Cymbals and metallic percussions synthesis lab

Elektron Gear Octatrack
10

Thanks for participating!

I used 7 tracks with this path :
Flex (square)
1 square lfo designer on pitch
1 square lfo designer on rate
Filter
Eq

Master track : Filter and Dark Reverb

Procedure, starting from high level cymbal settings :

  1. Pitch / Rate
    You can start with low settings (-5 / 32)

  2. Lfo designer
    8 times faster than a square!

    20191019_231120
    20191019_231120.jpg3264×1836 1.29 MB

    Tip to make it fast : Hold 4 trigs (1,3,5,7) turn Level knob. Repeat for other 4 trigs.
    Lfos 1 / 2 :
    Dest Pitch (Rate for lfo 2)
    Designer T1-T8
    x64
    Free
    64
    8
    Lfo 3 :
    Q
    Exp
    x1
    One
    24
    64

  3. Tune by ear (with another sample as reference eventually)
    Turn lfos speed, depth, pitch, rate.

  4. Filter
    SETUP : RES on HP
    There’s lfo3 on Q, but you can increase Q for tuning
    Width 0
    Set base frequency by ear
    Decay 95-100
    Increase Depth

  5. Eq
    Increase 2 frequencies above filter base frequency

  6. Master track
    Filter similar to track filters
    Dark Reverb, Mix mode

  7. Once you adjusted track 1, copy paste it to track 2, increase pitch / rate / depth 1/2

  8. Once happy with your settings (after a week or 2? :content:), edit scene B for low level / smaller cymbal.

  9. Extra I used : Midi loopback, 7 midi tracks playing the 7 audio tracks with an arp.

Watch your ears!
I extended the lab to metallic percussions, because results can become bells, gongs, hi hats, etc…

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