Roland SH-09 - Page 32

31
Designing
your own
patches is
very
rewarding
and
not
all
that difficult
You should
always begin
by
listening
carefully
to any sound
you wish
to syn-
thesize,
clearly
visualizing in your
mind
any sound
you wish
to create. Once
you
have
a
strong
enough
idea
about the
sound you
are
seeking
that
you
can
base decisions
upon
it
building
a patch
for
that sound
can follow
a
logical process.
Figure
2 represents
one
such
process, building
a
synthesizer
sound
as you would a
pyramid
—
beginning
with
a solid
foundation,
adding building
blocks,
and
tying it
all together with
a capstone. If
your
foundation
blocks are
not
correct or
at least
relatively
close
no
degree of subtlety with other
building
blocks
can
correct the
error.
Foundation
decisions
concern basic pitch,
tone and
volume.
Decide on
a basic pitch range,
selecting
exact
octave
and
keyboard
use as you proceed.
Next
select
a basic
waveform
for
one oscillator
(do
you need
the
buzz of
sawtooth, the hollow
clarinet
quality of
square, or
the
nasal quality
of
pulse?)
and
make
a preliminary
guess
concerning
whether
the VCF
is 'active'
(raise
the
Envelope
slider) or
'passive'
(raise the
Cutoff
slider).
You
final
basic
foundation
decision is
the basic
ADSR
shape
-
play long and short
notes on
the
keyboard
as you
set these controls.
Keep
your mind
open
about
these
settings
and adjust them
as you
proceed,
adding
an extra
oscillator or
mixing
VCF
controls
as
needed.
Once
you are satisfied with
your
basic
Foundation
decisions,
proceed through
the finer
points
These
are
basically self-explamatory,
but
remember
to
keep
your basic sound
firmly
in
mind
and
.pay
attention
to
your keyboard
technique
—
it has an
influence
on many 'parts
of
your
sound.
Again,
the final major consideration
is the
Style
with
which
you
perform the
patch.
If
you are imitating
a
sound,
study
the style.
If
you are
creating
a sound.
decide
upon one style and stick
to
it.
This discussion on designing
you rown
patches
shows only one of many
approaches. As
you use it,
backtrack and change anything
you discover
is
faulty.
Go
back
through
this
manual and
study
the
text and
the patches. The aural
lessons
learned
there
will make patching
easier
as you recognise
patterns in
sound.
CAPSTONE
STYLE
suiting
your
performance
style
and
imagination
to
the
sound.
other internal
effects
such
as
PWM,
S/H,
etc.
external
effects such
as
reverb or
tone
control
Bender
pitch and/or tone
how
much?
how. often
Portamento
how much?
Continuous
or
occasional?
Keyboard
technique
and
its influence
on
ADSR,
Mod
delay,
etc
Vibrato-needed?
depth? delay?
Resonance-tone,
motion
Env.
mode-Gate,
Gate
+
Trigger
Trernolo-needed?
depth?
delay?
PITCH
VCO
range,
Keyboard use,
mix of
oscillations.
TONE
•
Basic
VCO
wave
shape
Action
VCF
(Envelope
Control)
or
Passive
VCF
(Cutoff
slider)
•
Mix
of
oscillators
N
D
T
VOLUME
note
volume,
shape,
length
as controlled
by
ADSR or VCA
N