Disabled wannabe composer looking for Berlin School type presets on ANYTHING!

The Lounge
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Dear Anyone.

Want to write Berlin School, or bouncy techno-stuff (which uses the same kind of staccato sounds!) But - I’ve watched a BUNCH of YouTube vids and they all tell you how to write it - but none of them (that I’ve found!) tell you where to get the sounds from. Which is like watching a guitar video and not knowing where to get a guitar!

Anyone know anything that’s cheap, HOPEFULLY VST2 (old DAW, sorry, but do have JBRIDGE) HOPEFULLY multitimbral (so I don’t have to load a ton of instances - not the world’s most powerful computer here EITHER - useless really, aint I!?) and comes with a bunch of decent-sounding staccato-y, Berlin School/bouncy techno style sounds as presets? I know I should be making my own from scratch but I suck at all of it - programming and composing - and would really love to just sit down, get a bunch of sounds and write a piece of music with them. I mean if you buy a guitar you’re buying it for its single preset - a guitar sound. You don’t get people telling you to buy the wood and make your own guitar (or flute, piano, anything else!) do you? So why does everyone always tell you to do that with VSTs!?! Please, and I know this might be asking a lot so feel free to disregard it, my DAW does everything with CC commands (CC7 for volume, CC10 for panning etc.) Not all VSTs, as I’ve discovered, obey CC commands (So how you supposed to automate the sounds on those things!?!) Would be nice if the suggestions used CC commands/had MIDI Learn/MIDI Teach!)

I’ve got Diva, Kontakt 6.5, Serum (but don’t think much of it!) Alchemy, Engine 2, Absynth, SFZ+ (that plays SF2 soundfonts, not SFZ ones despite its name) Art Pyrite, Zampler-RX (which I’m happy to USE but don’t really UNDERSTAND too well. It says it loads .FXB banks, fair enough, but dunno where to get ones with sounds in - sorry I’m ignorant.)

Got a load more as well, but too many to list. If I’ve missed the Perfect Presets already existing in the above, rub my nose in 'em, they’ve all got loads of things and I bet there’s ways to shape the sounds to do what I want, just don’t understand 'em. Yet! Am up for YouTube vids. but I’ve really tried following the programming ones, they get great sounds, I get seal farts, I’ve no idea what I’m doing wrong, that’s why I’m after a little selection of nice staccato-y presets to make Berlin School/Bouncy Techno (that isn’t a genre, just a 2 word description!) music with. Am up for being told what Inkwedibly Easy things I’m messing up, with the Perfect Presets Already In one of the above VSTs, too!

Yours hopefully,

Chris. Who despite the above IS willing to learn how to program synths - but just wants to practice making music with 'em first! And soundfonts are fine if anyone knows of any SF2s.

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You might be best to post links to a track or two, and highlight the specific sounds you’re aiming to emulate.

There’s a great resource of people here who may be able to give pointers if the sound design request is focussed.

Good luck.

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Diva should have all you need for Berlin School sequences. You will need to gain a basic understanding of how envelopes shape your sound. Load a preset that you like, then adjust the ADR/ADSR envelope & see how it affects your sound.

If you are using a DAW, then multiple instances will be much easier than multi-timbral.

Other VSTs to check out include the Arturia collection, there are definitely some Berlin School presets in the Arturia modulars/moogs.

What DAW are you using?

Berlin School also uses dotted eighth note delays, experiment with these. Most delay VSTs should be able to sync dotted eighth notes.

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Give me a bit (just woke up) and I can help you out with some sounds. I make a lot of Berlin School and I make a lot of Berlin School sounds. I can also help out with some easy walkthroughs using free synth plugins, but for the moment, I’ll just compile some sounds you can play with.

(Also, as asked above, what DAW are you using?)

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Wait until the user show some signs that he/she is a real user. I’m careful now with those new user.

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Do we all mean Tangerine Dream etc. with “Berlin School” - or something else?

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Good question. I made the assumption it was traditional Tangerine Dream/Klaus Schulze Berlin School - and that’s the only kind I could help with. Because I am old. :grimacing:

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If you want them, I made a few plucky DIVA patches that would work for traditional Berlin School. I’ve also converted multisamples of a few of my hardware synths into Soundfonts. There area few basses, pads, and leads of the sort you might hear on an old Tangerine Dream album. Obviously you’ll have to add your own effects to the Soundfonts if you want those classic Berlin School echoes, but the DIVA patches have the delay built into them.

I knocked together a rather poor example of how a few of them sound in context. PM me if you want them and I’ll give you a link.

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I would start here: https://youtu.be/Bp0Xp-VKUcU?si=P-g32syv6Jo28AGZ

Luke has a lot of videos on producing Berlin school. This is video gives you a solid foundation of sounds to use.

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Korg Wavestate