Please, help me with this sound

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

Hi everyone,

I was listening to this amazing video

and I really like the richness in there, but I’m particularly curious about a sound. I don’t quite know how to describe it, but it’s like ticks, or very fast claps, played in eventual bursts panning from one side to the other. It can be heard, for example, in 2:40.

I was trying to find out where it was coming from, and I think I see the Digitakt’s last button on the first row (button number 8, I believe) blinking synced with it.

My question is kind of reverse engineering. Is that sound possible to be made on Digitakt? How would you do it? And in Analog Rytm?

I asked the author about it, but I don’t want to bother him insisting on the question. I realized he frequently uses that kind of “eventual sound” along the whole track and in many other tracks in his channel and I really like how all those lost ticks create a kind of environment.

Cheers!

#2

If it’s the sound I’m thinking of it sounds like a rimshot/wood block type of perc sample. Pretty common in sample packs etc. Maybe pitched up and the envelope might have been tweaked too? Shouldn’t be too hard to recreate

#3

@Bunker, here are two samples of it, just to be sure we’re talking about the same thing:


#4

Okay I hear it now. Sounds like it could be a resonant zap type sound with a very short decay maybe?

It’s easy enough to make on pretty much any monosynth. As a starting point turn oscillators down or off. Resonance up, filter cut off down and envelope to filter cut off up. Fast attack, short decay and no sustain or release. You could bring in some noise too. Tweak your levels to suit.

If you’ve got a BPF you’d get closer to the sound you posted. If not you might want to eq some of the bottom end out if you’ve only got a LPF on your synth.

#5

Hmm, it could be it.

What attracts me more about it is that sometimes the chain has more hits, sometimes less, and the panning. I’ve never tried Digitakt and AR personally. How is that done on them?

#6

onde you get the basic sound you can trigger it where you want on the grid. Try nudging the triggers off grid. Likewise the panning would be really easy on either DT or AR by p locking the pan settings on a per step basis.

#7

Easy. Pretty much any sharp transient will do. Distort it, filter sweep, pitch sweep, pan. Use samples, use synths. Its more about the placement of the notes than the actual sound itself.

2 Likes
#8

Exactly.

#9

Simple filter zap patch on the pro one I’ve jus knocked together. Point is you’re basically just using the filter to make the sound. Add noise and cutoff to suit.

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You could sample the zap on the DT or AR and tweak sample setting per step for pitch etc. Or make it with the filter on either instrument and p lock the settings per step. Just to vary it up a bit and add some interest along side the grid shifting

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#10

And is there a way to randomize, or insert probability in the number of triggers? Because I think that’s how he’s doing it.

#11

Yeah using the conditional trig settings on either. It’s one of the Elektron sequencers selling points

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#12

retrig + probability + LFO on Pan OR Ping Pong delay.

sounds like a clap sample to me.

#13

Like others have mentioned, the main appeal is coming from the placement of the hits, not their sound precisely.
The sequencer is gonna be your main fun here. Use Fills and other various Trig Conditions – I guess PRE and NOTPRE are gonna be important here, since you want the whole “motion” to vary, not the individual hits – and retriggers to make it all happen.

2 Likes
#14

I thought it was that too. But probably it can be done like @Bunker said.

#15

Yup, a pitched up (and subsequently shortened) clap sample would work.

To repeat what the others have said it’s all in the placement to get the vibe you’re looking for. If you’ve not used an Elektron sequencer look up some vids on how they implement conditional triggering, off grid trigs and retriggering. And how you programme the settings for the above on a per step basis👍

1 Like