Why can't my saws and squares sound as good? :|

[Ledger]

The lead in Skrillex's With You Friends (Long Drive) (synth at 2:34). I feel like a n00b.

[GenericNameHere]

I'm definitely feeling you with this feeling like a noob feeling. I tried to emulate this synth Will.I.Am used on the intro of "That Power," and failed miserably. I even came up with this great plan to use a sonograph to spot the frequencies where this synth hits, and then just trying to copy all that -- it didn't work. There was something else that made that synth superfat, and I dunno what it is. I tried horus effects, detuning, and layering, but it still couldn't get the bands as fat as his. After this failure, I felt like a complete retard.

"How can I not copy something that simple sounding," I thought to myself, "I must be retarded."

Anyway what I wanted to say was that this feeling, in my case at least stems from a feeling of superiority I have. I feel that I'm smarter than other people, and the fact that I struggle with making these "simple" synths, means I'm not this genius I feel I am -- I'm just an average person, and I can't come to terms with this feeling. I want to though. At the end of the day, this stems from inexperience, and it's highly unlikely that I, or anyone else for that matter, can come up with great synths in a few minutes. This takes time, and I'm sure this feeling will pass as I gain experience -- in my case, at least; YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN M8 .

Try some legato, tho...


It sounds like Skrill is using slide notes or legato with a quick slide time.

Sorry for venting...

[Today]

saws>lpf>distortion>(comp/eq to taste)>delay/reverb

pretty much all there is to this imo. The main reason it sounds big is because of all the piano and pads and movement going on around it.
No one's raw sawtooth is going to sound like a huge lead synth on its own. It's all about context. Also the playing is quite good, obviously it's drawn in or quantized though so no big deal there. you could probably use any number of presets. Just open a synth you like and scroll through "leads"

[mthrfnk]

pretty much all there is to this imo. The main reason it sounds big is because of all the piano and pads and movement going on around it.
No one's raw sawtooth is going to sound like a huge lead synth on its own. It's all about context. Also the playing is quite good, obviously it's drawn in or quantized though so no big deal there. you could probably use any number of presets. Just open a synth you like and scroll through "leads"

This x100.

It's not a hard sound to make but the way it's used is good. It's just one layer in that part of the track and the notes played are pretty creative. Skrillex also uses parallel distortion and compression - so try that too.

[Rhett]

While I'm sure you can make this sound with basic waveforms like square and saws, but I just wanted to tell you there is another way to make this synth. I used massive and some odd waveforms and got this sound perfect and added a tiny bit of chorus and reverb. I don't remember what waveforms the oscillators were sorry D: also glide is 60% of the synth.

[mthrfnk]

While I'm sure you can make this sound with basic waveforms like square and saws, but I just wanted to tell you there is another way to make this synth. I used massive and some odd waveforms and got this sound perfect and added a tiny bit of chorus and reverb. I don't remember what waveforms the oscillators were sorry D: also glide is 60% of the synth.

Most Massive waveforms are just screwed up saw/square waves though, although it is a good point - always experiment with different things.

[Turnipish_Thoughts]

While I'm sure you can make this sound with basic waveforms like square and saws, but I just wanted to tell you there is another way to make this synth. I used massive and some odd waveforms and got this sound perfect and added a tiny bit of chorus and reverb. I don't remember what waveforms the oscillators were sorry D: also glide is 60% of the synth.

Most Massive waveforms are just screwed up saw/square waves though, although it is a good point - always experiment with different things.

imo most of massives waveforms are wavetables pulled from various FM combinations. Play about with an FM synth and modulate the fm amount and modulator pitch, do that with different modulator and source waves. You'll be gliding through spectrums that sound almost identical to many of massives wavetables.

[Dahneboy]

they dont sound as good because you dont understand your instruments

[Ledger]

they dont sound as good because you dont understand your instruments