Ahoy, how about you with the frequencies with the Digitone !?
With percussive elements everything is Roger, but with a pad, for example, you have the feeling that there is hardly any space for other elements and it sounds unpleasantly harsh, while Four is great. Either I still have a long learning curve ahead of me or the Digitone is not quite suitable for restrained pad sounds. I hope that Elektron brings out a wavetable that does it better. However, the Digitone is great for percussive sounds …
Have you considered grabbing some sound packs? There are a lot of great sound packs out there for the Digitone and I’m sure you could find many, many examples of pads that you would enjoy. Give this thread a browse for some sound pack ideas :).
Edit: Sound packs with the intention of finding some good starting points with your own sound design. Some times it helps to see how others go about their sound design.
That’s where the base-width filter comes in handy – especially if you have a free LFO to use for moving the filter around. I agree though, I made some interesting pads a little while ago and they really can overpower. As with just about anything else though, it just takes a little bit of work to fine tune to your needs. Filter, volume, LFO, etc.
Definitely using the base-width filter a lot these days with very low width to dial in the exact frequency range. Since it’s a 1-pole filter it still lets in plenty of frequncy bands even with a low width, so dont be afraid to make it pretty narrow.
Also, ratios. Setting ratios in a similar range - like 1.00 + 2.00 + 0.75 instead of 0.5 + 4.0 + 16.0 helps the harmonics stay in a similar range. It’s kind of like the Range (16’ 8’ 4’ 2’ etc) on an analog synth
Subtle FM with modulation I find more effective than harsh FM + filtering. Some pads dont even really need the subtractive first filter if they’re pretty simple harmonics with subtle FM and everything else is dialed in nicely. I anyway prefer the gentler LP2 filter over the LP4 filter for pads so it’s good to start with the filter off and make something that sounds nice even with the filter all the way open
Also, starting with harmonics at 0, you can still make a lot of great sounds FMing sine waves in slight ways using different algorithms
Also making use of the filters in the effects, e.g. the HPF in the chorus, not making the width fully 100%, and using the base-width filters in the delay and reverb etc
Try playing the patch an octave up and see what you think. You may also find you need to just turn down the volume (as suggested above). Slight panning can help. If you are trying to combine the DN with other gear to make music you might consider a mixer so you have more frequency shaping capabilities.
A final thought, I always think about frequencies when making sounds/selecting samples/arranging. If you plan ahead create/choose sounds that work together, more or less, you’ll have less to “fix” later : )
What makes a nice pad? IMO it’s a smooth modulated evolving sound that never seems to be static. It’s only a question of the basic timbre and some gentle modulation.
This said, I would not apply any kind of heavy FM, because FM tends to create drastic timbral changes, even at small amounts of parameter change and modulation. I would tend to use the DN - more or less - like a classic subtractive synth …
I would try algorithms like 3 and 8, because there are 3 sound sources, which can be used in parallel without any FM applied.
We have a couple of waveshapes at hand. See the HARM harmonics control. Try saw-like and/or square-like shapes as a baseline. The shapes can be modulated, which makes for thickness.
A tiny detuning of the oscillators also generates thickness. This can be done with the DTUN ratios.
Operator envelopes should be smooth, meaning long attack and release phases.
Application of the filters - as we are used to do in common subtractive synthesis - is possible as well.
There is the X/Y mix and we can sweep between those tones too.
We also can drain the whole thing in reverb, which can smear out much of a harshness
We have a Chorus to generate thickness
and last but not least, check out all the LFO destinations … there are nearly all paramters of the synth listed.
