What exactly is detune and why do you need to know how to detune your sounds? Here’s the answer…
The detune function is an essential part of a (subtractive) synthesizer that you can usually find in the oscillators area or unison section.
What are oscillators?
An oscillator is a function of a synthesizer where you can generate an audio signal. The audio signal, aka “soundwave” or “waveform”, can be shaped and tweaked to produce a unique sound. So, an oscillator is the absolute starting point of your sound design process. Thus, it’s very important to understand all the settings that come with it, such as detune.
How to use detune
As you have learned in the previous post, having different phases result in slightly different sounds, especially when combined. But we can do much more, like using detune. Detune is the option where you can give all the available voices slightly different pitches. This produces a bigger frequency coverage, and usually a fatter type of sound.
Now, since you need to have at least two voices to be able to create a tune difference of any kind, you cannot detune a one-voice signal. So, if you are going to use detune, make sure to have at least two active voices.
Choose a nice detune level
If you want to find out what it sounds like, just play around with different detune levels and different voice numbers. Thereby, it’s your job to choose a detune level that produces a nice result. From there, you can tweak the other settings, which we will explore next in the complete “Synthesizer for beginners” series.
Synthesizer for beginners
The “Synthesizer for Beginners” series is a huge collection of quick lessons about sound design and synthesis. Each lesson explains one part of how a subtractive synthesizer works, which is vital to know if you’re an electronic music producer.
Most people have the attention span of a butterfly and therefore miss all the important tips later in my videos and posts. Still, I don’t want you to miss a thing and that’s why you will see these short clips on Screech House. Each short clip explains a bite-sized topic from one of my longer videos. This gives everyone the chance to focus solely on what they need and thereby also saving a lot of time.
Today’s short clip is from the 4-part “Synthesizer Explained” video course. Watch the full episodes here:
Synthesizer explained!
The “Synthesizer Explained” video course is now finally available as an exclusive guide. This easy-to-read book is jam-packed with valuable info about the essential basics of sounds design, including practical tips and bonus cheat sheets.
Since the day of release, many people have already read it. But if you haven’t, click this link to get your copy: Synthesizer Explained.
Make sure to get it now, else you risk being too late, and I don’t want you to miss out.