The funky worm synth is a staple sound which is frequently used in Hip Hop music. We will be using Reveal Sound Spire in this sound design tutorial to make a funky worm synth. Go ahead and initialize a default instance of Reveal Sound Spire to get started.
1) A default Init patch of Reveal Sound Spire.
2) For Osc1 we need a simple sine wave. You can select a sine wave by moving the WT Mix knob to the right side. Next increase the level of Osc1 to about 80% and pitch Osc1 up by +2 Octaves. Finally we only need 1 unison voice for Osc1.
3) Turn on Osc2 and make sure it’s mix level is all the way to the right. The waveform for Osc2 leave it as a sawtooth wave. With that said, pitch Osc2 up by +2 Octaves and we will only use 1 unison voice.
4) Since this is a synth lead change the play mode of Reveal Sound Spire to Mono2 and choose only 1 voice. Doing so will make Reveal Sound Spire monophonic.
5) Adjust the Glide knob to be around 25% and this sets the time it takes for the pitch to glide to its destination.
Funky Worm Synth Filter and Amp Env in Spire
6) Select a Perfecto LP4 filter type and adjust the filter cutoff point to 80%. That’s about it for the filter so no need to tweak the resonance and fancy modulation.
N.B Don’t forget to disable Envelope 3 modulation to the Filter Cutoff which is set by default.
7) As for the Amp Envelope we just have to tweak it a little bit as follows:
- attack time = 20
- decay time = 500
- sustain level = 1000
- release time = 70
Modulation and Effects
8) Use an LFO to modulate the pitch of Osc1 and Osc2 ever so slightly. When you do this you will be able to hear a subtle pitch drift if done so sparingly. Configure LFO1 settings as follows:
- Rate = 500
- Amp = 90
- LFO Amt_1 = 550
- LFO Amt_2 = 480
The effects we will use for this funky worm synth lead are Shaper, Chorus and Reverb. By the way these will be the effects which come with Reveal Sound Spire and not external effects.
9) Navigate to the Shaper FX and select Soft mode. Turn off the the 8x oversampling mode by clicking on the HQ button. Then tweak the settings of the Shaper FX with the following values:
- Drive = 100
- HQ = off
- Low Cut = 100
- High Cut = 700
- Dry/Wet = 120
10) Now let’s use the Chorus FX. However in Reveal Sound Spire, Chorus Mode 1 is a Flanger. Other modes are different chorus algorithms. Therefore just select Mode 1 and change the settings to the following values:
- Delay = 800
- Rate = 300
- Wide = 1000
- Dry/Wet = 150
11) To add a little space to the sound let’s use the Reverb FX . So tweak the Reverb FX with the following settings:
- Mode = plate2
- Damp = 180
- Decay = 70
- Dry/Wet = 100
EQ and Compression
12) Change the value of the X-Comp to 120 and Volume to 1000. Disable the Warm, Soft, Boost by clicking on the respective buttons.
Turn on the EQ and roll off the unnecessary low end. Alternatively you could just use an external EQ to that.
Related Sound Design Tutorials:
- How to Make a Whine Synth Lead in Serum
- How to Make a Hip Hop Whine Synth in u-he Diva
- How to Make a Hip Hop Whine Synth in u-he Hive
