Help with creating a sound

[Popnfrsh24]

Hey there,

So I just really like the beat on Khalid's new song "Talk". I am starting to recreate it in Reason just to hopefully learn some stuff. I am in the process of trying to get that airy-synth that is played right at the beginning of the song.

Of course, I just google to see if someone has figured this out already, and I saw a good tutorial on youtube on how to do this. However, he was using Ableton so I'm getting stuck on how to achieve this sound in Reason. I'm attempting to use the Subtractor to make this...I think that's the right one to choose? Maybe you propellerheads can help

So, here's how he made it:
-Have two sawtooth oscillators
-2nd osc lower in volume and slight detune
-route an LFO to pitch on 1st oscillator to cause "wavyness".
-Set attack to delay the LFO until after intial hit.
-Add filter drive for distortion
-Add a subharmonic on the 2nd osc
-Add “classic unison” to wavetable.

So...I am getting stuck on the part where he puts an LFO on the 1st oscillator to cause wavyness. I was thinking I would use Oscillator 2 and control the "attack" with the delay knob, but I can't control the pitch with LFO 2. Now, I'm just wondering if I need to just plop in an LFO in the rack and plug it into the subtractor somehow.

Can anyone help guide me in how to get this sound? Maybe there is a preset that I'm unaware of that sounds pretty close to this? Or do you guys know a general method to get me close to that sound?

Thanks,

Pop

[Loque]

You can set LFO1 to Osc2 only, with a low amount and the pitch will be modulated.

Connecting an extra LFO is a good idea in general. Buf if you just want to modulate 1 Oscillator, you cannot just connect an LFO to it. You need to make a workaround via Combinator. Please note, that this is imilar to automation. Here are screenshots which should help you:

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Subtractor would not be my first choice for "airy" string and pads, due its a bit aliasing and not that clear in the top end. Matter of taste in the end...

[Popnfrsh24]

Thanks for info. Which synth would you recommend if not the subtractor?

[selig]

Thanks for info. Which synth would you recommend if not the subtractor?

Based on the specs you posted I’d use Europa:

I’m not 100% sure about the “subharmonic”: I wonder if they mean the same as an octave down sub oscillator? Sines are “harmonics”, so I’d start there building everything else then listen to the original and see what’s missing (if anything).

[Loque]

Would be helpful to provide a link to the song and information about what instrument you are heading for or just provide the link to the tutorial you found and than we will see. For airy strings/synths, as Selig said, i would choose Europa if it needs to be stock synths.

[Popnfrsh24]

Ah yes! I forgot about Europa....I used an old version of reason for so long I forgot about that.

Here's the song....its the synth right at the beginning.

And Here's the tutorial...it should be right in the middle. Sorry i would give you an exact time for the video but I'm doing Sunday afternoon boating

Thanks

[Loque]

Ah yes! I forgot about Europa....I used an old version of reason for so long I forgot about that.

Here's the song....its the synth right at the beginning.
...

And Here's the tutorial...it should be right in the middle. Sorry i would give you an exact time for the video but I'm doing Sunday afternoon boating
...

Thanks

Ah, ok. Its a classic sawtooth sound. The basic is the sawtooth and most prominent shaping comes from the Amp Decay, Filter Cutoff with Envelope Decay and Amount. And ofc the sawtooth itself has a massive impact onto the sound - the higher or more separated the peak is the higher and prominent the overall sound. The more it becomes a striangle or sine, the loss prominent and smoother the sound gets.

Adding Unison, Reverb, panning modulation and stuff like that is icing on the cake. Here is a quick try. Since nearly no synth works similar to any other, i tried to get close to the sound, even if i think the sound in the tutorial is very weak, which is quite hard to create. The original sound is also filtered and sounds more dull and destroyed in the low end - maybe some distortion added as well.

[Popnfrsh24]

Ah yes! I forgot about Europa....I used an old version of reason for so long I forgot about that.

Here's the song....its the synth right at the beginning.
...

And Here's the tutorial...it should be right in the middle. Sorry i would give you an exact time for the video but I'm doing Sunday afternoon boating
...

Thanks

Ah, ok. Its a classic sawtooth sound. The basic is the sawtooth and most prominent shaping comes from the Amp Decay, Filter Cutoff with Envelope Decay and Amount. And ofc the sawtooth itself has a massive impact onto the sound - the higher or more separated the peak is the higher and prominent the overall sound. The more it becomes a striangle or sine, the loss prominent and smoother the sound gets.

Adding Unison, Reverb, panning modulation and stuff like that is icing on the cake. Here is a quick try. Since nearly no synth works similar to any other, i tried to get close to the sound, even if i think the sound in the tutorial is very weak, which is quite hard to create. The original sound is also filtered and sounds more dull and destroyed in the low end - maybe some distortion added as well.

Hmm..I'm trying to import your combinator but it says I need a Rack Extension. Confused because it says I need Europa version 2.0.3....am I doing something wrong or do you have some sort of special Europa?

EDIT: nevermind i just had to update reason. works now thanks!

[Popnfrsh24]

Hey there...I have a question about automation now. It sounds like to me on some of the fast high hats that the sound is panned from the left to the right. I am trying to achieve this in my recording now.

I figured out how to record this/draw the pan parameter in, but I'm confused. What I would like to do is to take this pan automation and apply it to every single one of these hi hat hits. I thought I could maybe ctrl+drag to create a new automation clip, but it does not seem to work like that. It doesn't seem like the automation tracks work like the normal MIDI note tracks, which seems odd. Do i really need to draw in this automation at every single one of my hi-hats hits? Is there a clever way to get this to all of my hits easily?

EDIT: also, I hear some automation in this song where it seems to pan evenly, almost like drawing a sine wave into the panning automation lane. Is there an easy way to slap in a sine way of sort in there instead of manually drawing in a crappy looking sine wave with my mouse?

Thanks

[selig]

Panning can be accomplished any number of ways.

Simple way is using two of the same samples duplicated each in their own left and right channel, then program them to play "alternating" to create "jump pans".

Next is the CV route using an LFO such as Pulsar. You can either patch into a simple Line Mixer if working in the Rack or a Combinator, or the SSL mixer if the hats are on their own channel (both have a Pan CV input on the back).

[Popnfrsh24]

Panning can be accomplished any number of ways.

Simple way is using two of the same samples duplicated each in their own left and right channel, then program them to play "alternating" to create "jump pans".

Next is the CV route using an LFO such as Pulsar. You can either patch into a simple Line Mixer if working in the Rack or a Combinator, or the SSL mixer if the hats are on their own channel (both have a Pan CV input on the back).

Cool thanks for the info.

Looks like the Pulsar is not available any more...do you have any recommendations on a replacement LFO?

Also, I still am wondering, is there not a way to add different waveforms to the automation lane? Like a sine or square wave with a certain frequency?

When I was mucking around with this automation...I did my pans in the automation lane, then I wanted to copy and paste to all the cymbal hits. I had trouble copying and pasting this initial automation event. I was able to get it to copy and paste sometime, but most of the time, it wasn't working. I wasn't sure why either. Am I just doing something stupid in order to prevent it from copying and pasting?

Thanks,

Pop