Need Help Selecting/Tweaking Patches for Seussical

11 Feb 2010, 22:38

Hello all,

This place has been invaluable to me in the past for various musicals that I've done using my Fantom. The very first show I did with it was "Into the Woods," which was a synth-heavy show so it was kind of a "Throw-me-in-the-river-to-see-if-I-can-swim" experience!

At any rate, this year we're doing Seussical, which calls for a metric ton of patches, some of which I'm finding pretty easily, some of which I'm having some trouble with. I figured, rather than just bombard the forum with new threads every time I get stuck, I'll just update this one with questions/problems as they come up

My gear:

Fantom X7, not upgraded to v2
SRX-06 Complete Orchestra
SRX-07 Ultimate Keys

Some of the interesting patches in the Keyboard 2 part (my part) include:
Breathy Pad / Bell Synth / Cricket Synth / Elephant / Doing / Psycho Strings / Tinkly Voices / Door Slam / Mallet Synth / Bell/Harpsi Synth / Log Synth / Calliope / Reedy Synth / Hank-y Synth / Nose Flute / Kazoo / Birdie Whistle / Tiny Synth Voice / Horn / Pig Synth / Animal Brass / Many Tubas / Bird Honk / Bird Fart / Hard Bottle Blow / AirRaid Siren / Spooky E.P. / Ethereal Choir / Spooky Voices / Dark Choir / Glittery Bell Synth / D-50 Stack / 80s Pad / Breathy Bell / Toy Piano / Squishy Bass / D-50 Heaven / Rock Synth / Metal Clav / Hooty Synth / Icy-cold Synth / Ravenborg / Kazoo Brass / Cimbalum / Funky Horn / Many Trombones & Horns / Buzz Brass

Re: Need Help Selecting/Tweaking Patches for Seussical

11 Feb 2010, 22:41

My first problem patches:

Cricket Synth and Log Synth.

Cricket synth should sound basically like a pitched cricket -- if you think of a B3 organ at a really high octave with the mod wheel on full and fast, you'll get sort of an idea of the sound, but not quite.

Log Synth should sound like someone hitting a hollow log, or if you know the Blue Man Group, think of the sound when they play the pitched PVC pipes. Sort of Marimba-ish, but different.

Re: Need Help Selecting/Tweaking Patches for Seussical

13 Feb 2010, 14:21

Okay, so I'm closer on the cricket synth. I modified the heck out of the AeroInsctSRX patch from the SRX-07 board, changed out the wave, etc, and it's pretty close to what I need.

But there's this weird sort of phase/oscillator going on that's affecting the "crispness" of the sound, and also its overall level.

I can't figure out how to turn it off, though. Any hints, experts?

Re: Need Help Selecting/Tweaking Patches for Seussical

13 Feb 2010, 14:30

I could definitely help you with the Bird Fart patch!

Re: Need Help Selecting/Tweaking Patches for Seussical

15 Feb 2010, 22:55

Here's a sample of the Cricket Synth from the soundtrack:

http://homepage.mac.com/jawz/CricketSynthSample.m4a

Here's a sample of the Log Synth (it's the bass line that starts on the word "Horton").
http://homepage.mac.com/jawz/LogSynthSample.m4a

Re: Need Help Selecting/Tweaking Patches for Seussical

19 Feb 2010, 12:14

Update:

Still trying to get cricket and log synths done (any help appreciated!)

Also working on Pig Synth and Animal Brass.

For Pig Synth: Think of the incidental music between scenes in Green Acres, or other similar sitcoms -- how it kind of sounded like a large sow pig grunting/oinking on pitch.

Animal Brass: I really am not sure on this one, but in my mind, I'm picturing a cross between an elephant yell and a trombone wailing.

Re: Need Help Selecting/Tweaking Patches for Seussical

5 Mar 2010, 15:39

Another way to think of the Log Synth that just occurred to me:

You know the sound that a thick rubber band makes if you stretch it between your fingers and pluck it? I'm kind of looking for that sort of sound, with maybe a little bit of a marimba/kalimba twinge to it.

Anyone have any guidance on that, or any of the other patches?