How do you design/sculpt sounds

gonna tell you how i make some own sounds... there's plenty other ways as well but this one works well for me...

start crystal vst combine some (own) presets and create a specific sound capture that sound with soundforge search for nice particles or loopable stuff and safe as sample...

thx reaman, gonna try it out now :)) !

Originally posted by : meutn

thx reaman, gonna try it out now :)) !

sounds you hear in my song "continental drift" and in the last part (after 4'30") are made that way...

just play with oscillators, the more you have the better

I'm creating my own synth by using the subtractor from reason and distortion on it ...

You'll learn only by testing ...

isn't that the whole fun of electronic music?

i pick up whatever synth is lying around and twist its knobs till something interesting comes out and then i start to sequence that. sometimes i have a goal in mind, sometimes i don't. sometimes i'm just making sounds for the fun of it and store those patches for later.

the basis is indeed the oscillators. i usually start from there with all filters, fx, mods and envelopes turned off. then i start adding things but there's really no system to that: if it sounds right it is right!

i must say that for me this works much better with hardware synths that you can grab and twist instantly then with vst plugins.

another approach is with (electro)acoustic instruments (guitar/bass/keys) & samples. then i play around with fx chains (hardware & plugins) and automations till i get interesting sounds, usually not anything like the originals.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by : dtr

isn't that the whole fun of electronic music? [QUOTE]

It is ;) but i'm always in for finding new methods, especially for glitch stuff! And i don't find reason that user friendly for sound sculpting, or i don't know the program well enough :D

Originally posted by : dtr

isn't that the whole fun of electronic music?

It is ;) but i'm always in for finding new methods, especially for glitch stuff! And i don't find reason that user friendly for sound sculpting, or i don't know the program well enough :D my favorite sound sculpting synths are the ion, machinedrum and monomachine. they have advanced user interfaces that are very helpful to in-depth sound design. i notice that a synth with a clumsy user interface kills my creativity...

Originally posted by : meutn

And i don't find reason that user friendly for sound sculpting, or i don't know the program well enough :D

Have you ever listened to brandtkalk's stuff ?? or s-cape ? ;)

Well you should, because they are making their sound only with reason 3.0

they even make me jealous :D I guess there's still a lot to find out ;)

I often sculpt my sounds by combining synths f.i. I use a simple model-E for my basic midi-part. I record the midi-part, copy that put it on another track and look for a different synth. ( I often use white or pink noise for my second or third synth sound, to make it a bit weary) Mostly I use 3 synths. It's like the 3 voices in the Crystal synth (wich is one of my fav. synths), only a zillion more possibilities.

Only prob is that you can look for the right sound for centuries (I'm a non-preset-composer) But occasionally that sound you want hits you in the face!!

And ofcourse trial, error and practice are the best advice we can give you!! :D