Synth Problems..

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Synth Problems..

Postby the4thImpulse » 28 Oct 2012 17:57

I have this 'plucky' harp like synth, lots of release, reverb and delay, and it plays up and down scales across 5 octaves. It being a pluck the envelopes have an instant attack and quick decay but during the 'attack' phase there is a clicking sound like the envelope is not ready when its triggered by the note. This clicking sound also only occurs in the highest octave I play and diminishes in amplitude very quickly as the notes get lower.

I have tried longer attacks but they of course loss the feel of the 'pluck' so they are not an option, the synth is in polyphony mode so it shouldn't be a weird monophonic problem (at least to my understanding). Anyone know another way of fixing this or at least why it only exists in the higher octaves?
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Re: Synth Problems..

Postby Hangin' From A Cloud » 28 Oct 2012 18:22

I have no idea why that occurs, but you can always try to EQ it out.
You can also try setting the attack to very low instead of instant (like ~5-10 ms long). I think too quick attacks (and releases) can cause distortions in the signal, so that could be the source. But I've read this about compressors, so not sure if it works the same w/ synth attacks.
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Re: Synth Problems..

Postby GumsOfGabby » 28 Oct 2012 21:08

Assuming you are using Massive:

Use the keytracking macro (KTr) on the attack of the envelope that gives the synth its pluckiness. Increase the range of the macro by clicking and dragging upwards. This will increase the length of attack on your pluck the further up the keyboard a note is played.
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Re: Synth Problems..

Postby Nine Volt » 29 Oct 2012 09:40

This happens to me when I have the attack at 0 ms. As HFAC said, a very small attack (I generally do like 4 ms on my plucks) will probably get rid of it. Or just don't play in the really high octaves.

Another thing you may want to look at is the release. Too high of a release seems to occasionally interfere with notes. You may want to set it to retrig mode, that might fix it.
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Re: Synth Problems..

Postby the4thImpulse » 29 Oct 2012 10:15

Hangin' From A Cloud wrote:I have no idea why that occurs, but you can always try to EQ it out.
You can also try setting the attack to very low instead of instant (like ~5-10 ms long). I think too quick attacks (and releases) can cause distortions in the signal, so that could be the source. But I've read this about compressors, so not sure if it works the same w/ synth attacks.


I have tried longer attack settings but like I said it either ruined the pluck sound or it wasn't long enough to remove the click. It took an 18 ms attack setting (1:1 slope) to remove the click which is too long.

GumsOfGabby wrote:Assuming you are using Massive:

Use the keytracking macro (KTr) on the attack of the envelope that gives the synth its pluckiness. Increase the range of the macro by clicking and dragging upwards. This will increase the length of attack on your pluck the further up the keyboard a note is played.


Sorry, my problem is with Z3ta+ 2. Keyboard tracking enevlopes sound pretty cool, I might have an option similar to this in Z3ta's extensive modulation matrix, thanks for the tip.


Nine Volt wrote:This happens to me when I have the attack at 0 ms. As HFAC said, a very small attack (I generally do like 4 ms on my plucks) will probably get rid of it. Or just don't play in the really high octaves.

Another thing you may want to look at is the release. Too high of a release seems to occasionally interfere with notes. You may want to set it to retrig mode, that might fix it.


I have also tried removing the release but like everything else it did not stop the clicks from happening in those notes. I didn't think about a retrigger mode, I will look into that when I can, thanks.
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