Meteo Xavier Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 In expanding my skill set, I've been trying to get into designing my own sounds from scratch and public domain samples and I feel like I'm grasping onto it much quicker than I expected. I'm looking into whether I can take this to some sort of useful level beyond just compositions. Those of you who have made commercial-quality sounds, what programs did you use to generate them? I'm not to the point where I have a studio or hardware or mics to record stuff, I'm only going to synthesize them from scratch or from public domain samples. I have Omnisphere 1.5, Zebra 2, z3ta+ and all the major Native Instrument synths and Arturia Minimoog free. Are there any other synths or programs you would recommend for building usable synth sounds and atmosphere and all that from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 I've used New Sonic Arts Granite for some cool granular synthesis of horror textures. Mainly, it's great for distorted or crunchy textures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteo Xavier Posted December 14, 2015 Author Share Posted December 14, 2015 Ahh, that's a good start, thanks Tim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djpretzel Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 iZotope IRIS is a pretty badass sound design tool: https://www.izotope.com/iris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theshaggyfreak Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Iris really is great for manipulating recorded audio. You really can get some crazy sounds out of it quite quickly. Otherwise, I suggest starting to build your own library of field recordings. Doing this sort of thing will give you access to unique sounds that others might not have. Another avenue to explore is to build some basic analog synth circuits and sample them. Start off by building an Atari Punk Console or any other simple project. djpretzel 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteo Xavier Posted December 15, 2015 Author Share Posted December 15, 2015 I'm only focusing on software for now. I can't justify buying a bunch of hardware stuff unless/until I get a foothold of success starting out to begin with. Iris 2 looks kickass, but I'm reading that thing is so CPU intensive that it's borderline prohibitive. I think Omnisphere 2 would be better there and I want that fucker so bad I can taste it, but it's out of my current budget right now. timaeus222 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theshaggyfreak Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Iris 2 doesn't seem very CPU intensive to me but I have plenty of CPU to spare on my quad i5 iMac. I definitely want to pick up Omnisphere at some point but there are other places I need to put my money first. As far as hardware goes, building simple projects can be quite cheep depending on what tools you own already. Synthrotek has some great little projects and it's also a good way to learn more about electronics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necrox Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 Synth1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteo Xavier Posted December 16, 2015 Author Share Posted December 16, 2015 I've already been using Synth1, but yeah, I keep forgetting that I even have it. Well, I think I'm edging closer to Omnisphere 2 upgrading. Anyone using that and could tell me if O2 is a huge resource hog for modern machines? I'm on 1.5 now and it works like a miracle, and I'd hate to plunk down $230 to upgrade and find out I need to stick with 1.5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 I don't remember if you're an FL guy, but it's got Harmor. It's a very unique sound design tool, and allows you to do some cool creative things like creating sounds out of bitmap images. Harmor can also be bought as a VST. Omnisphere 2 is not a different software than Omnisphere 1.5. It has a bigger library of sounds and has some extended features, that's all. So it's not any worse off in average processing cost (which has always been patch-dependent, really). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteo Xavier Posted December 17, 2015 Author Share Posted December 17, 2015 Hmm, Harmor's interesting. I wonder if I could get away with saving stuff I make in demo mode... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexstyle Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Yeah, Omnisphere 2 is just the same program (even the vst file stays the same, so all your projects will open O2 instead of O1 no matter what), just with upgrades and tons more sounds. No issues from upgrading for me. And definitely +1 for Harmor! That's a brilliant synth and the sound design potential is HUGE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteo Xavier Posted March 12, 2016 Author Share Posted March 12, 2016 Resurrecting this topic in continued search for cool sound manipulation programs or programs developers typically use to polish them. I'm asking in a Kontakt forum and this guy (who, according to him has been making Kontakt instruments for 15 years) tells me developers typically use NOTHING. I find that incredibly hard to believe and so confusing a response that I want to smack him for it. Izotope I'm still looking at for stuff. Their Trash 2 looks like something I could use and I'm thinking of re-installing Guitar Rig to further generate interesting sounds, but I'm still out of the loop as far as sound design processing plugins go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 1 hour ago, Meteo Xavier said: Resurrecting this topic in continued search for cool sound manipulation programs or programs developers typically use to polish them. I'm asking in a Kontakt forum and this guy (who, according to him has been making Kontakt instruments for 15 years) tells me developers typically use NOTHING. I find that incredibly hard to believe and so confusing a response that I want to smack him for it. Can you link the thread? One or both of you are misunderstanding each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteo Xavier Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 Why would I link the thread here? I'm just continuing to look for additional suggestions for sound design plugins, I don't need to import any drama to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 20 minutes ago, Meteo Xavier said: Why would I link the thread here? I'm just continuing to look for additional suggestions for sound design plugins, I don't need to import any drama to do that. Can't help you interpret his advice otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowpsyc Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 On 12/14/2015 at 1:52 PM, Meteo Xavier said: I have Omnisphere 1.5, Zebra 2, z3ta+ and all the major Native Instrument synths You already have a ton of good synthesis possibilities, I think you pretty much have all the basic methods covered so maybe more esoteric effects? I mostly use pretty simple effects myself so not sure what that would be, but as far as synths go I think you're looking more at minor upgrades like Harmor, Serum, Omni 2 etc rather than entirely new territory There's also just abusing what you already have, look at some of the things being done these days by chiptune artists or people who've been using sample trackers for decades for instance. Always something to be said for digging deeper instead of climbing out and starting a new hole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteo Xavier Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 Man, did I just choose a bad day to ask for audio plugin suggestions or what? I don't know how this keeps getting miscommunicated, but it sure is perplexing. :S Trackers aren't going to work here, I've been trying to use trackers for years and I find them a huge pain in the ass. The current suggestions here are good but I'm still looking for more as I don't know how much I'd be able to afford to undertake them, and having a range with well-known items in addition to obscure ones that might get recommended really helps. Google, once again, hasn't been as helpful as I'd hoped. That's why I'm still asking people what their gold standard for that stuff is to check into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowpsyc Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 I didn't suggest you use a tracker, I used them as an example of people who've stuck with the same tools for years and continue to get new things out of them. Zebra 2 would definitely make my list of gold standard VSTis and I know a lot of the NI stuff is great too although I don't own them myself. And I did make a few recommendations, Serum is arguably a more powerful wavetable synth than Massive and Harmor has already been recommended for the way it extends additive control into subtractive paradigms, and then you could save up for Omnisphere 2. But being that you said upgrading is out of your budget, it's good to point out that you already have some really nice stuff to work with and don't really "need" anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Just know that Spectrasonics, the company behind Omnisphere, restricts Omnisphere to music use only, afaik meaning you may not use it to make sound effects. I assume sound effects counts as a non-musical use. Licensing FAQ Quote Can I use the sounds from my Spectrasonics Virtual Instruments outside of music production?If you are considering any non-musical use of the sounds from your Spectrasonics Virtual Instruments, it's very important that you contact us directly in advance to clear any special, non-musical usage: info@spectrasonics.net Other sample-based products could have similar restrictions, and I suppose even synths could have if they're designed for a specific use, e.g. using Pianoteq to make a piano library would probably be restricted, but I haven't checked. I only know for sure about Omnisphere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteo Xavier Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 I am absolutely not using any samples that I don't have on good authority to know are public domain. I haven't even tried sound design with Omnisphere yet. 2 hours ago, shadowpsyc said: I didn't suggest you use a tracker, I used them as an example of people who've stuck with the same tools for years and continue to get new things out of them. Zebra 2 would definitely make my list of gold standard VSTis and I know a lot of the NI stuff is great too although I don't own them myself. Specifically, I'm talking about effects you typically put in mixing channels. Distortion, quality EQ, dehissers, stutter edit, other creative effects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 If you're talking about post-production stuff, iZotope is the gold standard, RX in particular. All of the sample editing people in Kontakt industry use RX. Its spectral editing capabilities basically outclass other plugins that do similar things. I wouldn't really consider it a creative effect, though. It's more for polish. If you open RX in standalone mode, you can batch process on large sets of wav files. I know that many, many sound designers (not for musical sounds, but for actual sound effect libraries, where they record, process, generate, etc.) use RX for their polish and cleaning up. For creative effects, I know that @Beatdrop really likes D16 plugins. Sigmund is a very cool delay plugin. And of course, I need to recommend the obvious: Reaktor. You can make anything in Reaktor, because its modular. V6 in particular. Look at Absynth FX, too. Absynth is one of my favorite synthesizer designs. If you get a handle on the interface, you can make really cool, wacky "out there" stuff. It can be used for FX processing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteo Xavier Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 8 hours ago, Neblix said: If you're talking about post-production stuff, iZotope is the gold standard, RX in particular. All of the sample editing people in Kontakt industry use RX. Its spectral editing capabilities basically outclass other plugins that do similar things. I wouldn't really consider it a creative effect, though. It's more for polish. If you open RX in standalone mode, you can batch process on large sets of wav files. I know that many, many sound designers (not for musical sounds, but for actual sound effect libraries, where they record, process, generate, etc.) use RX for their polish and cleaning up. For creative effects, I know that @Beatdrop really likes D16 plugins. Sigmund is a very cool delay plugin. And of course, I need to recommend the obvious: Reaktor. You can make anything in Reaktor, because its modular. V6 in particular. Look at Absynth FX, too. Absynth is one of my favorite synthesizer designs. If you get a handle on the interface, you can make really cool, wacky "out there" stuff. It can be used for FX processing. Praise the Lord, this is what I was looking for! Good stuff here, I didn't even think about trying the Absynth FX. I saw D16 briefly and I'll have another look at that. Good work, thanks 'blix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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