How to make software synth sound more organic?

R

Robstb

New member
So, i originaly started making rock music, but am into making electronic music on and off for some time now.
Now, literally every time i am working on a piece and afterwards listen to big artists, i notice that my baselines etc sound very digital/artificial in comparison. I like using arpeggiators and such things because i like outrun/synthwave stuff, so maybe that enforces it even more.
Do you guys know any tricks, handles etc, to make it sound more organic? I am mainly using Diva by UHE btw.
 
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Would be easier to make suggestions if you could post a sample of how things are sounding now, but I guess my way of approaching things is to slightly modulate...a lot of things and use more or less obvious modulation fx like flangers and phasers, along with the usual reverbs and delays. It's a bit hard to explain, but just adding a hint of "movement" - something like modulating the decay of the filter envelope with a slow LFO so it's constantly a bit different and do this kind of thing to a bunch of parameters (it doesn't have to be that many, actually). Also I often have these LFOs or envelopes running freely (ie. not in tempo sync) so you basically get a constantly slightly evolving sound.
 
You can make a synth sound more retro/organic by detuning it a little bit further, flaws are what make stuff sound more authentic and natural imo
 
General modulation is the key.

A little subtle reverb is good (keep it very dry)

Distortion/saturation is also good, especially in combination with detuning- it makes extra harmonics that get louder with the natural volume envelope of the sound.

Also, I find deeper sounds more organic a lot of the time. Maybe just my experience but try dropping it an octave or two and then highpassing (unless it's a bass obviously)
 
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A lot of real sounds come from real instruments, software is good and creative but sometimes they go the old school route and record something. Older analog instruments have the more real sound.
 
You will need saturation &/or bitcrushing to replicate most analogue devices with their vintage dacs if not talking about the recent ones like the ren/mpc X/maschine with their higher bit depth & high quality dacs.
 
Yah! ^^^^

Funny, the younger cats think of any external/self-contained hardware units as "analog," regardless of what's inside or how it works. It's one of those things I'm going to have to get used to, like people saying "Check-out my beat," when they mean "Please listen to my completed instrumental track."

As far as adding realism/modulation/movement? Why not play the part in as a take, rather than sequencing a few measures and cutting and pasting? How about re-amping or playing through a bass amp while you track the part? (This will require some creative effort and some additional gear if you are working exclusively "in the box"). As has been stated previously, add distortion and some time-based effects that are not perfectly in-synch.

Grids and cut & paste are the enemies of human feel...
 
I quite often run my hardware synths and drum machines through a cheap TC overdrive pedal in order to get some extra grit out of them.
No reason why you can't re-amp your software synths...
 
I agree with Krushing because when I make instrumentals, switching up the sound in any way makes the bass line synth sound much better. It could be slight modulation from filters, it could be grooving with the same loop rhythm but with a different harmony progression, chopping the bass line, or maybe using automation on the cutoff filters. Hope this can give you more ideas. Cheers!
 
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