Progressive House Pluck Synth Tutorial for Native Instruments Massive

This insightful NI Massive video tutorial focuses on the processing of this style of synth, as well as the designing of the sound. Perfect for anyone just getting started with House music production.

The actual synth used in this lesson is barely sound design at all, more a lesson in using an envelope to modulate a parameter. This is a key bit of knowledge to have though and shouldn’t be looked past in hopes of finding something more complex. Sometimes, it is the simplest of ideas that are proven to be the most successful and stand the test of time. The classic House pluck synth is a sound that just about everyone knows now, and there’s a reason for that. Also covered in this video is the processing of this synth, and how to get it sounding like the signature House sound.

First, you can leave the default Square-Saw wavetable loaded into OSC1, as this is all we will need to work with. Next, load up a Lowpass 4 filter onto the Filter1 panel. Now an envelope is set up with a short attack and decay, which is then assigned to modulate the cutoff parameter of the lowpass filter. Set the modulation to move from completely closed to completely open, and you will hear the famous progressive house pluck sound coming to life already.

Next you can begin applying effects. Now, in the video all third-party plugins are used, but NI Massive comes equipped with it’s own reverb and delay that will also work. The settings shared in the video are just guidelines based upon his personal preferences. You should be encouraged to play and experiment with your own settings, as well as other effects altogether. You can try adding a little bit of noise, chorus or even a dimension expander and see how you like it. If it sounds good, use it!

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Cheers,
OhmLab