When was the last time you heard a synth (or anything else) produce sounds you'd never heard before?

[CaptainBlack]

I think you have to go back a few decades. in my case, possibly a Korg Prophecy in a music shop in the late 90s.

Since then, it just seemed like increasingly sophisticated rehashes of the 80s - whether it's glassy FM or ubiquitous analogue. Are there any instruments producing new sounds? Or is is now so subtle, you don't notice major changes?

[Last Alternative]

Agree. I don't hear new synths but I do hear new sounds made from vintage 80's synths. What makes it new in my opinion is chorus, clean delays, glitching, filtering, unison-type doubling, short high frequency reverb.. fx mostly. It's a modernized version of retro synths. And I love it!
I think it all sounds new because it's hi-fi whereas old synths sounded very lo-fi. Plus the clean drums, bass, and overall big and crystal clear quality production makes it sound modern too.
Funny you posted this because I'm listening to a new IAMX album right now and I was just thinking about that. I always think about it. It always makes me wonder where else it can go from here.

[plaamook]

I'm mostly into finding sounds in samples. More interesting possibilities I think.

But yeah, I look back on the 90's w great fondness. You could expect to have your mind blown regularly back then. So many sounds no one had ever made or heard. It was a great era. I don't think things have slumped as such, I just think we adjusted our ears.

[Noplan]

I don't think that the sounds are exhausted. It's not a single note or sound what makes it interesting and new but the combination of all of them. And the possibilities are infinite.

The human kind has produced so many diffrent sounds with the guitar alone in so many genres and will never be finished. I can't imagine that we are running out of sounds. The lack of creativity is our biggest problem.

[evolve187]

I don't think that the sounds are exhausted. It's not a single note or sound what makes it interesting and new but the combination of all of them. And the possibilities are infinite.

The human kind has produced so many different sounds with the guitar alone in so many genres and will never be finished. I can't imagine that we are running out of sounds. The lack of creativity is our biggest problem.

I agree with this ^....perhaps the sounds are becoming so complex at times that our perception isn't keen enough to register the subtle differences in sounds....I mean if a patch as multi-oscillators, with multiple layers and parallel channels i think our brains first perceive the fundamentals where the subtleties may be secondary in prominence.

Just spit ballin here.

There is also the usage factor...people tend to use what is expected, or the norm for synths or what one knows will work with other sounds...that in of itself is rut we all are likely guilty of falling into.

[Noplan]

perhaps the sounds are becoming so complex at times that our perception isn't keen enough to register the subtle differences in sounds.

Thats true. Stimming is an electro artist who made some tracks for a 4D sound system, an advanced spatial sound system controlled with a tablet computer. The idea is to produce “moving sound images”.His sound design is normaly very complex with a lot of details but he said in an interview that the basic sounds worked best for the audience because there were enough impressions to process.

[Aggie]

"Cars" by Gary Numan had me back way back then - my ears have been happy ever since!

The early techniques with 8- and 16-track were super, imho. I watched the "...making of original theme tune for Doctor Who..." again recently and smiled when I saw the footage of actual, real splicing of 16-track tape rolled out across the floor!

True there's a lot more scope these days but layering techniques aren't really all that different - and there's a lot more to be discovered by not just playing different sounds off of each other but producing the various field of sound already mentioned in this thread.

I have a feeling that (electronic) music will eventually become more multi-faceted, multi-layered and will continue to surprise. A thought I had the other day was... if you play a piece of music at a particular volume, various sounds emerge better than when played at higher volumes. In effect, you could produce a single piece of music that actually sounds different, depending on the volume/gain level....

aggie

[pushedbutton]

I love this noise, it's subtle but well crafted.

[avasopht]

I don't think it's just a matter of creativity but the way musical tastes slowly adjust.

Today's music would sound too odd to a 80's audience.

[Gorgon]

I think you have to go back a few decades. in my case, possibly a Korg Prophecy in a music shop in the late 90s.

Since then, it just seemed like increasingly sophisticated rehashes of the 80s - whether it's glassy FM or ubiquitous analogue. Are there any instruments producing new sounds? Or is is now so subtle, you don't notice major changes?

Listen to scary monsters and nice sprites from Skrillex and tell me if you heard that sound in the 80's.

[adfielding]

I hear granular synthesis was a big thing in the 80s.

[HepCat]

The last time l heard a novel synth?

Probably the 80s and early 90s:
- The detuned Casio CZ-101 (?) organ
- The sort of detuned fuzzy organ sound typical of 80s acid house (e.g. Black Riot - A Day in the Life)
- The Roland Alpha Juno hoover
- The Roland TB-303 acid sound
- The detuned + white noise kinda orchestral hit used on T-99 - Anasthasia
- The various detuned piano sounds used in acid house and techno
- The orchestral hit (a Roland sound expansion preset) used on LA Style's "James Brown is Dead"

Hats off to Roland! They took the human race into another dimension with their sounds.

Before that, l think the only novel sound was the electric guitar and Hammond organ.

Question: what makes a sound "novel"?

[Gorgon]

The last time l heard a novel synth?

You never heard any dubstep then?

[HepCat]

You never heard any dubstep then?

I have. I believe the genre is defined by production method and sounds - but l find the sounds themselves to be derivative - unless you can point to a novel synth sound in Dubstep?

Honestly, l don't know how there can be any new sounds beyond the 80s and 90s synth sounds l just mentioned. I'd like to hear a new synth sound though, for sure but l don't see anything new today, on any synth* be it Reaktor, Kontakt (?), Reason, SynthMaster, Mopho, Korg Minilogue, etc. etc.. In fact l made a cool sound myself (on Thor + some FX), but it's nothing archetypal and paradigm smashing like those aforementioned sounds.


*Exception: the Alesis Andromeda sound here:

but that is the only exception l've heard since 1991.

[avasopht]

Depends on what you call novel.

Besides, once you're accustomed to the basic waveforms and various grains you could say, every other sound is a derivative of that

[jam-s]

For me Razor brought some novel sounds to the table.

[Marco Raaphorst]

when I am programming presets...

[Gorgon]

I have. I believe the genre is defined by production method and sounds - but l find the sounds themselves to be derivative - unless you can point to a novel synth sound in Dubstep?

At around 0:40

You could of course argue that it's "derivative", but in the end EVERYTHING is derivative. But it's undoubtedly (if you like it or not doesn't matter) a novel synth sound.

[Gorgon]

*Exception: the Alesis Andromeda sound here:
but that is the only exception l've heard since 1991.

Which sounds pretty much like a Juno.

[HepCat]

At around 0:40

That sounds like it's FX (distortion + vocoder) over a 303 stab. Sorry. EDIT: OK it might be novel and "out there", l dunno.

You could of course argue that it's "derivative", but in the end EVERYTHING is derivative.

Well, everything is derived from an oscillating voltage, sure. Regard my nod to the question of novelty being open to debate:

Question: what makes a sound "novel"?

But it's undoubtedly (if you like it or not doesn't matter) a novel synth sound.

Well, then, so is every synth sound that exists that isn't precisely matched by an existing sound. I think l get the feel of the OP - he wants sounds that are like psychedelics, they take you to a new dimension as opposed to the mundane synths the Prodigy now use in these latter days. Perhaps that's what "novel" entails for the OP, and for myself? I leave the question open, except to say: the late 80s and early 90s techno scene was characterised by sounds and riffs that took you out of this world - just like 60s psychedelia. That's what distinguished these time periods. So yeah, maybe "novel" synth sound = something psychedelic.

[HepCat]

*Exception: the Alesis Andromeda sound here:
but that is the only exception l've heard since 1991.

Which sounds pretty much like a Juno.

Probably yeah. But it might stand out because if the grain (?) of the Juno Hoover were like a triangle, the grain for the Alesis Andromeda sound would be like ... a triangle filled with noise (?). Mind you, it sounds a lot like the Yamaha SY-99 from the 80s / early 90s, so .... let's say, nothing new since 1991?

[HepCat]

Here's a new sound (l don't like it but it's novel for sure):

The drill sound that was quite popular over the past decade (kicks in at 00:29):

My theory about "novel sounds" is - EDIT: I think i'll leave music theory to the pros, as my sig says, l'm a dabbler. I must say though - that Earthquake song is freaking me out now, a lot of folks were saying creepy things about it back in 2012.

[bitley]

Some comments... brr

[yeahright31]

My mind was blown when I first heard the Waldorf Blofeld, apart from this -The Teenage Engineering OP-1 got me excited about synths again and sounded amazingly different to many other synths i've heard. While there's the standard "oh heard that sound before" type presets, it's thinking outside the box and adding fx that make it shine at times.

[Gorgon]

Some comments... brr

Please elaborate