| One of the most overlooked and powerful tools for | | | | analogs like the Roland JX-3P or JX-10 have limited |
| creating percussion sounds in this modern age of soft | | | | percussive functionality in a real-time sense because |
| samplers, emulators, and other sophisticated tools is | | | | the ramp-up time for the envelope is a bit too long for |
| the humble subtractive analog synthesizer. Learning | | | | sequencing- if this is the synth you are using, try a |
| how to generate exciting drum sounds also takes a lot | | | | different one if available or edit the sound in a |
| of the mystery out of creating other percussive | | | | computer to correct the timing after recording), decay |
| sounds, such as basses and plucked-string type | | | | at one third to one half, zero sustain, and little or no |
| sounds, as well as providing an exciting way to | | | | release. Play with the decay time to taste especially. |
| personalize your music. | | | | You should now be able to play a bass drum pattern |
| First, let's make a basic kick drum type sound. Most | | | | from your keyboard and record or sequence it for |
| any analog or virtual/soft analog synth with one or | | | | later performance. |
| more of the following will suffice: An | | | | Now to augment the bass drum sound. Here are |
| oscillator,preferably with a sine wave generator, a | | | | some suggestions: |
| resonant filter, a white noise generator, and an | | | | Use a bit of white noise blended with the oscillator to |
| envelope (that preferably can be routed to the filter as | | | | give the sound a bit more excitement, and if the |
| well as the amplifier). With these simple parameters a | | | | volume of the white noise can be controlled |
| wide range of percussion can be achieved. | | | | separately, apply a different envelope with a very |
| The bass drum sound can now be divided into at least | | | | short decay time to help keep things snappy. |
| two components: The harmonic content and the | | | | If you can modulate oscillator pitch with an envelope, |
| envelope. To begin, program an oscillator to generate | | | | try a slight amount of downward decay. This models |
| a sine or triangle wave, so that when you play a key, | | | | an acoustic drum's property of, when excited (by a |
| a muted, boring sound comes out of the synth. A sine | | | | hand, beater, or stick), initially tightening against the drum |
| wave is best for bass drums, but a triangle can be | | | | head and loosening, which translates to a slightly higher |
| used to great effect and alternate waveforms can | | | | pitch at the initial transient, followed by a lower sweep |
| also provide different takes on the more classic | | | | to the fundamental frequency. Again, moderation is |
| sounds made by vintage drum machines of | | | | key for this type of sound. |
| yesteryear. If a sine wave is not available (as is true | | | | Effects can be very useful for percussion, but as far |
| on many analog synths), try a triangle wave, but pull | | | | as bass drums go, there seems to be a bit of |
| the filter cutoff frequency down a fair amount, to | | | | consensus on most-handy sonic treatments. Distortion, |
| about half its range. This should pull out some of the | | | | compression, and slight equalization (EQ) can be quite |
| overtones, providing a strong fundamental. | | | | beneficial for making a kick drum have more |
| Really, the only other portion of this basic sound is the | | | | personality and sit more easily in a mix. Also adjust the |
| envelope, which should have the following parameters | | | | pre-effect sound to see if an effect is actually |
| (which of course can and should be tweaked to your | | | | necessary. Often by tweaking other parameters in the |
| individual taste): Immediate attack (this is where some | | | | synth patch, effects become less necessary (and can |
| synths can show their true colors, as some older | | | | be covering up for sloppy programming). |