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ericcoleridge
Joined: Jan 16, 2007
Posts: 889
Location: NYC
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 Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 4:41 pm Post subject:
How to produce 'click' sound for percussion sounds?
Subject description: What kind of circuit would one use to make a click? |
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I'm just wondering if anyone knows-- I'm pretty sure this is a standard type of element in drum synthesis-- the 'click'. I guess a pulse might work? Or, I know that a lot of Envelope Generators/VCAs create a click artifact that people try to avoid. I wonder how one might go about emphasising that click.
Any ideas are welcome. I think this element is very important in getting a really punchy snare or percussion sound, and I haven't found any topics on this subject. |
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jumunius
Joined: Apr 19, 2010
Posts: 346
Location: San Francisco, CA
Audio files: 13
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| Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 11:00 pm Post subject:
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There is some description of a simple one that Thomas Henry used for his Bass Plus Plus here.
| Birth of a Synth wrote: |
And talking about cost effective, how about that impact generator? I learned this clever technique first hand from Craig Anderton, the guy who gave me my break in electronic music design and writing. (He used it to simplify one of my designs for _Polyphony_ magazine). The conditioned input pulse is coupled via D3 to a tone control network made up of C9, C10, R7 and R11. The pulse can be kept sharp or smoothed out for a bassier response by means of R14, the "Impact Tone" control. This is then applied to R31 which serves as the "Impact Volume" control. Note that R31 is ten times greater in value than R14; this is to prevent loading. I suppose a purist might turn his nose up at this approach, but I rather like it. It probably doesn't have quite the range the active impact generator in the Mega Percussive Synthesizer does, but then again it only uses a fraction of the parts. I've recorded some good music with this method, and in my book that's all that counts. |
So it seems like he's essentially adapting his trigger pulse as part of the signal. It reminds me of the kind of click you hear on an 808 kick, though I'm not sure if there's any design similarity.
For a different kind of punch, you might also consider adding a very very short, simple envelope to the VCO of your drums, to simulate the stretching of the head upon impact. It's killer on kicks (think the punchiest 909 sound), but probably could be used to good effect on certain snare and tom patches.
Also an LPG with a trigger pulse into the CV seems to add a nice bit of punch, but IIRC you are a Buchla enthusiast and probably already know this.
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-Jim |
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Clack
Joined: Aug 08, 2005
Posts: 438
Location: Walthamstow - london
Audio files: 5
G2 patch files: 1
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 5:13 am Post subject:
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Most old drum machines ( minipops , old rolands, organ drum machines ) literally use straight pulses to create kick drum sounds.
Simple filtering improves that sound. Add resonance you can get wood blocks , simple Tom sounds , hi hat. It's amazing what you can get even with a simple passive filter.
Then if you add complexity such as noise bursts, click clustering , vcf's , oscillators , VCAs You get claps , snares , skinned toms, cymbals
Check out the Roland manuals they are amazingly descriptive also Thomas Henry's drum cookbook is very good.
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Clacktronics.co.uk |
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ericcoleridge
Joined: Jan 16, 2007
Posts: 889
Location: NYC
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 4:48 pm Post subject:
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| jumunius wrote: | | There is some description of a simple one that Thomas Henry used for his Bass Plus Plus here. |
Yeah, the more I hear and read about the TH drum circuits, the more I realize that he's already designed exactly what I want. All of the recordings I've heard sound really great-- of course he's already incorporated the elements I've been thinking about. |
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ericcoleridge
Joined: Jan 16, 2007
Posts: 889
Location: NYC
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 5:07 pm Post subject:
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| Clack wrote: | Most old drum machines ( minipops , old rolands, organ drum machines ) literally use straight pulses to create kick drum sounds.
Simple filtering improves that sound. Add resonance you can get wood blocks , simple Tom sounds , hi hat. It's amazing what you can get even with a simple passive filter.
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I've been noticing how much I like simple fixed and passive filters for a lot sounds. All of my favorite, unusual kind of synths, like the Pro Soloist, Farfisa Synthorchestra, PolyMoog, Solina, etc seem to have this in common. I remember there was a lot of talk on Juergen Haible's forum about trying to reproduce a bunch of interesting fixed filters, it's too bad that it wasn't realized. Maybe some else will take the reigns. |
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