As I write this post, we are just over a week away from Christmas 2019. ‘Tis the season of the songs and movies we re-watch every year, family traditions, and a time to reset and cast new vision.
My wife loves the song “Last Christmas”. And so in honor of her favorite holiday song, I’ve decided to recreate all the synth patches used on it.
If you’re a keyboardist, make sure you also check out Practical Sound Design For Keyboardists, which will teach you to make the most out of the patches you make.
Onward and upward.
The Pulsing Synth
The rhythmic synth part was originally created using a Juno-60. Ableton’s wavetable has a wavetable from both the saw and the squares, and so rather than reinventing the wheel, thats a great place to start.
Of course, nothing is as iconic from the Juno as the Chorus. Tal audio makes a great free Chorus Plug-In that is worth picking up. It’s what I used on this patch
Pro Tip
Make sure you pitch this patch down atleast 2 octaves so you can play this along with the bell parts simultaneously
The Bells
Creating bells is easiest to do with FM synthesis.
Bells have unevenly spaced harmonics. In other words, you may hear the intended pitch most clearly, but behind that pitch, there are many others that if played at equal volume would sound dissonant.
The non-sciency way to build bells is to start with one oscillator set to “1”, and as you go through each operator choose an odd number and have it at.
You will also want to make sure that your envelope is shaped correctly. I go into detail about that on this post.
What to do now
Get a copy of the quick synth map for easy reference of all the parameters used in this video. If you really want to master synthesis, grab a copy of practical sound design for keyboardists.
Play with these sounds, and make them your own!