Synths & Sound Design

Tutorial | Sep 26, 2011 by G.W. Childs IV

Abelton Live is so much more than a live performance tool. It's a serious studio DAW and one of the first ports of call for G.W. Childs when it comes to designing sounds and FX.

Tip | Sep 23, 2011 by Gary Hiebner

Most Absynth users are so blown away with its capabilities as a software instrument that they pass over using it as a powerful effects processor! Gary Hiebner explores the other side of Absynth.

Tutorial | Sep 22, 2011 by Toby Pitman

Omnisphere by Spectrasonics is arguably one of the most amazing virtual instruments ever made. Although it comes with a huge number of patches, Toby Pitman has created 10 exclusive patches to use!

Tutorial | Sep 21, 2011 by G.W. Childs IV

Deadmau5-style pitch tricks, beats and sounds is all the rage. Learn how to recreate the organ sound from Deadmau5's dance floor filler, Ghosts n Stuff, in Propellerhead's Reason.

Tutorial | Sep 16, 2011 by G.W. Childs IV

Learn how to recreate the grooving bass sound from the club-land classic hit track, Dirty Vegas' "Days Go By" using in Reason. This hypnotic bass groove will grab you and your listeners.

Tutorial | Sep 16, 2011 by Gary Hiebner

What? A free plugin (included with every Mac) that can help you create a Deadmau5-style pitching build-up? Yes, it's true and Gary Hiebner shows you where to find it and how to use it.

Tutorial | Sep 14, 2011 by Richard Lainhart

Richard Lainhart breaks open Logic Pro's ES2 and shows how to recreate one of the synths from the Dizzee Rascal hit, 'Dance Wiv Me' featuring Calvin Harris.

Tutorial | Sep 02, 2011 by Gary Hiebner

There are many ways to process a sound. Splitting the frequency bands so you can apply DSP effects to separate frequencies is one way. Gary Hiebner shows you how it's done.

Tutorial | Aug 24, 2011 by Richard Lainhart

Learn how to recreate the Benny Benassi "Cinema" chord stab synth using Logic's ES2. Richard Lainhart gives in-depth explanations for the settings and sceenshots to help you follow along.

Tutorial | Aug 20, 2011 by G.W. Childs IV

It doesn't get much simpler than sampling in Ableton's Simpler. While it is one of the most intuitive samplers out there, Simpler can be used in many innovative ways: for example, as a synthesiser!

Tip | Aug 19, 2011 by Toby Pitman

When it comes to guitar know-how there aren't many people better positioned than Toby Pitman. In this quick tutorial he shows how to build a "freaky octave lead sound" in IK Multimedia's AmpliTube 3.

Tutorial | Aug 12, 2011 by G.W. Childs IV

In this Sound Design tutorial, GW Childs reminisces about love, life and music. In the process he shares how to use Reason to create the guitar section from Lil' Wayne's sultry classic, 'How to Love'.

Tutorial | Aug 05, 2011 by Richard Lainhart

Daft Punk's "Around The World", released in the late 90s was a big hit. As well as inspiring countless tunes & remixes, it inspired Richard Lainhart to recreate the key synth hook.

Tutorial | Jul 24, 2011 by Toby Pitman

Scripting is a powerful yet under explored features in Native Instruments Kontakt. By using the pre-built scripts (or by rolling your own) you can create compelling new instruments and interfaces.

Tutorial | Jul 19, 2011 by Richard Lainhart

Lady Gaga has taken the pop world by storm over the past few years. Learn how to re-create (in Logic or your DAW or synth of choice) the bass synth from her hit single "Edge of Glory".