The first thing we'll need is a good audio sample to send through the vocoder. Set up an account at:
www.freesounds.org
and then search for a vocal sample that you like. Here's one of my favorites:
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=75129
Download your favorite audio samples. Look for short ones, and use good taste.When you have a sample or two, open FL studio 9. This can get tricky, so follow the instructions carefully.
Open the mixer.
Select Insert 1.
Add an instance of Edison in the FX bank (Edison will play back the sample you downloaded)
Click on the disk icon in the Edison window, select load sample.
Browse for the audio sample you downloaded and select open. It should appear in the Edison window.
Use the drag button in edison to drag the sample over to the playlist. Remember- drag the button itself- not the sample. The sample should go in the top section where the automation clips go.
The clip should now appear in the step sequencer (just like an automation clip).
Select the channel settings for your sample in the step sequencer.
Set the FX to insert 1.
In the mixer, select insert 2 and and an instance of Vocodex.
Choose a carrier synth preset in the bottom part of the Vocodex window.
Select insert 1, then right click the up arrow on insert 2. A window will pop up. Select "sidechain to this track". This sends the signal (not the audio) from the audio sample in Edison into insert 2 in the mixer, which is where we have installed the Vocoder.
With insert 1 still selected, click on the up arrow on the master channel of the mixer. This will disable the output of insert 1 to the master. Now, insert 1 is only sending signal to the vocoder through the sidechain function, and the vocoder is sending the processed signal to the master.
Switch to song mode, and hit play. You should hear your sample played through the vocoder! Fun!
Here's my example:
And my sample post:
For this project I wanted to contrast the pure sound of the vocal sample I downloaded with the processed (vocoded) sample. To acomplish this, I started the piece with a section of pure, uneffected vocals, and then did the next bit throught the vocoder using the default "bright" setting. I repeated this contrast for the next two clips, and then started a basic groove with a Simsynth bass and a Sytrus organ patch over drums. I used a reverse cymbal and a default ensemble hit with a lot of echo to add impact- sort of like punctuation to the vocal effects. I plan to lengthen this piece, but for the purposes of demonstration, I think this file gets the point across.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Project 4: Automation
In this assignment, you need to create a loop that utilizes a modulation clip for a parameter of any channel. It sounds more complicated that it actually is. Here's how it works:
1. Come up with a rough idea for a loop. Drums, some bass, maybe a chopped melody, whatever.
2. While you are looking at the channel settings of any channel, hover the mouse over one of the controls (I used volume). If that parameter can take an automation clip, the status window will show a red dot.
3. Right click the parameter and select "Create automation clip". The clip will appear in the playlist on the top.
4. You can tweak this by right clicking on the line in the clip and creating handles so that you can change the shape of the clip, or you can select the clip itself (in the step sequencer) and use the LFO (which is what I did).
5. Tweak away, and listen while you are tweaking.
6. Post as usual. Here' s mine: (note, your post should be this descriptive. Notice I didn't say "Here's my loop. I hope you like it!" because that's lame.
I was inspired by the pad sound "air chorus". I entered one really long note, and selected the volume parameter to create my automation clip. Once it was created, I used the LFO to make the volume go up and down really fast to create the choppy sound you hear. I made another automation clip to control the overall volume of the chanel so I could have a fade in at the beginning and a fade out at the end.
For the rest of it, the sound that came to mind was a Chinese inspired melody (imagine a pan flute playing this while someone is practicing their Kung-Fu moves in super-slow motion) with a funky bass and drum thing in the background. The guitar sound is the slayer set on auto chord with a chorus effect and a clean tone. It took about 20 minutes.
1. Come up with a rough idea for a loop. Drums, some bass, maybe a chopped melody, whatever.
2. While you are looking at the channel settings of any channel, hover the mouse over one of the controls (I used volume). If that parameter can take an automation clip, the status window will show a red dot.
3. Right click the parameter and select "Create automation clip". The clip will appear in the playlist on the top.
4. You can tweak this by right clicking on the line in the clip and creating handles so that you can change the shape of the clip, or you can select the clip itself (in the step sequencer) and use the LFO (which is what I did).
5. Tweak away, and listen while you are tweaking.
6. Post as usual. Here' s mine: (note, your post should be this descriptive. Notice I didn't say "Here's my loop. I hope you like it!" because that's lame.
I was inspired by the pad sound "air chorus". I entered one really long note, and selected the volume parameter to create my automation clip. Once it was created, I used the LFO to make the volume go up and down really fast to create the choppy sound you hear. I made another automation clip to control the overall volume of the chanel so I could have a fade in at the beginning and a fade out at the end.
For the rest of it, the sound that came to mind was a Chinese inspired melody (imagine a pan flute playing this while someone is practicing their Kung-Fu moves in super-slow motion) with a funky bass and drum thing in the background. The guitar sound is the slayer set on auto chord with a chorus effect and a clean tone. It took about 20 minutes.
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