Subtractive Synthesis

So, using the basic waveform samples you can definitely get pretty good subtractive synth sounds (minus sync???) particularly with sends in the FX chain.

If anyone has any tips on or tricks on creating synth sounds (FM, Sub, etc) using the native DSPs I would love to hear them.

I’m on this minimalist thing right now trying to keep everything Renoise :slightly_smiling_face:

2 Likes

I am going by the things that you listed:

  • Subs would be easy as all that is needed is another sample layer with a waveform at least one octave down from the main waveform. The choice of waveform is dependent on the context, and some suggestions are using the same waveform as the original, using a square wave, using a sine or triangle without the same modulation as the original, in particular, without filters. Of course, as with anything, these are just guidelines meant to be broken
  • FM in Renoise I would imagine would require modulating a sample’s pitch with another “oscillator” source. Some ideas would be modulating the pitch of a sample with an LFO that is also modulated with key tracking
  • I have had some interesting results using a waveform sample twice, meaning the same waveform layered in an instrument, inverting one of them, and then adjusting the sample start of the inverted sample to create a cheapo, fake, PWM-like effect
2 Likes

sinaptc on Youtube has an old but gold video about the subject. Probably you’ve watched this and tried some of the techniques demonstrated.

2 Likes

Yeah, I checked that out, with a few FX chains it really starts to look like a built-in modular synth.

Is there a way to keybind FX parameters? The manual doesn’t cover it and I didn’t see anything in the preferences either. Lua script out there?

1 Like

Have you watched my tutorials? I’ve got a bunch on native synthesis techniques
•••Zensphere's Renoise Tutorials•••

4 Likes