For this sound design tutorial we will be making a basic electric piano sound using Reveal Sound Spire. Feel free to use another synthesizer if that suits your needs.
Now to get started go ahead and load an instance of Reveal Sound Spire but make sure you initialize the synthesizer to it’s default state.
1) Initialize Reveal Sound Spire to a default preset.
2) Change the polyphonic voices to 6.
3) Change the settings of Osc 1 to have the following settings:
- Volume = 100%
- Waveform = Sine wave
- Octave = 0
In order to use a sine wave in Reveal Sound Spire all you have to do is make sure the oscillator is set to Classic then bring up the Wt Mix knob all the way up
4) Tweak the settings of Osc 2 to have the following configuration:
- Volume = 40%
- Waveform = Square
- Octave = +1
- Phase = 70%
- Unison Voices = 2
- Detune = 35%
- Width = 100%
To change the waveform to a square wave in Reveal Sound Spire you have to set the oscillator mode to Classic then bring up the Ctrl A knob all the way up.
Envelopes, LFOs and Filter Section for E-Piano
From here onward we will adjust the envelopes and the filter to add movement to the electric piano sound and finally to shape the sound spectrum with the filter.
5) Locate Env 1 and adjust it’s parameters as like so:
- Attack = 0%
- Decay = 60%
- Sustain = 40%
- Release = 40%
What we just did there is to try and replicate an electric piano’s Amplitude’s envelope. Other than that, feel free to experiment with these settings according to needs.
6) Now let’s use Env 2 to slightly modulate the pitch of both oscillators. What we want to do here is to introduce a subtle pitch drift.
- Route Env 2 –> Osc 1 & Osc 2 Pitch
- Env 2 Amount 1 = 20% (to the right)
- Env 2 Amount 2 = 20% (to the right)
- Env 2 Decay = 10%
7) Next we will use LFO 1 to modulate the Main Volume of the synthesizer. The end result will be a tremolo effect.
- Route LFO 1 –> Main Volume
- LFO 1 Rate = 1/8
- LFO 1 Waveform = Sine wave
- LFO 1 Sync = On
- LFO 1 Amount 1 = 20% towards the right
- LFO 1 Amp = 40%
8) Click on LFO 2 and use that to modulate the phase of both oscillators.
- Route LFO 2 –> Osc 1 & Osc 2 Phase
- LFO 2 Sync = On
- LFO 2 Rate = 1/8
- LFO 2 Amp = 40%
- LFO 2 Waveform = Sine wave
- LFO 2 Amount 1 = 10% (to the left)
- LFO 2 Amount 2 = 10% (to the left)
9) Select Scorpio filter mode, next choose Black LP4 (24 dB Filter) after that adjust the parameters of the filter as follows:
- Filter Cutoff = 64%
- Resonance = 0%
N.B Don’t forget to turn off Env 3 modulation to the Filter which is usually routed by default in Reveal Sound Spire.
Effects and Miscellaneous for E-Piano in Spire
The following steps will include adding effects and using EQ to tweak the sound towards a desired final result.
10) Click on the Boost button of Spire’s EQ to turn off an overall gain in the level of the sound. Then proceed to enable Spire’s EQ and finally adjusting it’s parameters as follows:
Settings for High shelf EQ
- High Shelf Gain = 10% (to the right)
- High Shelf Q = 10% (to the left)
- High Shelf Freq = 10% (to the right)
Settings for Low Shelf EQ
- Low Shelf Gain = 10% (to the left)
- Low Shelf Q = 3o% (to the left)
- Low Shelf Freq = 30% (to the left)
11) Let’s use the delay effect which comes with Reveal Sound Spire and adjust it’s parameters as follows.
- Dry/Wet = 10%
- Color = 10% (to the right)
- Wide = 30% (to the right)
- Delay L = 1/4
- Delay R = 1/4
- Modulate = 30%
12) Finally let’s use Spire’s reverb effect to add space to the sound.
- Dry/Wet = 10%
- Decay = 35%
- Mode = Plate 2
- Pre-delay = 20%
- Damp = 35%
