I been hearing me some Steve Winwood tunes, and really like the clavi type bass sound he uses.
Without samples, would it be possible to recreate that sound with a synth?
I remember the Sega megadrive had some cool clavi bass sounds, so I guess FM synth would be best candidate to use?
I tried subsynth already , and the results were disappointing.
I don't know yet which kind of sound it is because I know the name Winwood but not his music or sound.
Do you have a snippet of that sound or a youtube link where it can be heard?
https://soundcloud.com/gharwen
I've done a lot of clav-sounds on analogue synths in the past, I can give it a try with the Sub. Which part of the sound is most important for you low, mid or highs?
You can get it on the subsynth using the custom wave draw,I made some a year or so back I will try and find them
Try tweaking this if you are after a clav sound,hope it helps I haven't heard much Steve Winwood
Caustic Song file (optional):
I don’t know what type of clav sound your after but i suppose it’s the classic synthclav your looking for. A real clavichord is a little harder to emulate but I’m sure it can be done. I went for that funky Motown sound Stevie Wonder used on Superstition, that sound is also great for 80’s style reggae. Here’s the preset I made, feel free to tweak it to fit your tracks
A clavinet could be tricky to do in subsynth. A real 70's Hohner has a clicky attack and a sort of short pop on release. I also think FM synth is the best candidate, or with modular and then export to PCM to have polyphony. I have 2 PCM clav, one bright, and one mellow. Not bad sounding but missing the final 'pop'.. Will post them if needed. I also have a good VSTi, so I can sample it, but this is sample based Clavinet, not pure synth.
Hey, thanks for those presets. Both sound great in their own ways.
Pan65 yours has that classic feel I had in mind, while Steves is more like the Megadrive sounds I rememebr.
Gharwen, if 80's synth music float your boat, then check out some Steve Winwood. My favourites are "talking back to the night" and "spanish dancer".
Cheers
Skarabee, Id beinterested in those presets if your willing to share.
Glad you liked it, there are a lot of variants of the Clav sound and with type to use depends on how you’re gonna play it and what other sounds you got in your song. Personally I like the type with lots of high-end content that cut trough the mix like a knife. I think I’m gonna make a FM version to later on, if you modulate one of the operators with velocity you can get some nice funky stuff out of it
I have a couple sound fonts of various clavs. If those don't pan out Logic has a dedictaed Clav soft synth and I could make samples from that..... If you don't mind a PCM version I will post something later
Thanks for the offer of PCM samples.
I found I had already started creating a PCM preset some months ago, and forgot about it. I submitted it to the presets area. My first attempt, so I hope it is useable.
I just finished a sampled preset from one my VSTi and loaded it in PCM section too. Works well with FX: auto-wah, comb filter, short delay, cab sim...
Nice PCM’s there guys, Skarabee’s version got a nice clear tone while PlHawkey’s is a little softer but both sounds great.
I had a little fun with the FM during a coffee break yesterday and came up with a sound similar to a clavichord, not a clavinet but it should be easy to tweak it into a clavinet. I didn’t have time to compose something to play it with though, so I imported a midi file and let Bach have some fun with it instead. I think it sounds good but I’m not sure what impact velocity have on a real clavichord, I watched a couple of clips at YT but that didn’t help me much. I learned a little more about the instrument though, it’s cool hybrid of a guitar like instrument and a keyboard and what’s really cool is that you can bend the tone a bit and add some vibrato to. Next one I will try is the harpsichord and that one is even cooler since it picks it’s strings like a guitarist do
Caustic Song file (optional):
Mega Drive/Genesis' music was awesome in many aspects. I personally adore the RoboCop vs Terminator OST — its industrial music is pretty impressive, sounds great even today. And I have always been trying (unsuccessfully, alas) to recreate on FMSynth the Mega Drive guitar sound which can be heard on the opening theme of Road Rash 3.
Is not a clavinet a plucked keyboard instrument (played by keys of course) much along the lines of a harpsichord? That drop-down effect of the key release as well as pickup settings' variance plays a role in getting a realistic tone?
And can u not get a good rich tone from the fmsynth? Just curious if u take a good quality high pitch clavinet sound very rich in tone and merge it in pcm... Just a thought.
Can't help getting the sound, but I like the clavinet on this track:
Money Mark
"Have Clav Will Travel"
Mark's Keyboard Repair (1995)
And this one:
Platypus
"What About the Merch?"
When Pus Comes to Shove (1999)