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Chapter 14 Ultrabeat 387
Rene the snare drum sound using FM synthesis
1 Turn on oscillator 1 in FM mode. Use Env 1 to control the volume of Osc 1 as well.
2 Choose a pitch for oscillator 1 that’s about an octave lower than oscillator 2. Consciously avoid
even intervals between the oscillators and detune them slightly from each other. For example,
try a pitch setting of F#2 in Osc 2 and E1 in Osc 1, then ne-tune Osc 1 a few cents higher by
holding down Shift while adjusting the Osc 1 Pitch slider.
3 Experiment with FM Amount, and add more tone (low FM Amount) or noise (more FM Amount)
as desired. Also try modulating the FM Amount with a fast LFO.
Higher FM Amount values lead to considerably more overtones and a very electronic sound
character. If you want to make the sound more acoustic, feed oscillator 1 (and possibly
oscillator 2 as well) into the main lter. Use these settings to start: LP 24 mode and a Cuto value
of about 0.60.
Note: An exemplary snare drum sound that uses FM can be found in the Tutorial Kit at a pitch of
F1. It is listed as “snare 2.”
Recreate the 808 snare sound
The famous 808 snare is based on two resonating lters and a noise generator, fed through a
highpass lter. The mix ratio of the two lters and the volume of the noise generator can be
adjusted. This structure cannot be 100% replicated in Ultrabeat.
1 Load the Standard Tutorial setting.
You are now ready to replicate the resonating lters of the 808 snare using two cleverly
programmed phase oscillators.
2 Assign slightly dierent Slope values to two phase oscillators, and detune them by almost
an octave.
3 Adjust the tonal relationship between the oscillators so that it is uneven—from E3 to F2,
for example.
4 Control the volume of each oscillator with a dierent envelope. Adjust the decay times so
that the envelope for the lower-tuned oscillator has a longer decay time than the very snappy
envelope setting for the higher oscillator.
5 Feed the output of both oscillators into Ultrabeat’s main lter, and hollow out the sound with a
highpass lter. Activate the lter bypass button in both oscillators. Choose the HP 12 setting in
the lter, a Cuto value around 0.40, and a Resonance value of about 0.70.
You have just cleverly emulated both of the 808’s resonating lters. Shifting the pitch of both
oscillators simulates the behavior of the 808’s Tone control.