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Hermit
Registered: May 2008
Posts: 208 |
Sound Design hints & tips
I looked the 'Composer' category at the Forum and couldn't find a topic specific to sound-design in general.
I think it would be fine to discuss our experiences of designing good sounding instruments for the SID...
This topic would not be about trackers and formats but what you experienced to sound good in waveform-arpeggio table or filter/pulse programs, etc...
topics like:
SID's hardware capabilities and software-based effects (slide/vibrato/pulse-sweep/filter-sweep/keyboard-tracking,etc..)
Spectrum analysis, awareness and know-how of playing with harmonics...
ADSR settings that are suitable for this & that (maybe HR, 1st frame waveform)
Characteristics of waveforms and mixed waveforms (on new/old SIDs)
Ring modulation and channel syncing...
How to make good drums/percussion..
How to make good and fat basses..
How to make fine light sounding arpeggios..
How to make good solo/lead sounds..
How to cleverly combine sounds (e.g. kick+hihat+bass) to save SID channels..
How to mimic real instruments..
(maybe speech with SID, like in 'Pimp My Commodore' or Agemixer's 'Freestyler' cover, whatever )...
Utilization of multi-framespeed....
etc. etc.
I have no time right now to explain these, but maybe some of you have some topic from above to tell stories & share experiences about, that we could discuss here...
Of course one can learn a lot from checking example tunes with SIDdump/SID-Hacker, etc., but it's also good to know the background knowledge & reasoning for the tricks...
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Hate Bush
Registered: Jul 2002
Posts: 461 |
masturbation \o/
i'll only speak of a 'saving channels' matter, as i don't feel competent enough lately ;)
1) mixing kick with bass
you don't really need more than a half of a tick row (3 ticks when tempo is 06 and so on) for a kickdrum, because the 'tail' of it is often unhearable in the mix anyway. place the usual 81-41-41 - or 81-41-40 - in the wavetable first and follow it by your bass sound of choice.
tip: this sounds best when filtered, with different filtertypes for kick and bass.
hint: this is when decay comes in handy; such combinations scream for DS like 6A or such. why? because the bass would probably be too loud with max volume (sustain=A then), whilst drums need it badly (decay=6).
2) mixing snare with bass
this is very similar and all the above applies, however the snare isn't as straightforward as the bassdrum, for it contains full range of frequencies. normally, we would follow the THUMP of 81-41-41 with 80 or something. this time, i'd recommend complimenting the THUMP with some 81s (51-81-81 for example) on any other channel available. they will serve as a high frequency layer of sorts. can yield great results or sound weak and shit, it all depends on the context and details.
tip: nothing stops you from creating some other sound (arpeggio for example) after the noise layer. this way you can program full drums, bass and arps lines on just two channels.
hint: experiment with filter settings AND attack. remember that you can filter two or three channels simultaneously.
3) mixing (closed) hihat with bass
if you got a hold of 1) and 2), this is too simple to be explained ;)
tip: you can of course mix drums and hihats with arps or even melody.
hint: could be tricky in singlespeed. in general, the above technique benefits from speed multiplication, as a resolution of a sound is increased, and so is a number of possibilities.
4) mixing bleeps and blops with arps and melody
Wacek's trick, can't remember using it myself. in short - take the instrument definition, copy it a few times and make it preceded by some other sound, but at different intervals. this way you can play with two melodies on a single channel, and much more.
tip: the intervals shouldn't be less than an octave (both ways)?
5) rapid legatos
with faster tempos, it is possible to create a distinct, very short sound by a direct legato to a higher pitched note and back.
like this:
c3
.
.
.
g5 300
c3 300
tip: works best with low pass filter.
that is all i can remember for now. happy SOUND DESIGNING :D |
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NecroPolo
Registered: Jun 2009
Posts: 231 |
- ringmod on everything, sync on everything and watch the SID spraying blood
- being aware of what other folks do and avoid most of that
- if sound kills smaller animals than 2cm in a 10m area and gets on the nerves of girlfriends, you're on the right direction
- blown out speakers
- if you can do anyone's sound that's good but if anyone could do your sound, you're wrong
- from that point, all the other details are about tweaking numbers I guess :) |
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Stainless Steel
Registered: Mar 2003
Posts: 966 |
Awesome thread guys. If i had any clue about the matter i'd post something, but alas i wont :-D
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Soren
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 547 |
Groepaz: I better not. :) |
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Stinsen
Registered: Feb 2012
Posts: 76 |
What Stainless said, really interesting thread. |
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WVL
Registered: Mar 2002
Posts: 895 |
Quote: Groepaz: I better not. :)
I'd make a booty call for sure, baby! |
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SIDWAVE
Account closed
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2238 |
Perhaps anyone could get us started on SYNC singing ?
i regard myself good to make sounds, but i never got any cool results trying to make the sid "talk".
Jammer and Agemixer are masters of this. |
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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
A writeup about speech synthesis by Jammer is in here:
10 Years HVSC |
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Soren
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 547 |
for speech I use filters also, which makes it a lot better sounding and easier to shape sounds, BUT with all the revisions of sid chips it's a bit silly. :)
I have made my sid chip say "Viruz" with a somewhat deep voice though. :) |
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Linus
Registered: Jun 2004
Posts: 639 |
I have made mine say "Hurry, hurry, fill your ass with curry" but since I never got beyond that I kind a gave up. |
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