Stereo-fying synths?

[Morgan C]

When you guys are working with synths n stuff.. how is the best way to make them stereo? All my soft synths are mono, and then they become stereo through delays, choruses, reverbs, but its never really as wide as I want, and never sounds fantastic.

Do the top soft synths come in stereo, or do you use different ones hardpanned, or how do you do this? Any recommendations for free/cheap soft synths would be cool too.

 

[s34nsm411]

stereo delay
100% wet
0 feedback
0ms delay left speaker
15ms delay right speaker

instant super wideness

 

[ahjteam]

Do the top soft synths come in stereo, or do you use different ones hardpanned, or how do you do this? Any recommendations for free/cheap soft synths would be cool too.

Have you tried the Native Instrument freebies?

 

[Morgan C]

Have you tried the Native Instrument freebies?

Oh I forgot about those.. Had them then reformatted, I"ll go dig them up again, thanks.

 

[Yhanthlei]

Use two tracks of the same Synth, slightly detune one, -> massive sound
Or two tracks with slightly different sounds...

 

[grywolf627]

Or just stick a stereo chorus on it, and turn the wet/dry mix more towards wet until you get the sound you want. Just make sure it's a subtle chorus (somewhere in the 20-30ms range, and slow speed). I've done this for years, for various things.

 

[Masticore]

What synth vst are you using? I know alot that I have ( Toxic, Vanguard, Albino, Sytrus, etc...) are all very very very tweakable. The best ones have FM/RM tables, knobs for res, unison panning, unison tuning, and buttons for mono OR stereo. With a little practice and knowledge of how these functions work, and the ability to use occilators, you should be able to pull of dramatic effects, of course with a little added reverb and slight slight chorus'. Hell the vst that have a RM/FM tables are the greatest. You can practically squeeze any kind of synth sound you can imagine, granted you ave the patience to learn how each knob in the matrix behaves.

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

I often use like a wide ping ping pong delay.

 

[TheDriller]

Stereo Chorus is usually the way to go.

or, layer up the synth sound a few times and pan them all over the place.

 

[Morgan C]

Thanks all. I'm doing a cover of an electropop song using the acapella vocals to help improve my synth mixing/composition, so I'll post it up here when its done.

What synth vst are you using? I know alot that I have ( Toxic, Vanguard, Albino, Sytrus, etc...) are all very very very tweakable. The best ones have FM/RM tables, knobs for res, unison panning, unison tuning, and buttons for mono OR stereo. With a little practice and knowledge of how these functions work, and the ability to use occilators, you should be able to pull of dramatic effects, of course with a little added reverb and slight slight chorus'. Hell the vst that have a RM/FM tables are the greatest. You can practically squeeze any kind of synth sound you can imagine, granted you ave the patience to learn how each knob in the matrix behaves.

I don't really have any commercial ones. I use the 'moon' series, Adventus and the free ESQL strings :/ If you've got any suggestions for free/cheap synths I'd definitely be interested.

 

[Masticore]

I like Sytrus, which came with Fruity Loops the best myself. For being a vsti that came with FL it is extremely powerful. Next on my list would be Either Vanguard, Pro-53, or Toxic. Tough call, they have alot of the same functions.
The presets that come with Sytrus and Toxic are nice. While sytrus has a cool moveable x-y mod, that can be done through automation on other vsti.

 

[Morgan C]

Have you tried the Native Instrument freebies?

Ugh finally got around to using these. They all sound really good.. until you put them in the mix and realise that 90% of them are tuned REALLY weirdly and so are totally out of key with the rest of the mix. Wtf?!

 

[ahjteam]

Ugh finally got around to using these. They all sound really good.. until you put them in the mix and realise that 90% of them are tuned REALLY weirdly and so are totally out of key with the rest of the mix. Wtf?!

run them thru a tuner plugin like gvst and you'll know if they are out of tune. they also might be tuned to 442 (especially the pianos)

 

[Morgan C]

run them thru a tuner plugin like gvst and you'll know if they are out of tune. they also might be tuned to 442 (especially the pianos)

How can I fix it if it is out of tune? Short of moving all the notes (won't work if its not pure semitones)?

 

[gumplunger]

Lately I've been making a copy of my synths and running it through Softube's Metal Amp Room (one of my buddies always has a Mesa Dual Recto nearby for reamping synth tracks) which has stereo mic setups, mix it in with the original, then add split harmonizer-style chorus, and stereo ping pong delay, maybe some Lexicon style verb.

 

[ahjteam]

How can I fix it if it is out of tune? Short of moving all the notes (won't work if its not pure semitones)?

Alright, I tried some these (pianos and organs), just played an A and put gvst gtune after it and the results were:

440:

Realbook
Floating cathedral
Sticky Heat
Casablanca
Tele Vision
Horseshoe
Treated Flageolet
Mondlichter
Hiska Clavinet
Bellatrix
3 - E piano
3 - Clavinet
3 - Ragtime Piano
3 - Jazz Organ
EP10 - Piano
Softabellum
Bliss N Play


442:

Orchst Pianospace
Dubplate Piano


Out of tune:

Old rusty (didn't stay in tune)
Scan entertainer (plays D# instead of A)
Contempt Digital - Phuture Bell (438)




So if you have a problem with the sound, check it with a tuner.

 

[Masticore]

Most of the good synth vsti's i've used have a tune knob, and in some cases a fine knob for small small increments. This should allow you to tune the instrument to your needs. If your dealing with samples and wavs they can be time edited or placed in a piano roll and triggered in a key other than the standard c5 which will alter time and pitch, then a little time editing to get it to fit again.

 

[Morgan C]

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/...opop-cover-help-all-synths-balancing-etc.html

there's the result of me dicking about with all these synths, any comments are much appreciated.