Making this pad with Parsec

[keeverw]

Hi people!

I play Reason as a live keyboard rig on the worship band at my church. 
The sounds I am playing about 75% of the time, are piano and pad. I do get to use some cool synthy stuff on some of our songs, which is fun. 

I am using the "Nice Grand" patch in Radical Piano as my piano, with some slight tweaking, and reverb. And I have a Maelstrom and Thor layered, one panned hard left and the other panned hard right as my pad. I think the Thor patch is called "Big Soft Pad,"
and the Maelstrom patch is called "Foundational". They are both FSB patches. I would look but I am at work right now. 

Let me just say I am very happy with the sound. 

But, I recently bought Parsec and I haven't really played around with it much, other than scrolling through presets looking for something I like. 

I did not find a preset with a pad that I am going for, and that disappointed me. I did try before buying, but anyway, I thought maybe a refill might have what I'm looking for. Or maybe I would use Parsec for something else other than pads, later. 

I am not a sound designer, and I only have a basic understanding of how synths work. 
I get most of my sounds by layering and mixing other presets, and only tweaking a few parameters I know how to use. 


Anyway, I was wondering if Parsec can do a better job of making this kind of pad, if I knew how to use it properly. Also if anyone would mind helping me create this sound on Parsec, or at the very least give me some pointers. 

This video gives a pretty solid idea of what I am going for. 
Although his piano/pad sound is good on his Nord Stage. I think mine can be better. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HlbI2vLA8I


Please give this a listen and let me know if you wouldn't mind helping me. 

Also, if there is a Parsec refill in the shop that nails this sound, please point me to that. 

Thanks!

[keeverw]

Tomorrow when I'm home, I will record a snippet of me playing my pad with and without the piano, to give you an idea where I'm starting from with my current setup. 

I just want to make it richer, lusher, wider, more sparkly, etc. 
And I'm hoping Parsec is up to the task. 

[Benedict]

He's an Aussie!

Nice, reassuring sound (the patch that is not the Aussie accent - but his isn't too bad).

I have made a Patch with a pair of parsimonious Parsecs pertaining to your problem and participating in the poster's particular point path.

You can simply drag and drop your Radical Piano over the NN-XT samples and should work fine. You will need the Groovy Melon Crossfader RE which is free.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/686 ... %20Pad.cmb

I think Parsec does very nicely here. The "filtering" and Detune modules work nicely together to give some really broad sounds.

[keeverw]

Benedict,
Thank you so much!

It's not exactly what I'm looking for, but it's a really good foundation. 
I have only tweaked a little, but I think it already sounds better than what I've been using. 

Thanks again!

[keeverw]

Here is my final product. 

I am really digging that cross-fader by the way. Way simpler and better than having to mess with 2 volume faders at once. 

Here is a bit of playing around with this combi.




And here is the Reason file. You must have the Crossfader (by groove melon) which is free, and Radical Piano. 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7wytv ... sp=sharing


This community is way better than the old Reason forums!
Way more helping and way less trolling going on. 

[Benedict]

Hi

No worries. Balancing piano to pad is not really possible when you don't have the piano, and yours sounds very different (better) from the FSB Sample.



p.s. I am just the same person here as I was at PUF but yes it is nicer here in that way

[keeverw]

Maybe I need to re think this. 

It sounded good to me at home, but then Sunday morning, I loaded it up, and it just didn't sound as good as my old one, so I just used the old one. 

That's my issue, I guess. My blend of Thor and Malstrom sound really nice. 
But I just feel like I paid good money for Parsec, and I should try to use it, because it has the potential to sound even better. But maybe it really doesn't. Maybe I should just be happy with the sound I have, and use Parsec for other things. 

[Benedict]

Chances are you are so used to the old instrument it fits like a glove and anything new unsettles you.

Otherwise can't comment as I've not heard the two sounds in use to have a feeling. Don't give up tho as Parsec is a brilliant synth with quite a few tricks up its sleeve but very different to fly than Thor.