Members veracohr Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 I've been trying to make a metallic, robotic sound, but so far my results have fallen short of what's in my head. I can't think of any examples, but does anyone have any suggestions for programming a pitched, robotic sort of sound? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flat earth Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 Do you mean, as in spoken' robotic sounds? If so, just about any synth with a vocoder will see you right. I had endless fun pretending to be a Cylon when I had a MK ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NickD101 Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 For non-spoken sounds, a ring modulator is always good for that metallic sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members program_insect Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 and some nice FM mod of your oscillator is always nice and metallic sounding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members idiotboy Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 maybe throw in some extremely bright plate reverb, for good measure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members angstwulf Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 Delay - short delay time, long decay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members shaft9000 Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 cute Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chando Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 short non-rational answer - Korg MS-20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chando Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 examples? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundwave106 Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 I'm looking forward to KSS revealing what machine was used in the role of the "vocoder". (It kind of looks like a mastering reel-to-reel to me, similar to an Otari MTR-15 or something. But I dunno.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chando Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 What's even funnier is autotune is not a vocoder ... oh well........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members idiotboy Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 Ampex ATR 102 Unveiled nearly 30 years ago at AES in 1976, the Ampex ATR-102 (the 2-channel version of the company's ATR-100 Series recorders) is still considered by many to be the best mastering deck ever built. Unfortunately, it wasn't always that way. Early units were sometimes erratic and unreliable due to some substandard assembly line work and uneven quality of parts from outside suppliers. But after a few years of such growing pains, the ATR-102 emerged as a favorite of studios and broadcasters alike. Created by Ampex hardware engineers, the ATR Series incorporated advanced aerospace techniques with clever design details. The transport's gentle pinchrollerless design with capstan and reel motors under servo control provided smooth, continuous tension and tape handling, with almost nonexistent speed drift and extremely low flutter due to the large capstan. A unique plug-in head block let users change heads/guides in a matter of minutes, while its layout and convenient thumbwheel made for fast, easy editing. In all, some 3,000 machines (mono, stereo and multitrack) were made until the series was discontinued in 1982, but ATR-100s are still quite alive thanks to parts, service and even new designs (such as the 2-inch 8-track and 1-inch 2-track) from ATR Services Inc. Courtesy: Mix Magazine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members veracohr Posted September 17, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 Not a vocoder, and not FM. I did use FM8 to try to get what I wanted, and while I came up with a good sound it wasn't what I was looking for. Funny thing, I heard pretty much the sound I want on a song on the drive to work today. It's a simple sound, so perhaps it's my lack of sleep that is the trouble. It's kind of a 'ratchety' sound, and I thought it would be easy enough using a fast square wave LFO controlling amp level, but that didn't sound right, and I tried it on multiple synths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Severalist Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 What's been said already and a bit cruncher, maybe a comb filter with some FM somewhere in your signal chain. Try the link below for various quality metallic robo crap. All free. I use many of them myself to expert effect. http://http://www.gersic.com/plugins/hosted/darkware/darkware.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundwave106 Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 Ampex ATR 102 KSS comes through again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundwave106 Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 Funny thing, I heard pretty much the sound I want on a song on the drive to work today. It's a simple sound, so perhaps it's my lack of sleep that is the trouble. It's kind of a 'ratchety' sound, and I thought it would be easy enough using a fast square wave LFO controlling amp level, but that didn't sound right, and I tried it on multiple synths. Do you have an example? The thing that comes to mind, that you *might* be describing is the short delay time effect mentioned earlier. (The effect is similar to flanging but different.) Another that comes to mind is the stutter effect, which can get metallic at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Guitarsoul34 Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 Ha! Great find XML . The robotics vocal stuff really IS getting a bit out of control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members program_insect Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 How about a sample rate reducer and modulate the sample rate? That gives you a nice computer speaking sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chando Posted September 17, 2009 Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 Basically ... we need an example. Robotic and Synths can be a very subjective combo. I usually think. Ring Mods, Square waves, crossmod, fm, etc .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members veracohr Posted September 17, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 17, 2009 I think I got it more or less like I wanted. I was on the right track with the square wave LFO controlling the level. I remembered there was a sample in Reason's sound library that was pretty close, so I loaded that up and recorded a little so I could look at the waveform. Turns out all I had to do was adjust the pulse width of the LFO and play around a lot to find the perfect frequency for it. This song has the sound starting about 17 seconds in, although I think this one is just a non-pitched sample. kRgj2qtSXlU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundwave106 Posted September 18, 2009 Members Share Posted September 18, 2009 To me, the sound 17 seconds in is a self-oscillating filter (regular oscillators off) being swept with a rather fast LFO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members veracohr Posted September 22, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 To me, the sound 17 seconds in is a self-oscillating filter (regular oscillators off) being swept with a rather fast LFO. You could be right. I tried that out, and it gave a sound pretty close to that example. Unfortunately, that method isn't usable for an in-tune melody like I need. I couldn't get the the tones produced by the frequency modulation to track well enough. I got close enough using a fast LFO to control the amp/level, and this way I can still have a normal low pass filter to control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lindh Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 I use a comb filter to get strange metallic sounds. Tried that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lindh Posted September 22, 2009 Members Share Posted September 22, 2009 Sounds like this: http://www.kiresounds.se/downloads/metal.wav But I don't know if that's the sound you want Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members veracohr Posted September 23, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 23, 2009 I actually am using a comb filter to help with the 'metallic' sound, but the robotic aspect was the part I couldn't get right. For reference, here's the sound I'm using at the moment: http://www.veracohr.com/audio/Audio-1.3.wav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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