LO2: Making My Own Track Using Original Sounds, Patches and Samples

Sound Creation & Manipulation (using patches to make my original track)

In this assignment i am going to be creating an original track piece using patches i've already made and also using Logic Pro's virtual synthesizer's parameters to manipulate my already made sound even further.

The first step i took was making a unique sound using the ES M synth in Logic Pro. This subtractive synthesizer is my favourite synth to use as it allows you to produce a bass sounds that would stand out in my mix. As you can see in the picture above, I named the patch as a "Saw & Square wave blendation" as it fuses both sounds together. It isn't exactly 50/50 because i wanted my natural sound to sound woody, hollow and quite deep and i did get this result by edging towards the square wave option on the mixer parameter. The sound manipulation for that specific track didn't stop there though, i was then intrigued to modify my sound even more by adjusting more of the parameters on the ES M Synth. The next parameter i adjusted was Filter Cutoff and this is where the high end frequencies are either cut off or allowed to be heard within your track. In the picture above i decided to put it halfway as it allowed some of the high end frequencies in. I wanted the frequencies to be in my original sound as it creates extra warmth to my hollow sound.  The final parameter i adjusted was resonance and i decided to adjust this because i wanted my man-made sound to sound more unique. The resonance parameter doesn't give dramatic change but it still is noticeable to the ear subtly. Putting this parameter over half way gave my original sound a whizz-like phaser sound in the background of my sculptured sound. A resonance filter is basically adding a bit of the high end frequencies into the mix whereas the filter cutoff has more power than the resonance filter. In other words the resonance filter can not work if the the filter cut off is completely turned down.


Patch-Bay: A patch-bay is a device that contains a certain amount of jacks allowing the use of routing and connecting circuits in a flexible way. Patch-bays are commonly used in computer networking as well as recording studios. In music it is often used to connect different devices, such as Microphones, Amplifiers, other electric instruments, sound effects also recording gear. From a previous assignment i have used a patch-bay such as the Tascam Fireone which allowed me to record vocals via a microphone which was connected to the back of the Tascam, where the Tascam sends the signal through to Logic Pro via the firewire.

TASCAM Fireone (Audio Interface)

The back of the patch-bayed device showing the various amount of jack inputs 

Parameter Change: The act of changing the output of an input, for example, I adjusted the attack envelope on the EXS24 and the notes started to take quite longer to get to it's highest peak. This is called parameter change because the output of the EXS24 has been modified through the modulation envelope.

Panning: This is a function within stereo or multi-channel sound fields which allows sound signals to be transmitted via one side of the sound field or both sides of the sound field either creating mono or stereo sound. In my track i felt it was necessary to use the pan effect because i had two different tracks with a different timbre but had the same type of melody. I panned the first track to play on the right side of the stereo field whist the other track was played on the left. Using pan in my piece allowed 2 different components to be heard more clearly than being merged together in the same sound field which would make things clash and boring without the pan effect.

Preset: Inside a synthesizer/audio plugin where a built-in sound has been made by the manufacturer of the synthesizer/plugin. Creating my track so far, i have decided not to use any presets as i want my track to be 100% fully original with my own sounds i have created from scratch.

Polyphonic: Is a sound that consists of two or more voices in their own melodies. This feature makes the making of a track sound warm and thick and encourages the melody to flow throughout the whole song.

Monophonic: As opposing to Polyphonic, Monophonic is a sound with only one voice and sticks to that "1" particular melody.

One Shot: Depending on the sample, the whole sample would be played whilst one note on the midi controller is triggered. This is highly not wanted from me as it would make the note sequence out of time along with the other tracks i have recorded. As shown in the picture down below, i have used the "one shot" feature within the sampler. I've chosen to use this as it makes it easier than holding down the note for the same amount of time the sampled sound has been triggered. The sample was also a funny sound as it resulted for the whole sound to be played throughout a particular section within my track.

Reverse: Depending on the sample, whatever the sound that is sampled, the starting point would be at the end of the sampled sound being played first, and the ending point would be the start of the sampled sound. I chose to use the reverse function in the sampler because it gave the assigned sound a unique tone. I felt it was also neccesary to add this because i wanted my track to have a weird but unique twist to mix which happened to work out in the end.

Amplifier: An amplifier in a synthesizer is a volume/gain parameter which allows you to increase the amount of gain from a signal that has been inputted through midi. This is useful as it helps you change the sound's volume/gain to your own preferences. Whether you want the sound to really stand out in the mix, thats where the amplifier has to be at a high level of the users comfort, whereas if you want it to be in the background of the mix, it would have to be at a low enough level which it would have to be able to be heard.