Synths & Sound Design

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8 Essential Tips for New Music Producers

Thanks to the tools available and their affordable price tags, there's never been a better time to produce music. Sara Simms shares 8 tips for new & veteran producers to get the music flowing.

5 Creative Ways to Process Synth Pad Sounds in EDM Music

Don't think of pads as fillers in your tracks. With some creative techniques in any DAW you can transform pads from drones into highly interesting and evolving musical parts.

Filter Sweep Patterns on Drums using Reason's Synthetic Rig

Fancy learning how to create unique filter processed drums using Reason's Synthetic Rig? The Filter Pattern rack is incredibly usable as Mo Volans shows in this video tutorial.

How to Create a Dark Pad in Massive

This tutorial on making a dark, brooding pad is taken from Rishabh Rajan's FREE interactive eBook: NI Massive Sound Design Recipes available for iPad, iPhone, Mac, Android and PC.

4 Essential Tips for NI Maschine 2.3

Along with the new effects and instruments in Komplete Select that come bundles with the Maschine 2.3 update are tons of tips and tricks you can employ in your productions. Here's 4 awesome ones!

Using Reason's Redrum as a Melodic Device

G. W. Childs delves into the dark side (not really...) of Propellerhead Reason and uncovers how Redrum can actually be used to create melodic sounds and phrases.

Mixing Orchestra Tips: Pre or Post Fader Send Reverb?

When mixing your next project (especially orchestral) spare a thought for your audience. Using pre-fader sends, Peter Schwartz shows how to simulate how sounds will be perceived.

Re-Creating Vintage Instruments: What Makes Modeling Better than Sampled?

If you're looking to re-create an acoustic instrument or vintage synth/drum machine in software, sample-based instruments will only take you so far. Joe Albano explores modelling instruments in depth.

Transform Korg volca keys into a Pad & String Machine

Your Korg volca keys can easily make short techno stabs and blippy synth sounds, but it can do more too. G. W. Childs demonstrates how to create pads and strings using this powerful hardware synth.

How FL Studio's BeepMap Synth Converts Images into Sounds

Even if you haven't yet updated to FL Studio 12 yet (why not??) Gary Hiebner shows you how to translate visual pixels into sonic synthesis using BeepMap. We wish every DAW had this!

Taking 3 Universal Audio Stomp Box Plug-Ins on Vacation

With some choice hardware and plug-ins, even when you're out of the studio you can get some truly excellent sounding guitars. Rich Tozzoli uses his UA Apollo and 3 stomp boxes in UAD v8 to good effect

12 ways to Stereoize and Control your Mix in Ableton Live

Learn how to control the stereo dimension of your Ableton Live mix thanks to this in-depth tutorial from The Sound Tutor. You can also work through and download the included project on Splice.com.

How to Make a Relaxing, Evolving Backdrop in Reason

It's the weekend and it's time to relax. G. W. Childs shows how to create an evolving, ambient background sonic landscape in Propellerhead Reason's Thor.

Creating Dub, Trap & Glitch Stutter Effects with Korg volca beats

Are you into creating dub, trap or long echoes in your beats, or are you after some glitchy effects for your drum patterns? G. W. Childs shows how in this Korg volca beats tutorial video.

6 Essential Reverb Tips for Propellerhead Reason

Propellerhead Reason users take note! Hollin Jones is all about spatial effects and in this quick read he shares six excellent tips for making the most of reverb in Reason.