ES2 Synthesiser in Logic Pro X
Subtractive synthesis is based around a single wave form such as sine (pure tone), sawtooth, square and triangle. The most important elements are an, Oscillator, a filter, and Amp and LFOs. Some basic subtractive synthesisers have only one oscillator and one LFO and have a basic amp section.
This particular synth is the one I am most familiar with in logic as I used it a lot during the first two trimesters her at SAE. Although I have had a lot of practice making my own synth patches I’ve felt a little bit stuck with the variety of my synth sounds and wanted to research into EXACTLY how this synth works and give myself an opportunity to extend my knowledge on how this particular synth works.
So, the specs on the ES2 include traditional oscillators, as well as FM synthesis as there are three multi-wave shaped oscillators that can me blended or modulated together (using both FM and subtractive synthesis). Some of the other advanced features that the ES2 has are:
· Built in filters
· Poly, mono and legato listen back modes
· you are able to control aspects of the sound in the output of the signal flow also (such as the sine wave amount)
· The XY square which allows you to modulate Oscillators as you please
· LFO’s and Envelopes- LFO1 is polyphonic and LFO 2 is monophonic
· ENV1 is used to affect time-based inputs such as the cut off frequencies or modular rate. And ENV 2 and three have the same features but 3 is used for volume control. These are the most important part when routing in a subtractive synthesis.
I used all three oscillators to recreate a synth sound in one of my favourite songs that I used as a reference for the scratch track for our project. Tennis use a Wurley synth effect on a modern synth key board to create their sounds. I liked the wobbly affect that is has and wanted to recreate this particular sounding Wurley patch I heard to use in my own music.
I began with the oscillators I know that the attack of the sound was low so I just started with a basic sine wave then put the attack on ENV 3 to 18 milliseconds, not too long. I then made the release of the sound 820 milliseconds so that the modulated affects could ring out and create a dissonant affect after the chord would be release. I left the decay quiet high at 3700 ms. After I could head that I had the right shape of the sound I then went in a did some tuning. I tuned up the first oscillator 12 tones, turned on the second and third oscillators and made them all sine waves. This was a creative decision that I made and I know I’d use resonance in the cut off section of the synthesiser to create some contrast and the other wave forms sounded too harsh.
To get the swelling sound that the Wurley is known for I incorporated two different techniques to achieve a similar sound, using an ENV and a phaser in the output side of the synth. I routed the target to pitch123 then turned off the modulation wheel and routed it to ENV2. This way I was able to mess with the pitching as a time-based affect. I set the rate to 0.11 which makes is only slightly detuned. Then used the attack and release in the ENV to make the pitch affect immediate. I Put a slow phaser, with a low intensity to compliment the detuned sound.
I used the cut off 1+2 and routed it to EV 1 which is like adding another oscillator really only more fine-tuned to control the cut of frequencies. I put the cut off the about half way and used a band pass filter to find the right texture of frequencies I was after.
Finally, I added a little bit of distortion like the synth I heard in the Tennis song had. This was a cool experience to re-create a synth that I liked after knowing it was a hard ware synth. I’d like to further my knowledge in synthesis and through recreating more synth sounds for practice. Over all I’m happy with my ability to use the ES2 to create synths I like to have a little more direction for myself when creating new sounds.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dCiPeGYNR1KGoIu1JLRaXd0mtGlZIWSb/view?usp=sharing
REFERENCES
Australia, R. (2018). A Beginner's Guide to Subtractive Synthesis - Roland Australia. Retrieved from https://www.rolandcorp.com.au/blog/beginners-guide-subtractive-synthesis
Subtractive synthesis. (2018). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtractive_synthesis
What Every Logic Pro User Ought To Know About Synthesizers. (2018). Retrieved from http://logicstudiotraining.com/members/synth-cheat-sheet/
Tennis - Ladies Dont Play Guitar (Chords). (2018). Retrieved from https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/tennis/ladies_dont_play_guitar_chords_2228925
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