SH-201 – “Portadrive” Patch

Sound Demonstration

Well, hello again, people!

This sound is from my “Favorites List”! I call it “Portadrive”. You’ll see why!

Actually, I’m looking foward to show this patch for you for quite some time now, but I didn’t have a nice melody to play with it! Actually, I do have some riffs and melodies made for this particular sound, but I don’t want to share them yet! HAHA Yeah! Silly but… I intend to keep them close to the chest while they’re not on any song!

First, I’ll talk about the melody I created for this demonstration – which I’ll probably use further on a song or something! ;)
Inspired by Guthrie Govan’s “Fives” and ELP’s “Tarkus”, I decided to create a melody using Sus Chords and intervals of fifths most of the time, and this melody came up.

It sounds pretty cool and fits perfectly with the patch!
Now, enough talking and let’s check the sound out!

Patches Demo nº 10 – Portadrive

This sound consists of two layers. The first one is made of two Super Saw waveforms, one’s sounding one octave above the other. The lower one has a dedicated LFO modulating the amount of pitch set between the many sawtooth waveforms, and how they’re organized in the sound, giving a little crunchy aspect to the sound.
The second layer is a combination of sine and square waveforms, both passing through an overdrive.
Check out both layers:

Portadrive – First Layer

Portadrive – Second Layer

Well, this is it for today, guys!
Hope you all like what I sho

Cya soon!

JUNO-D – “Xylorimba” Patch

Sound Demonstration

Patches Demo nº 9 – Xylorimba

Hey there again!
Well, let me tell you how this patch was created and what inspired me to make it. Me and Renato Borges were hanging out and then he told me about this instrument, the Xylorimba, which is a Xylophone with an extended range.
The name is pretty funny and I thought it was worth trying to create a sound mixing…. Yeah, you thought that too, right? I know, I’m not a genius, but…

Anyway! I turned my synthesizer on and started to browse through the various Xylophone and Marimba’s waveforms and found these two I used to create the patch. Of course you noticed that I inserted a delay effect on the patch.

For sometimes the delay changes the sound a little bit, I made three recordings: the original patch – which you can check out on top of this post -, the patch without the delay, and only the delay.
Let’s check ‘em out!

Xylorimba – Pure

As you can see, the Xylophone sounds one octave above the Marimba. And also some cents of tone up, as well. This detuning gives the sound some sort of “natural chorus” that I really really enjoy!
Actually, using this trick between synth waveforms you can easily create very nice sounds on a vintage synthesizer! Try it!

Xylorimba – Delay only

And that’s only the delay! Pure, bright and a little mixed down by itself, but, in the whole thing, it adds very much to the sound!

Now, go check out the “Portadrive” SH-201 patch!

Cya soon!

Song Demonstration!!!

Sound & Song Demonstration

Patches Demo nº 8 (”Split Riff”)

Hey fellas!
I’m really excited today! Lemme tell you why.
For one, today’s the first time I’ll publish a song of my own in this blog, that I’ve been working on for a while and decided to record some stuff today.
Actually, this song was to be played by a full rock band but, I decided to do a only-synth version out of it and it’s working pretty well so far.

Remember, this is a rough mix without drums and everything. I’ve just finished this first section right now, 1 o’clock in the morning and will continue to work on it along the way. So, please, don’t get really hard on me for that! Hope you like it!

I’m really really tired now, so, I’ll do the patches explanations along the week.

Cya, folks!

JUNO-D – Orchestral Patch

Sound Demonstration

Patches Demo nº 7 (Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance – Main Theme)

Hello you guys again!
It’s been a while since I last post here, I know, many things going on these days and I’ll tell you guys (almost) everything about it later on. Now let’s focus on my new patch! :D

Well, inspired by a friend on Jordan Rudess’ forum on Orkut, who did an amazing job mixing together his KORG OASYS and the totally awesome VSTi Symphobia by ProjectSAM to get a REALLY huge and awesome orchestral sound, I decided to take my little JUNO-D – yeah, I know it’s not much but… it’ll do the job – and create a nice orchestral patch.
Of course it’s not even close to what César did, but, hope you guys like it.

To give you guys a simple explanation of what the patch is made, I’ll tell you it’s a simple combination of a string ensemble and a brass ensemble. The timpani you hear was recorded separately.

If you guys want to check out César’s awesome job, just watch this video:

César Zolhof rocking his OASYS and Symphobia

That’s if for today,
Cya, guys!

Happy Birthday to myself

Insanity reaching the max!

Wohoo!
Today is my 19th birthday! I’m very happy and looking foward for the day!
I’ve already recieved lots of wishes from people I like very much and the day has just begun! It’s good to know when people you care about feel the same way for you.

Anyway, thank you all guys for sharing this space with me and reading all this shit stuff here. Hope you continue with me a long long time!

And, finally… HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MYSELF!

Cya, folks!

Minerva

Blogroll

Rio de Janeiro’s Federal University (UFRJ).
The University released the grades of the exam, and… I’m in.

That’s enough for today!

Cya!

Quicky News!

Blogroll

Hello, my fellas!
First post of 2009! Well, quick post today to tell you guys somethings…

For one: I’m doing my countdown for my birthday! Yaaaaay!
In ten days from now I’ll celebrate my 19th birthday!

Second stuff is that I took quite some time yesterday to clean up my JUNO-D and intend to do the same with SH-201 today.
Maybe even clean up my mixer and stuff at my desk but, not probably. I like this whole clean up stuff and like to keep things organized but the mess is pretty huge and it’s lazying me down.

The third thing is that I found out Mattias Norén website!
Yes, the guy who made A LOT of album covers for a lot of artists, like Evergrey’s “Torn” (2008), Andromeda’s “II=I” (2003) and Kotipelto’s “Coldness” (2004).
“Okay, you found his webpage… so what?!”

There I found out that he sells huge prints of his artwork! I didn’t know about it, but he made, as well, Michael Pinnella’s “Enter by the Twelfth Gate” (2004), and it’s one of my favorite albums and album covers ever!
A 50×70 cm print costs about 50 dollars, so, I really intend to buy one!

Michael Pinnella’s “Enter by the Twelfth Gate” (2004)

Oh, and for those who don’t know any of the artists I listed today, here’s a tip: go check ‘em out, for God’s sake!

That’s it!
Cya,

Happy New Year

2008 Ending Festival – Part II

Hey guys!
Just posting today to wish you a very happy year end! And I really hope your – actually, our – brand new year to be better than every other one we had so far! Hope it’s full of success and happiness!

Great hugs for all you guys here and everywhere!
I wish you all and your beloved ones the very best of this world!

Got to thank my great buddy Nilton Algreen for the great help with the top image this time! Be sure to check out his DeviantART, the guy is awesome! Thank you dude, very much!

Cya in 2009, folks!

Tube Toys!

Blogroll

Hey hey!
I have some huge news!

First, let me tell you why these are huge news: Since a lot of time ago (probably a year or more) I’ve been looking foward to get a tube overdrive pedal (or preamp, or whatever) to warm up my SH-201 lead sounds. I’ve always wanted to add that tube flavor to my lead sections.

Although there’s a lot of tube overdrive simulations out there and, as a matter of fact, some of them are amazingly great, they still miss something. Actual tube overdrives are fuller, cleaner and more powerful.
After some time asking guitar player friends of mine – those string guys really know everything about that whole tube stuff – what could I get, or what should I look for in some pedals or preamps I might see in stores or whichever tips they could gimme about it, I kinda figured out that I wouldn’t find anywhere what I was looking for. The solution was to buy a handmade custom tubed preamp to fit my necessities.

But, sometime ago, I found out this tube microphone preamp made by Behringer. It cost’s only R$250.00 (something about US$100.00). I intend to try it and see how it improves my sound and, if I like the result, buy it.

Behringer Ultragain Pro MIC2200

But, the whole point of this post is to annouce that a great friend of mine, Andy Ferreira – also a guitar player -, lent me his own tube overdrive pedal, so I can check out how actual tubes would improve my sound!
He came here yesterday for a jam section and some recordings with me and, and when we got out for dinner, the whole topic about tubes came up and he told me I could borrow his pedal for some time! Thank you, Andy! Very much!

This pedal was made by a Brazilian company named Meteoro, and it’s kind of a clone of a Mesa Boogie pedal, the V-Twin, and it’s built with two Sovtek 12AX7 tubes. Sounds REALLY awesome! I just need some time to get deeper into it and I’ll publish some recordings with it!
Believe me, you’ll love it!

If, neither with an overdrive pedal or with a mic preamp I get the results I want, I’ll probably get a custom handmade piece of gear anyway, so… Either way, I’ll get my tube sounds! :D

I don’t understand – yet – shit anything about tubes and stuff, but I’m starting to enter that whole world. So, maybe in some time, I might be able to say some things here about them!

One interesting thing to check out is the KORG’s Triton Extreme’s Valve Force. It’s a built-in tube that really improves the sound, and, was also inspired by this instrument that I had this whole idea.
You can check out information about KORG’s Triton Extreme here. Be sure to check out some audio demos with Valve Force on. It’s really amazing!

KORG’s Triton Extreme Valve Force

The credits for the lots of information about tubes and everything go to some friends of mine but, mainly to João Vitor Leal and Andy Ferreira!
Andy plays guitar in a Hard Rock band named Surrender. Check out TheirSpace (hehe)! João, unfortunately has no website so you can’t check out his music.
Anyway, thank you guys!!!

Cya, guys!

Merry Christmas!

2008 Ending Festival – Part I

Hey hey!
Today is Christmas Eve! Let’s have some music in this mood!

Well… Although I’m not Christian, I like that whole getting together stuff, people being kind to each other, great midnight meals with a lot of turkey, ham and many many goodies!… Anyway, I think we should act like this the whole year but, unfortunately, things aren’t like that.

Anyway…
Hope you guys have a nice time with your friends and families!

And if any of you who’s reading SynthesizerZ are part of a culture which doesn’t celebrate Christmas, I’m sorry if you feel offended with the post.
Quoting Jem Godfrey, Happy __________ (insert appropriate Winter Festival title depending on your belief system here)!

Sound Silliness

A little outtake from the Christmas sections!

Cya, folks!