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Synthesizers
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From the course by Berklee College of Music
Pro Tools Basics
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From the lesson
Exploring MIDI and Software Instruments
In this lesson, we'll focus on MIDI and software instruments. We'll start by learning about the different kinds of sound waves. Next, we'll learn the difference between samplers and synthesizers and how to use them in music production. We'll also learn how to manipulate and automate MIDI.
Meet the Instructors
Chrissy Tignor-FisherAssistant Professor
Contemporary Writing and Production
[MUSIC]
Let's get started,
open a new session from the template that you made from last lesson.
There are no synthesizers available with Pro Tools first, but
I still think this is an interesting topic and
you won't need a synthesizer necessarily to complete the assignment for this week.
If you download the demo version or you buy the full version of Pro Tools,
you will have access to the synth I'm going to use in this lesson.
If you like what we do in this lesson and you want to experiment with more different
types of synths, then check you the Synthesizers Reading for this lesson.
So once you've created a new project from the template you've created, I want you
to go onto your instrument track and in your inserts area choose vacuum.
And this is one of the instruments that comes,
like I said, with the demo version of Pro Tools and with the full version.
So on a first look, this synthesizer can look really intimidating, and
most synthesizers have the same effect on people.
But I can guarantee you that once you learn some of the terminology and
some of the functions of a synth,
you'll be able to apply this to any synthesizer that you see.
So once you get the terms here you'll be able to use pretty much anything.
Vacuum is a monophonic synthesizer, which means I can only play one note at a time.
And this is really similar to some of the early synths that they
had at the start of electronic music.
So you can see when I play a chord.
[MUSIC]
It's not possible for me to pay multiple notes at one time.
All synthesizers start from what are called oscillators.
And oscillators are the parts that generate the sound that we start with.
And the whole goal when you're starting any sort of synthesis sound
is to create something that sounds really, really complex.
Because what you want to do after you create an oscillator sound is start
cutting away and molding that sound into something that you really want to use for
your production.
But the oscillator section is where it all starts.
So when I teach you how to use vacuum, this is where we're going to begin.
In the top left corner and right below it, are two oscillator sections.
And vacuum has two oscillators.
You can choose different wave shapes for these oscillators, and
it's going to change the sound that you hear.
If I change my second oscillator sound from a saw wave to noise,
it'll sound like this.
[SOUND] And you can change how much of each
individual sound that you want to start with.
So we can change both of these oscillators.
For example if I want to use a triangle wave at the top, and
a saw wave with a little bit of noise in the second oscillator,
it'll sound something like this.
[SOUND] And that's a combination of the two oscillators together.
And you want to kind of mess around with these as much as you can to
try to find the sound that you like the best.
So I'm going to do a little bit more experimenting.
[SOUND] And you can hear how that sound changes as I
change the wave shape for the oscillator.
[SOUND] You also have a fine tune function for each one of these and
you can slightly de-tune your oscillators to get a more
sort of chorused or sometimes even grosser sound.
[SOUND] So it's up to you what you want to use and I encourage
you to experiment with this oscillators as your first step for synthesis.
For your oscillators you can also choose whether you have a lot of oscillator
one or very little, or just one oscillator at a time.
And that's in this area that's labeled your mixer.
Each of these little knobs will control how much of each one you
hear in your sound.
So, first thing that you have in synthesizers is the oscillator, and
you'll see this on all synthesizers.
The next step in synthesis is what's called the filter.
And filters can be a number of different varieties.
But in order to understand how they work we want to
think about how frequencies work.
So human beings can hear a large range of frequencies,
anything from low frequencies like a kick drum to high frequencies like a cymbal.
And filters work by basically controlling how many high frequencies are coming
through your sound and how many low frequencies are coming through your sound.
The most common filter that you find on synthesizers is what's called a low
pass filter.
Which means, it lets low frequencies pass through, and cuts the highs.
Vacuum actually has two types of filters including a high pass and
a low pass filter.
So let's hear what it sounds like.
You can see that these are both labeled, HPF and
LPF, for low pass filter and high pass filter.
And how do we know how much frequency that we need to cut off?
Well it's exactly what it sounds like, it's called the cutoff.
And you can choose, how many high frequencies you cut, or
how many low frequencies you cut based from where the cut off frequency is.
So, on our low pass filter which, like I said,
is the most common that you'll find the most synths.
Let's move the cut off down and as I move it, you're going to hear less and
less high frequencies and more lows.
So here's our sound to start with.
[SOUND] And listen to what happens as I lower the cutoff.
[SOUND] Do you hear how you can hear
some of the high frequencies disappear?
Well that's how the cutoff frequency works on most synthesizers.
And if we do this with a high pass filter it's going to do the same thing
except cut off all of your vocal frequencies and keep the highs.
So let's hear what that sounds like.
[SOUND] And you can hear how we can use these filters
to really shape the sound to get what we want.
I'm going to demonstrate how to use the filter as a low pass filter,
just because it's the most common one that you see.
The other parameter that works really well in a filter is whats called resonance.
And all that does is it boosts the frequency that you've chosen for
the cutoff to make the filter more obvious and
give it more of a characteristic sound.
So let me turn up the resonance and I will lower the cutoff for the low pass filter.
[SOUND] And do you see how you can hear that individual
pitch as I lower down the cutoff, and it's much louder?
And that's what the resonance does.
I'm going to adjust the low pass filter cut off to get a more rounded,
less bright sound for this little bass line I'm creating.
[SOUND] And I'm going to basically take the resonance down a little bit as well,
because it's a little bit too harsh.
[SOUND]
[MUSIC]
So, your first step is the oscillator, second step, filter.
And once you've found a sound that has been affected with the filters, we move on
to the last stage of our synthesis which is going to be what's called the envelope.
And again you're going to be able to find the envelope on pretty much
every synthesizer that you run into into.
And in our next section when we start talking about expand,
which is a sampler, we can use some of these same techniques.
So the envelope on vacuum that is going to be most useful for
us is labelled N2, which means envelope number two.
And an envelope basically controls what happens to our sound
from the time we press it on the keyboard, while we're holding it, and
what happens after we let go.
So my sound right now comes on immediately when I press it.
[SOUND] And when I let go it stops.
Those two parameters of the envelope are called attack and release.
And this sound that I have right now would be what I would call a fast attack,
meaning when I press the key it comes in right away.
And a fast release, meaning it disappears right when I stop holding it down.
If we want to change this so your sound swells in slowly and
maybe lasts a little bit longer after I let go, then we can change the attack and
release on the envelope to make that happen.
So our envelope is set up as A, D, S, R, which is attack, decay, sustain, release.
And D and S or decay and
sustain, are going to have to do with while you're holding the key down.
But for this demonstration I really want to focus on the most important,
which is attack and release.
If you're interested in diving in deeper and
learning some more about some of these topics and areas of dissent that we're
not getting too deep into, check out Loud and Sterne's Coursera course.
So if I want this attack to be slower and basically have it swell in when I press
the key, I'm going to turn up the A on envelope number two so.
[MUSIC]
Listen to what happens from first when I had a quick attack.
[SOUND] And now that I have slower attack by turning up the knob.
[SOUND] And you can hear that it takes a little bit longer for
that sound to come in.
And now we can experiment with the release.
So right now when I let go of the key it cuts off right away.
[SOUND] But if I make a long release it's going to sound like this.
[SOUND] And this can be really useful when you're creating synth pads or
any sort of chord-like textures that you want to add to
your production and that can be really useful.
And like I said, you'll find an envelope on every synth.
So the last thing I want to show you on vacuum is something called an arpeggiator.
So as I showed you before, if I try to play a chord on vacuum,
it doesn't let me play multiple notes at a time.
[SOUND] But if I turn on the arp function, it's going to take the notes I play and
shuffle through them in a rhythm.
So turn it on, and that's in the bottom left corner of vacuum.
[MUSIC]
And it will shuffle through, and whatever rhythm you have syncs to your bpm.
So all of the parts of the synth that I showed you are actually going to allow
you to take presets that have already been made for this synth, and actually be able
to affect them in a way to make them your own and work better in your production.
So I want you to load a preset with vacuum and here's how you do it.
If you click on the factory default button
up at the top under what's labeled preset you'll see that vacuum has several
different types of sounds that you can work with.
So I want you to choose a bass for now.
And let's just choose this woody chap.
That's my cat's name is Woody.
And he's a chap.
And let's listen to this.
[SOUND] And let's just say that I wanted that, I liked the bass sound but
I wanted it a little bit brighter.
We would adjust the cutoff.
So I go to my low pass filter, which is letting low frequencies pass through and
cutting my highs, and I turn up the cutoff frequency.
[MUSIC]
And then I can adjust that depending on my taste to whatever fits for my production.
Now, start from a preset and
experiment with each of these parameters to find a sound that you like.
[MUSIC]
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