Waldorf Edition - Manual (Page 31)

Waldorf Edition
User Manual 31 Waldorf
The simplest method is to use the built-in samples of the Attack. However, those are
provided just in case you don't have time to "synthesize" a good-sounding hi-hat.
If you like a really "vintage" sound, use a high pass filtered noise. This gives the very
archaic hi-hat sound that was used by many drum machine companies for years.
One of the last examples of this sound was the good old Roland CR-78.
If you want more sophisticated results, use FM. Don't use noise as FM source, but in-
stead use a sine or triangle waveform with a very high pitch. The modulated oscilla-
tor can be set either to square or sine. The FM of the Attack has a maximum amount
of around 8 waveform cycles, which results in heavy but tonal noise. When you
don't use a static FM but change the amount by an envelope, the sound gets really
exciting. The noisy FM effect changes over time, resulting in a very lively hi-hat
sound. You will probably have to experiment with the settings of Oscillator 2 Pitch
and FM Env, but the results are very much worth the work.
A good rule of thumb is to start with the Open Hi-hat sound, and copy that sound to
the location for the Closed Hi-hat. Making a hi-hat sound shorter almost always suc-
ceeds, but making a short hi-hat longer may result in an unwanted characteristics.
Also, don't forget to set the sounds to the same XOR Group so that they cut off one
another.
Cymbals
With cymbals, the situation is similar to hi-hats. A sample is provided for an authen-
tic crash cymbal, though you can achieve more interesting and unique results using
filtered noise or FM.
Ride cymbals are more difficult to create, and their sound is so special that you
might wish to use a good sampler or sample player to generate those sounds. If you
want to create your own ride cymbal sounds anyway, you might come up with inte-
resting results using FM and ring modulation.
Toms
Tonal percussion instruments can be created easily. Just set one oscillator to produce
a sine or a triangle wave, modulate its pitch by an envelope, and set up the second
oscillator to create either the attack noise or the resonance skin. When you want to
do the latter, just copy the settings of the first oscillator and change the pitch or the
envelope depth a little.
Also, it might be interesting to remove a little of the "tone" from Oscillator 1 by ap-
plying FM from the second oscillator producing noise. Note that a short envelope
used for FM creates astounding drum stick hit sounds. Furthermore, you can high
pass filter the result to get more punch and less tone into the sound.
Congas
Congas can be made by using a sine wave oscillator, with a very short envelope
controlling the FM amount of Oscillator 2 producing noise. This, together with a
medium fast attack on Envelope 2, creates very authentic conga sounds.
Muted or slapped congas can be made by increasing the basic FM amount a little
and using a high pass filter to dampen the "tone".