Sound Module: Synth Patch Design

I commented on Eunice's patches.

The alien patch was really great, I could definitely picture it being used for a UFO or an alien-creature. I think part of the reason was the almost "de-crescendo"/ diminuendo of each note, from a very loud higher pitch to a softer sound.

The playful patch also worked very well- it reminded me of a child's xylophone or toy. It might have been even more "playful" and childish to use a higher, lighter pitch.

I commented on all three of Jake Weiss's sounds.

I thought your drums sounded scarily close to real drums, so nice work there, and that your pretty sound reminded me of one of those big organs in churches with the deep reverberating sound. The weird sound was definitely weird I thought that all of the extra vibrating effects in the background were a nice touch as well.

@Jorge Sastre Only for the alien sound, I used extra mixer EXS24 to make an instrument out of water sound, and then played some music using that instrument. After I got the music, I used RetroSyn to mix it. For the smooth and percussion patches, I just used the instrument in the original logix pro library.

Good alien sound (and the picture really fits to it). Very interesting pretty sound. As a suggestion you could give more presence to your percussive sound adding to it a bit more boost on the bass frequencies

Good alien sound (and the picture really fits to it). Very interesting pretty sound. You could give more presence to your percussive sound adding to it a bit more boost on the bass frequencies

Interesting and original alien sound. Did you add a distortion effect or the pretty patch? The percussive sounds more like a synth bass sound than a percussive. I find especially interesting the sound at the end when you hold the note for a longer time.

Good and imaginative sounds. Some comments to improve your work: I would avoid recording the metronome sound. The filter envelope release in the pretty sound is so small (1ms) that produces sounds similar to clicks, they could be avoided increasing it a little. Nice alien sound.

Nice patches. Some comments: the percussive is imaginative an interesting, sounds more like a combination of a percussive instrument with another kind of instrument, and it might be also good for the alien instrument. Also the pretty sound might be good for alien too, you could add some more release time at the ADSR and some more reverb to it to make it smoother and pretty. The alien might be a bit more like the others to give it a bit more alien feeling, maybe add some weird vibrato or detuning.

Good sounds. Only two comments: in the percussive sound the attack should be short (and it is in your patch: 0.40ms), it seems that is the filter the one that gives the percussive effect, since the decay you use is so long (2100ms). And please avoid clicks at the end (the last sound has a click)

The alien song trolled me =(

But I really liked it! I'm a really big fan of vibrato, and I like the way Eric described it as comedic - that's the best way to put it! You can feel the increased attack in the punch of the sound. Really the vibrato just makes the notes though, and I like the way you've balanced it so that you can clearly tell which note is playing while still allowing for crazy sound variation!

Your percussive sound is very drum-like, which is actually kinda cool. I like the effect after the note is hit - I always ran into weird sounds and in the end just decided to clip them, but your aftereffect is exactly what I think it should sound like! I wonder if all of the sounds in that were the percussion patch? If so, that is actually really cool, and I'm glad to hear it!

Good work, and nice fade out in the three audio files!

Good work. It was intended that you used the Retro Synth but it is ok. The only thing to avoid is the click at the end

The pretty sound also has a kind of "haunting" feel to me - very much like a string instrument. It almost feels like backwards sounds. I'd like to hear something more on this! I'm also a fan of the vibrato. My only issue is that it's a bit soft. Other than that though, I think it's a good patch!

Good work. It is ok that you used other synths, but originally it was intended that you used the Retro Synth. But: pay attention to the click at the end, avoid it at your final assigment

Good work, your alien sound is really retro! it reminds a lot to the first electroacoustic music pieces. BUT please pay attention to the click at the end. Do not allow that in your last project.

Good work, nice alien timbre. You could add some more reverb to give more space to the sounds. Pay attention to the too sudden end.

Good alien patch and nice close encounters melody, but pay attention to the click at the end and avoid it for your last project. Pay attention that this project was about generating new sounds, and though you made a nice short composition with the percussive patch, the only patch that is really percussive in the composition could be improved to be a bit more interesting: you can do it! Good work with the pretty patch.

Good work: one question, the sounds from what you started were original patches from the Retro Synth? It seems by your text that you opened other software instruments and then modified them with the Retro Synth, please explain

Good work. Only one detail: Pay attention to the click at the end of the pretty sound

Good work

Good work. Very interesting alien sound. The percussive is a little mild. But it was fun to listen to Beethoven with it

Good Work, I coincide with Amber, the Alien sound is great. But you should upload the percussive asap

Good Work, specially nice Alien sound

Good work

Thanks eric, I re-pasted the embedded code five times, then it worked! Fifth time is a charm.

I really like the variety of sounds you get from the percussive patch. You did a really great job keeping the sound punchy and percussive without it being too loud or unappealing sounding.

I agree that the flow in your smooth patch is really great! I feel no punch or click when you start playing new notes at all. The sound does still feel a little bit percussive to me, but you said you started with a saxophone, which definitely sounds like that normally. You did a really good job getting the grating sax resonances out to make the sound smooth.

I agree with Brian, the vibrato on your alien synth patch is amazing! It definitely gives you the feeling of being abducted. I really like that, even with the vibrato, the new notes that you add don't sound punchy and off-putting at all.

Your pretty track is soothing, I concur with Jacob. The reverberation of the track reminds me of waves on the ocean.

I commented on all three patches of Dan Cheng's "Three Syn Patches".

Your percussive track is an amazingly impressive emulation of a thumb piano. I have one of these at home, and the sound is uncanny!

The vibrato on your alien synth patch is outstanding, it adds a sort of resonance beam feel to it. Well done

Commented on My Synths, Synth Patches, Lil synth patches <3

I really like your weird alien sound. I couldn't help but smiled when I first heard it. It reminds me of a overly-exaggerated vibrato that became extremely comedic. Nice job

Smooth, this really just sounds like a trumpet or something like you mentioned brass instruments, I would be entirely convinced if you told me it was. Maybe make it more unique? The percussion also sound like a brass piece with a kick drum. I really like your weird noise, it feels like electricity playing a melody.

I really like the uniqueness of your percussion and smooth piece, especially the intros you gave them. Both has the theme of multidimensionality that makes it seems like multiple instruments. Btw, your smooth track sounds like something I would hear out of Zelda

I commented on projects by Ivan Wang, Brian Walsh, and Francisco Rojo.

You pretty patch is very pretty, as advertised. This is one of my favorite sounds I listened to - I heard it a couple of times actually. Good work!

I love the buildup in "aggressive percussion"! It was really fun to listen to. Jurassic synth was cool as well.

Out of the 3, I like your percussive sound the most. I think you should use it in the next composition project we have(if you can!).

I commented on "Synth Stuff", "Synth Patch Design", and "Patches O'Houlihan"

I really liked the Pretty Patch (and your Song of Healing cover) For the beach-like wave sound in the background, it's cool that it grows with the amplitude/volume of the instrument, along with the very long release which gave it a drone effect. It sounds kind of fitting for some temple setting in a game!

I really liked the pretty sound, it really did seem like an ocean wave crashing over the sands. The organ could have been a little softer though. For the percussive patch, the lack of noise surprised me, it was more like a xylophone than anything else. For the alien sound, it was interesting how you had both the high frequency noises in the background as well as the main sound, it was like listening to two sounds at once.

I really like your alien patch, it almost sounds like a synth used for 16-bit games (it reminded me of a sound from Earthbound!) Between the pitch change and feedback/high-pitched background echo, it definitely sounds alien.

I really love the wavy sound in the background of the percussive synth, it almost doubles as a pad synth as well as a percussive synth because of that background drone. In the recording, I also heard some sounds that almost sounded like a snare on a drum kit, how were those created?

I like the smooth sound the best, you did a good job making the instrument sounds relaxing and enjoyable. And the music flows very well. It sounds like piano and bell to me and reminds me of Christmas.

For the alien sound, it is loud, noisy and disordered, so it does sound kind of wierd to me, I like how you use lots of repetition with different tempo here, it indicates progress and it makes me feel like there are some alien things evolving.
It is awesome that you use 'consecrate to Alice' for the smooth piece, I really like this music. You did a good job using the mixer to make the piece sounds echoing. One thing I want to suggest for this piece is that the ending is too abrupt.
The purcussion piece sounds really interesting, and the repetition helps the flow of the piece. Nice job!

I commented on Amber's pretty sound, Ivan's percussive sound, and Francisco's alien sound.

For your Alien patch, I really enjoy the rippling sound that feels a lot like the beams that UFOs use to abduct people. Also, the underlying more tinny sound adds to the alien quality.

I believe you embedded your percussive sound twice! (instead of alien for the 3rd one).

Percussive: I was intrigued by this because it sounds almost un-synth like, possibly even natural? Like a live instrument? That said, I agree that using a square wave with high attack worked well. Also, yours is one of the few percussive sounds I heard that remains very melodic as well. Awesome!

Smooth: Your smooth sound could have passed off as alien as well. The flanger in the background ends up distracting from the keys being played. You might be better served with a lower flanger setting.

Alien: Your alien sound was really triply. Pitch shifting was a brilliant move. I'm also curious about how you got that stereo effect going. Some of the sounds seem to emanate from the right and some from the left. It seems too intricate for you to have manually set up. How'd you do that?

I really enjoyed your percussive sound. It sounds very clean and precise as percussion should.

Your pretty sounds have a very relaxing feel. The way they sustain is very calming.

I agree that the percussive sound has a lot of richness to it. It's really gritty and distorted and kind of grating, but that seems to the point? Also I thought the alien sound was pretty light and upbeat, which was a nice idea to go for.

The "Soothing Dinosaur" patch is really interesting. It does sound a lot like a horn and is kind of high pitched, so I'd expect it to not be soothing, but it is. I think it does a good job of sound like whaling dinosaur. Like what a whale song would sound like, except if the whale was a dinosaur.

It's cool how with the percussive sound you managed to make it kind of muted and "punchy", but still has a lot of sound and tone to it.

I commented on Small Patches by Amal Sahay.

The timbre is interesting, but having a really brief decay made the percussive sound very rhythmic. I like the pretty sounds, but perhaps you could tone down the vibrato or oscillation slightly? The alien sounds are probably my favorite: the long release and residual effect adds to the otherworldly effect.

Your popcorn sound seemed to fall under the category of percussion because of the very short notes that happened every few seconds. Interestingly enough, it doesn't necessarily seem to fall between the other two sounds. However, because I read your process, I know that it is supposed to. Each track sounds so different-- it's almost unbelievable that the only difference is the amount of vibration.

The mid-range alien notes sound familiar, actually. They seem to make the same sound as a sheet of plastic when you wave it back and forth in the air. The lower and higher range alien noises sound completely foreign and really cool.

Your percussive sounds are almost like an electronic steel drum. That is, until about thirty seconds into the demo when it began to sound like an electronic tuba.

I could happily listen to your smooth sounds for a very long time. The reverberation helps the notes blend together with one another and fade out slowly rather than abruptly, thus adding to the soft feeling.

I commented on Synth Patches by Ivan Wang, Synth Patches by Amber Jones and Patches by Tonya.

For your popcorn sound, there were some sounds which sounded very percussion-y which was awesome. There were some others though that sounded kind of like laser beams, maybe reducing the cutoff in the filter section might help with getting rid of that sound?

Tweaking the amp env to make the sound be more like a "hit" rather than a sustained note really makes the difference when trying to make percussion sounds. Yours was very nice!

Having a really high release value for the smooth sound really made it flow, it sounds great.

I like that your percussive sound sounds very dense, for lack of a better word. It doesn't reverberate long after the note is pressed. The sound seems like that of a xylophone, without the high tones (as you used the cutoff filter). Your alien patch was a lot of fun to listen to. It definitely matched the strange sound that aliens have in a lot of of movies.

I commented on Amber Jones' project.

The alien sounds are really cool. I like how they switch between high and low pitch. The percussive sounds really do sound like thumb pianos (the instrument pictured—my uncle plays it). The pretty synth sounds WAY better than mine. I couldn’t figure out how to make it that smooth. It’s very relaxing.