I thought I'd detail how I made the
STATIC DRAGON sound.
Mostly because I used Logic's
Sculpture and I'd love to connect and share ideas with other people who use Sculpture.
Here is the
Main Sculpture Panel. - From Left to Right (ish): All three objects are active. The first two objects are both
Bowed. The Bow object functions like an oscillator to excite the string. So when it is pitched way down it begins to act like an LFO.
Decreasing Object 1's strength makes the synth more breathy and gaspy.
Increasing Object 1's strength makes the synth more rattly and snorty.
Decreasing Object 2's strength makes the synth mellow and purr.
Increasing Object 2's strength makes the synth shout and honk. The
Disturbed object is like placing the string near a piece of metal (like guitar frets).
Object 3's strength starts at Zero. Increasing the strength adds a rattly mechanical feel.
Pickups are placed on either edge of the string. - The center
Material Ring has both the Waveshaper / Distortion turned on, and a Peak Filter turned on. -
Material is placed close to Wood - ADSR is self explanatory - Stereo Pickup has been widened - A Cello profile has been applied to the EQ.
First LFO - Two parameters are affected:
Pickup A's Location and
Waveshaper Variation. Looking closer; Pickup A actually does not oscillate unless activated by
Control B (foot pedal). The Waveshaper is in constant oscillation. Adjusting Waveshaper and LFO levels can make the sound cut in and out, or sound like static interference.
Second LFO -
Object 3 Strength starts at Zero. But this LFO gently introduces a mechanical disturbance.
Vibrato is technically turned on, but is not used in the sound sample. Increasing the Vibrato strength creates a gasping, laughing hyena effect.
Evelope - Turning off the
Envelope produces an even mouthier, organic, formant sound.
Then the synth gets passed through an instance of
Camel Phat. (Rest in Peace) - Some distortion here. But the main detail is the
MM High Pass Filter settings and it's
Depth Rate modulated at a 1/32 Bar LFO (114 BPM). - I think I sent the sound to an Exciter Bus as well…
CONTROLLING THE SYNTH -
Here is where I got sloppy with Sculpture's internal controls. - Control A is turned on and mapped to the Mod Wheel. But I never used it.
-
Control B is mapped to a Foot Pedal. It simultaneously adjusts
Media Loss and
Pitch.
Pitch Bending - Earlier I mentioned the Bow Object works like an oscillator. I've got
two Bow Objects activated. So messing with the pitch actually has a huge effect on the overall behavior of the synth. The 'gasp' at the beginning is achieved by the sharp pitch jump from 0 to 39. Keeping the Pitch in the 25 - 40 range introduces snarly, snorty animal growls. On the second midi note, the Pitch jumps around and then kinda tops out in the 50 - 60 range. This produces a wet, gaspy sound.
Foot Pedal - This is simultaneously mapped to a heavy Media Loss, a slight increase in Pitch, and the
variation of Pickup Location on LFO 1. It appears in the second midi note as a calm humming or purring sound. You should hear the sound pan closer to one side.
And that's about it!
