Adding stereo depth to your synth can make the somewhat lame not so bad, and the absolutely awesome, completely incredible.
It ups your game.
For a while, I really struggled to create interesting sounds with my synths. While there are a ton of possibilities for creating deep, interesting, and evolving sounds without using any effects at all, using some audio effects can really help speed the process along, especially for beginners in synthesis.
Here are three really easy ways to add stereo depth to your synths.
By the way, if you are new to Ableton, The Complete Transition Course comes with 15 great sounds you can start using immediately. You can check that out in the link above.
Method One:
Reverb
It’s great if you’ve got a reverb setting you like, but even if you are using a basic stock setting, reverb creates variation in the left and right steep fields. This is because it emulates the sound of your instrument in a room. If you need a great reverb, you can download my favorite one for free by clicking here.Even a basic sine wave goes completely stereo just by setting up the wet-dry knob to above 50%.
That’s not a bad deal.
Method Two
Chorus
Chorus is a great effect. In short, a chorus takes your incoming signal, duplicates it and delays the duplicate. It also slowly adjusts the rate that the signal is duplicated it. It creates an awesome effect that you probably hear way more often then you realize.
Ableton’s default chorus sounds really nice as is.
Another great chorus you can check out is the Tal-Chorus-LX
Method Three
Delay
Using a delay can offset the stereo field slightly and create a little bit more depth.
Try un-syncing a simple delay plugin. Set both values to be very short, but one slightly shorter than the other, and then the wet dry to 30%.
Boom. Variation across your stereo field.
One Final Note
In each of these examples, I demonstrated what these audio effects change a basic sine wave. Now image these audio effects on something that is way more complex a sound. The more complex you can make your synth before you put them through effects, the better. But the effects are there to help us, so there is no reason not to put them to good use.
Now, get out there and make something you’re proud of. You’re already well on your way and armed with new tools.
Connect with me personally and an entire community to Ableton users on my Facebook group. It’s a great place to give and receive support, and the easiest way to contact me.
I look forward to seeing you there
Until next time, happy creating
-Brett