I normally have 4-6 different pad/attack layers, plus 2-3 bass layers.  It's not about loudness, but more about thickness and texture.  The term "supersaw" refers to a bunch of slightly detuned saws put together, and generally the more saws you add, the better it sounds.  Of course there is a limit when adding more layers makes everything worse, but I don't think that the "less is more" principle applies here.  Or maybe it's just me...

You're right and you're wrong. I mean, it's up to what you like. Also, having 2-3 basses can really mess with the frequencies if it's not mixed correctly.

Quote from: Babasmas on January 08, 2016, 11:17:24 pm

Quote from: Axis on January 08, 2016, 11:16:02 pm

I normally have 4-6 different pad/attack layers, plus 2-3 bass layers.  It's not about loudness, but more about thickness and texture.  The term "supersaw" refers to a bunch of slightly detuned saws put together, and generally the more saws you add, the better it sounds.  Of course there is a limit when adding more layers makes everything worse, but I don't think that the "less is more" principle applies here.  Or maybe it's just me...

You're right and you're wrong. I mean, it's up to what you like. Also, having 2-3 basses can really mess with the frequencies if it's not mixed correctly.

Absolutely! But if mixed/shaped/processed correctly, 3 bass layers will sound thicker and generally better than a single bass layer, no matter how hard you process it... again, there are exceptions (such as synths with tons of oscillators and built-in FX units), but I find it easier to do it by mixing in the DAW rather than inside a synth.

I should try that, I've few house track that have a lack of power in the drop. Thanks for the tip.

I was just listening back to a WIP that uses a supersaw lead that I'm fond of so I'll just describe what I have here.  6 layers.  3 Sylenth, 2 Nexus, 1 3xOSC.

I started with a scream-ey, square sounding lead in sylenth for the melody.  I duplicated it and kept the filtering, internal FX, etc. the same but changed some of the oscillators to more detuned saw waves with some panning.  I duplicated the synth again and added oscillators in higher octaves, different detune-ing, different panning.  1 layer of a harsh lead from nexus in the lower register to add more body.  another nexus lead with a very electronic sound that has stereo shaping to make it sound very wide.  In case you're not using FL Studio, 3xOSC is just a simple plugin with 3 oscillators, and im just using it for very high passed white noise that follows the same pattern as the melody.

EQing, reverb, stereo enhancing, etc. on the mixer channels.  all leads are grouped to a bus that is further processed.  and i'm very happy with my result 

1. I find that too much surgical EQ makes the separate patches sound just that- separate.
2. group the saw layers and give them a little bit of distortion and/or compress them together to make them feel more as one instrument.
3. pay attention to where each saw will sit in the frequency spectrum. try to fill the spectrum relatively evenly