Kid A Sine Wave Tone on H90

[Kurt Leege]

Hi all. I was finally starting to get into programming my H90 last night and set about trying to generate a Kid A style sine wave tone with the polysynth. I couldn’t quite nail anything down. I’m thinking something along the lines of the tone on ‘Everything in its Right Place’. Anyone have any insight as to whether I can program something like that or suggestions on how to do it?

[brock]

That’s a very interesting initial target for programming.  At first, I thought ‘Kid A sine’ meant the vocoded Ondes Martenot.  That would be another great sound for an attempt at recreating (Q-Wah formants & PolySynth).

So we’re looking for that Roland / Rhodes riffing throughout the ‘Right Place’?  I need to ask what you’re using as an input (guitar, bass, keyboards …).  That will figure into how much is technique, and how much is the synth programming.

Rhodes is notoriously difficult to emulate accurately (without using samples), but you can get close.  I’ve sometimes added Ring Mod for the ‘tines’, pitch shifting for the harmonics, and often UltraTap Chop or DynaVerb Omnipressor for shaping the overall envelope.

PolySynth’s envelope differs from most synths, with the envelope follower doing much of the grunt work.  That’s the main reason I asked about your choice of input signal.  How you play is a major factor.

I’d like to help you get to this sound.  I think it can be done, using both Presets in a Program.  Even the bolder accents toward the end of the song.

[Kurt Leege]

Thanks for responding. Know it’s a weird ask. Guitar is the input. Back when that album came out I had an Alesis QS8. I managed to program a pretty close match just starting with a pure sine wave tone as the base. Alas, it’s been years since I programmed a synth and I’m not even sure if I can set a pure sine wave tone on the polysynth. I tried a bunch of parameters the other night, but couldn’t nail down that simple sound.

I can always adjust my attack and playing dynamics to get it right if I can find that sound.

But yes, targeting the sound of the pure sine synth from the first note of Right Place.

[Kurt Leege]

Thanks for responding. Know it’s a weird ask. Guitar is the input. Back when that album came out I had an Alesis QS8. I managed to program a pretty close match just starting with a pure sine wave tone as the base. Alas, it’s been years since I programmed a synth and I’m not even sure if I can set a pure sine wave tone on the polysynth. I tried a bunch of parameters the other night, but couldn’t nail down that simple sound.

I can always adjust my attack and playing dynamics to get it right if I can find that sound.

But yes, targeting the sound of the pure sine synth from the first note of Right Place.

[Kurt Leege]

I can probably dig up a sample of that sine wave tone I programmed on my QS8 to send you if it helps. I have nothing online that used that sound, but cut a lot of tunes with it circa 2000/2001 that are in my archives somewhere.

[brock]

The Triangle Shape is the closest waveform you’re going to get to a sine.  You may need to increase levels, as compared to the harmonic-rich waves.

I’d start with only Shape 2, Shift 2, and Level 2.  Zero out any Env, LFO, Detune, Spread influences.  Drop Levels 1 & 3 down for now.

Attack, Resonance & Cutoff start at minimum, then purposefully raise the Cutoff value.  With few harmonics, it will be up there.  Once happy with the base tone, see if where the Resonance might add something special.

Now you can mirror those settings in Shape / Shift / Level 1 & 3.  Use the other Shifts to add ‘harmonics’, if you want, and the 3 Levels as a sub-mixer.  Probably Unison, 5ths & octaves.

If this sounds like a good enough ‘sine’ emulation at this point, you can start adding some motion to it.  Env Amount & Sens for a snappy attack.  You will probably have to reduce Cutoff now to compensate.  Maybe a very slight wobble with Detune, or an LFO Pitch or PWM.  Careful with the LFO amounts.  A little goes a long way very quickly.

I suppose a text description isn’t the best approach, because many of these parameters are interactive.  Back & forth with slight tweaks is going to dial it into the sweet spots.

[Kurt Leege]

Thank you. Will work on that tonight and get back to you. Just starting out working with these algorithms and don’t understand the all the interactions yet. Did come up with a cool patch today using a bass synth and prism shift combo today. This thing is so deep. I’m sure I can get there, just couldn’t figure out where to start.

[Kurt Leege]

Thanks so much for breaking that down for me. I played around a bunch this afternoon and while I couldn’t quite nail down the exact tone I’m going for, I came up with a lot of cool presets and now understand much better how all of the pieces of the polysynth interact. There is definitely no need for me to fork out for an Enzo X! Everything I need is in this and it tracks great.

[brock]

It is a fantastic synth.  The envelope follower could be the most responsive I’ve ever come across, which translates to very expressive synthesis from guitar techniques.  Enzo X caught my eye, too.  I just haven’t found much that it offers (yet) that I can’t work around in the H90.

FWIW, I think you’re going about it the best way – from the ground up.  Those ‘happy accidents’ are the payoff.  If you ever get stuck on an approach or nuance, I believe there are over 60 Programs on P/S that use PolySynth in some capacity:

https://patchstorage.com/platform/eventide-h90/?search_query=PolySynth&tax_platform=eventide-h90&tax_post_tag=&orderby=modified&wpas_id=search_form&wpas_submit=1

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