THE 40 GREATEST SYNTH SOUNDS OF ALL TIME
The glorious sound of the synth – and by that we mean its circuits, the tone and timbre of the machine itself and not necessarily its attempts to emulate ‘real’ instruments – has now been filtering in and out of music genres for more than five decades. From its inception in the 60s through its progressive and experimental upbringing in the 70s, through 80s synth pop, 90s dance and 21st century anything-and-everything, the synth has provided the tearing leads, insistent melodies, atmospheric pads, searing percussion and rumbling basses behind many of the most iconic tunes ever produced.
There have been the classical leanings of Wendy Carlos, the genre-creating antics of Kraftwerk, the Sheffield steelworks of Cabaret Voltaire and the Human League, the chart-topping tracks from everyone from Depeche to Numan, OMD to Jarre; the experimental Eno ambience, the Vangelis soundtracks not to mention the cycling, pumping, 303-ing and bass-cone shattering productions of Underworld, Prodigy and Daft Punk. And whatever the style or decade, we are celebrating the very best of them in this very issue of Computer Music!
At the end of last year we put together a definitive list of the best synth tunes ever made, covering the last six decades of music production, and asked you to vote for your favourites. We then took the winning top 40 to examine them in more detail and – here’s the brilliant Computer Music twist – decided to show you how to recreate each and every one of them, using synths from the mighty cm Plugin Suite.
The results are in and in this very issue we count down from number 40 to number one, starting over the page. We give you some detail about the original sound, the song, the hardware synth(s) used and then show you, step-by-step and on video, how to recreate each sound in the chart using nothing more than the synths from our cm Plugin Suite that you can download right now, for free.
So strap your synths in and take a walk through the history of the best instrument ever invented and recreate the 40 most iconic sounds ever produced…
40 A Clockwork Orange
Wendy Carlos
Year: 1972
Original Synth: Moog Modular
CM Plugin: Thorn CM
Created back when synth use was more associated with scientists in lab coats, the
A Clockwork Orange theme was certainly ahead of its time. Creator Wendy Carlos was not only a classically-trained composer, but also took a keen interest in music tech, notably giving Robert Moog advice on the development of the first Moog synthesisers, as well as working as a recording engineer during the late 1960s.
Her take on a classical piece (originally composed by Henry Purcell for Queen Mary’s funeral in 1694) used the then-cutting-edge Moog modular synthesiser to play the various parts of the piece, resulting in a uniquely dystopian piece of music that suited the film perfectly. Legend has it that Carlos read the book that the film was based upon before linking up with Kubrick, and felt she’d be perfect to score the film, with the composition Timesteps being based upon it. Now, we’re going to make our own version of the legendary brass-sounding riff from the theme, using ThornCM.
Step by step
Brassy riff
1 We’ll start by setting Osc 1 to a sawtooth wave; this has the brassy tone we’re after. We can make the tone richer by increasing the Oscillator Unison voices to 2, and setting the Detuning Amount to 12. Now we’ve got a nice base tone, let’s sculpt it with the filter – set filter Type to Clean LP.
2 Adjust Filter Cutoff to around 450Hz. We’ll use the Filter Env to modulate the cutoff so it opens slightly after the initial attack of each note. Push the Env 1 Modulation Amount to 100%, then set the Env’s Attack to around 30% and Decay at 50%. Turn the Sustain and Release down to 0.
3 Let’s use the Amp Env to shape the sound. ThornCM has a sharp attack, so push Attack amount up to 17% to soften it. A Decay of 30%, and Sustain of around 45% give us dynamics more like the original. Increase Release to 40% to avoid the sound ending suddenly.
4 The original has panning, so modulate the Master Pan. Set to L30. Open the Mod Matrix, and assign LFO1 to the Master Pan with 100% depth. A slow LFO speed of 4/1 makes the panning effect move slowly. Set the LFO Trigger to Mono, so the panning doesn’t reset each note.
39 Enola Gay
OMD
Year: 1980
Original Synth: Korg Micro-Preset
CM Plugin: ThornCM
Named after the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb to be used in anger at the end of WWII, Enola Gay’s cheery synth lines were in contrast to the sombre lyrics, which questioned the validity of the decision to drop a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima.
OMD drew inspiration for their music from early synth pioneers such as Kraftwerk, but had a relatively humble selection of synths and drum machines at their disposal when they wrote the album Organisation, from which Enola Gay was taken.
As with many of their early tracks, there was no vocal chorus as such, with the main lead, played using a then bargain basement Korg Micro-Preset, being the hook. Now, let’s see how to make our own version of this main lead, using the brilliant ThornCM.
Step by step
Main lead
1 Let’s set Osc 1’s waveform to a square wave, then pitch it up by one octave. Next, we’ll switch on Osc 2, and set the waveform to Organ 02. Setting Osc 2’s Unison to three voices, with the Detuning at 21, gives the sound a thicker feel, like the original. Now, adjust the amp envelope.
2 Increase the Attack to 10%; this takes away the excessive sharpness. Reduce Sustain to 20%, to hear the gap between notes. Increase Decay to 40%, adding some body into the sound after the initial attack. Turn up Oscillator 2’s Sub Oscillator to 10%; this adds extra depth.
3 Shape the sound’s tone using ThornCM’s filter. Set it to Dirty HP, then push the Cutoff to around 100Hz to take the lowest frequencies away. Then add effects. Choose the Echo 03 delay preset, and increase the Mix to 50%. Add some reverb, courtesy of the Space 04 preset.
38 Ghosts
Japan
Year: 1982
Original Synth: Roland System 700
CM Plugin: miniBitCM, SatsonCM
Blending a minimalist aesthetic with haunting synthesised sounds and a melancholic vocal, Ghosts was Japan’s biggest hit, with the group splitting up just eight months after its release, despite the song reaching number 5 in the UK singles chart. While synthdriven music was becoming hugely popular at the time, it was still unusual for an experimental track of this nature to become a hit, particularly with no rhythm track to speak of.
There were three main synths used to create Ghosts (and the album Tin Drum): the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, Oberheim’s OBX and a Roland System 700 modular synth.
The haunting melody from the intro was made using the System 700, with the sound having a thin, crushed tone that borders on the dystopian. We’ll be creating our own spin on this sound using AudioThing’s miniBitCM.
Step by step
Haunting melody
1 Select the Electric Piano waveform for miniBit’s Osc. This has a smooth tone that’ll work well. Next, tune the Osc up by two octaves to make the sound sit at the correct pitch. Set Filter Cutoff to around 600Hz, with Resonance at around 40%, removing some high frequencies.
2 Adjust the amp envelope. Pushing the Attack up to 30% removes some of the initial transient. Turn Sustain down to 0% to make the sound less sustained, then increase Decay amount to 40% to add body back in. Increasing the Release to 60% adds a gradually receding tail.
3 Bitcrushing gives miniBitCM its retro, chip tune-inspired sound. This gives a similar dystopian tone to the original, by modulating the sample rate. Set the LFO Rate to 25%, with Sample Rate as the destination. Increase the Modulation amount to around 40%.
4 Now, we’ll smooth the highs with some saturation and filtering. Place SatsonCM on the channel, setting the High Pass Filter to 11 o’clock, and the Low Pass to 12 o’clock. This will add analogue-style warmth, while removing some bass and shrill highs from the sound.
37 Orinoco Flow
Enya
Year: 1988
Original Synth: Roland D-50
CM Plugin: DuneCM, HY-FX CM
Taken from the 1988 album Watermark, Orinoco Flow was a global hit for Irish singer/songwriter Enya. The song has a spacious, lush sound characteristic of new-age music from this era.
Orinoco Flow’s trademark pizzicato chords were made using Roland’s D-50 synths. Roland’s theory was that the hardest part of an instrument to synthesise convincingly is the attack, so the D-50 had around 100 samples of attack taken from real life instruments. This, alongside the subtractive synthesis engine and various textured sustain samples, gives the patch its strangely synthetic, yet real tone.
Now, let’s make our own version of this sound by layering an edited DuneCM patch with a sampled string from our City Nights sample pack.
Step by step
Plucked riff
1 Approximate the original patch by using two parts. First, load DuneCM’s String Section MH preset to make the sustain portion. Set the Amp Env Sustain and Decay to 5% to give the string patch a more staccato sound. Reduce the Attack to 40%, for a more plucked sound.
2 Open your DAW’s sampler, and import Strings.wav. Turn on the sampler’s snap to zero crossing function, then set the start point to the last note of the loop. Set the root note of the sample to A1, so it’s in key with the other part. Hear that the sampled string adds a realistic attack.
3 Turn DuneCM’s channel to -6dB for balance. To create a spacious feel, we’ll use reverb. Add HY-FX CM onto an FX send, and the Factory 04 preset. Set the Wet/Dry mix to full, then send both channels to it, making the sample’s send amount higher for more high frequency splash.
36 Axel F
Harold Faltermeyer
Year: 1984
Original Synth: Roland Jupiter-8
CM Plugin: DuneCM
If you grew up in the 1980s, then you’ll surely be familiar with this entirely electronic composition from Harold Faltermeyer. Used as the theme tune for the Beverly Hills Cop films, (named after Eddie Murphy’s character Axel Foley) was a number one in several countries. later was released as a bonus track on Faltermeyer’s 1988 album , likely as it was his best known song.
