- #Oomnisphere 2 or arturia v collection 5 generator
- #Oomnisphere 2 or arturia v collection 5 software
Modulators can connect to synth parameters (modulation destinations) and control them according to your specifications. Use Modulators, or Don’tĭo you want the timbre of your pad to evolve over time in an effort to make it sound more interesting and engaging? Or would you prefer a more static sound - still providing the harmony but perhaps not drawing so much attention?ĭesigning evolving timbres will require the use of the synthesizer’s modulators. Pads are an element that can potentially still work great after ramping the volume up and down more slowly over time than you typically would see with other elements - experimentation is recommended here. Listen to how those moments interact with the timing of other parts of your production. Special attention should be paid to the attack and release stages of the dynamics envelope.
That’s certainly a nice feature and extends the potential for an expressive dynamic trajectory in something like a synth pad. These offer the user greater control due to its ability to provide far more programming points over time. Others will offer more sophisticated MSEGs - multistage envelope generators.
#Oomnisphere 2 or arturia v collection 5 generator
Most synthesizers will offer a simple ADSR envelope generator and some will offer a step sequencer that can control dynamics. Fine Tune Your Amp Envelopeįiguring out exactly how the dynamic life of your pad will play out is one of the primary design tasks you need to pay close attention to. I’m also recommending 11 instrument plugins that I think are particularly well suited for this type of work. In this article, I’ll be sharing five tips for making pads you can be proud of. For a producer of electronic music, or acoustic music with electronic elements, a good understanding of your own harmonic language paired with an intimate knowledge of your instrument’s timbral capabilities will put you in a strong position when writing harmony and designing patches for synth pads. See what you can do to use one to enhance the other.
In my opinion, one way to make a successful synth pad will be to aim for a synergy between harmony and timbre, along with any other applicable musical element(s) appropriate for the situation. Instruments continue to become increasingly sophisticated in their timbral capabilities, and I’m personally captivated by the journey. Now that music makers can almost universally access such powerful tools, I think we’re witnessing just the beginnings of what human beings will be able to achieve with timbre in their music. Consider that before the age of electricity, available musical timbres were limited to a handful of different acoustic instruments, which were each capable of a relatively small range of timbres compared to what nearly any synth or sampler can do.
#Oomnisphere 2 or arturia v collection 5 software
That being said, I’d personally argue that in our current musical zeitgeist - with its sophisticated DAWs, hardware & software instruments and powerful audio processing tools - that the element of timbre has taken on a far greater importance in our culture’s music than ever before. There’s a historical thread surrounding harmony that gets studied and talked about a great deal in university music departments, while perhaps the other musical elements are not scrutinized quite as closely. Note how a specific chord progression is articulated by the pad sound. Here’s an example of a short synth pad I made using the u-he Diva instrument. A synth pad will typically have a lush sound that sustains for a relatively longer duration. Think of the harmony as being the specific pitches you select to sound together to form chords and chord progressions, while the synth pad is the sounding timbral expression of that harmony. It seems like a lot of people, especially in academia, consider the element of harmony to be the element that defines Western music, and if you’re thinking about creating a synth pad, it’s likely going to be when you’re in the process of writing harmony in your music. Gaining a good understanding of these elements is obviously important when working with sound. There seem to be differing opinions as to exactly how many elements there are and what they are, but it’s common to think about music in terms of its sonic characteristics and organizational concepts such as dynamics, form, harmony, melody, phonic structure (also referred to as texture) rhythm and timbre (also referred to as tone color). There’s a concept out there that goes something like this: all music can be broken down into and analyzed by its essential elements - its fundamental characteristics.