Renewed Vision
Sep 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Doug Eisengrein
The impact of the synthesizer on modern music is undeniable. With a history that is pushing the 40-year mark, it is pretty safe to say that synthesizers have certainly come of age at this point, as have the musical ideas that they have inspired. Yet even though every night, in countless clubs, bands play covers of famous rock, jazz and pop tunes, synth-based music, it seems, is not often being memorialized. So in step with the third release of one of today's favorite soft-synth workstations, Propellerhead Reason, this article seeks to remedy that by showing appreciation for a few pioneering electronic-music classics. The concept? Using only Reason 3.0's built-in instruments and ReFills (and no samples whatsoever), you can attempt to emulate, as closely as possible, a few select patches from a variety of classic tracks.
THE METHOD
As a general working template for each replication attempt, here is the process that I used: First, I called up both a Subtractor and a Malstrõm synth and surfed through all of the included presets in the Reason Factory Sound Bank, searching for somewhat similar patches to use as raw sonic blocks to sculpt. With all of the songs, Subtractor won out in every instance and with little surprise — its architecture, unlike the Malstrõm's, more closely resembles most old-school synths. One of Subtractor's features that proved handy throughout this process was its ability to crossfade between the two different oscillators; this allowed me to isolate each tone and dial it in independently, then quickly preview the changes in the mix. As I found patches that were good working bases, I saved them as-is to custom patch folders and proceeded to save several iterations as changes were made.
In each of the three instances, I found similar traits among the different possible base presets, most notable of which was the inclusion of the same basic waveforms. I used this as a guide as I shaped the chosen patch. What I found most helpful was to splice a loop out of each original track, save it as a REX2 file and play it with a Dr.Rex player right underneath the synth patch I was working on. This allowed me to dial in the patches in real time without having to go back and forth between the two, trying to rely on memory for comparison. As the general tones took shape, I added effects as needed, and once I felt all of the necessary gear was in place, I combined each set of instruments into Reason 3.0's handy new Combinator device and saved them as custom Combinator patches for later recall.
PROGRAM YOUR COMPUTER
Although they certainly weren't the first electronic musicians by any means, few artists have had as profound an impact on electronic music as those in Germany's Kraftwerk. The group's seminal 1981 album, Computer World (Warner Bros.), contained many of its best-known songs to date and crystallized the Kraftwerk sound and image as man-machine. Read on to learn how to re-create the main melodic synth heard in Kraftwerk's prophetic track “Home Computer.”
Within Subtractor, use the Boards Pad preset, which uses a sine and a triangle wave, from the Pads directory in the Reason Factory Sound Bank as your launching pad. The first change will be a swapping of the sine wave for Wave 16, which will become the basic building blocks of this patch. Although the “Home Computer” synth seems elementary, many substantial changes to Subtractor need to be made, including raising both oscillators up an octave: Wave 16 goes from 4 to 5, and the triangle wave moves from 3 to 4. Change both Phase Modes to negative, and turn off the Ring Mod. You also need to alter the Amp and Filter Envelopes (the new ADSR settings will be 52, 44, 59, 61 for the Amp and 0, 105, 0, 127 for the Filter), as well as both Filters: Set Filter 1 to 24-octave lowpass, and engage Filter 2 (previously, it was not). I programmed this patch using a sequence of very short staccato notes, particularly to allow the interplay between the different ADSR settings to emulate the natural decay of Kraftwerk's patch (rather than relying on note length). This is important to note, because without the use of staccato notes, the patch doesn't sound much like Kraftwerk's original at all.
At this point, you may find that the patch still sounds overly bright and is missing some punch in a specific upper-mid area. To fix this, simply call up the MClass Mastering Suite (new in Reason 3.0) followed by a UN-16 Unison for some extra body. Next, engage all five bands of the equalizer. The key here is to create a subtle boost with Param 2; to do this, set the frequency to 6.926 Hz, the Gain to 9.1 and the Q to a relatively narrow 7.1. The combination of full-width Q settings and gain cuts on both Param 1 and the Lo Shelf, along with the engaged Lo Cut, will work to de-emphasize the bottom while letting that little boost around 7 kHz shine through. The UN-16 needs a Voice Count setting of 8, a Detune of 40 and a Dry/Wet ratio of 55. From there, you can create a master Combinator patch and save the whole shebang.
PLANETARY APPEAL
Clearly displaying the proof of Kraftwerk's influence in electronic music is “Planet Rock” by Afrika Bambaataa and Soul Sonic Force from 1982. Al-though the track is an undeniable classic in its own right, the main melody was heavily borrowed (admittedly by Bam himself) from Kraftwerk's 1977 cut “Trans Europe Ex-press,” and the rhythm was arguably just as lifted.
The main synth line in “Planet Rock” is a midrange organlike affair, and although none of Reason's Subtractor presets truly fit the bill, the obvious starting point is Warm Pad from the Pads folder in the Factory Sound Bank. Several of Subtractor's presets that somewhat resemble the “Planet Rock” synth line use a sawtooth wave loaded into at least one of the two oscillators, and Warm Pad has it loaded into both. But to truly get the sound of “Planet Rock,” you will need to substitute Wave 26 in oscillator 1. You also need to move the octave of both oscillators from 3 to 5, with both LFOs all but removed. The Keyboard should be set to 0 and the Amount lowered from 46 to 0. You need to change both the Amp Envelope and the Filter Envelope, as well; the previous module's Amp Envelope ADSR settings of 40, 100, 0, 72 should now be 50, 127, 0, 60, and the Filter Envelope ADSR settings should move from 72, 111, 56, 97 to 0, 127, 0, 63.
After dialing in Subtractor's tone as closely as possible, the raw synth should sound a bit harsh in the highs. Although there is a slight bit of natural chorusing from the interaction of the two oscillators, the patch needs a bit more chorus effect to open it up. At this point, you need to call up an MClass Equalizer and a CF-101 Chorus/Flanger. Use the MClass to trim the high frequencies and to add a touch of boost to the bass. To do this, engage Params 1 and 2 and the Hi Shelf. Set Param 1 to a frequency of 87.9 Hz, with 3.7 dB of gain and Q spread of 3.2. Next, set Param 2 to a frequency of 1.474 Hz, cut the gain by -10.6 dB and set the Q to 1.6. Finally, use the Hi Shelf at its lowest setting of 3.0 Hz, cut the Gain to its lowest setting of -18.3 and open up the Q to 0.62. All of this should result in a fairly sharp decline from about 625 Hz and up. With the CF-101, use a medium chorus setting, with Delay set to maximum (127), Feedback set to +34, LFO set to a rate of 38 and maximum Mod Amount of 127. Sync and send modes should be left disengaged. Again, once you're happy with the results, pack it all away neatly inside a Combinator and save the patch.
WIN-WIN SITUATION
You simply can't have a discussion of synth patches without some sort of nod to '80s synth pop. Yaz's classic “Situation” — from the group's 1982 album, Upstairs at Eric's (Sire) — shows off the deft knob-twiddling skills of keyboardist Vince Clarke (who was also a founding member of both Depeche Mode and Erasure). For this piece, start with the Comp City preset from the PolySynths directory of the Factory Sound Bank. Like with the original “Planet Rock” preset, the sawtooth waves loaded into each oscillator will need to be swapped out with Waves 5 and 16 in oscillators 1 and 2, respectively. The original synth in “Situation” is relatively complex; it sounds as though Clarke panned the dry synth line hard left and placed a gated delay on a copy of the signal, which was then panned hard right. To emulate this, you need to call up a Spider Audio Merger & Splitter and send Subtractor's mono output to one of the Spider's inputs.
Next, create a Micromix Line Mixer 6:2, and route one of the Spider's throughputs to the left input on Micromix channel 1; then, send another throughput into a DDL-1 Digital Delay on its left (mono) input. Finally, route the DDL-1's right output to the right input of Micromix's channel 1, and set the pan control on the DDL-1's front panel also to hard right. Precise routing of the delay unit is important; routing it any other way doesn't work properly. Even if Subtractor's tone sounded right on the money, adding the DDL-1 will instantly make the basic notes sound much more familiar. Because Reason doesn't have a gate, set the DDL-1's Feedback setting to 0. Turn the Dry/Wet control to fully wet. Finally, with the delay, make sure you set the Unit control to Steps and the Step Length to 1/16. There are also some key Subtractor parameters that need tweaking: Change the attack of the Amp Envelope from 0 to 30; lower the original Frequency setting of Filter 1 from 65 to 55, and lift the Resonance from 0 to 32; drop the Frequency of Filter 2 to 107 from 125; and for the Filter Envelope, raise Attack to 16, Sustain to 93 and Release to 127. Now, save it as you did with the other patches, and get ready for an '80s dance party.
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