Can anyone help me make this "stab"?

CowboyClyde

New member
Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone could explain how San Holo gets the piano synth stabs in this song to sound so sharp and fade out so quickly/cleanly:


Starts at :18

It hits every downbeat

THanks!
 
I would say there's about 3 oscillators:
- 2 saw oscillator, one which is an octave below.
- 1 square oscillator, that's blended in by taste.
Then add some noise of course.

Add some unison, I would guess 4 voices on medium detune.

Add a lowpass filter, and set up a filter envelope with a little slower decaytime, and set sustain to a level where the sound pretty much disappears. Add some slight resonance.

Either there's some slow vibrato going on in the sound as well, or it's a very light pitch envelope going on with fast attack, some holdtime and then a slow decay.

Add some chorus with a little faster mod-rate, experiment with the mod-depth.

The on the volume envelope/ADSR set a sustain at perhaps 2/3 of the maximum value, then a faster decaytime, and a dash of release. Then some compression in the FX chain may enhance the stab.
 
not a piano but a saw synth/pad with a fast attack and fast release - sounds like a Roland type patch so easily found in the various GM vsts available out there look for polysynth/pad typ sounds
 
I would say there's about 3 oscillators:
- 2 saw oscillator, one which is an octave below.
- 1 square oscillator, that's blended in by taste.
Then add some noise of course.

Add some unison, I would guess 4 voices on medium detune.

Add a lowpass filter, and set up a filter envelope with a little slower decaytime, and set sustain to a level where the sound pretty much disappears. Add some slight resonance.

Either there's some slow vibrato going on in the sound as well, or it's a very light pitch envelope going on with fast attack, some holdtime and then a slow decay.

Add some chorus with a little faster mod-rate, experiment with the mod-depth.

The on the volume envelope/ADSR set a sustain at perhaps 2/3 of the maximum value, then a faster decaytime, and a dash of release. Then some compression in the FX chain may enhance the stab.

Here is what I was able to make so far....


The issue or the thing I can't seem to figure out is that the sound doesn't necessarily cut off at the end...the filter cut off isn't too noticeable. The sounds kind of rings out after every stab. Im probably explaining it terribly but is that done by adding more reverb?
The sound that I made its obvious that you can hear the filter cut off happening, where as his stab, the sound hits, then holds for a bit and boom, its gone.

Should I just not made the filter cut off go as "deep"?
 
it needs more filter not less

reverb is part of the trick also, but not as much as you think
 
What BC said, dial down the filter sustain a little bit, and maybe cut back the filter decay time a hint (not much).
Then use slightly shorter notes.
Add some more of the pitchbend that I mentioned earlier.

Also, I'm sitting here thinking that maybe you should add a second envelope to the filter as well, with a fast decay time, low sustain - but a long hold time, all to make it cutoff so fast in the end, so you get closer to the thing you've been talking about.
Though I'm not sure how you should do that in Massive since I can't see any hold-knob (can't remember if it has any).
If you don't find any hold-knob, simply dial in the envelope mapping in the filter the opposite way, and let the envelope-delay act as a holdtime, and use the attack as the decay instead.

And one tip, increase the Feedback-knob to fatten it up a little bit so you get closer to the fatness of the original synth (keep in mind though that you may need to compensate the high-end in the EQ-section).
 
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