An Idea on Harmonic Excitement

[tristancalvaire]

Hello, all!

 

I was recently pondering over a potential way to emphasize certain frequency ranges while adding some texture and character.

 

My thought was this- have a synth like ES2 playing a constant, sustained oscillator to the note of whatever instrument you're trying to emphasize; preferably something with a lot of partials like a saw wave.

 

Then, place a noise gate on this oscillator's channel, and side-chain its input to the instrument you wish to emphasize. Now, using the side-chain filters, isolate the frequency band you want to emphasize, adjust threshold and envelopes to taste, and voila! Everytime the instrument you're emphasizing peaks in that frequency range, you get some extra buzz from the sustained oscillator. Using other effects like choruses you can add some stereo depth to that range as well.

 

I'm going to experiment with this technique myself, but any thoughts on this?

[redlogic]

Sounds similar to TinMan.

I've used it to get a kind of "faux feedback" effect where the feedback transitions to a different harmonic.

[mr_stupid]

In theory it sounds interesting, so I will try it out for size. Thanks for the tip!