Trying to synthesise this plucked/percussive string sound

pselodux · 2015-05-28T10:13:35.000Z

So, I listened to this nice song today and the sound that comes in at 0:47 in this song really caught my ear:

I couldn’t quite figure out what they were using to make that sound (whether it be an acoustic instrument, or a sample, or a synth of some kind), so I tried to reproduce it on the monomachine. I think I’m almost there:

http://pselodux.com/audio/pluck.mp3

Settings as follows:

TRACK 1
DPRO > DENS
PCH2 -12
PCH3 OFF
PCH4 OFF
WAVE FEME-D61
CHRL 32
CHRW 0
TUNE 0

ATK 0
HOLD 0
DEC 60
REL 60
DIST 0
VOL 64
PAN 0
PORT 0

BASE 0
WDTH 42
HPQ 0
LPQ 0
ATK 0
DEC 22
BOFS 0
WOFS 16

TRACK 2
FM+ > DYN

1FRQ 1.04
1FEN 17
1VOL 33
1VEN 0
2FRQ 1.56
2ENV 121
2FB 0
TUNE 0

ATK 0
HOLD 0
DEC 40
REL 40
DIST 0
VOL 55
PAN 0
PORT 0

BASE 7
WDTH 45
HPQ 0
LPQ 0
ATK 0
DEC 0
BOFS 0
WOFS 0

a bit of reverb, but not absolutely necessary.

So, it’s nice, but probably not 100%. Basically I started this thread for some constructive criticism, I’d love to figure out how to get it closer to the actual sound… or if anyone could identify what they used to get that sound in the first place, that’d be great!

Hansh · 2015-05-28T11:07:40.000Z

Have you tried a FM Machine ? These are normally my way to go for plucked sounds (on any synth …)

pselodux · 2015-05-28T11:41:04.000Z

yup, I used the FM+ > DYN machine in the above example, just for the ‘thud’

rex_mundii · 2015-05-28T12:18:00.000Z

Going by a live video it looks like the guitarist is playing that style, but this time through a pedal (assuming ive even got the right song?). But if its actually a synth then my guess would be the Kurzweil (PC361 ??) the keyboard player has in his setup.

https://youtu.be/amzWjfwB1Rc around the 1:05 mark

Nice work on getting a similar sound by the way… My favourite so far for plucked sounds would have to be Logic’s sculpture synth…

milescosmo · 2015-06-05T01:17:28.000Z

Sounds like a Gamelan sample or something. I’ll use input your patch when I get home and have a play