SyNc HIHAT Drum Patch Explained: Copy the HIHAT part and open it in the SYNTH. Play a few keys and you will notice stuff you can’t hear in the Drum Sequencer. This patch consists of 2 parts: a SYNTH part and a FX Part.
Observations:
- the main component is a noise-burst
- if you play different keys, the patch sounds basically identical so there is little if any key-followed filtering going on
- there is a nice clicky Thwack at the transient edge of the sound
- there is a barely audible slight change in the Tone Color during the note event; it gets a little brighter as the event passes (this is very subtle)
- This patch is probably the simplest of the SyNc patches.
Construction:
1. Noise Burst The Noise Burst is done with VCO1 on the Noise waveform. The Octave (Scale) does not have any effect because noise has no fundamental frequency or pitch. VCO1 is mixed at full volume (10). The duration of the burst is done with EG2 which controls the VCA. This is a transient so the sustain level is set to 0. The attack is also at 0 because we are looking for a tight sound. The Decay controls the duration of the burst. Play with the Attack and Decay controls to understand how they are working in the context of the patch sound.
2. Tone Color of the Noise Burst:Â The Tone Color (as usual) is controlled with the Filtering section; the HPF and LPF cutoff and peak controls adjust the tonal content. Here are the stock settings – play around with different settings for different Tone Color variations.
3. Tone Color Modulation: Although it’s subtle, there is a very slight modulation of the Tone Color in the note event. This is done with the Modulation Generator set to a Ramp and at the lowest frequency. The LPF’s cutoff is slightly modulated so that the cutoff opens up as the (albeit short) note event occurs. To hear it better, turn up both the MG Frequency and MG/T.Ext controls; this allows you to hear the modulation distinctly. This Tone Color modulation give interest to the note event, even if it is really subtle. You can also see that Key Follow is turned on, so in theory as you move up and down the keyboard the modulation frequency would increase/decrease. However, there is no effect as the MG Frequency is at a minimum (try it with the MG/T.Ext turned all the way up).
4. The THWACK Sound
The last component to add is the Thwack of the drumstick on the hi-hat This is done with one of the Effects: the Compressor. Adjusting the Effect Edit 1 (Sensitivity or Threshold) will change the tightness of the drum. You will be impressed by how much this one FX changes the overall patch sound. The noisy stuff you hear in the background is due to the compressor; it is amplifying the system noise. It is not actually part of the synth patch itself!
The Complete HIHAT Patch: (click to enlarge)
