Name That Synth

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

How many times have you heard a synth sound in a piece of music and wished you knew the name of the synth making that sound?

Well, feel free to post about and question such things in this very thread. I’ll go first. I need to know if there’s anyone on here with a keen enough ear for filters to be able to tell me (with a high amount of certainty) what synth is being used in this track?

I’m referring to that mellow, horn-sounding kinda thing that comes in at around 0:30 and 3:36.
I wonder about it every time I hear it so would love to know what synth that is if anyone knows!

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#2

Sounds in the same ballpark to the synth part Pink Floyd’s ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’, maybe with less modulation. I believe they did that on a Minimoog, but could probably get similar results on some other synths. Also look for Minimoog Flute patch.

Edit:
This one is in the ballpark. They are using modular, but they are using all AJH modules which are cloned from the the Minimoog:

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#3

This should limit the choices at least:

Synthesizers: Synclavier II, minimoog, Polymoog, Prophet 5, Roland Jupiter 8, Linn Drum Machine, Wurlitzer Electric Piano, Fender Rhodes

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#4

I found a link to a Minimoog patch book. There’s a flute patch, there’s a trumpet and a horn patch, either of which may be closer, and a bunch of other patches as well. Worth experimenting.

http://www.synthzone.com/midi/moog/minimoog/MINIMOOG%20PATCH%20BOOK.pdf

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#5

now to secure a minimoog…

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#6

Or a plugin to experiment with, or a Behringer Model D.

I bet Grandmother might get in the range pretty well. And the Sub’s may, if you rolled way back on the oscillator gain, and gain/drive elsewhere in the chain.

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#7

where there’s a bill, there’s a way

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#8

I always feel ambivalent suggesting a Behringer product…but goddamn I do love my Boog

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#9

I thought it’d be fun to try and get in the ballpark with my Korg Monologue. The Monologue is a bit clicky/thumpy, and there’s not much for envelopes, but it’s not too shabby.

Anyway, just a little noodle try and fit the theme:

Oh, and FX: Monologue>Ableton Chorus>Valhalla Verb

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#10

Very cool to see this patch book, thankyou!

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#11

Sure thing. It’s fun to go through, and because the Minimoog is a relatively limited synth architecturally, they can be used as starting points on a lot of ofher synths as well.

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#12

Yes! I’m looking forward to trying these on my Analog Four.

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#13

Wow, thanks for the feedback on this!

The MiniMoog was one of two I suspected it might be, the other being the Roland JX-8P and yeah, it does have that ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ thing going on - totally agree!

I think drive has a lot to do with why it sounds like that (and I believe the MiniMoog does have a design anomaly that causes it to be overdriven or something), so now it has me wondering if HoldMyBeer used ‘Drive’ on his Monologue to get his rendition of it.

Nice attempt mate, you got that tone pretty damn close but those thumpy envelopes sound really bad. I’m shocked that Korg would even release a design like that!

Won’t be selling my body to buy a MiniMoog I’m afraid, but I have decided to buy a MiniFreak. The more I read and hear about that thing the more I want it, and due to all the possibilities available through drive and filter types on it, I’m hopeful I can get that sort of tone and smoothness out of it.

But yeah, I really love that sort of sound. For me it encompasses what’s beautiful about analogue sound synthesis. It can transport you to another world with even a single note sounding!

Thanks for the vids, gear list and patch stuff btw, and if anyone fancies showing off their own rendition of the sound used in the Moroder track, please post it along with a description of the synth you used to render it.

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#14

@Beatmode Thanks, and yeah, I did use some drive on the Monologue. I think the Moog Model D does a saturation thing with its filter that sounds nice and probably helps in this case. There’s also the trick on the Model D of running the output back into the input and giving some overdrive and distortion, but I don’t think it was used here. Luckily, a lot of modern synths do have a drive control, and I think a little hair might help here depending on the synth. I also think that noise as a mod source will help get there.

I started with the Flute patch, and with some drive added it was getting close. I still thought it needed a little something so I switched the oscillator to a saw wave and tweaked some more. The patch I ended up with is probably somewhere between the Flute Patch and the Trumpet patch.

The clicks of the Monologue can definitely be annoying, especially on a delicate patch like this, but they are often less noticeable in a mix. Seems like a flaw in the design, but still a very fun synth to jam on.

Anyway, it was a fun challenge to try and match that sound using a relatively inexpensive and somewhat basic synth. I also think it would be cool if some other people here tried to dial it up with different synths and post their results. If I have time, I may do another synth as well

Please do! And post your results here if you are so inclined!

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#16

I would LOVE to see more of this kind of thing on Elektronauts. Sound design challenges!

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#17

Yeah, that would be fun.

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#18

I would much prefer to see more of that than arguing and negative posting sprees.

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#19

In view of the recent replies I’ve edited the original post so as to make this an open request thread to encourage others to ask about sounds they’re wanting to know the source of. That in turn should encourage the challenge of simulating whatever sound is being asked about.

And sure, HoldMyBeer, Kraus, shigginpit, go for it. Can’t get enough of this stuff, I’ll even give it a go myself when I get my MiniFreak!

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#20

@davestasiuk Hey, MiniMoog clones welcome too!
Prove to us why you don’t need to pay £5000 for a real one :grin:

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#21

This might be easy one for Elektronauts: what drum machine do you think is used on this track?

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