Synthesis / Sound Design

We tend instinctively to think of audio‑rate oscillators as sound‑generating circuits and low‑frequency oscillators (...

Create retro sci‑fi soundtracks with Cubase’s Retrologue 2.

Sound On Sound December 2022

Cubase Workshop: Stranger Things Synths With Retrologue 2

Audio Examples...

Once the preserve of academic and experimental music, granular synthesis is more accessible than ever and has a lot to offer in all sorts of genres.

We engage in some audio archaeology to discover how a pioneer of electronic music created one of her most important works.

Pads are the glue that holds entire genres of music together. We look at how you can improve yours.

Everything you need to know to get your DAW talking to your modular system via your audio interface.

Any synth can be coaxed into producing vintage-sounding patches...

You don’t have to play synths or ‘real’ instruments to make music: embrace the experimental, and you could use almost anything...

If your plug-in synths sound a bit cold and clinical, there are plenty of ways to inject some life...

Granular synthesis is the core technology behind the latest time-stretching and pitch-shifting algorithms, but it can also be used to generate extraordinary evolving soundscapes. We explain how the process works and show you how to get the best from the software that uses it.

Although the Ion is already well-respected for its sound quality, its synthesis architecture is also surprisingly flexible. We show you how to get the best from this little beast in your studio.

Although the Access Virus features one of the most knobby control surfaces amongst virtual analogue synths, there's a lot of programming flexibility available which isn't immediately obvious. We show you how to uncover the hidden possibilities?

After more than five years, Synth Secrets reaches its conclusion (and conclusions!). Will we ever look at synthesis in quite the same way again?

In the penultimate instalment of this long-running series, we delve deeper into what can be achieved with just a few delays and some creative routing...

In this final instalment of our series of XG programming tips, we take a look at how the advanced modulation parameters can bring your layered sounds to life.

Layering voices is one of the best ways to maximise the potential of your XG sound module, so here are a variety of ingenious ways you can use this technique — you can even turn your synth into a high-spec step sequencer!

Effects can play just as important a role in sound creation as the elements in a synth's signal path — provided you have access to their constituent parts. We take a closer look at effects synthesis using simple delays.