Tips & Techniques

This is where you can find our archive of synthesizer programming tips, tricks, and techniques sent to us over the years by users from around the world!

Title: Fatten up Korg MS10
User: rich_was
The Tip: A nice trick to fatten up your little Korg MS10 Beast: Patch Phone out to ext. Signal in and mix Sound using Ext. Signal level knob -> produces nice distortion sounds for basses and leads, especially with pwm-Mod by EG ! Whooooooeee... - Thursday, January 22, 2004



Title: Cheapo Theremin
User: T_Leibfritz
The Tip: This may seem like a no-brainer to some, but if you want theremin sounds and you don't own one simply turn up the portamento on your synth and play with the gain on your synth/mixer. - Wednesday, September 17, 2003



Title: u can fly with this PADS ;-) with jp8000
User: ariki1
The Tip: LFO 1 WAVEFORM:TRIANGLE,RATE:23/OSC COMMON RING:ON OSC BALANCE:-39 X-MOD:57/OSC 1 SUPER SAW CTRL1:103 CTRL2:82/OSC 2 WAVEFORM:SQUARE WAVE SYNC:ON RANGE:0 PWM:39 PULSE WIDTH:127/FILTER LPF -24DB CUTOFF:56 RESO:25 LFO:+25 FLT ENV:+57 A:123 D:62 S:82 R:127/AMP A:66 D:127 S:127 R:73 LFO1 DEPTH:+42 CHORUS:FREEZE PHASE 2 LEVEL:72 and now play full chord with two hand - Tuesday, August 19, 2003



Title: ms-20 frequency-voltage MIDI trick
User: ctrlshft
The Tip: anybody with an ms-20 and no cv-MIDI converter can benefit from this neat little trick. not entirely special, but it'll tide you over, until you can afford a Kenton. :d this trick requires the use of a MIDI sending synth (i used a juno-106, but pretty much anything that makes a tone and has MIDI works.) along with the ms-20, and the directions are as follows: 1)plug the outputs of the MIDI synth into the ESP of the ms-20. 2)patch the F-V CV OUT to the VCO 1+2 CV IN. 3)patch the TRIG OUT (in esp section!) to the TRIG IN. 4)play a note on the MIDI synth and get the pitch to sync with ms-20 using the CV ADJUST knob. 5)adjust THRESHOLD LEVEL knob until the duration of the note is equal on both synths. you should now be ready to sequence MIDI, and have playback with the ms-20! yeah, its ghetto, but it works! - Saturday, July 12, 2003



Title: DX200
User: blur1
The Tip: To give weak sounds more presence on a DX 200 without the distortion from the amp effects, select one of the 3 amps, turn the effect all the way down to zero and then turn up the effect volume(not master volume)to a value of somewhere between 30 and 50. This makes the sound stronger but as long as you don't turn the effect volume up too high you won't notice any distortion that the amp usually adds. -Dano - Friday, April 18, 2003



Title: controlling an ms20 with volt/octave midi-cv converter
User: aceofclubs
The Tip: When I picked up a cheap Midi-CV converter and discovered that it ran volts per octave rather than Hertz per octave which is what a Korg MS20 uses, I spent 2 weeks making pretty hellish music. Which was OK, but then I discovered this handy trick in a corner of the web, which enables you to use a V/Oct converter to track the keyboard correctly. It takes a few minutes perseverance, but works perfectly! so here it is (thanks to the guy that posted it, Ive lost his name): 1. Plug the performance wheel into the keyboard CV input (middle, right) to disconnect the keyboard. 2. Plug the V/octave CV from your MIDI/CV converter or another synth into the Total jack (top left). 3. Plug S-trigger from your MIDI/CV or synth into the MS20 trigger input. 4. Play a note on your MIDI keyboard or the controlling synth, and adjust the MS20 performance wheel until you get a sensible pitch. 5. Adjust the VCO mod levels until playing an octave on your MIDI or other synth keyboard gives an octave out of the MS20. Then adjust the MS20 performance wheel to coarse tune the MS20 and use the tuning pot to fine tune it. 6. The filter mod level pots adjust filter tracking in the same way. 7. Enjoy. - Monday, March 31, 2003



Title: fatten up old analogue synths
User: 
The Tip: Ever tried running an old sh-101 or sh-2 through a LINE 6 POD? Using the setting that simulates Mesa rectifier amplifiers blows goddamn doors. I'm sure it would work aswell for any old thin sounding synthesizer. - Monday, March 03, 2003



Title: Crappy DX27
User: joyelectricrules
The Tip: if you unfortunetly own a yamaha dx27(the most shittyest synth ever, once you buy it youll realize youll have more fun brakeing it then playing it) you can go to patch > and set the port time to 20 or 30 and hit the lowest key, hold it and tapp the highest key to get an allmost turntable scratchin effect. - Thursday, December 19, 2002



Title: MS2000(R) Hardcore sound
User: mbelmans
The Tip: Only OSC2 may be on, just turn the OSC1 level to 0. Put SYNC on, and modulate osc2 pitch with S/H-LFO on very fast speed (=almost noise). Now put on the Unison, and give it a big detune (+25). You will have a screaming typical hardcore sound. Now you can start playing with filters etc - Saturday, November 02, 2002



Title: xp60 analogfealing with automatic modulation 
User: richardon
The Tip: most people forget that pure sound is only 50% of analog synthesizer. The rest is controlling like pitch bend filter modulation etc. To make sounds lively its a trick to automize this functions and switch between differt ones with key velocity range. Eg playing soft producing pitch bend down implemented with pich eg. Middle velo producing vibrato. Hard playing producing a filter modulation. For each velocity just switch to another set of VCOs. To improve this. Use key splits ( up to 10 splitpoints ) each region producing velo depending different controller effects. Another advantage: you dont need left hand for modulation work. I programmed a moog sound on my xp60 in multmode using this tecnique with 2 * 30 = 60 VCO s ! sounds great and every key is a surprise. ciao richy - Thursday, June 20, 2002



Title: NoVaTiOn A-sTaTiOn
User: elsiedestoop
The Tip: I would just say: WOW. Although...I don't like the design that much. But so what? This machine is what I have been dreaming of! For people who still want to read a lot of information about the A-station...I have a good link (this is where I found my information: http://www.synthplanet.com/product.lasso?pr=019525 (i know it's an online store, but still you can just read the information about this instrument) - Friday, May 03, 2002



Title: velocity controlled VCF on Ensoniq TS-10
User: rotev_atomic
The Tip: choose the basic wave (saw-wave2), it sounds better on two osc's, one with +1 octave. select the VCF effect (07). FC:00, BW:32, ENV AMT:03, LEVEL:99, KBD AMT:15. attack:50, decay:300(on VCF page). in MOD page choose mod source VELOCITY, destination VCF ENV AMT. min:00, max:15. - Friday, April 19, 2002



Title: No brilliant trick, more a little hint (Roland XPs)
User: 
The Tip: This may not be a great hint, but helpful to newbies nonetheless. On XP synths, you might have wondered, as I did, why your "analog" patches, though made with basic waveforms (sine, saw...) and filters (LP), didn't really feel analog but dijital. That's because Roland have hidden an "Analog Feel" option in the Common menu of patches. There you can finally increase a value from 0 to 127, making that patch sound more "unstable/ realistic/ phat". (It's not a secret, but it sucks if you don't know and wonder). - Tuesday, April 16, 2002



Title: Using a Korg EA1 as an improved ARP Sequencer
User: louis.schmidtlin
The Tip: Much better than an ARP SEQUENCER, try this for instance with an ARP 2600, using a CV-gate converter Kenton Pro2000 : plug midi out from the EA1 into Kenton midi in, set EA1 part 1 channel to "1", set one of the kenton aux outputs to "channel1", controller = "data entry" and plug the Kenton aux output to any SYNTH inputs : the result is that real time tweaking of ANY of the EA1 knobs DOES control the Kenton AUX output , and therefore anything on your Vintage gear. This CAN BE REAL-TIME RECORDED in a pattern of your EA1. I did this over my ARP 2600 resulting in a 2-channel 4x16 pattern with VCF, VC01 frequency and VC02 volume modulations (using the ring mod of the 2600 for volume mods)....... - Wednesday, March 06, 2002



Title: to get ferry corsten main melody lead on JP8000!!!!
User: ariki1
The Tip: RING:ON OSC BALANCE: -14 OSC1: WAVEFROM:SUPER SAW .CTRL 1:87 CTRL2:127 OSC2: WAVEFROM:SQUARE WAVE FINE/WIDE:-28 PULSE WIDTH:4 PWM:71 SYNC:ON FILTER: LPF CUTOFF:69 RESO:25 ENV DEPTH:+35 ENV: A:0 D:34 S:18 R:127 AMP ENV: A:2 D:65 S:0 R:57 EFX: CHORUS LEV:86 BASS:+14 TREBLE:+37 LITTLE DELAY ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Saturday, February 16, 2002



Title: Korg Delta Tweek!
User: graham
The Tip: While it *is* true that the unmodified synth section of this machine is both lame and tame, a small adjustment with a precision screwdriver turns the filter on this thing into a speaker-killer! Just underneath the horizontal filter cutoff slider to both the left and right are a couple of those little rubber 'stop' thingies on the panel. Remove them. Use a small precision screwdriver to adjust the circuit-board mounted trimpots to bring the resonance control into the self-oscillating range and then hear what it can do!. Originally, the filter was designed such that resonance at 10 was *just* pre-oscillation. This small adjustment turns it into a completely different machine. - Saturday, December 08, 2001



Title: clasic teschno sounds
User: ericke
The Tip: ok this is a verry basic trick you need an analoque synt with two osc's like the mks-30 so you can detune the sound make a sample of that sound (it has to be a bass or organ/synt. sound) but verry detuned.you can make also two of the same samples and detune those of eichother Now you need a sampler like the esi 4000 with good highpass filters so you can give the sound 12% resonance and lower the cut of to 8500 now you can play with the cut of in your sequencer this wil give nice floating tecno sounds. you need to finish the sound with delay or reverb (early refl.+hall). hope you enjoy this trick and sorry for my broken English!!!! Groetjes van Ewout uit nederland (P.S try out the toms of rebith with dist. shape to 5 to 12 dist.amouind off and mayebe some pcf and compr. nice tekno woodies) - Tuesday, November 13, 2001



Title: Nice dream sounds with the MC-505
User: RaVeN2020
The Tip: You can use the LFO to get very nice ambient sounds. For example: take one little bit agressibe tone as tone1. Set LFO1 (sin) filter depth to -40 AMP -30 and the speed to 1/1 note then set LFO2 (sin) pan depth to +60 and speed to a 1/4 note. then set pith to -5. For the second tone take for example a Bell. Set the LFO1 (pulse)Amp depth to +63 and speed to 1/1 note. Now u can add a slicer to get a kickin Psy-Trance sound. This is only an example. Just play with the LFO speed add more tones. U will get some realy cool morphing sounds. P.S. sorry for my bad english ;) - Sunday, July 22, 2001



Title: Audio Osc as LFO on Novation Nova
User: MarieShrewsbury
The Tip: This maybe isn't as obvious as it sounds. If you lower the freq. range of an oscillator and turn the keyboard tracking way down (top modulation knob with osc and pitch selected), you can run the audio oscillator as an LFO. Ring modulating with a signal below about 25hz is more or less the same as amplitude modulation, so now you have an LFO which can give you vibrato which: 1) Can vary in speed with the pitch of the note. 2) Can vary in speed by using an actual LFO to modulate that audio oscs pitch. 3) Can do waveforms that the standard LFOs can't eg varying pulse widths, or pulse width modulation. 4) Can vary between amplitude modulation and FM if unsubtley modulated by an LFO. 5) Combinations of the above. - Thursday, April 12, 2001



Title: Parallel Filters on Novation Nova
User: MarieShrewsbury
The Tip: Route the output from one of your voices to one of the mono outputs instead of to your amp, then connect that output to one of the external inputs, and route that into one of the oscillator 'special' options on another voice. By doing this you have all the filtering capabilities of the nova twice, double low pass filter can give some very dark sounds, double high pass is good for extreme electronic. Also, this is handy for rich FM mod sounds as you can still have 3 oscs in the source voice. I would suggest that the voice that recieves the external in be used monophonic, otherwise it plays hell with the polyphony and dynamic range. This still works well with chords, where the degree of filtering is relative to the notes position in the chord. - Thursday, April 12, 2001



Title: mc303 (hardcore/newstyle)
User: eastside.terror
The Tip: choose sound 07 from the first soundbank of your mc303,throw your chorus/reverb wide open,then choose flanger CO4 and open your knob for the flanger at nine ' o clock.then open at the LFO knob the rate and modulation both wide open.. then turn the modulation a bit back then u must turn the cutt-off knob back and u get the most used newstyle sounds like masochist does or other newstylw artists....typical masters of hardcore style thnk u very much and enjoy!!! - Tuesday, March 20, 2001



Title: TS 404-software version
User: Jondis4u
The Tip: The software ts 404 only lets you run 4 404's at once, yet you can open up 4 of the programs and run up to 16 ts 404's at one time!!! - Monday, March 12, 2001



Title: An1x phat saw sound (Trance/Hardcore).
User: drmwaves
The Tip: Use the Unison layer mode and set both oscillator pitches to zero. Use the sawwave on both osc's, and add some finetune and some pmod depth. Use some delay with at least 120 ms on r-l channels and a amount of 40-50. Then add some ring-modulation and some feedback. Finally set PEG depth to 63 and the other PEG knob to 10-20 to get some hardcore lead effects. Enjoy!! http://sunlead.cjb.net - Sunday, February 11, 2001



Title: Roland Juno-106 Unison Mode?
User: garranimal
The Tip: For fat-ass sounds push both poly buttons at the same time so that they both lite-up. On the downside, rapid-fire triggering makes it crap out some of the notes. Just sample that fat, juicy sound for unlimited use. - Monday, February 05, 2001



Title: Artificial choir(only works on KORG POLYSIX)
User: justin_avu
The Tip: Set attack knob to 3, set decay and sustain knobs to max. Set release to halfway. Set cutoff to 3/4 max. set resonance to min. Set EG intensity to Halfway and set KBD track to max. Octave should be set in the middle. go 1 octave down. Waveform should be set to PW. set pw/pwm know to minimum level. Don't do anything with the MG section. - Friday, January 26, 2001



Title: the beautys of the octave pedal
User: yourmys0n
The Tip: its amazing how a simple octave pedal can fatten ANY sound. I use this on my casio keyboard (toys r us quality keyboard). It does a pretty good job of makeing the piano sound actually sound...well...real. - Sunday, November 19, 2000



Title: Secrets in Roland D-10
User: matti.aronen
The Tip: Hold "Exit" and "Edit" buttons on while turning on your synth. After that you can press any buttons from "Exit" to "Enter" and open secret menus. Most of the menus are just for testing of a funktions like pitch/bender, modulator, and lights. These menus must be made for the fixers of synthesizers. - Saturday, November 11, 2000



Title: Viirus makes "Cool sound dirt cheap"
User: The_Viirus
The Tip: If anyone has gotten suckered into buying a Casio-651 or an Optimus MD-1200 as a entrylevel synth (Which are the exact same fuckin things) you know they have built in rhythms and halfway shit sound. (but when i get my FR_777 its toast) Jack up a distortion pedal and a delay, in that order and play some really crap synth sounds through it and it has a nice atmospheric feel to it. (Cheap industruial bass, and squeals) The rhythms will sound kinda compressed, and if tats what u want, tats what u get. And they do have midi jacks so u ca just use it as a midi controller keyboard, but watch the 16 voice polyphony, that will kill. (Im gonna trash it when i get my FR-777) Oh yeah, if u wanna use this in a live performance, just put the pedals on the extremely wide empty space and play with the knobs on te pedals for those tweakaholics. And disconnect the built in speakers, the board will shut off if u play too loud, and besides it will give u room for a variety of other things, like a cup holder, or a place to put the pedals. Virus.8m.comPS. the electronics can be removed easily from the casing to provide you with a perfect keyboard/midi controller to paint. - Thursday, October 12, 2000



Title: Unlatch your Pitch to Sound More Natural 
User: n.smutz
The Tip: We're playing synths right? Well, to make a good sounding patch, we can take a few hints from the natural world. Give this a shot. Most accoustic instruments make some change in pitch, at least during the attack (initial) phase of the note. The attack of a sound tends to influence the way you hear the rest of the sound. Simply add a pitch attack to an existing sound. Many synths have an envelope generator that can modulate pitch. Take a plucked string sound. Only change the pitch a small amount. Raise the pitch instantly on the the attack and let the pitch fall to normal. I wouldn't let it take to long though. Think of a guitar. Now, listen to your sound without this pitch attack. After I did this the first time, the unmodified patch seemed "latched on" to the pitch. Go back and forth. See what I mean. See whether your ear seem to expect some change in pitch as your sound snaps into existence and settles down. Other types of accoustic instruments act differently. Organs come up to pitch as the air pressure builds. I understand that brass instruments waver on the attack. You may have a pitch envelope generator and not know it. The Roland Juno Alphas have only one envelope generator but it can modulate pitch along with the amplifier and filter. Just set DCO ENV to 1 or 2 and listen. - Saturday, August 12, 2000



Title: memorymoog television receptor
User: southtrunk
The Tip: synth/television convergence! plugging coaxial antenna cable into memorymoog ac input makes for best tv reception without buying antenna! - Sunday, July 23, 2000



Title: CS6X leads
User: mikesheiman
The Tip: I have found that a good way to get dead smooth sounds from my CS6X is to set the delay a bit below mid-level, set the attack to a bit below or above mid level (varies for different instruments), reverb about a quarter way up, and chorus a bit below a quarter way up. The add about 3/4 on the cut-off effect knob, use the sound enchancer effect, and add the celeste 3 setting effect. Massive leads all around. Add a few of these "super smooth" samples together under the performance setting (multi-timberal mode) and you have a perfect super-textural soundscape of synths. Well, that takes care of the lead part, but.... Does anyone know how groups like ATB get their breakbeats to sound so goddamn smooth (how to make the smooth breakbeat instruments, quantize the beats, where to make the notes between 16th notes....)? I'm sure this would help me and a lot of other people get their grooves going/flying (without using freeware breaks). - Tuesday, July 11, 2000



Title: MaZe
User: space
The Tip: To get a trancy lead run a saw and a square through a ring mod, phazer, amp sim, delay and a small reverb(in that order). ASTRAL PROJECTION all arround :-) - Monday, June 19, 2000



Title: Polyphonic 777 (sort of)
User: 909
The Tip: To get a 2 note per step polyphony out of your Future-Retro 777, hook up another synth that has CV/Gate outputs (i.e. MC-202, TB-303), and switch just one of the 777's OSCs to "external". Now program your 777 and the other synth with good basslines. That's the key, not crappy ones. :) now, one OSC will follow the internal sequencer, and the other will follow the external. This will work with any other monophonic synth that has multiple OSCs that can be switched independently to the CV/Gate ins. (I don't know of any others, but there may be some) If there aren't any, buy a 777. Even if there are, buy a 777. (note: No I don't work for Future-Retro.) Also, check out my 909 Reasource Page at: www.slot1.net/909Peace s l o t 1 - Friday, June 09, 2000



Title: Make your JV/XP's ring modulator sound like HELL
User: cylon_0_0
The Tip: NOT TOO LOUD AT FIRST!! could be dangerous for your ears and speakers. In patch mode : start with a simple sound like an organ, use element 1 & 2 (wave INT-A, 046 for example in both elements), structure 9. Set the filter type of element 2 to OFF. Filter type of el. 1 to LPF (of course...), Cutoff = 0, Res = 127. TVF Envelope of el. 1: 43 70 127 122 - 107 127 26. TVA Envelope of el. 1: 32 40 127 88 - 127 127 127 Tweak a little your enveloppes and pitches Now this shouls sound like a REAL ring modulator Have fun and be careful with Resonance parameter!!! - Saturday, May 27, 2000



Title: bass and drums for the An1x
User: soundmafia
The Tip: ok an1x users,Initialize the standard bass over an old patch, play with the VCOs until you like the tone,then use your PEG/LFO and just try tweaking ur LFO 1 mod and the delay then slowly start tweaking the your port time.Make sure your VCOS are set to LFO1 and LFO2. slowly and with a little help from your VCF u should start getting an arpeggeated cracking tweak with it until it smooths down to a good beat. Use the noise of ur VCF but dont kill the bass tones.You should be able to come up with some cool industrial patterns.Try adjusting ur swing and ur delay for some really cool shit. I hope this was useful. - Thursday, May 25, 2000



Title: best bass in world
User: kingof909
The Tip: to get that octave bass noise like the one on I feel love by Donna Summer, don't play the rapid octave - modulate the filter (not the oscilator) of your bass noise with a pulse LFO synced to 16th notes then play away, adjsut the cut-of and the res and the amount of lfo modulation and you'll get that sound. I used a bass station rack and managed to get a pretty damn good immpession of that original bass sound. - Thursday, May 18, 2000



Title: 303 Sim
User: undeclared
The Tip: On the MS2000, if you use B09, "Line Bass" and turn up the cutoff, you get a very good '303-style bass sound. - Wednesday, April 19, 2000



Title: approximating pulse modulation with FM and AM modulation
User: bill
The Tip: Many classic synths had an effect called pulse width modulation. A pulse wave was similar to a square wave except that the proportion above zero amplitude could vary. This proportion was refered to as the pulse width and was generally described as a percentage. A 50% pulse wave was identical to a square wave. Pulse width modulation meant modulating the value of that percentage (usually via an LFO). 

This effect can be duplicated using FM and AM techniques. Take a square wave and frequency modulate it using a sine wave of the same frequency (in DX7 terms use a 1:1 ratio). This will have the effect of stretching part of the square wave and compressing the remainder. Depending on the phases of the square wave and sine wave, the stretched part will either be the part above zero amplitude or the part below. The amount of stretching depends on the amplitude of the sine wave. If the sine wave's amplitude is zero then the square wave will not be stretched at all, resulting in a 50% pulse wave. If the amplitude of the sine wave increases then the stretching will increase, resulting in a change in the percentage. In other words the amplitude of the sine wave controls the pulse width of the wave. Now to achieve that classic pulse width modulation effect use an LFO to modulate the amplitude of the sine wave. 

One of the nice things about this approach is that you can use an envelope generator or any other modulation source to control the pulse width instead of an LFO. Alternately you can substitute some other wave for the square wave. Imagine how sawtooth width modulation or sine width modulation would sound. - Tuesday, April 18, 2000



Title: MS2000 Tips
User: screamlab
The Tip: Using the 'virtual patch' function of the MS, modulate LFO 2's speed with its output (ie. LFO2->LFO2 Frequency). This works as pulse width modulation for the LFO - the greater the mod the shorter the output waveform. You'll have to play with the LFO2 frequency as well, and if you also modulate LFO2 with LFO1, the possibilities increase even more. Also, try using the sequencer as a 16 point envelope using step times and levels... you can get some incredible burbles and bloops! - Thursday, April 06, 2000



Title: synths from a guitarists POV
User: atom81
The Tip: Check it out! just hook your wah wah pedal up inbetween your synth and your amp and you've got a foot controled cut off filter! pretty useful when your playing the lead and don't have an extra hand to play with the knobs, or want to play around with other knobs than the cut off/resonance.. also if you've got multiple amps, try plugging your synth into all different kinds.. you'll get alot crunchier distortion if you use a guitar amp, particularly a PEAVY.. or if you want warmer softer stuff use a marshall bass amp.. also routing the keyboards signal through a stereo delay ping pong effect with some sound with a mild attack and long decay sounds really surreal! - Wednesday, February 23, 2000



Title: Get it kickin' with your tb303
User: Gordon_Stryph
The Tip: If you just got th TB you've dreamt of for long and don't seem to be able to get anything decent out of it then try this. Program a very simple bassline with just the same note all over. Enter the same timing for all notes, just one eighth per note. Now randomly add accent and slide and suddenly you'll have yourself a pretty funky pattern. Now tweak it some suitable tempo and if you're agile, add a breakbeat with some other synced device. If you want to change it then you could randomly change the pitches within the pattern but the easiest way must be to make a track and transpose the pattern a little here and there, maybe only one semitone up will do it for ya. Then start twiddling those knobs! - Monday, February 14, 2000



Title: Korg Prophecy patch creation
User: ixqy
The Tip: For a quick new sound, call up any patch and then change the OSC set. It might need some tweaking after this, but it can give you some great starting points for totally new sounds. Andrew Sanchez - Friday, February 11, 2000



Title: Smooth Sweeps for the AN1x
User: james
The Tip: Rejoice AN1x owners! No longer do we have to suffer from grainy cutoff sweeps! Set the cutoff frequency to 0 and the FEG depth to 127. Then use (or assign) the FEG sustain knob to raise and lower the cutoff frequency as needed. NOTE: The FEG decay time is crucial. Valuse of 40-70 will yield the most usable results. Hence a value of zero will produce no grain reduction effects, and a value of 127 will seem unresponsive when you twist the sustain knob. Doesn't life seem so much better now?



Title: Beefing Up Your Lame Casio
User: madhatmat
The Tip: If you have one of those digital Casios with speakers laying around someplace then pull it out. One way to get a better sound is to listen to the square/saw waves with headphones... You'll notice that while they aren't great, they aren't that bad either. You can easily fatten up the sound of these waves by running it through either a guitar pedal (I like a Boss PH-1r phaser and DOD Supra Distortion) or run it through and old analog reverb box like the Realistic Stereo Reverb System ($5 at a pawn shop). Hope this helps those of us (like me) with cheap synths.



Title: More use with ROM/PCM-Cardsets
User: synrise
The Tip: It works with my Roland JD-800 and it might be work with every other synth with a ROM-Program-and PCM-Waveform-Cardslot. If you have a PCM-Cardset, try to use ROM-Card A with PCM-Card B and vice versa. Maybe some interesting sound are possible. The reason is easy: the program is searching for the PCM-Card-Waveform and finds it on another one and plays that instead of the right one. Maybe you can try a Guitar-PCM-Card with a Strings-ROM-Card. The String-Sounds are looking for a Pizzicato-String-Sample and found a distorted Guitar-Sample and played it instead of the right Sample. So you have a distorted Guitar programmed like a Pizzicato-Strings. Try it!



Title: Fatty Phat Pads
User: william_enroh
The Tip: To make analog pads on digital gear (such as JV1080s or other modern digital synths), make a patch with 2 to 4 voices. Detune each one +4 or -4 cents away from each other. Also, make each of their respective LFOs either slightly modify pitch or filter, and make each one slightly different. The result will be the naturally detuned and shifting sound that is on such synths as Jupiter 8s and others. Add an old chorus effect or phaser for a more retro, phat sound.



Title: Alternative TB-303 distortion
User: punin
The Tip: Many people have tried hooking up a guitar distortion pedal to their 303. But the distortion pedal doesn't really give you the crunchiest sound you can get. For that you'll need an overdrive pedal. I've experimented with a few, and the one that I like most is called the "Harmonic Tube Overdrive" by DOD. So grab your 303 and go try it out at your local guitar strore!



Title: Saving User Patterns On An MC-505 w/o Erase
User: necrobee
The Tip: Hold down the undo/redo button while saving a temp pattern to find out what patterns are empty and which have stuff on them in the user patterns of the Roland MC-505 groovebox.



Title: The Oldest 303 Tricks #3
User: boombox
The Tip: This is a trick to get some nice distortion on your 303-lines: If you do not have a distortion-pedal (or find the one you *do* have to be too noisy), just crank up the signal on your mixer to distort the signal. Be sure to do this PRE and not POST. A small warning: most mixers are built to handle this, but if you have a crappy one, your input might blow if you do this ALOT - so, now you're warned.



Title: The First Ammendment to MONOfying JUNO60
User: phoenixgood
The Tip: Do everything just as instructed in the other post, plus...you should insert an open ended cable (not plugged at the other end) into the patch shift connection on the back of your Juno-60. I use a small 1/4 in. extension used to convert rca to 1/4 in. and it works fine. Also, the up position, as mentioned on the other post, is for mono stacking of all osc. while the other positions, center, down, also have different cool effects on the polyphonic performance. Try it out and have fun!



Title: Programmable Envelope LFO`s on the DX7
User: wavefreak
The Tip: Easy trick, just use the modulation operators to produce envelope controlled LFO`s. Never seen other synths making it. Just remember not the carrier`s only the modulaters apply for this trick and only on Low Frequencies. DX7 Rulez..:)



Title: PHatt Juno-60 MONOSTYLE
User: phoenixgood
The Tip: Turn on power switch while simultaneously holding down on the key transpose button of your Juno-60. Then, switch the arpegg. to the up position. You now stacked your DCO's and got six times PHatter. Gzzshhzzg!



Title: classic Minimoog
User: moogbros
The Tip: An old trick; take the LOW output of the Minimoog and feed it back to the EXTernal input. Bring it up SLIGHTLY on the front mixer until the overload light kicks in a little bit (it can blow up the light if it's run too hot). Makes fatter sounds, especially those with resonance added. Next: try pedals and use this In/out idea as an effects loop - run octave boxes, harmonizers, even delays and distortion pedals. Great sounds.... Brian Kehew



Title: The Oldest 303 Tricks #1
User: hypno
The Tip: Get a guitar distortion pedal now, and plug the output of your TB-303 (or any other bass synth) into the distortion pedal. You now have an instant hardcore Acid sound used by Hardfloor, Crystal Method, Überzone, Prodigy, Josh Wink and more!



Title: The Oldest 303 Tricks #2
User: hypno
The Tip: Make use of the CV/GATE outputs on your TB-303. Hook them up to the CV/GATE ins of any other compatible synthesizers. Imagine tweaking a 10 voice lead sound spinning along a 303 bassline pattern... By using the 303 to play your polyphonic synths you can get really cool new sounds for acid, trance or ambient music!

Title: Chop! Chop!
User: martin.holly
The Tip: This one is a pretty basic sampling trick for fade in's. Using the SP303 as an example, you get a vocal sample and hit MARK twice really quickly so its like a faster CD skip effect. then you would use the filter cutoff and resonance (along with volume), to create a lowend resonant sound sweeping up to a clear precise chop, then just press MARK and the sample should play from the beginning. works well when you have to change synth presets, or changing MIDI patterns. - superfiend - Wednesday, February 04, 2004



Title: Sampling reverbing loops
User: Dr_EM2003
The Tip: O.K. This may not work on some samplers, but it will on others. If you are trying to sample a loop that has a lot of reverb/echo on it, you find that when you sample it, the looping is obvious because the reverb suddenly stops at the end. To avoid this, play the sample once round, then, start the sampler. Some samplers have a function to do this, else, you can use a MIDI signal to begin the sampling at the correct time, or have a fast finger on the sample button. Good luck! - Wednesday, August 06, 2003



Title: Casio Sk -1 glitch
User: seguin198
The Tip: The casio sk1's sampling function has a great fault in it somewhere - When using the portamento pressing the loop button at the right time will extend the portamento slide to a long pulled downtuned version of your sample, eventually sliding up to the highest note. - Friday, April 25, 2003



Title: Sampling TV
User: grosander
The Tip: So you wanna sample something on TV but you have a television without the proper audio outputs to do it? Simple. Run it through your VCR and use the VCR outputs. Small but helpful. - Wednesday, January 30, 2002



Title: putting effects on dry breakbeats
User: waxhead2000
The Tip: if you're a beginner and you just got sound forge or any other audio editing program, i'm sure that you threw on some flange or some wah on your beats right away and it still doesn't sound as tight as you want it to, right? TRY THIS: flip your sample breakbeat whatever in reverse and add all the effects you like, run it through a filter of your choice and flip it over again and ,voila! i just recently learned this and me, being an acid pro 3.0(cause reason came out long after this and i am broke)user, found it very interesting when i did that to my samples. not all my samples though!!!!!!hope that helps a little. MY 2cents KONSTRUKTIKONv1.5 - Friday, January 11, 2002



Title: Semi-Realistic Breaks
User: hedpeace
The Tip: This can only be done if your sampler is able to modulate the start point of a sample. If so, set the VELOCITY to control the SAMPLE START by a negative amount (so that lower velocities will have the drum sample starting later in the sample... double check the negative mod. amount I could be wrong). This is a good way of simulating the drum not being hit as hard as when it was first recorded; which can add more depth to programmed breaks. After this you might want to set the Velocity->Amp amount to a lower level. Good luck. - Monday, October 08, 2001



Title: Sampler Tricks
User: KAREN.J18
The Tip: GET A 12BIT SAMPLER!!!!! Get yourself an expanded Akai S950 to add to your setup as well as your normal 16bit sampler as the difference between the two are miles apart. 12bit samplers have that crunchy oldskool sound perfect for hiphop/dance drumsounds and loops that better samplers cant do even ifr you lower the frequency. I have an Akai S2000 and an S950 and the two together are essensial. I couldnt live without the two of them!!! - Saturday, June 23, 2001



Title: godspawn
User: godspawn
The Tip: a friend of mine had an ASR-10 keyboard by Ensoniq. Well, i discovered that if you set a loop range only one sample long, (actually zero samples long) then it woud in fact play random snippets of the sample RAM. it would mostly be static, but some of it would be odd pieces of previously loaded samples. It made for a great percussive shock noise. It was probably due to a digital clocking error, but I have had similar things happen when using SoundEdit 1.0 on the Macintosh. That program came with the first macintosh sampler, the MacRecorder. I still use that program even though it's I guess almost 20 years old or something. It works on most macs still, but you cant use the record function, just the great 8 bit synthesis and manipulation and stuff. Still, the sound quality of the manipulations is fabulous, and makes great source material for other samplers with higher resolutions than 8 bits at 22kHz. There's even FM synthesis. - Saturday, April 21, 2001



Title: no effects board on your sampler? Do this:
User: freezerman
The Tip: If your sampler comes cheap with NO effects board, there's still something you can do: 1 - DELAY: the easy one, copy your track to another channel on your sequencer, modify the velocity of al notes (up or down) - transpose the whole track if you want a pitched delay - shift all the notes 40-60-120-160 (delay wanted) or whatever... clocks forward - play both tracks on the same patch of your sampler: Voila you have MIDI DELAY. 2 - PHASER - make a copy of the original sample, and pitch it a fraction of a semitone up or down. play both samples together. Flanger comes to you. You can vary the sound by reitching the copy of the original sample. 3 - PHASER (an approximation of) - this is trickier because the results can be extremeely disappointing sometimes. It works better with lo-fi samplers. ou need making three copies of the original sample. ONe you keep intact. The second you reverse and pitch up two or three octaves (it's good to time-stretch it as well to retain the original sample length). The third you keep the same but shift it a bit so it starts playing a few samples later than te first and second. PLay all of them together. Depending on the loop points you set, the phaser sounds good or horrible. Sometimes turns into a wha-wha sound... could be nice too. You can spice up any sample that sounds dull by duplicating it and resampling it to lo-fi (that eliminates the high frequencies) and adding it up to the original. This will thicken the low frequencies and often add a vibration to the whole. I do that a lot with viola and orchetra sound to create a metallic feel to it. - Thursday, January 11, 2001



Title: weird sound on sampler keyboard
User: d1g1tal_murder
The Tip: this is probably very stupid and has been done by everyone, but here goes... on a YAMAHA DJX (unfortunately the peice of junk is the most i sorta have-- and this should work with any other sampler with a controller i imagine), sample ANYTHING at full level in the sampling bank284 (preferrably to the very lowest/leftest key), go to function to edit, set LOOP to YES, then just go the the end point starting with 1/-16 or whatever and down to finer adjustment, until it it such a short loop it is its own gritty saw-sounding 'oscillation/waveform'. or, set the end point AS SHORT AS YOU CAN to the very left- right down to the most magnified display and you get a harsh, annoying-sounding squeal or hum that is tinny with an extremely high-pitch (this is all obvious with the process that has been done). then, go up to a very high octave on the keyboard and use the PITCH wheel or ribbon controller on trntbl(pitch) while holding down one (or maybe more i guess) of the high whiny notes for some VERY WIERD/spacey and cool choppy wave-shifting and modulation-like sound effects. just mess around. there you go, just amplify up to a good level, EQ, some effect, and then maybe sample some noise effects of it. also, if anyone has ANY old analog synths or other gear they are selling, contact me. - Sunday, November 05, 2000



Title: Sampler Inputs
User: akirarpg
The Tip: This isn't something that will make you sound better...but useful nonetheless. If you're tired of plugging and unplugging the inputs to your sampler or soundcard to sample new sources, rather plug the effects send of your mixer into the input of your sampler. Now you can just turn the effect knob to adjust the input of a channel into your sampler...also now you can sample several sources at once! - Thursday, October 05, 2000



Title: The cheap flange trick
User: MoldMlestr
The Tip: If you run your drummachine and sampler through a dj mixer (like a 2channel gemini with crossfade), you can create some odd efx by playing a drum pattern from the drummachine, sampling it (loop it if you want to), and then changing the sample's pitch slightly, this makes a rad flanger effect, especialy if one (and only one) of the sounds is being processed.

Title: Industrial drums
User: betavirus23
The Tip: For Industrial, synth pop and other less techno sounding music, instead of using a 909 or 808 style 'oontzy' kick, use a realistic kick sample but soak it in reverb and use a loud snare that really punches hard and distort the bajebus out of it and add some reverb. when sequencing them dont do the same old: Snar: ----X-------X--- Kick: X---X---X---X--- but instead do something like this Snar: ----X-------X--- Kick: X-X---X-X--X---X you will get a much more old school sounding drumline - Sunday, September 14, 2003



Title: Bass with your drum beat
User: gyromastar
The Tip: Need more punch with your bass drum? Besides having a long release on the sample, have the bassdrum trigger a low bass sample. In reason I triggered little bass slides shifted around and pitch bent in sound forge and got some good results. If you're using reason and you haven't figured this out yet, patch each drum sound in redrum to it's own mixer channel. That way if you need to, you can patch each individual sound through compressors and other effects very easily. I never use main outs from redrum - Thursday, December 19, 2002



Title: Cool Linn Drum Tip!
User: audio-prof
The Tip: You can send a Trigger-out from the LinnDrum at 96tpb and plug-it to the TAPE-IN of an ALESIS HR-16:B and the HR-16 will send MIDI CLOCK OUT from the incoming TIMING of the LinnDrum! and you can SPLIT that MIDI CLOCK OUT with a THRU 1x4 and and you can START/STOP all Sequencers , Drummachines in the MIDI Chain from the LinnDrum! www.forat.com also sells a MIDI KIT and Sound Chips! and other MODS. - Saturday, June 16, 2001



Title: Phat Beats for your ES-1
User: dodgydazz69
The Tip: Take any skinny beat on your ES-1 and make it as Phat as F*** by using its built in delay. 1 Make sure BPM sync is off 2 Set Time to minimum 3 set Depth to maximum 4 Stand bye-bye for MELTDOWN - Tuesday, April 03, 2001



Title: Wicked EA-1 Bass Drum
User: elsewhere84
The Tip: I'm sure you all have discovered this, but I want to make myself feel important. Record something in steph mode with one 16 note pattern. Click the keyboard off and put notes on 1, 5, 9 and 13. Turn your cutoff all the way down, resonance all the way up, the EG Int all the way to the right and your decay all the way down. Put some distortion in and Voila! Analog kick drum at your disposal! - Sunday, March 25, 2001



Title: Can't quite get that pumping bass drum?
User: turntableking
The Tip: On a 505 or 305 depending on your machine, Choose Patch D-125 (Kick Menu 1) Play D-5 (This should be a nice deep bass drum).Use this to record a standard 4-4 Bassdrum pattern with the occasional fill. When your down recording, push the release time to the max. You get a nice bass aftertone and a really sweet bass drum. Yeah Baby! (It really kicks the crap out of your woofers though.....) - Thursday, April 20, 2000



Title: Overcompressed Snare
User: kevllama
The Tip: If you have a way to isolate your snare on your drum machine (ie. pan completely left or right [while puting other sound to the other direction]or just a seperate output like on a 707), run it through a compressor with low threshold, high ratio (but not limiting), fast attack, slow release. Its an interseting effect and can add a new dimension to your grooves. Phat! Play with it and try to create new sounds. Another tip: try it with a side chain!? oooh, i am getting dirty. If you already knew this....good for you (you smart guy [or girl]) Thanks, Kevin - Thursday, March 09, 2000



Title: make your drumcomputer agressive
User: groovegoof
The Tip: Turn up your pre-amp level on your mixer. Do this slowly. You will now hear your beats and hats etc. distorted. This is ideal for putting more agression in your techno tunes! - Sunday, February 13, 2000



Title: Jungle Beats Via Tempo Synced Delays.
User: corey
The Tip: Take a standard break, slow it to 80-120 bpm, run the signal (better if it's stereo) into a delay unit/rack unit and keep the repeat function fairly low (literally 2 or 3 repeats) and adjust the delay timing until your standard beat starts to roll in time. It will speed it up most likely, but will cause interesting nuances and rolls that weren't there originally. Adjust the mix from about 25% to 75% for best results. Too much and it will likely sound like underwater reggae (but that's cool too). 



Title: Killa break on the DR-202 and sp202 tricks
User: amerlop
The Tip: If you got a Boss DR-202, the easy way to get your breaks INTENSE is to crank the flanger and pull back the decay on all the intruments then release the flanger a half a beat before the next bar and crank back the decay and start all over. Also, If you have a SP-202 GET 1 OR 2 MORE!!!!. This increses the polyphony and alows you some loony combinations/effects (ring mod and pitch/delay, same samples at different octaves). You will be way creative and will still spend less as compared to getting a sampling "workstation".



Title: Breakbeats made easy
User: viral
The Tip: This will probably be WAY trivial to most drum programmers out there, but if you are just getting started, making a good breakbeat (drum&bass, jungle,trip-hop,etc) seems a little bit intimidating. It's actually pretty simple... Bring your tempo down to around 80 bpm and lay down some smooth hip-hop beats (don't add any 16th hi hats). Then just bring the tempo of that drum beat up to about 150-160 bpm and, Viola! Instant breakbeats. Play around with it a while and you'll be laying down some sweet beats in no time...

Title: THE CHORUS EFFECT!!!
User: KAREN.J18
The Tip: You probably already know this old trick but to give any part of your track i.e drums,bass ect a kind of chorus effect- cut the exact part you want and paste it twice then layer the first part with the second part. simple. - Monday, April 23, 2001



Title: Dub Techniques Volume 88
User: clicksound
The Tip: Further to the tips on running delay units back through a desk channel, and using the Channel Eq and FX send to eq the signal feeding back to the delay, heres one to keep control of that - If you make sure that the delay send bus (aux 1, 2,3 whatever) is being sent POST fader, then as you ride the fader on the delay return channel, it will send more or less of the signal back through the aux to itself . Push the fader up for more delay, and more delay feedback, pull the fader back to get things back under control. - Friday, December 15, 2000



Title: IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!
User: rotund
The Tip: USING A MULTIVOX ANALOG DELAY PEDAL( THIS SEEMS TO WORK AS WELL WITH OTHER ANLG DELAYS BUT NOT A TAPE ECHO AND NOT A DIG'DLY.. RUNNING A BASSLINE AND/OR PERCUSSION LINE WITH EMPHASIS PLACED ON THE RYTHM RATHER THAN AND A VERY STRAIT FORWARD KIND OF SYNCOPATED BEAT SEND THE DELAY WHICH HAS ITS SIGNAL SENT FROM THE SENDS( OBVIOUSLY) AND THE OUTPUT TO ANOTHER DESK INPUT, THIS WAY YOU HAVE AT LEAST THREE AREAS TO TWEAK.. BACK ON ITSELF SET A SMALL DELAY TIME AND VARYING REPEAT AMT AND LET HER RIP! OBVIOUSLY BEING MINDFUL OF UNWANTED HOWLS WITH THE EQ'S A BIT( NO DOUBT YOU HAVE ALL DONE THIS BEFORE, BUT PERSIST...AS EVENTUALLY WITH A BIT OF MESSING, THE SOUND SEEMS TO COMPRESS ITSELF TO AN EXTENT THAT IT SEEMS TO BE VERY MUCH A LIVING AND BREATHING ENTITY, STRANGELY ENOUGH, WHEN THE RTHM STOPS, THE HOWLING BEGINS AND IT REALLY IS WORTH TRYING BECAUSE OF THE INTERESTING EFFECT. I AM NOT SURE IF I DESCRIBED IT CORRECTLY BUT IT IS REALLY BEAUTIFUL AND IT SHOULD BE A RELIGION. - Tuesday, October 17, 2000



Title: mind blowing distortion
User: prophetloki
The Tip: if your built in efx or distortion pedals just aren't quite cutting it and if you own an sp 202 sampler, try this. connect your synth to the source input on the 202 and turn the output volume on your synth all the way up. makes killer sounds out of boring old patches. - Saturday, October 14, 2000



Title: vocoder effect with your boss digital delay pedal!!!
User: plastiq
The Tip: i've tried this and it works. get any cheap old mic.with a 1/8 inch end on it, get a 1/4 inch adapter and plug it into the pedal (it works on dd2 and dd3...probably others). from left to right ,turn the first two knobs up full (watch for feedback), set the third one right down and set the rate setting to 50 ms. make a fist, hold the mic down into your hand and talk into your fist. the resulting sound is quite robotic in a battlestar galactica kind of way... - Wednesday, September 27, 2000



Title: Trippy Delays
User: johndoe
The Tip: Forget all your expensive rack-mount delay units! I find that the humble Boss DD-3 sounds great (better than the DD-5), and offers smooth realtime control over basic delay parameters. The trick: Put the mix knob all the way up (only delayed signal). Run the direct out and the normal out to your mixer. Put all sorts of wacked out effects in line on the normal output. A tubescreamer with the tone knob down works well, as does an EQ, phaser, or even another delay! Then mix the wet and dry signals at the mixer to taste, and you'll have an unaltered dry signal with processed delays. Another old trick, easy to do with the Boss: for breaks that really build, use a short (16th note) delay time, and edge the repeat knob up until it feeds back. If you do it right, the feedback will build out of nowhere until all you hear is BRAP BRAP BRAP BRAP almost unbearably overwhelming. Coming out of the break, you can manually switch of the pedal at the precise moment the beat comes back in. Chemical Bros. do this occasionally, and I bet they use a pedal, not a rack. - Saturday, July 22, 2000



Title: Dub/Tape Echo Simulation
User: akirarpg
The Tip: What I like to do (some of you probably already have tried this) is to feed each delay back through a filter so it gets squishier and squishier. Be very careful when doing this or you will get some nasty feedback and might hurt your ears or blow a speaker, etc. You will need a mixer with an effects loop to do this (I use a Mackie VLZ-1202) and a regular old cheap delay pedal, one with a wet only (no dry/orignal signal) out. You'll probably also want some kind of signal to run into this (anything with significant high-end signal works, I usually put the drum machine here). Turn the repeat/feedback control all the way down(very important), the delay level at about normal. Set the delay time wherever you want, but probably at least 100 ms (doesn't work well on really short delays). Now set up your mixer - set all the effects knobs for each channel all the way down. Plug the effects send output from the mixer into your delay unit. At this point you should probably turn your delay unit on, or you might get some feeback pretty soon. Now make sure that you have an output where the signal is ONLY the delayed signal (not a mix between the dry and the delayed, again also very important). Plug this wet only output into...NOT the effect return of your mixer...but a normal CHANNEL of your mixer. Set the volume on this delay channel fairly quiet to start out with. Set your EQ on this channel so that the highs are pretty quiet (I usually crank the knob all the way down) and I also usually put the low knob all the way down. You might also want to turn the mid-eq up a bit. Now, slowly turn the effects knob up on your drums or whatever. You should be hearing a one-hit delay. If you turn the effects knob now on the delay channel, it should function just like the feedback/repeat knob on the delay itself! The difference is, each repeat sends the delay through the EQ so that the high-end cuts off more and more - much like a tape delay! Also you may want to know turn the level up a bit now. Be careful - as I said twisting just about any knob here too much will give you a loud howl. You may also want to experiment...twisting the high-eq up a bit instead of the midrange, or getting an all-bass delay. Several interesting effects can be achieved. You can also stick other effects, such as a flanger, reverb, or distortion, between the delay and the mixer channel input, but once again...watch your levels. Delay is great on everything! - Monday, July 17, 2000



Title: Zoom SampleTrak effects fun!
User: chuck
The Tip: Cool Mix Sound Effects - Requires: a Zoom SampleTrak ST-224 and a mixer with separate master, booth and record outs(such as the Gemini PDM-10) and some other sound source (such as a Drum Machine). Connect the output of the SampleTrak to one of the input channels of the mixer, and the line input of the SampleTrak to either the record or booth outputs of the mixer. Lower the mixer booth output if possible to avoid feedback. Start a loop on the sampler, and a pattern or loop on the other sound source. On the SampleTrak Press pad enable and select the source pad. This will apply FX to the line input of the SampleTrak. Lower the "edit 2" knob on the SampleTrak to 0. Select ring modulator, pitch transposer etc. on the SampleTrak and turn the effect on. As the loops and sound sources are playing, slowly raise the edit 2 knob. The effect should be applied to the entire mix. This can create some really cool effects. - Friday, July 14, 2000



Title: cheap echoes!!!
User: cheju
The Tip: gonna get some extra eco, well you only need to buy a toy microphone (1 dolar aprox) and atach it to the vocal mircro, the toy eco microphone is very easy to find in the toy stores. - Saturday, June 03, 2000



Title: 70's Elec Pianos & Organs
User: ricok987
The Tip: Play electric piano and organ patches thru a phazer into a multi channel tube amplifier. Gives a warm swirliness to EP's and organs, and the distortion channel becomes just plain nasty. - Tuesday, May 23, 2000



Title: Bouncing effects
User: kudante
The Tip: Take delay effects on pretty much anything.. (try to make it one thing... e.g. one snare drum.. monophonic lead sound.. GUITAR WORKS GREAT!) and make the feedback really high.. maybe not all the way up though.. then fluxuate teh "time" option.. go back and forth from really low to middle value.. makes a really metallic bouncing sound.. (Bucephlaus Boucing Ball.. Aphex Twin) - Monday, May 22, 2000



Title: Multitap Feedback
User: mercury
The Tip: Try running a drumtrack and maybe a synthline through a tempodelay (some distortion works good to) and then mic them (running the mic through the same effects) and cut the mic in and out with a fader. Moving the mic into certain sweet spots will create very unique harmonic feedback which will fall in sync with the tempodelay and create awesome ambient overtones! - Wednesday, May 17, 2000



Title: Volume Play
User: annexation
The Tip: This one's simple and works with any synth on the planet, no matter how f--king chincy. Hold down three notes for any chord you want, then with your other hand go nuts on the main volume slider (or the volume control for that particular track if you still want your beats to remain unchanged). You get a rapid and chaotic fade in-out effect. To move to another chord and still retain the effect, quickly switch notes when the volume is at 0.. and a smooth transition will occur. This is a good tip for beginners just starting to figure this shit out (like me). - Friday, April 21, 2000



Title: Filtered delays...
User: 
The Tip: Maybe you already know this one. But get a synth, preferrably analog with an external filter input jack. Create a delay effect with a lot of repeats and feed that thru the filter. This works really well for spoken words & samples, but while the delay is repeating it sounds very cool to twist thos VCF cutoff, resonance and envelope knobs to give your delay an interesting new twist!



Title: Reverberating attack.
User: chaz
The Tip: Often recording artists when looking to add a thickness to thier vocals will use reverb. So often used its become rather played-out. Not that this trick isn't. Take a vocal track, put it in a sound editor or sampler that can reverse the wave form. Use effects like reverb or delay on this. Then reverse the resulting audio. Creates an interesting effect if used moderatly. Synths can also benifit from this effect. Doing this without confusing the listener is the tricky part.

Title: Real DUB
User: sargarepa
The Tip: What U need is a mixer and a delay. You have to set the feedback of the delay off! Only the wet delayed sound comes back once from the delay. You send a signal to the delay from an aux send, but the aux return is connected to an input channel of the mixer. Turn up the same aux send of the channel where the delay returns. The feedback is controlled by the volume fader of the return channel. Tweaking the eq of the channel will give you an exciting filtered delay. Try to set the delay time too. The feedback can be set over 100%. This means you can make a delay witch is louder and louder. WARNING! YOU CAN PRODUCE A TOO LARGE FEEDBACK WITCH CAN DAMAGE YOUR MIXER OR DELAY. TRY IT ON YOUR OWN RISC. - Friday, October 05, 2001



Title: Higher sampling rate and less noise
User: xenpiliac
The Tip: If you can playback samples higher than you can record them, try this... compose your songs a few notes (or even an octave) lower. Play them slower, also. Then, after you record them, you can shift the pitch back up if you're recording/playback gear allows. The advantage is that you can playback higher frequencies than you can record. The same technique works for add more subsonic bass by downshifting. Slowing down a recording can sometimes enhance the microdelays, adding a spatial effect. Give it a try with your recorder. A special tip: try this with noise reduction on recording, and you can get quieter recordings, too... since the NR won't interfere with the clarity of high frequencies as much. - Sunday, February 18, 2001



Title: Cheap multitrack recording
User: kevinkoekkoek
The Tip: Cheap multi-track recordind. Just buy 2 or more Mini Disc decks from the same brand with remote control. I have seen deks for FL 400,-/ $200,- Connect the deks to your mixer, and use the remote control to start all the deks at the same time. - Friday, April 07, 2000



Title: mic your synth
User: luvmyself2000
The Tip: I run my synths (recorded or live) to my guitar amp then mic it up. It souns huge! try it with kick drums even vocals. It sounds better the more of the room you picupe garage ect! - Thursday, February 10, 2000

Title: Adding complex MIDI parts to a song with an imprecise beat
The Tip: One of the hardest things to do is to add sequenced beats to a pre-recorded song which isn't totally in time or on beat. A nice MIDI trick is to use an external (dedicated) sequencer with a dial knob for tempo and use it to control the playback speed of the MIDI rhythm tracks while the audio recording plays. This way you can add sequences as overdubs to otherwise not-in-precise-time songs. I have found this to be the cheapest way to add a sequence without editing. It requires a multitrack recorder. I hope you appreciate this trick. It will save you days or weeks worth of time. - Sunday, January 13, 2002



Title: Jack Your Analog Up With Midi!
User: macplayer100
The Tip: Want a fun D.I.Y. way to add MIDI to your old analog monosynth? Get the MIDIJACK. It's a user-installed CV/Gate to MIDI converter designed to fit inside of and work wth most analog monosynths like the sh101, minimoog, prodigy, oscar, etc. There's an ad for the MIDIJACK on the first page of vintagesynth.com - Monday, April 16, 2001



Title: Drum machine as MIDI trigger for sampler
User: steveyray
The Tip: If you have a sampler, whether it's a module like the Ensoniq EPS-R rack or a keyboard type, try using a drum machine to trigger samples you use frequently, instead of having to hunt down the right key every time....by hitting the pads of the drum machine. You can even save room by moving the sampler to another location, if it's a keyboard....if it's a module, you can free up your controller keyboard for other parts. You could use the drum machine in pattern mode to trigger sounds on its own, as well. This can even be expanded to the MIDI light show.....have the drum machine pads kick on a light when needed! I sent this idea to Electronic Musician a few years ago, and they printed my email, so somebody must like it.....don't throw away that old Yamaha RX15 or Korg DDD5, there's still life in those older machines, even if the sounds aren't used. - Monday, April 09, 2001



Title: Alternate ways to record MIDI sequences
User: chuck
The Tip: Has anyone ever tried this one? Use a sequencer to record the midi out of drum machine. Then apply the MIDI data to a MIDI channel mapped to a synth. Try using simple beats on the drum machine and synth patches that have ambient pads or noise as voices. Mess around with the attack time and sustain levels. You get some great results. - Friday, July 14, 2000



Title: Put a DRIVE in your techno song
User: groovegoof
The Tip: Maybe you already know, but to get a pumping drive, put your open hi-hat in between your bassdrums. Then quantize the hihats to approximately 3 ticks and voila! - Sunday, February 13, 2000



Title: Super-fast Sequences
User: choadma
The Tip: Maybe everyone already knows this trick, but to those that don't...If you have a kickin' idea for, say, a fake arpeggiated leadline, but can't pull it off, here's what I do.Just slow the tempo on your sequencer way down and DO IT! Then, you can always return to the original tempo.(sorry I didn't give you something surprising or at least not so obvious!)Break It Down!

Title: making music tips
User: electromagnetic
The Tip: FOR WIRD ATMOSFIRE EFX WHAT IM DOING IS PLAYING A RECORED PLAYER IN REVERS THEN I RECORD IT ON MY SEQUENSER SLICE IT UP RENDOMALY THEN IT ALL GOS INTO MONO DELAY THEN FIND THE LOOPS YOU LIKE THE MOST TRUST ME ITS A LITEL WORK BUT IT COMES OUT AMEIZZZING!!! electromagnetic enjoy - Monday, May 26, 2003



Title: Preparing a song for a dance remix
User: juxtaposeur
The Tip: Use a BPM counter to obtain the BPM of your already-recorded song. You can use a stopwatch and a calculation of {240/stopwatch number} to get a very precise and quick answer with a calculator. Do it a few times to be sure. Now open your multitrack program or editor and set the BPM to whatever you wrote down. Set your program for bar/beat display mode. This is your grid for editing. Now load up your pre-recorded song and it should be roughly aligned in rhythm with your editing program's bar/beat markers. Now cut the song up into sections along the gridlines of the bar/beat markers. This way, you can create loops of your song sections. Save these loops as stereo files and name them with numbers starting with 001, 002, 003,... etc. Now you can load them up into any phrase sampling program such as TUAREG 2, and really do some heavy remixing. The dicing/editing part takes a while, but it's really worth it if you take the time to really make the BPM match. You can also do this quickly by using Sound Forge to tap in markers to the beat of your song as it plays. Then edit each section so that it loops. SoundForge, Tuareg, and Cubasis make a really good combo. - Sunday, January 13, 2002



Title: Making Music Groovy!
User: jonilj
The Tip: If you got thoose nice synth-stacks... On your mixer, put down "bass" or "low" to nothing. Multi-effects can make your sound better...Always use much reverb for trance-leads whitout high bass levels... - Saturday, December 22, 2001



Title: ONE HELL OF A MIDI SETUP
User: justin_havu
The Tip: You need a Korg C3500 Piano, a Roland SP-10 module, and a Ymaha disk recorder. Go MIDI out from C3500 to MIDI in on SP10, MIDI out on SP-10 to MIDI in on disk recorder, MIDI out on disk recorder to MIDI in on C-3500. - Thursday, April 12, 2001



Title: Deep Psychosis Synthesizers
User: godspawn
The Tip: OK, I downloaded a bunch of freeware VST synths. Then I tried out some freeware audio to MIDI convertion software. Well, the software didn't quite work, but I went ahead and loaded the generated MIDI files into a sequencer and assigned random synths to random MIDI channels. I came up with a very very twisted sound, but something more revolutionary than if I had planned it. I set the program to render the results, and I ended up with a 75 minute long song. I'ts so dismal I named it suicide note, and burned a CD. Later on, I can sample from random points in that CD for odd sections to sample and overdub drum loops over. You all could try something like this too, for that crazy Meat Beat Manifesto, Skinny Puppy type chaos. Good luck brethren. - Thursday, April 12, 2001



Title: Crap Synth + Parametric EQ Dial = Analog Style Synth
User: 
The Tip: Ok, i used to have an FD-4 Digital recorder/mixer. Well, the mixer section had sweepable mids on the EQ. That means that you could adjust the frequency by turning a dial. Well, you put yer synth sound through any such EQ with sweeps channel. Then you turn the EQ gain up full blast. Set the Q (or width) to something really high. Then twiddle the frequency knob with one hand while you play yer crap synth with the other. You can get some truly convincing gesture riffs this way. And it's totally in your control. i can't believe more people aren't doing this. I probably shouldn't even be tellin yall. Well, do me a favor... you folks iz cool since yer here checkin this site. But don't tell all of the NON-SKILLED whack wannabe DJ's and posers. I'd do the same for you, my peeps. - Wednesday, April 04, 2001



Title: How to defeat sound program demo limitations
User: 
The Tip: well, this is kinda simple, but it should be more well known. On Windows 9x machines, you can download the freeware Virtual Audio Cable. It's a sound driver set that just lets you route sound from the speakers into another program to record. So if you got a cool program that won't let you save and a dumb program that will let you save, then you can route the cool sounds from the cool program to the dumb one for recording and saving. Some programs can do this without the "Virtual Audio Cable", but it helps to have an extra technique just in case. It works really well. The software is very stable and is available from Author: Eugene Muzychenko, Novosibirsk, Russia 2:5000/14@FidoNet, [email protected] check online for http://www.ntonyx.com. Current demo version can be found at ftp://spider.nrcde.ru/pub/sound/other/ in file named VACDMxxx.ZIP. OR do a keyword search for Virtual Audio Cable Driver 1.11 it works with Windows 98 and doesn't interfere with DirectSound or anything. Give it a try. You have nothing to lose. So many programs sound good but don't let you save the results, this lets you overcome that bullshit limitation dig it people. - Wednesday, April 04, 2001



Title: ReBirth 303 does Industrial
User: adrugagainstwar_2000
The Tip: At the time being my main instrument is ReBirth and as such I have found some great tricks to make Nine Inch Nails-sounding basselines. Firstly, using one of the 303's create a bassline with one or two steps that slide. Next turn the echo/delay (whatever you wantto call it) all the way. The delay should be set to 3 steps and the BPM should be 140. Next turn distortion on and set the distortion shape knob to 5 'o'clock and set the distortion amount to 12 'o' clock. Finally turn the PCF on and set it to pattern 21 and on lp mode. For the sliders I will use the valuse as follows: 10 is the top, 0 is the middle, and -10 is the bottom. Set the sliders in the following order: 1st should be at 5. 2nd should be at -5. 3rd should be at 5. 4th should be at -5. Tweak the sliders untill you get the desired sound. Now you'll get great basslines that sound like the first synth sound in the NIN song "Hersey". Enjoy. matia - Sunday, September 03, 2000



Title: Work Ethics
User: 
The Tip: Here is a method that works for me when writing music. Spend a day doing nothing but creating, editing and tweaking samples, synth patches and loops. Avoid the urge to start jamming wth them. The next day you'll be fresh, and will have a nice large palette of sounds ready to use in constructing a song and building upon your ideas. Creating these sort of 'Toolboxes' before tackling a song or project helps you not only to define a consistent sound and style, it also lets you separate the technical and creative aspects of electronic music making, which can help prevent potential writer's block or a loss of direction. - Saturday, August 26, 2000



Title: Monster Jungle Bass
User: collinkr
The Tip: Tips for a monsterously dark jungle bass sound: 1. Use a "cutting" analog patch (bass station #9 is good) 2. Tweak filters to make it "talk" 3. Distortion (overload your analog mixer slightly) 4. Add a deep flange that cycles slowly (anywhere from quarter note to a wholemeasure) You should be able to make some really mean dynamic "monster" sounds this way. Also, I like to EQ DOWN the bass on sounds like this, and bring in a really "jumpy" jungle bass line to keep it tight. Please send me your jungle production tips. - Thursday, June 08, 2000



Title: jungle made easy
User: jmmozes
The Tip: Trying to make jungle beats but can't pull it off. Well I found this by accident but it works. Take a slow hip hop beat, record it on tape, put it in your 4 track, double the speed, and sample. It really doesn't work unless the pitch goes up. Remember to cut and past as much as possible. - Thursday, March 16, 2000



Title: Mic-Skillz!
User: 
The Tip: use microphones! micing any sound source through pa speakers, guitar amps, home stereos, etc. this adds so much texture to your sound. It takes hard work to get the skills at this, but you will realize the it is so versitile. - Wednesday, March 01, 2000



Title: Pumping Basslines
User: twentythreenode
The Tip: Seeking that elusive pumping, running quality in your tekno, trance, D'nB', whatever bassline? can't seem to sequence it in no matter how "cool" your synth?
1) Minimize & simplify! You can then do more with:
2) Delay: triplets, syncopation, off beat accent...not much feedback/repeat
3) Loops: use your sampler dammit! experiment with mono and poly triggering...rollllling...
4) Dynamics: Pumping! compress/expand/compand! play with it...
5) Layer simple parts: ex. deep bass on the kick, up slide on the off... have fun :)



Title: Best horn sounds
User: DDpianoman
The Tip: a way to get best horn sound with most midi setups is having two synths with horn patches midied and detuning one of them a little down til you get a slight wave...sounds more like a horn section...Groove on



Title: digital synths
User: tl299
The Tip: digital synths make much weirder noises then analog synths like Yamaha FM, and RCM synthesis. and Casio PD, iPD synthesis, these things can produce a much more complex pallette of atonal noise...forget the VCO-VCF-LFO-VCA(ADSR) voice architecture that stuff was made to be musical. digital is cheap. small, and more fashionable.



Title: 808 Bob's Trick
User: pfreak303
The Tip: if you have a synth with...AUDIO INPUT FILTER, CV/ GATE, ...use it!!! especially with drum machine sounds! you will get some nice resonant textures to your sounds. this is one great key to good tekno! use the individual out of a drum sound via 808 or 909 (preferably) to trig. the gate, and for best cv programming (without an analog seq.), use an mc-202 or a "tb-303". and always buy analog!



Title: For quite never sounded songs
User: edclombe
The Tip: Well, one of the tezchniques on this site inspired me. The technique was to use an audio to midi soft then have the midifile played with VSTIs. Well, I thought "Waht about doing this with a midi generator?". There are of many kinds: Autocomposer (available freely on "www.hitsquad.com" or on www.callisto.fr.fm) Fractmus2000 (fractal music maker) Loxound Pixies (transform a pic file like a .BMP into a midi file). Then play it with randomly chosen VSTI and burn it to sample it later, but it will surely sound never heard before! - Thursday, August 08, 2002



Title: Custom Guitar Distortion + Chorus/Reverb + Drumcoding
User: godspawn
The Tip: I bought a 10 band stereo graphic EQ from Radio Shack. It was a good deal cause it features lots of routing options of input/output, and it has a very useful bargraph of frequency vs amplitude, so you can see how much you boost/cut of frequencies present, and when. Well. I plugged my Gremlin miniture guitar into it, and routed the output of the first channel into the input of the second channel. Together, both channels give enough amplitude gain, and the gain is totally controllable with respect to frequency. Essentially, you can totally controll the amount of distortion, and which frequencies are boosted or cut. There is much more control here than with a foot pedal EQ, because you have 2 sets of controls for 10 bands. There is also 24 to 30 decibels of boost or cut. This is also better than some digital processors, because the clipping has more of an analog sound, since this EQ has discrete components inside rather than just integrated chips. Naturally, there is much control over the tonality, and because its a graphic EQ, you can easily look at it and see what the EQ curve is. Experimentation is very easy, and the fuzz sounds I got out of it were very impressive. For the final touch, I would run the output of the distortion EQ into a chorus + reverb and then through a noise gate triggered by a drum machine. - Tuesday, April 24, 2001



Title: LOOK AT THIS TIP, KAM KFX USERS!
User: DJREUB.COOLDUDE
The Tip: FEED THE LEFT OUTPUT INTO THE PHONO 1 INPUT AND PRESS THE DUB BUTTON. YOU SHOULD HEAR A SQUARE WAVE SOUND, BY PLAYING WITH THE EQ AND VOLUME AND CUT BUTTONS YOU CAN MAKE SOME EXCELLENT STUFF TO SAMPLE UP. - Sunday, July 30, 2000



Title: F*ck Up that acidline!
User: nukie
The Tip: This may be useless or already known, but so are most things in my life. But if you own a TR-606 and an SH-101, or equivalent din sync-trigger out to external clock in type setup, program say on the 606 a staggered LT or HT pattern. This will send a trippped up pulse clock to the sequencer on the 101 or equivalent. So in effect, the sequencer on the synth will start and stop in wierd times or play on certain parts of the acid line in the sequence. This make some double funky acidlines, especially when you add the auto portamento! 



Title: Stuff for Casio SK-5's and Cheap Effects
User: gsn10
The Tip: For the Casio SK-5 (probably works on the SK-1 as well) sample something like a click or a pop, then loop it, and it will end up with a really harsh buzzy sound...but it depends on what kind of noise you sample... 
Easy Flange/Echo: This will work with about any audio source. Record it once on a cheap tape recorder, and play the recording and original back at the same time. If they're synchronized, there will be a slight flange effect because the tape speed isn't that accurate. And if one is slightly delayed, it makes a lame echo effect. And it does some interesting things if one sound is run through a filter or something...but it's pretty hard to do well And if you have a really cheap keyboard with a junk speaker, but you have a decent stereo (like me), you can just feed the keyboard into the stereo. It will sound a lot better, and there's some effects if you have some DSP processing. Really, it is a pretty obvious trick, but just in case no one tried it...