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2013-04-10 12:04

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...

... 20 posts hidden. Click here to view all posts....

2013-04-15 00:32

Yogibear

Registered: Aug 2003
Posts: 223

Too bad! :) No serious, I'm doing a new attempt to learn the SID chip. Thanks guys for your advice!

2013-04-15 01:34

SIDWAVE
Account closed

Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2238

Play with things. Details.
Making good sounds take time, but when you have learned, it goes fast, still - play with it, take time, have fun!

Experimenting 30 mins with making 10 versions of a sound, can give good results, and will earn learned knowledge.

The worst mistake you can do is to think you will make any good stuff in 10 seconds.

Think about quality, and try something you never did before, then you learn.

Have fun!
dont try to make sid if youre bored or uninspired. music should come from the heart, and with full inspiration.

2013-04-15 01:42

SIDWAVE
Account closed

Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2238

Some method i use to change the bottom of a kickdrum, is:
soft 90s trance kick: i end the drum wavetable, with $11 07 11 04 11 02 11 00 - it makes a small soft slide on the end, so you get a WET drum.

to make it DRY instead (hard), use high values, 11 B0+

to make the KICK hard in the begin, use high freq like:
81 ce (noise), 41 c7 41 a7 41 a0 - experiment with the first wave+freq after the noise hit, this is the deciding one that will make your kickdrum hard or soft.

i guess the usual sidmakers know how to make stuff, but this is the most asked question from noobs, + the one how to make impacting snare drums. been asked 1000 times.

the key is to use wave 41, at high freq, and slide it a bit down with a bigger space somewhere, ac a7 a0 (from a7 to a0, being the bigger space here), or cut from CE to B0 (a drop), creates other sound.

and remember to use square pulse (08) for drums, it will give the hardest smash, and if applicable, this can be combined with another sound on one of the other voices, to make it even smashier. a hard bass, with clashing pulse, will go in symbiose with the snaredrum and create extra punch. play with this!

2013-04-15 01:47

SIDWAVE
Account closed

Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2238

another thing you can do, is load a sample (from pc), that you think the sid can emulate, come close to. it must be chipstyle. maybe you could draw one in a sample editor..

then zoom in on it, and then try to recreate it on the c64, just type in freq values, so it comes close to what you see graphically. this way you can copy sounds (well, only to some extent) but anyway.. :)

2013-10-22 14:32

Reggy
Account closed

Registered: Oct 2009
Posts: 19

Perhaps too basic, considering the topic, but on the other hand it may complement the info here..

Although Zerozillion's Goattracker-tutorial is specifically about -- ehm.. -- Goattracker, it has some very useful general information about the absolute basics of creating SID-sounds.. (where to start, examples, etc.)

Got me from silence to bleepness :)

Awesome thread, by the way..!

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