Instruments and Effects

608 Chapter 29 Ultrabeat
7 Use the filter parameters of the noise generator to either roughen up, refine, or add
bright frequencies to the noise component of the snare drum sound. Select a LP filter
type, and try a filter frequency between 0.60 and 0.90. Modulate it with LFO 1 that
you’re already using to control the pitch of Oscillator 2.
Note: The snare drum sound is called Snare 1 in the Tutorial Kit, at a pitch of E1.
To refine 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. As an example, try a pitch setting of F#2 in Osc 2 and E1 in Osc 1, then fine
tune Osc 1 a few cents higher by holding Shift while adjusting its Pitch slider.
3 Experiment with FM Amount, and add more tone (low FM Amount value) or noise
(more FM Amount) as desired. Also try modulating the FM Amount with a fast LFO.
Note: An exemplary snare drum sound that makes use of FM can be found in the
Tutorial Kit at a pitch of F1. It is called Snare 2.
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 filter. Use these settings to start: LP 24
mode, a Cutoff value of about 0.60.
The 808 Snare
The famous 808 snare is based on two resonating filters and a noise generator, fed
through a highpass filter. The mix ratio of the two filters and the volume of the noise
generator can be adjusted. This structure cannot be 100% replicated in Ultrabeat.
To clone the 808 snare sound:
1 Load the Standard Tutorial setting.
2 Replicate the resonating filters of the 808 snare by two cleverly programmed phase
oscillators:
 Assign slightly different Slope values to them, and detune them by almost an octave.
 The tonal relationship between the oscillators should also be uneven here—from E3
to F2, for example.
3 Control the volume of each oscillator with a different envelope. The envelope for the
lower tuned oscillator should have a longer decay time than the very snappy envelope
setting for the higher oscillator.
4 Feed the output of both oscillators into Ultrabeat’s main filter, and hollow out the
sound with a highpass filter. Activate the filter bypass button in both oscillators.
Choose the HP 12 setting in the filter, a Cutoff value around 0.40 and a Resonance value
of about 0.70.