.

Next part is the modulation envelope. In this case I am connecting the envelope to the FM. I am using FM this time, since FM works very well having 2 oscillators on 2 different octave settings. With having a low octave setting, and a low attack on the modulation envelope, it means that the amount of FM is increasing over time. It is kind of like editing the automation on the FM, where the FM knob increases. But in this case, it goes automaticly without having to touch any additional knobs.

This all results into the following sound effect:

RNS download: Combinator Effects
MP3 download: Combinator Effects

Another interesting effect inside this specific setup would be using LFO2 of the subtractor and inner connect it to the phase. This makes the Phase knob go up and down accordingly to the shape of a sine form. If the effect is subtle, it could work... but in most cases I would go easy on the setting. When you would apply a little bit delay to the LFO2, it will make the phase modulation kick in just a little bit later.

Now for the juicy stuff... From this point on we'll just apply a bit of filter to it with a bit of envelope.

RNS download: Combinator Effects
MP3 download: Combinator Effects

In this stage we have some descent swell effect going on. Still we also have the ability to apply an lfo 1 for the subtractor and could apply that aswell. In this case I am going for somewhat like a Rhythmic LFO pattern, which is connected to the filter. The amount is minor in this case.

RNS download: Combinator Effects
MP3 download: Combinator Effects

So, by now we have some form of the basis on how the sound could travel like.At this point, it is probably a good time to bring the second subtractor and go wild on that one aswell. First I am going to copy and paste the exact same patch inside the second Subtractor (right click on the first subtractor, Copy Patch, then right click on the second subtractor, Paste Patch). Next I am going to unmute the second channel on the mixer, so both subtractors play the exact same sounds. Last part, the mixer channel of Channel 1 goes Left, and the Channel 2 goes right.

From this point the sound effect is starting to sound just a bit more spacey. And from this point on we could go totally mental. To emphasize the space effect I will be using an additional LFO setting. This one comes from the Malstrom, but it could be anything. I am adding a Malstrom, but I am not using the audio signals. Since it will in this case serve as an additional LFO setting.

The LFO parameter I am going to use is the Mod A this time. And use the signal twice, we'll stick this inside the CV merger splitter.

Notice inside the CV merger that the output signal slots of the CV spliter has a normal and a inverted slot. What we could do is use the normal CV and stick this inside Subtractor 1, yet use the inverted version and stick this inside Subtractor 2. Which means that the parameter we use is inverted. But, because we are using Subtractor 1 on the LEFT, and Subtractor 2 on the RIGHT, it will mean that the signal goes from left to right, and right to left. Which can be a cool effect from time to time.

RNS download: Combinator Effects
MP3 download: Combinator Effects

Anyways, this was just another idea on how to setup a long lasting sweeping effect of some kind. Even though, I ended up with the combination of 2 subtractors and 1 malstrom, keep in mind that it works with any instrument. As long as you setup the envelopes right, and use the correct wave forms to search for the sound effects you are looking for. Just be creative, experiment with it etc...