Help me identify this crazy sound

[Rico]

Hi,

I'm not really looking to remix Metroid Prime, but I've always been curious about that high pitched flute-ish noise from Chozo Ruins. It plays a repeated four note appreggio around the middle, and then a solo later on.

The problem is, I have no idea what it is (someone said piccolo flute) or how to approximate the sound. Anyone have an idea or preset?

Thanks in advance!

edit: apologies if this should have gone in Sample Request, I only just noticed the thread.

[Yoozer]

If it's not a piccolo, it could be just a simple sinewave... which you can make with pretty much every synthesizer or plugin out there.

Is the melody A-G-C-E-F-E-A-C#-D-C-F-A-C-B ?

[Cyan]

Sounds like a pure sinewav to me, with a little bit of portamento going on, I think.

[Rico]

No, it's the other instrument. It's solo is at 2:53, something like:

G3---C---G4-F-Eb-D-Eb-D-C-Bb-C-G3

G3---C---G4-F-Eb-D-Eb-D-C-Bb-D-C

It also does the stuff around 0:50 (three-note appreggios, sorry)

Strangely enough I tooled around with sine waves and portamento and got a pretty close sound, but it's not perfect. Thanks for the help though!

[OverCoat]

Yeah, it's pretty much just a sinewave with portamento

p.s. I want to play around with the Metroid Prime choir sample. They are so obviously sampled but I don't know where Yamamoto got the choir sample from.

[shock]

Hello everybody!

After reading along anonymously for a rather long time, I decided to register...

I need some help identifying a synth.

Made a short sample:

http://www.box.net/shared/qj6vm50str

(It's track #6 from the UT3 soundtrack, available at http://utforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=576777)

As I guess, in the first 4 secs the synth's playing straight, perhaps with a phaser or flanger (not really sure, sounds like that to me; can't really distinguish the two effects).

Then I think an octave is added, at 4 secs.

Which waveform do you think is used? Sounds bright like a sawtooth, in my opinion.

I played around a little bit with a sawtooth, very short attack and sustain to get the staccato sound.

But I'm not satisfied yet.

Anyone of you got some hints how to design such a sound?

Thanks & greetings

Shock

[The Vagrance]

Step 1. Add saw

Step 2. Add more saw

Step 3. Add even more saw

Step 4. Add some saw an octave up (+12 semitones)

Step 5. Play around with tuning of some saw waves (making some detuned, giving it a fatter, "chorused" effect), including automating it

Step 6. Automate the volume of the saw wave(s) an octave up

[zircon]

Yeah, this is what one would call a 'supersaw'. You might have about 8 oscillators on a synth producing a saw waveform with some slight detuning. More oscs are added an octave above and below to really fatten it up, as The Vagrance said.

[abg]

If you're using a vst with a Unison knob, give that a twist. Unison emulates additional oscillators and twisting the knob will allow you to detune them all in, well, unison. For the best results, apply a little bit of unison and a little bit of chorus or flanger (or even both if that's what you fancy).

[Yoozer]

One such VST is Synth1.

Try to rebuild this (don't pay attention to the name of the preset, just to the knob positions).

[shock]

Thanks everybody for your comments!

I fiddled around a little bit with the Synth1 and found a nice sound. Not exactly like in the sample, but that's ok. It sounds good on its own.

Also thanks for the keywords (like "supersaw" and "unison"). Didn't know the first and wasn't sure about the second, but now that's a little bit clearer

[Ravich]

Going to assume that you all have access to the tracks....

1) Cid's Theme (FFVII): the drums that come in sets of 3 on the first beat and the '2 and' of every measure. They are not toms, but I cant figure out what else they would be.

2) Turk's Theme: The 2 hits that come on the '4 and' and downbeat of the following measure about 9 seconds in. It's similar/the same as the drum in the Shinra Theme that functions as the "snare"

3) The thing that comes in on off beats in Fighting (FFVII) around 11 seconds in. Sounds like a wood block type thing but much deeper and no necessarily wood (if that makes any sense). The same instrument can be heard in Legendary Beast (FFVIII) on offbeats about 45 seconds in.

That's all I can think of for now. These have been bothering me for a while.

[prophetik music]

cid's theme uses timpani. they just sound terrible.

the thing in the turks theme is supposed to be thunder plates of some sort, i believe, or the cymbal equivalent (like a china trash or something), cut short.

the thing in fighting is an anvil, a la song of the blacksmith. it's pitched down to make it ring longer.

[Ravich]

Hmm. I avil came to mind, but I couldnt find anything that resembled that sound. Taking the pitch down a bit did help though. I guess I'll just have to hear it in context when I get around to one of those tracks.

Can you explain what you mean by "thunder plates"? Even google couldnt tell me. I did try a chinese tam tam and found something that might work with some modification.

The timpani for Cid's theme I'm not convinced of though. Those drums dont sound pitched, and the timpani in other FFVII tracks dont really sound like that.

Thanks for the help.

[Gollgagh]

I think prof means a thunder sheet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5kovefmR5w

[prophetik music]

thunder sheets = thunder plates. depends what shape they're in - if they're free-hanging strips of metal, they're sheets. if they're strapped down on all sides (giving it a more pitched tone), then they're thunder plates.

you might find an anvil also named a brake drum - being, literally, a drum brake from a car that's struck with the rounded head of a ball peen hammer or handle/shaft of a screwdriver.

timpani in the other tracks don't sound like that because they're in a different range of the instrument. if we're talking about the same instrument (3 16th notes, starting at beats one and upbeat of two), then it's timpani we're talking about.