Programming Oldskool Rave Synth Patches?

I was thinking about some of the feedback provided to myself in another thread where I had asked about cutoff and resonance with regards to mixing and creating synth patches. I followed some of the (much appreciated) advice and was watching mastering videos tonight on youtube.

Eventually I got off topic and was surfing around just listening to tunes, and then I got tired of what I was hearing and got into and oldskool mood. It occurs to me that most new electronic songs sound very similar in terms of sound design. (At least to me). They have either a warble bass or hardstyle leads… depends on the style, but within genres they almost always sound similar.

I started listening to some oldskool sets and was reminded of how varied the stab sounds were in oldskool techno. They grab me more than the sounds in modern techno/trance/d&b/whatever. I was wondering if I could give an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHjvytiOhlQ…ated&fmt=18

The intro sound in this song - is that a complicated synth patch, or a very simple patch? What type of waves would you use to recreate that sound in a VST synth? If anyone has access to predator or perhaps fabfilter twin, is can something similar be reproduced on those synths?

I realize that the sound is probably a sample pulled and pitched, but originally it was synthesized somehow (I don’t think it’s an organic sound)… anyways… just curious for feedback from any synth programming guru’s. =)

It’s a simple sound:

PWM patch
add some white noise
filter has a little bit of resonance
map filter cutoff to key amount

…and the whole thing is played using a chord memory function. (Alternatively you could just play a chord and then sample it.)

sounds to me like more than one osc, mor like 3. and like 2 octaves

or 3 sound layers.

sylenth1 v2, check that vsti. it has a bunch of old rave sounds, and
that as synth not as samples ;)

or also tone2 gladiator.

If you want an awesome free synth that can easily spit out nasty rave sounds, grab Arguru’s Voyager VSTi from the Aodix website. Then, while you’re getting to grips with the interface - which is NOT as complex as it looks - have fun playing with the presets in the demo sound banks: voyager_nolwenn_bank01.fxb and voyager_nolwenn_bank02.fxb. They are packed with classic techno/rave/hardcore/underground/etc. sounds that you will recognise!

ah good one dblue ;)

Heres an easy classic rave noise…

Take a synth with 3 oscilators.

Tune one oscillator an octave (12 semitones) lower than the other two oscillators.
The other two oscillators - detune them a touch… on thier fine tune knobs… tune one a touch high, the other a touch low…

Up high it sounds like an accordian - but midrange and lower sounds good to me.

A cool side effect its as you play it higher or lower, the chorus effect from the detuning speeds up or slows down - so no need to sample it :w00t:

You’ll be dancin…