Is there a site to talk about sounds?

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I'm not a professional, but I play music from bands like Elbow, Genesis, etc. Have an old SP-88 & a new Roland RD-800. Say that I want to get advice on a sound in the Elbow song, "Starlings". Is there a discussion group somewhere for that?
 

SeaGtGruff

I meant to play that note!
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You can always ask for advice here, although I don't know whether anyone would be able to help you. I'm not familiar with the song you mentioned, but I'll give it a listen and see what sound you're talking about.

There are a few sites that talk about synth sounds and understanding how to program synths (i.e., design sounds). Try searching for things like "synth tutorial," "sound design," "synth programming," etc. There are also some books that talk about this. One author-- Simon Cann-- turned to writing non-music books instead, and made one of his books available as a free download:

http://noisesculpture.com/how-to-make-a-noise-a-comprehensive-guide-to-synthesizer-programming/
 

Fred Coulter

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I've noticed that Korgforums has discussions on "how do I create this sound" on the various boards for the specific Korg keyboards. I don't own a Roland, but I know there's a Roland board out there. I suspect (but could be wrong) that the same type of discussion could take place there, aimed at your specific keyboard.

Of course, you could luck out and someone here has your keyboard and likes creating new sounds.
 

SeaGtGruff

I meant to play that note!
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If you can link to a specific video of "Starlings" and identify the timestamp when the particular sound is played, it might help.

Speaking in general, the first step is to identify the type of wave(s) used for the oscillator(s)-- sine, saw, triangle, pulse, etc. If two or more oscillators generating different waveforms are being used, it can be trickier to identify them, especially if one is retriggering or modulating the other. The oscillators can also be tricky to get right because of things like octave tuning, semitone tuning, and fine tuning of each oscillator, as well as their relative amplitudes.

Then go after the ADSR envelope to get the basic shape/action of the notes.

And finally, play with the filter controls, the effects (reverb, chorus, etc.), and-- if pertinent-- things like glide or portamento.

Sometimes it helps to just identify the particular synth being used, since different synths might use different types of synthesis, or offer specific waveforms or other features, and information like that might help with narrowing things down.

Or you might luck out and find an interview where the synth player was asked about a particular sound in a particular song.
 

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