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Hey guys Im trying to make this high pitched chord synth sound you here coming in at :45.

It simply sounds like an A note, almost like a string. Ive tried using pulse waves with moderate speed sine lfo on pulse width while also using a 12db lp filter. Doesnt seem to be getting there. Ive also tried other patches using two saw waves that are detuned with again a 12db lp filter, while increasing the voices with cuttoff at about 11 oclock while with res at 11:30.

Im getting close but it seems like its not airy enough.

I am going for a particular sound. You can also hear a similar sound on this track at about 2:30.

I guess Im trying to learn how to create sounds around those sort of spectrums to use in my own music. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I use Massive as my main synth.

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3 Answers 3

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It can be deceiving, but it is pretty straightforward. I worked from the 1st song video.

Try this:

  1. Mix Two Saw wave Oscs, with a touch of unison (about an extra 2-3 voices each).
  2. One of those Saw waves at +1 octave, and mix the 0 octave about 6-10dB lower than the higher octave.

You could mix the lower octave to taste, but I also summed them into a high pass filter (-12db slope) set to around 2khz, to bring down the lower frequencies, on that note.

Looking at the spectrum below you can see that it has all harmonics there quite steady, which is a sign it may be a saw wave. Any vibrato is very subtle and could be passed off as Unison detuning, which brings the chorus-type sound. A little reverb may sound nice, keeping only higher frequencies above 2-3khz.

The first harmonic starts at G5#, slightly undertuned, but you can see the fundamental or lowest frequency is not as loud as the second harmonic, around 1.6khz, and every second harmonic is slightly louder, indicating that another saw wave oscilator may be present. I.e. +1 Octave, and up to 10dB louder than the base note.

enter image description here

Edit: Here is a similar/improved patch in Massive. 3x Saw Oscs (relatively the same; 2x +12.00 Semitones, 1x 0.00 Semtiones, with detuning), Touch of LP/HP in series, and Reverb. 4 Voice Unison with Pitch Detune (finer scale):

Massive StringSynth

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  • Hey sorry for late reply, was trying to do this recently as per your suggestion. I am using Massive again to recreate, the sound isn't quite coming out right. When speaking of unisono, are you saying to add voices? How much detuning should I use, it seems like the more detune, the closer it gets?
    – Dom
    Commented Dec 19, 2015 at 23:28
  • Unison is not really that important, it just gives a chorus/sleek effect on the string sound. I would only add a few voices or less and tiny detuning. Of course you should be able to tell for yourself. Are you sure you're using a Sawtooth wave and not another Saw shape? It is a pretty simple sound compared to most Massive programs.
    – Joel Pinteric
    Commented Dec 20, 2015 at 2:27
  • I got a lot close trying to use the oberheim 1000 and it seems like equin the frequency I want seems to be giving the better results, but massive is like not that close at all. Thanks alot for your help. Im still trying to make it get that silky sort of sound if you have any other suggestions.
    – Dom
    Commented Dec 21, 2015 at 2:08
  • Thanks and glad to help! I initially used Absynth for this. Now in my post you can see the Massive program I used. To use the Saw Wave you choose the Sq-Saw1 set the WT Position and Intensity to full clockwise. I also added Lp/Hp filters for finer shaping - that's probably the eq you're looking for. Silkyness comes from the chorus on high pitch voice with its upper partials, so use a slight Unison detune. But in the second example I have also added two high pitched voices (approx +12 semitones). Now try adding vibrato or modulating the pitch! Have fun!
    – Joel Pinteric
    Commented Dec 22, 2015 at 3:47
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For anyone who was looking at this I started to mess around with it a bit and got a bit closer to the sound. What I noticed was that it was not as airy or moving enough, What did was fatten up the sound a bit by adding some saw waves in mixture to the pulse waves at different octaves. I lowered the amp on several of the oscillators to get the higher pitches out a bit more and added an lfo to the pitches of each oscillators as well as some resonance. I been playing around with adding slight vibrato, as well as increasing the reverb and voices. Its still not quite right, so it would be cool if some guys were to have some more discussion on this. Below is how my Massive settup looks:

enter image description here

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It sounds like a mix of square and sin oscillators with lowpass filter set on about 2000Hz. The attack is short and the release is a bit longer, and a bit of chorus and reverb might suffice.

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