Caustic Song file (optional):
A few weeks ago, I created this "Ghost Choir" preset on Sawsynth..
The "secret" is : sawtooth wave, a high detune, a very slight pitch envelope, a high-rate and high depth vibrato (LFO modulating pitch), a rather low cutoff frequency, slow rates on amplitude envelope..
A nice foggy choir.. I spent several hours playing it, not knowing exactly how I would use it, but feeling that it sounds like if those male voices were distant, in the forest, in the fog, and moaning..
Then I made this tune and I liked it.. with 2 times the same sound, slightly modified.. But I felt the need to double it with a real choir, I mean a PCM choir.. SO that it's a bit more realistic..
You get the caustic file with this post, so you can have the sounds and hear them separately.. And you get the ogg file too..
Ok.. I was satisfied, so I uploaded it on my soundcloud.. But now...
(Followed on next post..)
But now, I said, I have remembered about the "formant filter" on Caustic's Modular synth.. ANd I know that formants are an important characteristic of the human voice; so I decided to try it.. First, on some Padsynth presets, but then on my Ghost Choir..
And sure this formant filter a powerful tool.. WHen it comes to voice synthesis, at least..
I then raised the cutoff frequency of the Sawsynth, lowered the LFO-on-pitch modulation, and routed both Sawsynths into the modular, both having their own formant filter.. I turned the direct sawsynth volume to zero on the mixer, and only kept the Modular output, ie the 2 Sawsynths modified by formant filters..
Rej's formant filter is so good, my choir has become more realistic.. SO realistic, so that I decided to not keep the PCM choir that I had added.. It's no more useful.. I use the formant-filtered-Sawsynth alone, and it sounds convincing..
I keep this version on my soundcloud..
(Well, the PCM choir is still on the caustic file that I attach on this post, but the volume is set to zero.. You can try to mix it with the synthesized choir, to see the difference..)
If you are interested in synthesizing human voices, then download this caustic file.. Try to play with the formant filter, as you are playing the tune.. Or try your own tune.. Try different settings for formant 1 and formant 2, different settings for the morphing.. You will then hear different vowels, more or less realistic.. It will show you the power of this filter, if you don't already know it..
But as a summary, I think that it's the very best choir I ever succeeded to synthesize.. The most realistic.. Realistic not only on one note, but up to C5 approx.. And you should know that I tried a lot, in the past, cause I love human voices.. I had some more-or-less convincing results, but I never have been half as close to the real thing..
So.. I will never thank enough Rej for having built Caustic.. It's a really powerful machine..
See you guys..
Caustic Song file (optional):
(The only thing is ; the formant filter adds some extra scratches to the sound.. They sound more or less like old-vynil-scratches.., they don't disturb me on this song cause I already added a noisy landscape or background, but on some other tunes, it might f... I mean, ruin the final result.. I hope Rej can fix it..)
Your updated audio with the formants added in from the Modular routing, sounds much better, and adds to the "spook" factor.
Very nice work on this one.
Thanx Jason,.. Even if I undeerstood nothing in the "Spook factor" part of your message, your comment was welcome anyway..
What I meant is that it appeared like you were trying to create a chilling, almost scary forest environment, kind of like a halloween type of scene for a movie, and your latest update really nailed it.
...... sounds spooky good, sir.
Oh.. OK Jason..
Scary ?? Not really.. That was not my intention.. Just trying to be in touch with the sadness, a kinda peaceful and contemplative sadness, of dead people who accepted their fate..
The text on the sound file, on soundcloud, explains it.. I should have pasted it here, maybe ??
No.. I don't think so.. Cause, the post was not really to promote my music, if it were so, it would have been posted in the "show and tell" section.. but to show the sound, or the preset, and the interesting possibilities of the formant filter.. I think that the Fformant's , or let's say the static resonances, are an important characteristic of a sound.. They will help making it sound natural and realistic. And are too much under- estimated in sound synthesis.. Just like delayed vibrato, or key.followed envelope rates.. Or variable, unstable LFO speeds, unstable pitch or amplitude.. All these features are rarely implemented on affordable synthp, and that's a big lack, when you try to imitate natural sounds, even imaginary ones..
That's mad using only a sawsynth and modular? No way :0 I wish I was as good at sound design as you or Jason, mostly just use other people's stuff...
that's an impressive file! I can totally understand why jason thinks it sounds scary though :D
'Askar
https://www.soundcloud.com/xenoplas
hot dang man, love the sound pulled here, now I gotta go play with that forment filter :-) more stuff I never even knew existed in caustics, crazy!
~Stay Awesome!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ELahJS1VtI
~Dane
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I made use of the formant filters in modular to create a Gregorian chant piece. I started with a PadSynth choir preset (modified) and sent to the modular. Split it to two separate formant filters, each with different voices, put a delay on one and sent one to Left channel, one to Right. I think the sound is nice.
http://singlecellsoftware.com/node/10264
JHS
https://soundcloud.com/jhsound-2
Oh !! Just listened to it.. Yes, what a very good preset.. Really convincing !! I'm impressed.. And I have the feeling that I could have worked a little more on my own preset, to have a more convincing result..
I mean.. My choir is meant to be a ghost Choir, so it has to be different from real human voice.. But in case I would want to recreate human voices, then I would have to work it more..
Back to your own sound preset, I would never have guessed that those voices were synthesised..
Impressed.. And jealous..
Thanks, Opus. I can't take credit for the original PadSynth choir preset but I did end up messing with it a lot before it got to the modular, where it got its "voice" and then some sound adjustment after that. I guess you could sample the output and make a preset from it.
JHS
https://soundcloud.com/jhsound-2
Long time ago I used a formant filter and some choir pad trying to imitate a Tibetan Singing monks..
If I find it I will upload it here..
https://soundcloud.com/user-meleven/dimension-ten?ref=clipboard&p=a&c=1