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Questions on synth-type effects

Shroom

Shroom

Dec 12, 2006
340
4
#1
I've been looking up and down the effects forum most of today reading up on both obscure and synthy types of effects, which I've been interested in for a while but never known much about, and I'm pretty confused about wave types. I understand what's going on when people say "squarewave" etc, but I haven't been able to find any good sound clips, so I would REALLY appreciate it if someone could help me out with some sound clips of what square, saw, and bow waves sound like :confused:

Other than that, I'm also really interested in finding/creating some kind of extremely crunchy and crackly, but thick and heavy synth/fuzz type of noises. I was thinking sort of like a Subdecay Noisebox (judging by the sound clips) but even crunchier and heavier, or maybe like a bit-crunched signal with some of the clean signal mixed back in. Some kind of sub-octave thing might get involved too. I'd love to hear some suggestions on this too, if it's not any trouble.
 
#2
By "bow" wave do you mean sine wave? I don't have any links handy, but here's how I would describe them:
square wave = hollow, tubular, hard-edged, "loud" seeming, used for classic synth leads.
sawtooth wave = brassy, nasal, aggressive, used for horn-like and string-like sounds.
sine wave = soft, neutral, "quiet" seeming, used mostly for test signal in a lab.
triangle wave = like a sine wave but less soft and less "quiet", good basic synth tone building block- not much inherent character but good as a starting point.

As far as crunchy and crackly, there are a few bit-crusher pedals you should try. Frostwave and Alesis are the two makers that pop to the top of my head ATM.
 
#3
Hmmm... I can kind of picture what you mean based on a couple synth pedal sound clips I've heard, but I'm still pretty confused. And I have no idea what I mean by bow wave. I read it in a thread somewhere and assumed it was a type. What's the difference between a saw wave and a triangle wave?
 
#6
+1 for oscilloscopes.

Here's how I would approach what you're trying to do: get/try a good standard fuzz like a BMP and put an EQ or overdrive (preferably with a mix knob) after it to change the tone around at will and experiment with crunchiness and other textures -- this is the squarewave approach. What I feel you'd lack in this is the envelope-based (usually) attack variability that you get with most synth pedals. For this, either get an envelope filter to put in front of this mini chain or scrap the whole thing now that you know what you want and get an EHX BMS.

Hmm... I think an EHX Tube Zipper >> fuzz (with a wet/dry mix knob) is the best I can come up with for a 'DIY' synth at the moment.
 
#7
Hehehehe

Thanks to the guy who posted the oscilloscope pictures, but I knew what the waves looked like (except saw vs. triangle. thanks!). I meant I was trying to picture what they sounded like.

I took a look-see at the Antenna 2, too. The youtube video scares me. :eek: It sounds like power tools drowning out guitar sounds. However, I also found an audio recording of the Antenna 1 that had some of the crackly crunch I'm lookin for, and I'm guessing the Antenna 2 can do it too.
 

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