Patch Request: Kalimba-type Pluck

Hey Jonathan, if you get some time can you send me the Serum Patch?

On a Mac (and probably PC), in Serum, you can go to Menu > Show Serum Preset Folder.

Then look within Presets > User.

I might try combining what you have there with another patch.

Shoot, you're right, I somehow missed the FM Mod - that does help.

I'm going to experiment some more on this. I agree with you that your Primer version does sound better than the Serum example, but it's not quite there. It's a nice pluck for sure, but it's missing that unique aspect that caught my attention in the original. Maybe it needs to be made from multiple synths layered up. I wouldn't be surprised.

I'm going to experiment more and will post back if I get significantly closer to the original sound.

Great job dialing it in as close as you have though, and thanks for the help! 🙌

Also, if anyone else wants to take a stab, please do! 👏

Thanks for getting back to me. Nice to hear responses from the requesters 😀

I tried programming the settings from the PNG into Serum. A few changes right off the bat:

I used a 12 dB Band Pass slope. Also made the decay and release about half what you have in the image.

As I said above, I think the main character of the patch's pluck comes from an FM Mod Envelope, with a fast decay. I notice that you didn't have that modulated in the PNG. From my own experience recreating this patch, in Serum, I was unable to get that distinct pluck sound you were talking about. This goes back to my previous post, where I mentioned that I'm not a big fan of the way Serum implements this (for all you can do with it, this is one section of the synth that I find pretty weak). I've created a basic sound in both Serum and Primer, and attached some audio of them both below. Take a listen and let me know what you think 😀

Hey Jonathan,

Thanks again for the help! I think you were on the right path, but mine sounds nasty in a bad way haha (could be me not using your settings exactly).

Here's where I landed. Let me know if this is how your's was or if I butchered it. To me it's missing that really interesting "ttttTTTKKKK" sound at the start. It almost sounds like it's a wooden tong being plucked, or some kind of tube/bottle noise. I've spent like 24 hours trying to sort it out with Ableton instruments and have gotten decent plucks but it's never there and always missing the magic (which are somewhat from effects, but the base sound is always missing it too).

Attched is my Serum screenshot, and a wav.

Give a shout back if you can - thanks again!
JD

Thanks so much Johnathan! I'm going to give it a shot now!

Hi there.

This patch actually reminds me of a patch in Syntorial from Group 21 (The FM lessons). In that regard, here's what I did to get a basic framework of this sound:

Oscillators: Sine. In Serum, set both waveforms to Sine and turn Osc B's level down all the way, since you only want to hear Osc A's FM sound. Then use the warp knob to give a little bit of FM to Osc A. I found that turning Osc B up 28 semitones (2 octaves and 4 semis) gave a similar pitch.

Mod Envelope: One part of this plucky sound seems to be from an FM attack transient. Route the envelope to the FM knob, and give it a very fast decay. Experiment with the amount until you find the right tone.

Even with the FM envelope, I still wasn't getting the same pluck in the vid, so I headed over to...

Filter: Band Pass. 24 dB. Set it pretty low. FMing Sine Waves doesn't produce a whole lot of highs, so you'll only be cutting off a bit of your sound.

Filter Envelope: Extremely fast decay. Give it a good amount so you can really hear that pluck. I found that after combining these two attack transients a good pluck sound came out. At this point it should sound similar to a marimba or kalimba.

Personally, I do not like the way FM attack transients sound in Serum. It comes off as very muddy, and I can always hear a little build up to the peak FM, even if my attack stage is set to 0. I think Primer does a much better job with FM attack transients, which sound nice and clean. If you're having trouble matching this sound in Serum, try programming it in Primer.

I didn't recreate the entire patch, but just wanted to see if I could get that basic pluck sound. Let me know if this sounds closer to what you're looking for 😀