Exaggerate knob tweaks, don’t be subtle

When remaking presets, try to turn up some

subtle knobs on original to higher amount
than it originally is, this way you can hear
exactly what that knob does to change the
sound, then copy the exaggerated setting on
your copied version instead of the original
setting, perhaps after that dial it back lower.
This way you can truly learn what each knob
contributes to the overall sound of the preset.

Preset works in context of whole song

When Sound Designing, always make it so the
sound works with the music you are working
on. That is most important.

Leads characteristics
Leads are like the vocalists in a song, are
supposed to standout in the mix. There are
many types of leads depending on genre but
the one thing in common is that they stand
out in the mix and are bright(Has many high
freqs harmonics), have minimal filtering, uses
basic waveforms such as saws and squares,
are melodic, grabs your attention, minimal
and simple notes are played with it to keep it
memorable to audience. Also not every song
needs a lead(prehaps drone music or techno).
In leads sometimes good to filter out a bit of
the harshness with a low pass filter set at
almost full cutoff. Distortion gives lead a
standout factor allowing it to cut through the
mix more.

Bass characteristics
Bass. Often monophonic. Lowest note/Bass
line is very important in songs. Use
brightwhite noise(crucial) to add grit to high
end of bassline.Often use Lowpass or band
pass with drive put up, then bring down mix
to let a bit of high freqs pass go through the
sound(a matter of taste). Use Distortion on
bass. Put on tube distortion to give more drive
to bass.
Pads Characteristics
Provide background and texture. Sit in back
ground of mix and is subtle. Generally slow
attack and release time so there is swell. Has
low pass often to filter out high freqs, since
sounds that are far away often have less high
freqs. Envelope often linked to Filter cutoff
and WT POS o make sound evolving. When
making pads don’t worry about which knob to
put to which. You can sometimes just drag
random modules to random knobs to help
create unique pad sounds(perhaps similar for
complex Dubstep sounds and Flume?).

Arps Characteristics
Arps are generally more dry and simple
because you are playing a lot of notes one
after the other with it.

Don’t over reverb, and use plate

Reverb should be used moderately (use plate
cuz long hall reverb can muddy up your lead.)

Filter types
Multi filters combine several simple filters.
HP12(most popular dubstep filter in serum)
and HN12 in Multi filters often used for
Dubstep sounds. Flange Filters make Metallic
sounds and add weird harmonics to sounds. In
Misc you can find EQ filters which you can use
to sculpt your sound even more. With Low EQ
12 and High EQ 12 you can turn up DB and
Res to make filter like a dubstep type filter
which is good for growls. Ring Mod similar to
that in Bend modes, makes crazy sound,
Cutoff is like adjusting pitch of modulator in
bend mode. Samp and hold is good for wierd
computer noises(Skrillex and dubstep stuff).
Combs,Allpasses, Reverb all 3 are similar and
have damp knob, all good for dubstep. French
LP is like normal LP but if you turn up drive
and boeuf it gets wierd and dubsteppy.
German LP is a very clean LP with a sharp
Resonance. Formant filters are what make
that vocal bass in dubstep. Use cutoff knob
and formant to make it talk. Band reject good
for pads, basses, dubstep sounds.

LFO delay
You can link two same LFO(1and2)
patterns(Alt drag to copy paste LFO) to OSC A
level(or some other knob), then turn up delay
Knob on LFO2 to have an effect of LFO2
coming after LFO1. Another thing you can
think about is to have two LFOs linked two the
same parameter.

Vintage warm analog sound in serum

To make digital synths(SERUM) sound more
vintage/analog/warm, use wavetable which is
obtained from analog synths. Then use LFO to
slightly modulate FINE knob of both oscs, set
to 3. Then use NoteOnRand1 to modulate
slightly the AB Vol and AB Fine. For Vol do
around 4, while for Fine do around 2. Then
with the MG Low12 Filter on and cutoff at 100,
set NoteOnRand1 to FilterDrive, set to 4.

Best vintage analog warm synths

Sylenth has a very warm sound to me, more
so than a lot of other virtual analogs except
Diva. It's great for lush pads, deep plucks, bass,
and pretty much any lead sound you can think
of. For anything 'melodic', Sylenth. I can't
quite pin it down, theres something about it,
the sound. For anything bassy, hard hitting,
Serum is a champ. Serum is an extreme CPU
hog in comparison to Sylenth1. Sylenth1 is
more suited to warmer sounds than Serum -
at least at a glance (you can use analog
wavetables and filters and saturation to
soften up Serum, just takes a bit more time)If
you really want a vintage sound, I'm going to
suggest a third option - Diva - one of the best
sounding VA synth currently available (other
contenders include Arturia's collection, NI
Monark, FXpansions' DCAM Synth Squad and
AAS Ultra Analog). The only real downside for
it is CPU.

Multiband Compression for saturated tone

Use Compression turn on, then do not change
any settings. Think of it as a volume boost&
saturation/distortion/warming one knob fx.
Turn on multiband to saturate high
frequencies of sound, OR turn down threshold
to saturate/ increase gain of sound.
Triangle wave is good for bells, Porter
Robinson bell sounds and cute kawaii video
game chiptune sound. Add unison& detune to
it and sometimes a 1/16 pitch LFO. Use some
distortion and reverb. Bell sounds often have
a release time. Sometimes have short to
medium decay, zero sustain, medium release.

Detuning 2 oscs
often good to detune oscA a lot to give
bigness while oscB is not detuned as much to
keep consistent tone.
Detune and metallic tone
Easiest way to make tone sound more
metallic is to add a little more detune than
usual to oscs. Could link macros to detune
amount.

Hypersaw
Both oscs have 16 unison with around 40%
detune and POLY on 16 or higher
(IMPORTANT!!!) and have Brightwhite noise
to add high harmonics, Low cut EQ/ Highpass
filter to cut out low frequencies. Might have
one osc -1oct to add low notes. Sometimes
have delay and reverb.

Madeon style leads

Often uses vibrato(most obvious one!), often
uses saw or square, Unison used to make big
sounds. Usually one osc has lots of unison
while other one has less of it to keep
consistent pitch. Sounds warm and analog
and has high harmonic content often. At
times uses formant filter to make vocal leads.
When you hold on a key on a madeon lead
preset sound is often not a single unchanging
sound, but often moving due to LFO
modulating the pitch or bend or envelope
cutoff PWM etc. In mono Madeon leads often
has PORTAMENTO which makes it more
funky.

Madeon square lead

is 2 square oscs, one unison 11 with detune,
other one unison 1 with LFO modulating fine
pitch. Often good to have mod wheel as aux
source modulating amount of pitch vibrato
happening so the preset is more versatile.

Madeon PWM lead

Have LFO1 in ENV mode(basically makes it
one shot like an envelope generator) going
from high to low with 1/4 rate, while LFO2 is
triangle wave with 2 bar rate. Both modulate
PWM knob which gives the sound a
constantly evolving tone. LFO1 gives it the
pop at the start of the sound while LFO2
slowly evolves the sound while you hold it so
its not just one tone going forever, making it
interesting and analogue-y.

Madeon/Avicci vibrato modulation

Many artists like Avicci use ENV to modulate
pitch mod amount. Have LFO modulating FINE
or MAST.TUNE, but instead of having same
LFO throughout note, add a long attack full
sustain 0decay 0 release 0 hold ENV to
auxillary source of LFO. The vibrato will go
from no vibrato to full on vibrato this way.
You can also link ENV to LFO rate(have ANCH
off) so vibrato goes from slow to fast.

Madeon daft Vox lead

is 2 saw waves one very unisoned(16) other
one unison 1, with LFO modulating fine pitch
to make pitch wobble(typical of Madeon).
Formant Filter is key in making it vocal
sounding.NoteonRand is set to modulate
cutoff so every note sounds different from
last one. Slow 1/2 speed LFO also linked to
formant to make each note even more
different. PORTA turned about 40%. EQ boost
on highend(cut out low end perhaps) and
Multiband compressor.
More things to try for this lead: Can use
ENVLFO with upward saw shape to modulate
cutoff to make even more vocal. Can use
macro to modulate detune amount(more
detune= more metallic sound). Add Phaser.

Madeon chiptune Vox lead (LD-Chiptune)

Mono Legato, Porta turned to 45%, Analog>
PWM MG wavetable,WTPOS full, Sine shape
LFO rate 1 bar modulate PWM. Multiband
compressor.

Madeon metallic portamento lead(LD_04)

Use some Spectral>Reesy Mess wavetable.
Flanges Comb HL6- with HL wid drive res
and cutoff turned up. LFO modulating WT PoS
and Cutoff at rate of 1bar. Add Multiband
compressor, Hipass Filter etc.

Madeon/Virtual riot/ujico chiptune octave

arpeggio leads
The chiptune octave pluck used by dylan
tallchief is ENV modulating OCT, ENV makes
pitch go up from 0 to +1. You can also add a
pitch glide from low to high by modulating
Sync Window or Semitone or something to
give it even more video game like quality.
Another trick is to have a very short high note
come before low note which you can use ENV
to make pitch go from +12 to 0, have ENv with
0 release decay sustain attack and a short
hold time.

Brassy Porter Sounds

have attack setting of 40ms or more(80ms) on
amp env and filter env. Make filter resonant
by either turning up RES or modulating RES
with ENV. White noise is used too. Shelter
Brassy sound has some 40-80ms attack at
start but also has some decay then some
sustain then a tiny bit of release, not just a
standard lead sound with full sustain and
decay! Then add Hyper, Chorus, Reverb etc.

Thin vs Wide sounds

There are two sound types-thin sounds(thin
plucks, han solo whistle) and wide
sounds(super saw huge reverb etc). For thin
sounds use less unison+detune, use less oscs.
Sometimes notch shaped EQ bands are used
to remove some freqs to thin out a sound.

FM/Sync metallic tone for bells and dubstep

Using FM, Sync on sounds creates metallic like
effect(good for growls, bells, chiptune
gameboy beep sounds). Also you can
modulate it to move up or down in pitch.
Modulating Sync or PWM gives similar pitch
change to modulating pitch.

Simple saw filter resonant vocal

Just Modulating lowpass cutoff over a simple
saw wave (while res is turned around half)
with 1/4 LFO can give you a vocal quality to
saw wave.

Making dirty dubstep sounds/metallic

bells/dirty hardstyle anthem leads
FM, Osc Sync, resonant filters(when combined
with distortion or FM etc), WTPOS, some
distortions,filters(Multifilters+Flangesfilters+
Miscsfilters which includes Formant,
Sample&Hold, Flange,Phaser,Comb, Reverb,
Ring mod, Band Reject, Notch etc.) can be
used to make growl sound. Often have amp
envelope or LFO modulate parameters such
as WT pos, FM amount, Sync, Cutoff or Fil
Var(such as Formant in formant filters or
Morph in multifilters) to produce growl.
Example of dubstep sound is use Chaos1 to
modulate SYNC of osc A and B to create a
constantly evolving metallic tone. Add Hyper
to exaggerate the flanger like metallic tone.
*Subtle automation of the above parameters
could also be helpful in other aggressive non
dubstep sounds, such as hardstyle or anthem
type leads. Also good for inducing metallic
quality to sounds such as bells or metallic
plucks.

Deadmau plucks
Oldest trick in the book in making a pluck
sound is by using decay mod envelope to
modulate lo pass filter cutoff.

Adding 5ths
Have osc2 tuned 5th up, but use MACROS to
mod its volume so it is more a versatile
preset.