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Help me to synthesize wind noise


Tusks

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...

 

I know the basics, white noise through a resonant filter, add a little delay. Tweak filter and delay settings for white noise concerto.

 

But let me explain, I am doing foley for a theater production, where the background imagery is a scandinavian winter scene. And they keep coming back to the wind of the outside as a metaphor for all kinds of stuff.

 

So my wind noise must change, in character, intensity etc, without becoming boring. So I am thinking wind samples are out except for a couple of spicy bits ... but I am pretty certain I will have to crossfade at least two va/filter/delay, chains with different character to keep things interesting.

 

Anybody, here done some work with making wind noise interesting. What did you do?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Jerry

 

PS: I thinking of cross fading between two filter banks, employing some almost static phasers, maybe even enlisting the help of some oscillator/filter fm for whistles. Any suggestions on signal path? Thx.

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What synths are you using?

 

I've gotten pretty good winds out of my Motif and Microkorg by running white noise through a resonant filter swept via a slow LFO (to make the wind rise and fall). Route the mod wheel to cutoff so you can control the wind manually, or just use the cutoff knob if your synth has one.

 

Reduce filter resonance for a more gentle sounding breeze, and turn it up to add some howl. Add some phaser/flanger/auto pan FX along with some reverb to make it sound more authentic.

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Bandpass filters work best for wind, lowpass for surf. I'd set up two elements with slightly different LFO speeds, triggered by a very slow arp that just alternates between them. You can just let it run. I've done this setting on a Maxi-Korg in the past and it sounds very convincing.

 

Then set up another element with the BP filter enveloped without LFO, triggered by just one note that you can hit manually for a sudden gust.

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What synths are you using?

 

There's not a whole lot of room under the stage. I will take the S90es and Nord Modular for sure. I was thinking of sending the modular through a KP3 for this application. We have a single array of speakers on top for most of the sounds ... I am tempted to set up some stereo floor wedges and lfo automated panning for this particular aspect of the show. Must negotiate with sound guy ...

 

Yup, that gust is going to be key to some of the drama. I need to tune that carefully. Btw what is the trade-off between reverb and delay as it relates to this application?

 

Any more tips? Thx,

 

Jerry

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Good call on the BPF for wind, though a lowpass with resonance works well too. I'll have to see what my Motif's wind patch uses. The S90ES probably has a wind patch already that you can tweak. And with multiple elements, you could set up two or more elements with different LFO filter sweeps, and then use the common LFO to cross-fade or pan the elements.

 

As for the gust, you could trigger it by hitting another note (map an element to a key range that gives a more sudden gust via EG), or route the mod wheel to filter cutoff and create your gust by moving the wheel. With filter resonance creating the howl, the mod wheel would make the howl rise in pitch as the wind picks up.

 

For a slow-envelope white noise, there won't be much difference between using a reverb and a delay, but I would lean toward reverb, as it will be more authentic.

 

BTW, you can hear some of my Motif wind howl at the beginning of this: Alien Abduction edit

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As mrcpro said. Use two lfos set at diff speeds to help add motion and animation. Also add your own motion via variously playing up and down the keyboard along with playing lower register while adding in various mid to upper register with other hand. Then mid and upper register variously then back to lower with mid to upper register added in. Keep it mellow speed except for when wanting faster sudden spurts of wind. Or vice versa. Or both rotating it around. Lol.

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How about using the S90ES for ambient wind (if it's like my Motif XS it'll have a preset already) and the Nord for the gusts?

 

BTW, I looked and my wind patch uses resonant lowpass filters. 4 elements with different filter and LFO settings. The common LFO phase is different on 3 elements, and the 4th has no common LFO modulation (just EG, and an element LFO on the filter to give it its own modulation rate). The common LFO modulates pitch, filter and pan. The elements have different key-on delays and pan positions as well.

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  • 12 years later...
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I use Juno 106 channel b53 because it does different wind in multiple keys and it’s cycles awesome plus I use a patch from my Krono’s 2 for howling overtones (something Mist)and I just can’t recall the name of it right now. I used it to recreate the intro the Elton Johns funeral for a friend. Here is a link to a song of mine that I used the same effects on

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