Subtractive synthesis.

A piece of music made using subtractive synthesis techniques!

Subtractive synthesis involves taking away frequencies from a ‘complex’ wave (like a saw or square wave) through filtering to create our musical sound.

The piece which you can have a listen to above was made on a Korg Minologue, using the Minologue’s sequencer with a patch that I designed, as well as modulating aspects of the sound throughout like pitch and noise.

FM Synthesis

A piece of music made using FM synthesis techniques!

FM (frequency modulation) synthesis is a process in which a signal (called a carrier) is affected by several modulators. Unlike subtractive synthesis, in FM synthesis we typically start with a ‘simple’ waveform (sine wave) and shape it with our various modulators.

I was interested in making noisy and chaotic sounds. I am interested to find out whether FM or additive synthesis would be better for making noisy, harsh, chaotic and unpredictable sounds.

The instruments/samples I made using FM synthesis also had rhythmic elements of pop and techno, so I used these to start creating some sound ideas. I then decided to use it to remix SOPHIE’s ‘VYZEE’, as some of the sounds in my palette reminded me of SOPHIE’s music. I think it ended up working really well when I put her vocals and drum stems with the synthesis elements I had made.

Additive Synthesis

A piece of music made using additive synthesis techniques!

Additive synthesis is a process more similar to FM synthesis, but it involves adding sine waves together at different frequencies to create harmonically rich sounds.

I made this piece using the ARP Odyssey as a starting point, as well as using the Korg Minilogue for the melody and the intro you hear at the start.

I made a patch which sounded like birdsong with the Odyssey. I messed around with this patch by turning knobs almost at random to control the modulation, frequency width etc.

Making these three sound sketches, which sound so different from one another even though they all start from an oscillator, showed me how powerful synthesis can be.