Posted by Jeff Donnici on August 26, 1997 at 01:48:29:
I sent this once to the "normal" list already, but it didn't show up on the list... I verified the address, so let's try it again here...
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I've been playing with synths for several years, but I'm still fairly new with the QS8 -- especially when it comes to editing the factory Programs. In other words, I haven't done it yet at all. :-) I am, however, familiar with the concepts that apply to just about every synth -- ADSR envelopes, mod, amplitude, etc...
There are some patches that I'm looking for that I can't seem to find anywhere -- even in those 8 banks that ship on the Alesis CD-ROM. Maybe some of you who have already jumped into the guts of this thing can give me some pointers on which pages/parameters I need to look into... I plan to load Unisyn on my PC this week because I suspect it will make life MUCH easier for me.
The first sound is the synth sound that's used in "One Thing Leads To Another" by The Fixx (the band I play with is currently having a blast with goofy 80's covers). It's the one that appears at various times in the verse and seems to sort of "blossom" as it's played. I think the basis of the sound would start off like the Quadratix patch on the QS8 (#90 - Preset 1), but then it does this sort of "wah" thing as it's held down. Ideally, that effect would be handled by the mod wheel so that I could control exactly when it occurs.
The next sound might be more of a performance thing than a patch/programming thing... the song is Duran Duran's "Save A Prayer" (I told you... *goofy* 80's songs). There's a string-ish thing in there that sort of pitch-bends up and down in a spastic fashion as it goes from a middle D up through a G and then lands on the A. During that G is this sort of wobbly/warbled type of thing... any ideas on how I can get that? Using the pitch wheel doesn't quite cut it because it happens very quickly; much more quickly than I can manage with the QS8's pitch wheel. I can get a strong vibrato with the mod wheel and that sounds ok -- just "ok". If any of you have ideas on how to get this type of sound, I'd love to hear them!
Anyway, those are my questions for tonight. I plan to really jump into programming the QS8, so I'm hoping there are others out there who have already paved the way and have some tips for me. If you know either of the above songs, I'd love to hear your thoughts on getting these sounds. Any and all sounds I come up with for the QS8 will be happily uploaded to a web site or otherwise made available to the list.
Thanks very much!
-- Jeff