MAINSTAGE KEYS
HOW TO MAKE YOUR DIGITAL SYNTHS SOUND REAL | David Pfaltzgraff
Recently I saw a video on Instagram of a worship it just wasn’t coming together, because that the warm and pleasing sounds of real vintage
band playing the popular song ‘This Is Amazing synth lead wasn’t dialed in. circuitry defined everything that would come
Grace’ by Phil Wickham. The drummer clicked
after. Early analog synthesizers possess a
in with a four count and the band dove right into Today I want to address this problem because certain quality that can be difficult to emulate
the well-known instrumental intro, but as soon it’s an increasingly common one as more keys with modern digital solutions, but identifying
as it started you could tell something was just players dive into software like MainStage, the key characteristics that made those old
a little bit off. Ableton and Omnisphere. We’re going to talk keyboards special will help you understand
about how to make sure your digital synths what you need to do to get that same sound.
If you’re familiar with this song then you know
sound ‘real’.
CHORUS
that there’s a big synth lead riff that gets played
during every instrumental. In this particular A COMMON PROBLEM Let’s start with something that might hearken
video, the synth part was very audible in the So, before we begin this discussion I want nightmarish scenarios of cheesy 80’s pop
mix and the notes were correct, but it just didn’t to quantify what ‘real’ even means when it’s music: chorus. While it was once looked
sound right. Why? Because the sound chosen used to describe a synth sound. To do that upon as an effect to be avoided, especially by
to play the part just wasn’t close enough to the it’s important to go back to the beginning, the guitarists, many early synthesizers included
original. It sounded very sharp, brittle, and if I early days of synthesizers when synth hardware chorus circuits that were a huge part of shaping
may invent a word ‘plasticky’. featured analog components through and their iconic sound. In today’s keys software like
through. MainStage you can instantly add a vintage feel
When I saw the video, I felt for that worship
to a pad or synth sound by mixing in a tasteful
team because they were playing the right parts While early analog synthesizers had their fair
at the right tempo but you could tell they knew share of weaknesses and reliability issues,
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October 2019
amount of chorus or ensemble modulation.
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