Massive Tutorials
Plucky Synth Blips in NI Massive with OhmLab - Part 5 (of 10)
The Fifth 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 complex plucky synth blip instrument.
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
Hi there, and welcome back to part 5 of this ongoing series where we have already built several sounds from scratch within massive, and will build a couple more before we begin producing the song. In this installment we will create a mellow, and beautiful, synth blip sound. It will work to further enhance the beat of the song and it will build another layer of harmonic sound to the soundscape that is the foundation of the project.
This walkthrough contains a lot of little changes in a lot of areas, therefore I have chosen to include more images and reduce text in an effort to keep things less complicated. We will also be applying all of our controllers at the very end for simplicity.
Let us again start by selecting a few waveforms to generate our initial sound. Beginning with the OSC 1 panel, choose Bronze form the drop down menu.
You also want to add the Bend + option from the second drop down menu. Adjust the parameters to match the images below before moving on.
On to the OSC 2 panel now. Here you will want to select the Drive I waveform from the drop down menu.
Now moving to the second drop down menu, pick Formant and adjust the knobs to match the images below.
And for the OSC 3 panel we want to chose the Iron option from the drop down menu.
A few minor adjustments now and you will be ready to move on.
Now letʼs move to the MODULATION OSC panel. We are going to make a few selections here, and like many of the setting already made we will return to make more changes later in the tutorial. Take notice of the fact that each Mode offers an opportunity to further manipulate the parameters through the use of Envelopes, Macros, etc, which is what makes a lot of this kind of sound creation possible within Massive.
After setting the Pitch value to 36.00 set the Phase mode to Oscillator 2, the Position mode to Oscillator 1 and the Filter FM mode to Oscillator 2.
Letʼs also add an insert while we are down here. I chose the INSERT 2 panel at random (itʼs where my mouse landed), you can just as easily use INSERT 1. Choose Frequency Shifter from the drop down menu and make the following adjustments.
Now we can add a couple of filters. Start with the FILTER 1 panel and choose the Bandreject filter form the drop down menu.
And for the second filter grab Daft from the FILTER 2 panel drop down menu.
I want separate, yet cohesive sounds generated from this instrument. So now we will make several adjustments to the effects sliders across the three OSC panels and the FILTER panels. Make sure your screen is matched up close to what you see in the image below.
Now to add some effects. Starting with the FX 1 panel select Delay Synced from the drop down menu. Adjust the knobs to reflect the settings in the image below. Notice the Left and Right values, these are important to maintain the feel of the beat.
For the second effect, you will want the Reverb option from the FX 2 panel drop down menu.
A couple of minor adjustments to the OSC tab. Click on the Rate box and set the Pitchbend parameters to Up 1.00 and Down -1.00. Set the Vibrato Rate and Depth knobs to match the image below, along with the Envelope Attack and Decay sliders.
The VOICING tab is also going to need a few changes made. Set the Unisono value to 2, turn on Pitch Cutoff and Pan Position, slide the pan slider to full and click on the Chord box.
Now letʼs set up the four Envelopes. Starting with the Env 1 tab and moving to the Env 4 tab, make the necessary adjustments to each panel to match them to the images below.
And now you will set up the 5 LFO, 6 LFO, 7 PERF and 8 STEP tabs according to the corresponding images below. Keep in mind that the changes to the overall sound in these last couple steps is nothing now but will be huge in the end when we add all the right controllers in all the right places.
And believe it or not, this is the last step. Itʼs a pretty big one though. Luckily you can simply match your settings to the ones shown in the images below to wrap things up. This is where all the big changes happen and our sounds become unique yet bounded in several ways. It should work nicely with the other pieces we have build so far. Take your time building the Macros and setting all the parameters, itʼs easier than it looks!
Your final sound(s) should be similar in feel to the audio sample here at the end of the tutorial. It by no means needs to be exact, the general idea can be applied to many different kinds of projects and instruments. Keeping things simple at this point allows us to expand in many more directions later. You will probably also notice just how much variation is available to you now through a slight turn of each of the Macro controls.
Download the preset for this sound here!
That ends this installment, but check back soon for part 6! Thanks again for stopping by.
Cheers!
ΩhmLab
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