Roughly 27 Tips for Drum and Percussion Patches on the Digitone
Channel: Oscillator Sink
Date: 06/11/2020

My love for the Digitone is, by this point, fairly well documented. It encapsulates, for me, almost every aspect of an electronic instrument that makes me happy, but I think the thing that constantly has me coming back and being delighted is the synthesis engine itself. There are layers of depth to the engine that invite you to explore and be playful - to find ways to twist it into new shapes in order to find new sounds. 

This was never more apparent to me than when I was putting together the patch pack I recently released which focused on drum and percussion sounds. There were so many sound design techniques that crystallised in my mind and lots of little tips and tricks that I learned that made the whole process so rewarding. 

In this video I'd like to share a bunch of that learning with you. A load of tips, tricks and techniques that I'll always have in mind when building drum or percussion patches on the Digitone. 

Timings:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:11 - Attack via Amp
00:03:01 - Balancing Decay and Release in the Amp Envelope
00:05:00 - Meta-tip: LFOs as Envelopes
00:09:21 - Attack via Pitch Envelope
00:11:37 - Attack via FM
00:15:01 - Attack via Filter Envelope
00:16:36 - Layering Attack Characteristics
00:18:03 - Softening Attack Characteristics for Fun and Profit
00:20:18 - Creating Noise via FM
00:22:05 - Cleaning up FM Noise
00:23:46 - Noise via LFO
00:27:13 - Giving Noise Character via Resonance
00:29:41 - Creating Metallic Sounds via Detuned Clusters
00:32:53 - Creating Metallic Sounds via FM
00:36:53 - Wood is Just Metal, but Chill
00:38:10 - Balancing Two Percussive Elements
00:41:27 - Mix Envelope Example (Snare)
00:47:07 - Mix Envelope Example (Kick)
00:48:53 - Giving Kick Character - Noise
00:50:34 - Giving Kick Character - Massive Low End with High-Pass Filters
00:52:28 - Voice Management for Long Kicks
00:56:08 - Refining the High-Pass Trick for Long Kicks
00:58:10 - Preparing Your Patch for Velocity Mod
01:00:01 - Velocity Mod for Attack
01:06:01 - Velocity Mod for Harmonic Content
01:10:27 - Randomize and Humanize
01:13:38 - Making a Clap Patch (Multi-Attack Envelopes)
01:21:05 - Outro

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