Massive Tutorials
Making a Layered Digital Didgeridoo in NI Massive with OhmLab – Part 8 (of 10)
The Eighth in a 10 part series of tutorials by ΩhmLab using NI Massive exclusively to create every component of a complete song. This installment focuses on creating a digital didgeridoo-like instrument for our project.
Part 1: Creating a Unique Background Element in NI Massive
Part 2: Harmony, Rhythm and Atmosphere
Part 3: Synth Creation From Scratch
Part 4: Drums in NI Massive
Part 5: Plucky Synth Blips
Part 6: Custom Feedback Synths
Part 7: Making a Harmonic Distortion Pad
Welcome to part eight of this ongoing series of ten, where we are building a song made up of nothing but sounds made entirely from scratch within Massive. In this installment we will be building a very different kind of sound. We are shooting for funky, unique, catchy and kind of akin to a didgeridoo in nature. I know, it may sound a little odd, but I think it will work well in the end.
Letʼs begin with selecting our first waveform from the OSC 1 drop down menu. I have picked Cicada. Raise the Pitch value to 24.00 and adjust knobs and sliders to match the images below.
And from the OSC 2 panel you will want to pick Cicada again from the drop down menu. Raise the Pitch value to 36.00 and adjust the knobs accordingly.
For our third waveform you want to select Modern Talking from the drop down menu of the OSC 3 panel. Lower the Pitch value to -12.00 and make the proper adjustments.
Now that we have our base sounds working, we can move up to the FILTER 1 panel. You want to choose the Lowpass 4 filter from the drop down menu.
Move now to the FILTER 2 panel and pick Lowpass 4 from this drop down menu, as well.
We need to bump this sound up a bit, so move over to the FX 1 tab and select Classic Tube form the drop down menu. Adjust the knobs to match the images below before moving on the the next step.
And form the FX 2 tab you will want to grab the Dimension Expander effect from the drop down menu.
And before we leave this area letʼs turn on the EQ and round the sound out a little.
Alright. Letʼs head back down and visit the MODULATION OSC panel and make a couple changes. Go ahead and set the Pitch value to 12.00 and set both the Ring Mod and Phase modes to Oscillator 2. Turn the RM and Phase up a little before moving on.
While we are here, letʼs set up the NOISE and FEEDBACK panels. Make sure you have White Noise selected and adjust the sliders on both panels to match the images below.
Moving just to the right now we can set up the INSERT 1 panel. Grab the Sample & Hold effect form the drop down menu.
Now letʼs go to the OSC tab and make a few changes. Click on the Rate box and set the Pitchbend values to 2.00 UP and -2.00 Down. Next adjust the vibrato Rate knob to match up with the image below and move both the Attack and Decay envelope sliders just to the left of center.
Move over to the VOICING tab and click on the Monorotate box under Voicing, turn on Pitch Cutoff and click the Chord box (it may be used in automation later on, which is why it is being set up now). Turn on Pan Position and move the slider all the way to the left (Full Inv).
*Your sound at this step will probably sound bigger than the audio example below.
OK. Now we will set up the main Envelope tab. Head to 4Env and make sure to match up the settings and listen to the audio sample at the bottom of the image to make sure you have it right.
And now for the four controller tabs. Start with the 5 LFO tab and move right towards the 8 STEP tab. Again, pay close attention to the settings. We will be back here again soon to add some Macros before we are done.
Now itʼs time for the real fun! Set up all your Macros and apply them along with the other controllers you just set up to the rest of the project. If you want to achieve the same sound you hear in the audio sample below you need to follow the images closely.
Crazy sound, eh? It is going to change the entire feel of the song we are building, and thatʼs a good thing! (Do not be alarmed because your sound is a little bigger than the last audio example, this is due to a small change made during the posting of this walkthrough.) I think we will only need one more sound and then we will be able to piece the instruments weʼve created together into a nice song. So check back soon for the ninth installment of the series.
In the meantime apply some of the methods you have learned this far to sounds that you have made prior to this tutorial and see how they change. Chances are you will find yourself very pleased with what you can do! Thanks again for stopping by.
Cheers!
ΩhmLab
[Download_feature href=”https://ohmlabmusic.com/Presets/OhmLab%20DigiDidge.ksd” buttontext=”Download the OhmLab Preset”] Layered Digital Didgeridoo [/Download_feature]
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