Ambient Sounds with Synplant: Creating Soundscapes

Tutorial | Oct 09, 2023

In this video, I demonstrate my process for creating ambient sounds and tracks using the Synplant synthesizer. I start by exploring different sounds and using the randomize feature to find new ones. I then adjust the envelopes and effects, and also incorporate Supermassive and Paul Stretch for added texture and ambiance.

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Questions & Answers #

Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:

What is the focus of this video? #

The focus of this video is on sound design using Synplant, an innovative synthesizer plugin. The creator demonstrates how to shape and customize sounds to create ambient tracks.

What techniques are shown in the video? #

The video showcases techniques such as randomizing sounds, adjusting envelopes, experimenting with effects, utilizing reverb and sampling, using Paul Stretch for stretching and manipulating sounds, recording and manipulating MIDI sequences, and using different plugins for additional effects.

How are the different elements of the track created? #

The track is created using multiple instances of Synplant, each exploring different sounds and branches. The creator manipulates the envelopes, grows the branches, adjusts tuning, and adds effects like reverb and distortion. The MIDI sequences and modulation wheel are used to create evolving and randomized patterns.

What plugins are used in the creation of the track? #

In addition to Synplant, the creator uses the Supermassive reverb plugin, Paul Stretch for stretching and manipulating sounds, Tape RC20 for tape compression and vinyl noise, DSEQ3 for harmonic control, Gain Aim for volume leveling, and an additional distortion or limiter plugin. These plugins are used to add depth, texture, and character to the final track.

Transcription #

This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.

[00:00:00] [Music]
[00:00:12] So in the last video I showed you what's new in Synplant.
[00:00:17] And in this video I want to show you a bit of sound design, what I used to do in the
[00:00:21] recent days to create some ambiances with that.
[00:00:25] Usually I just load up here a Synplant and see what kind of sound I have in there.
[00:00:32] And already sounds kinda nice.
[00:00:35] And you can randomize here, push this button right, use control and search for new sounds.
[00:00:44] So this sound is okay but has too many overtones.
[00:00:49] [Music]
[00:00:55] This is way too plucky.
[00:00:57] So if I want to stick with this sound I go into the DNA section here to envelopes and try to shape the envelope here a bit more to my liking.
[00:01:05] Make a slow ramp for the attack, right?
[00:01:10] And a slow ramp for the decay.
[00:01:15] Something like this.
[00:01:19] [Music]
[00:01:38] Then I see how it sounds when I grow the branches.
[00:01:42] [Music]
[00:01:49] Then make sure everything is in the correct tuning here.
[00:01:52] Maybe try out some effects.
[00:01:56] That's cool.
[00:01:58] And then on top of that I'm using just super massive here.
[00:02:03] Just use a nice reverb.
[00:02:06] [Music]
[00:02:16] And this output of this reverb I'm just sampling into Paul Stretch.
[00:02:22] Which is of course free.
[00:02:26] And then just record everything into the buffer here.
[00:02:29] Play around with the mod view and just play in the scale.
[00:02:32] In this case here it's D sharp minor so I'm playing just the root and the fifth and the fourth.
[00:02:37] And just the perfect keys, basically the perfect intervals.
[00:02:41] So let's record this here.
[00:02:44] [Music]
[00:02:54] Something like this.
[00:02:56] And then I just use the playback here.
[00:03:00] And the stretch amount.
[00:03:03] [Music]
[00:03:06] And create some kind of drone with this.
[00:03:09] [Music]
[00:03:11] Then I use here the throughput.
[00:03:13] And use the dry signal and place something on top of that in a different octave maybe.
[00:03:18] [Music]
[00:03:26] And you can record everything that you play on the keyboard.
[00:03:30] Also of course you can use the mod view on the keyboard here to change the growing of the branches.
[00:03:38] So I'm doing just that.
[00:03:41] [Music]
[00:04:06] [Music]
[00:04:16] [Music]
[00:04:26] [Music]
[00:04:50] So then we can hit here the record button and it starts to playback what we just recorded here in the background.
[00:04:58] So you can go into here the notes.
[00:05:01] Select all notes with control A and then use in the left side your operators and use the probability to bring this down to 50%.
[00:05:09] So not all notes play all the time.
[00:05:12] It's just different every time you iterate over this pattern here.
[00:05:17] So the pattern changes.
[00:05:20] [Music]
[00:05:23] And as you can see we still also recorded here the mod wheel in the background.
[00:05:28] So the branches are growing and change the sound.
[00:05:33] [Music]
[00:05:40] Okay.
[00:05:42] So now that we have this here in the background already playing.
[00:05:46] You can use maybe a different synth plant here for the second track.
[00:05:52] And you can search for a different sound maybe something for the bass.
[00:05:56] [Music]
[00:06:05] We play just an octave lower.
[00:06:08] [Music]
[00:06:15] It's already nice I think.
[00:06:18] [Music]
[00:06:30] Maybe let's try our luck here.
[00:06:33] [Music]
[00:06:39] Now we can use that.
[00:06:41] [Music]
[00:07:04] So we have some kind of loop setting here.
[00:07:07] And we can use here the synchronized setting right one fourth note.
[00:07:11] [Music]
[00:07:23] Maybe bring this down one octave.
[00:07:26] It's too low.
[00:07:28] [Music]
[00:07:41] Kind of like the sound here.
[00:07:44] Let's bring this back.
[00:07:47] [Music]
[00:08:08] I want to keep this mono.
[00:08:10] So the effects here bring in too much you know.
[00:08:14] Too much difference to the left and right channel.
[00:08:17] [Music]
[00:08:27] So let's record something here.
[00:08:29] [Music]
[00:08:54] Or maybe we change this here a bit.
[00:08:57] [Music]
[00:09:07] Just length.
[00:09:08] Something like this.
[00:09:10] [Music]
[00:09:16] Use the mod field here.
[00:09:18] [Music]
[00:09:27] And also maybe super massive on there.
[00:09:30] [Music]
[00:09:37] Maybe a bit of distortion or limiter at least.
[00:09:40] [Music]
[00:09:50] Okay that's it for the bass so far.
[00:09:52] [Music]
[00:10:13] This could be nice.
[00:10:14] Let's use the reverb here from the first channel.
[00:10:19] [Music]
[00:10:28] It's okay that's a bit plucky here.
[00:10:31] It's completely fine.
[00:10:33] [Music]
[00:10:51] You can also synchronize this here.
[00:10:53] [Music]
[00:10:59] And yeah we just record this here again.
[00:11:02] [Music]
[00:11:22] [Music]
[00:11:48] Let's play this here.
[00:11:50] And then maybe we change here the loop settings a bit.
[00:11:53] [Music]
[00:11:56] Stretch this a bit out.
[00:11:57] [Music]
[00:12:26] So on the first whole stretch here we can maybe
[00:12:32] switch this one off the floor.
[00:12:34] [Music]
[00:12:45] And bring in delay here.
[00:12:47] [Music]
[00:12:59] In the background you can see in here another track I made
[00:13:02] exactly in the same way.
[00:13:04] Just using here three synth plans,
[00:13:06] exploring the sounds, the different branches,
[00:13:09] playing around with the mod wheel,
[00:13:11] creating these kind of progressions.
[00:13:14] Put everything through one reverb here on the master,
[00:13:17] a supermassive.
[00:13:20] Then a bit of tape compression here with tape.
[00:13:24] RC20 with a bit of vinyl noise.
[00:13:28] DSAQ3 to get rid of some harmonics, right?
[00:13:32] And that's basically it.
[00:13:34] There's also gain aim here to get a static volume of the master.
[00:13:39] And then you just record it and have some fun with it.
[00:13:43] And I think it's a nice way to explore sounds
[00:13:47] to create collages of sounds and some, of course,
[00:13:51] ambient tracks.
[00:13:53] [Music]
[00:13:57] So that's it for this video.
[00:13:59] I want to show you basically how I work in terms of
[00:14:03] making ambient sounds or ambient tracks with Simpland.
[00:14:07] And if you like the video, please like it,
[00:14:09] subscribe to the channel.
[00:14:11] Thanks for watching and see you in the next video. Bye.
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