Negative keytracking to VCA level...the lower you play the louder it gets. Trust me you need this. Most poly synth are tempered in way where you can't hear bass notes clearly when you play treble unless you eq so hard that everything get really flubbly. By using this trick and a bass cut you can get a lot more upper end harmonics on your low notes so they can cut through without making everything muddy
@@emilianolasalleMost soft synths have this. For hardware you can try converting (127 - the midi note number) parts of midi on/off messages into velocity and using the common velocity to VCA routing.
One of the many micro-modulations I use to make digital synths sound warmer is to add a touch of random value (noise usually) to the keytracking. Not enough to throw things off, but just enough that the keytrack value to the filter (or whatever) is never exactly the same twice.
One of my favorites is keytracking both the attack and release, which gives you a punchy bass and a smooth pad in the same patch. Meanwhile, you can sort of do the delay trick on a Minifreak via the assignable matrix slots (tbh they really should've just made them all assignable), but unfortunately there's no slew setting.
3:05 Yeah! lower notes slower vibrato, higher notes faster. Thats what I use often in my Prophet 6: ocs 2 in low freq mode, key tracking on. Destination can be also shape mod. The real beauty comes out when I play Bach fuges: all of a sudden all voice turn alive!
It's especially fun for soloing if you dial it in so that the LFO on the notes you're playing goes along with the tempo. I found that out thru a workstation preset I liked🙈🤣
My favorite uses for key tracking so far... - 100% to resonant highpass frequency, to boost the fundamental - ~30% to LFO speed, for pitch sensitive vibrato / tremolo - +100% to wave shape, to get something like a multi-timbral patch with smooth morphing across the keys - -50% to VCA level, to make higher notes quieter (or maybe 75% to lowpass frequency, to make higher notes softer) - 100% to comb filter frequency and/or tuned feedback frequency, for realistic physical modelling These are all pretty mundane, but still very useful. Also, for FM, small random percents to the oscillator fine-tuning, to produce a wild variety of crazy sounds which are different on each key. When the ratios are detuned at messy intervals, it makes really complex patterns which can evolve for longer than a minute per keypress.
Thanks for doing this. Key tracking is ridiculously powerful, but not many understand what you can do with it. On a synth with a ton of mod slots you can basically create different patches at both ends of the keyboard
Great vid! I'm guilty of getting in a rut and using things like key tracking the same way all the time. It's great seeing someone using it in ways I wouldn't have thought of. Loved the way you used it on FX. Thanks for sharing!
This is what I love about the Mono Station. Its Modulation Matrix is amazing, and I'm still discovering news ways to modify my sound with it, even though I own this machine since quite a while. But can't do as crazy stuff with it as with the Peak, obviously. Well, one day, I might also buy a Peak. :)
Yeah it's the same sound, except you have more leeway to increase or decrease the amount that the rate of the wobble follows the pitch... unless it's a really basic key-tracking implementation.
Key tracking an lfo to double every octave and tying it to a single osc's pwm, basically gives you the sound of two detuned oscillators. They stay relative to each other across all notes, so they don't sound messed up in some ranges like in standard lfo'd pwm.
really cool Ricky. this is used A Lot in FM patch programming. in fact it's nearly essential to use it. i want to add to yr tip here. i Love all of the 'basic' mod source stuff like Vel, Key Follow, MW.. it's so easy to look straight to obvious movement stuff like env's and lfo but using those three in conjunction in proper measure can Really bring a bland sound alive. what's really cool is have a multi-osc or multi timbral stnth where key-track can be use on the dynamic part of the patch (volume over time) to bring different osc (or timbres/parts/layers) in depending on where you play on the kb. key tracking can also do some wild stuff when used to modulate MOD AMOUNTS of other mod routings. anyways, great yr reminding folks of the power of these basic utilities in Most synths... Velocity is just as powerful for the same reasons. Thx bud
thanks, I understood what keytracking the filter did.. and use it often enough, but I cerytainly didn't know how good of a mod sourcce it can be.. learn somethin everyday yeah?.. cheers man
Nice 1 Ricky. I've been aware of keytracking for the longest time and never explored it. I believe it was originally developed to emulate the characteristics of some acoustic instruments, which do often sound like the cutoff frequency of a filter gets higher as the notes played get higher. Perhaps I dismissed it thinking - I already playing violin, now I'm making electronic music goddammit! In any case, next time I turn on a synth with keytracking, I'm firing that little puppy up. Thanks fella!
The techie information is great … but, I’m seeing a link up there to MIDI SOCKS??!?!!?!? Oh HELL yeah! Thanks for great content but also for great swag!!!
Do key tracking on the Deluge with the Note modulation source. Middle C is zero modulation, higher notes are positive, lower notes negative. Or vice versa if you flip it. My favorite (but quite subtle) use is modulating pan so higher notes play further right and lower notes further left, like an acoustic piano in real life.
Lack of keytracking and velocity parameters eventually led me to selling my Reface CS, excellent sounding bit of kit but I couldn't get past how lacking the options for adding expression or dynamics to the voices were without some considerable workarounds and/or need for additional gear.
excellent! Ricky, it would be fantastic if you could make a standing series on how to operate synths, fist a foundation, and then apply that foundation to different types of synths and models. i have spent decades with synths most vsts (preset playing) and just recently im starting to discover what is what. i find specially hard to grasp that when you assign one thing in a synth to affect another, don't remember what its called. Cheers
Don’t have a Peak, but could you do a Karplus strong synthesis patch with the key tracking on the delay? I think you’d need to go negative key tracking for it to track in a conventional way 🤔
Do you own a Behringer Neutron? Just wondering if it's my unit by key tracking on that particular one doesn't appear to affect all that much. Owners of Neutron, feel free to throw in your 5 cents.
I've recently been using my mpc live 2 with everything. I sequence out of it into my other synths, I tweak sounds on the synth record back into the mpc and make a key group so I have it as a mini virtual instrument on there. The microfreak has been great for this exact reason, I want to pick up another synth was a crazy mod matrix that's easy to figure out. I might check out the peak!
hiRicky, i am fairly new to synths... can you layer multiple sounds from the peak onto the 49SL ? so basically, sequence 1 sound, then move to another layer on 49SL (no daw) and start sequencing another sound from the peak.... can't seem to find info if this is possible or not..... thanks !!
You cannot. The peak is one sound at a time. What you’re looking for is a “multi-timbral” synth! That means multiple patches(presets) can be played at once
@@RickyTinez thanks Ricky....so there is no keyboard out there that can layer without using a daw ? so basically play the patch from synth + save it in the keyboard "as a track sequence" then start a new sequence with a different patch from the synth.... I would have thought this would be a regular part of the process! I guess a looper is the answer to this..Appreciate the response Ricky !! cheers !!!
Does glide affect the key tracking modulation? So for example if the LFO was changing rate based on key tracking and you added glide, would it smoothly ramp up along with the glide pitch?
I don't believe so. The keytracking value is tied to the note which is instant when pressed. The parameter you're applying it to would have a slew value if it was possible. In the case of glide, the pitch change of the osc is slewed.
It would be the same video again, except using a soft synth that has Kbd/Tracking/Note. I do this in Phase Plant, where the control is called Note and I can link the output by amount to any parameters of any voice or effect inside there. You can do it independently of synth VSTis in Ableton Live, and maybe other DAWs too. In Live, there's Expression Control; you could map Keytracking in there to a parameter of any plugin.
😂 a teeter totter is the American English name for a seesaw - a piece of playground apparatus that consists of a long length of wood or steel that balances on a fulcrum. Kids sit at either end and go up and down.
Negative keytracking to VCA level...the lower you play the louder it gets. Trust me you need this. Most poly synth are tempered in way where you can't hear bass notes clearly when you play treble unless you eq so hard that everything get really flubbly. By using this trick and a bass cut you can get a lot more upper end harmonics on your low notes so they can cut through without making everything muddy
Awesome tip!
Yes so true thanks for the tip
You have key tracking on the VCA?
@@emilianolasalleMost soft synths have this. For hardware you can try converting (127 - the midi note number) parts of midi on/off messages into velocity and using the common velocity to VCA routing.
The Mfreaks and Hydrasynth can do this
One of the many micro-modulations I use to make digital synths sound warmer is to add a touch of random value (noise usually) to the keytracking. Not enough to throw things off, but just enough that the keytrack value to the filter (or whatever) is never exactly the same twice.
One of my favorites is keytracking both the attack and release, which gives you a punchy bass and a smooth pad in the same patch. Meanwhile, you can sort of do the delay trick on a Minifreak via the assignable matrix slots (tbh they really should've just made them all assignable), but unfortunately there's no slew setting.
ricky you are the king of demonstrating simple sound design elements that we overlook, but yet somehow it should seem more obvious in hindsight
Yesss always use keytracking! More synth sound design fun plz ❤
Some how I knew what Keytracking is for, but this video shows many more cool ways to use I never tried out. Thanks.
Peak keeps on giving, so glad I bought it some years ago after seeing your videos on it for the first time!
Faking keyboard splits with tracking is fun. If you do wavetables, have silence in there or send one oscillator left and the other right.
3:05 Yeah! lower notes slower vibrato, higher notes faster. Thats what I use often in my Prophet 6: ocs 2 in low freq mode, key tracking on. Destination can be also shape mod. The real beauty comes out when I play Bach fuges: all of a sudden all voice turn alive!
It's especially fun for soloing if you dial it in so that the LFO on the notes you're playing goes along with the tempo. I found that out thru a workstation preset I liked🙈🤣
I'm glad you brought this up. i have been thinking for some time that the digitakt really needs key tracking.
The sound on your channel is simply stellar! It's my go-to for quality music! 🎶🚀♥
This is really useful, thanks. The Peak is my favourite synth, I'd love to watch you make another patch/sound, they are so helpful and inspiring.
My favorite uses for key tracking so far...
- 100% to resonant highpass frequency, to boost the fundamental
- ~30% to LFO speed, for pitch sensitive vibrato / tremolo
- +100% to wave shape, to get something like a multi-timbral patch with smooth morphing across the keys
- -50% to VCA level, to make higher notes quieter (or maybe 75% to lowpass frequency, to make higher notes softer)
- 100% to comb filter frequency and/or tuned feedback frequency, for realistic physical modelling
These are all pretty mundane, but still very useful.
Also, for FM, small random percents to the oscillator fine-tuning, to produce a wild variety of crazy sounds which are different on each key. When the ratios are detuned at messy intervals, it makes really complex patterns which can evolve for longer than a minute per keypress.
Thanks for doing this. Key tracking is ridiculously powerful, but not many understand what you can do with it. On a synth with a ton of mod slots you can basically create different patches at both ends of the keyboard
Thank you, Ricky! This is a wonderfully clear explanation of what key-tracking is and how to use it. Thanks, Man!
Great vid! I'm guilty of getting in a rut and using things like key tracking the same way all the time. It's great seeing someone using it in ways I wouldn't have thought of. Loved the way you used it on FX. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!
been looking for a good rundown on this.
I love this!! really great sound design insights here. thanks bunches, enrique!!
This is what I love about the Mono Station. Its Modulation Matrix is amazing, and I'm still discovering news ways to modify my sound with it, even though I own this machine since quite a while. But can't do as crazy stuff with it as with the Peak, obviously. Well, one day, I might also buy a Peak. :)
I was thinking about delay time in the beginning, then you whipped it out. Awesome that you're sharing some of these patch building steps.
the jaguar is back in full effect
Very cool. Reminds me of sampling artifacts. If there's a wobble in the sample it shifts according to the pitch played back.
Yeah it's the same sound, except you have more leeway to increase or decrease the amount that the rate of the wobble follows the pitch... unless it's a really basic key-tracking implementation.
Key tracking an lfo to double every octave and tying it to a single osc's pwm, basically gives you the sound of two detuned oscillators. They stay relative to each other across all notes, so they don't sound messed up in some ranges like in standard lfo'd pwm.
I'm learning the Hydra now and tips and tricks like this helps a lot!
Well explained, now I'm keen on an give it a try. Thanks for the cool video.
Oh man, I learnt so much just now. Cheers legend!
yess modulate everythingggg. modulate the modulation even. make it dance and jiggle
ableton can do this to any synth or parameter using expression control
stuff i kinda sorta already knew but that Ricky made much more digestible and practical
bravo homes, bravo 🔥
really cool Ricky. this is used A Lot in FM patch programming. in fact it's nearly essential to use it. i want to add to yr tip here. i Love all of the 'basic' mod source stuff like Vel, Key Follow, MW.. it's so easy to look straight to obvious movement stuff like env's and lfo but using those three in conjunction in proper measure can Really bring a bland sound alive. what's really cool is have a multi-osc or multi timbral stnth where key-track can be use on the dynamic part of the patch (volume over time) to bring different osc (or timbres/parts/layers) in depending on where you play on the kb. key tracking can also do some wild stuff when used to modulate MOD AMOUNTS of other mod routings. anyways, great yr reminding folks of the power of these basic utilities in Most synths... Velocity is just as powerful for the same reasons. Thx bud
Very good explained. Thank you. :)
❤❤❤ tracking AND slew…. Learning a bunch today.
I’m glad I watched until the very end.
✨Great outro ✌️👽👍✨
love the sound design videos, they always have some element of "why didn't i try that before" 👍
more of these kind of video's, this was great!
I had no clue what key tracking was, but now I have to try some of these things for sound design.
I love the summit so much i got a peak. It is such a beastly synth.
Thanks for the lesson. Key Tracking goes a long way.
Awesome patch at the end! Pink Floyd vibes. 👏
Wow, the end sounds soooo space! I need the Peak!
Thank you for this. Really expanded my knowledge of key tracking. I’m going to experiment on my Summit. Great video!
Great explanation, thank you
Always love your Peak videos Ricky. Thanks a lot!
Glad to see you back in "how to tweak a synth" land!
for Ableton users use the Max Midi effect "Expression Control"
thanks, I understood what keytracking the filter did.. and use it often enough, but I cerytainly didn't know how good of a mod sourcce it can be.. learn somethin everyday yeah?.. cheers man
RICKAAAAY!
You're awesome man. Thanks for upload bro'.
Great video man. First time i ever had this explained properly 🍻
Great info, thanks
Tree Kacking iz impertonts
CHINA People tracking is next gen tho 😮
As a surgeon I strongly discourage tree kacking it will give you splinters in places you couldn't imagine.
Set your tree kacking to the po lass filter, it's all new yeed.
Thanks for the great video !
Michel
Man this is such a amazing video.. I actually learned something here
Nice 1 Ricky. I've been aware of keytracking for the longest time and never explored it. I believe it was originally developed to emulate the characteristics of some acoustic instruments, which do often sound like the cutoff frequency of a filter gets higher as the notes played get higher. Perhaps I dismissed it thinking - I already playing violin, now I'm making electronic music goddammit! In any case, next time I turn on a synth with keytracking, I'm firing that little puppy up. Thanks fella!
Beautiful
Great vid man 👍
@12:55 that comb type shit you have going on is dope
Great again, gonna try it out on the deepmind
Love the key tracking LFO of my Nymphes. It is worth the money just for that. A juno 106 style synth with key tracked LFO... mmmmmhhh 😁🔥
The techie information is great … but, I’m seeing a link up there to MIDI SOCKS??!?!!?!? Oh HELL yeah! Thanks for great content but also for great swag!!!
Nice synth tutorial
Do key tracking on the Deluge with the Note modulation source. Middle C is zero modulation, higher notes are positive, lower notes negative. Or vice versa if you flip it. My favorite (but quite subtle) use is modulating pan so higher notes play further right and lower notes further left, like an acoustic piano in real life.
Whoa! I never thought of that with the panning and a piano in real life.. 🤯
Cool explanation.
Velocity is another good one for parameters other than amp
Agreed. Velocity to envelope time is great.
That’s amazing. I must admit, key tracking is my least explored mod option. Not for long :)
Lack of keytracking and velocity parameters eventually led me to selling my Reface CS, excellent sounding bit of kit but I couldn't get past how lacking the options for adding expression or dynamics to the voices were without some considerable workarounds and/or need for additional gear.
:D "math... synth terms... c'mon we're here" Love your vids Ricky
Dude, i didnt even realize how much i've been neglecting my kb cv out
thank u, ive never quite understood
What's your take on the Novation Summit? Is it worth it?
excellent! Ricky, it would be fantastic if you could make a standing series on how to operate synths, fist a foundation, and then apply that foundation to different types of synths and models. i have spent decades with synths most vsts (preset playing) and just recently im starting to discover what is what. i find specially hard to grasp that when you assign one thing in a synth to affect another, don't remember what its called. Cheers
Keytracking ❤🔥
At last. I never understood what key tracking was. Cheers
Ohhooo! Just noticed you have Osmose in the background. Might be mistaken. Should we expect video of that soon?
Great video yet again! Alas, none of my synths allow the assignment of keytracking to anything outside of filter cutoff :(
Don’t have a Peak, but could you do a Karplus strong synthesis patch with the key tracking on the delay? I think you’d need to go negative key tracking for it to track in a conventional way 🤔
I got a deep mind 12d . I’ll give it a try cause I know it can do it .
hey ricky any idea if novation is working on a peak/ summit 3.0? envelope curves would be a game changer!
Why on earth was this synth technology not officially called "Teeter Totter Modulation"!? 😂
Great teaching moment. 👏
Do you own a Behringer Neutron? Just wondering if it's my unit by key tracking on that particular one doesn't appear to affect all that much. Owners of Neutron, feel free to throw in your 5 cents.
I've recently been using my mpc live 2 with everything. I sequence out of it into my other synths, I tweak sounds on the synth record back into the mpc and make a key group so I have it as a mini virtual instrument on there. The microfreak has been great for this exact reason, I want to pick up another synth was a crazy mod matrix that's easy to figure out. I might check out the peak!
Another great modulation monster is the ASM Hydrasynth
also serum the vst does that too
Most synths do, softsynths or hardware
hiRicky, i am fairly new to synths... can you layer multiple sounds from the peak onto the 49SL ? so basically, sequence 1 sound, then move to another layer on 49SL (no daw) and start sequencing another sound from the peak.... can't seem to find info if this is possible or not..... thanks !!
You cannot. The peak is one sound at a time. What you’re looking for is a “multi-timbral” synth! That means multiple patches(presets) can be played at once
@@RickyTinez thanks Ricky....so there is no keyboard out there that can layer without using a daw ? so basically play the patch from synth + save it in the keyboard "as a track sequence" then start a new sequence with a different patch from the synth.... I would have thought this would be a regular part of the process! I guess a looper is the answer to this..Appreciate the response Ricky !! cheers !!!
what was the song used in the intro?
Does glide affect the key tracking modulation? So for example if the LFO was changing rate based on key tracking and you added glide, would it smoothly ramp up along with the glide pitch?
I don't believe so. The keytracking value is tied to the note which is instant when pressed. The parameter you're applying it to would have a slew value if it was possible. In the case of glide, the pitch change of the osc is slewed.
So can you demonstrate that same situation with a daw
Nice teaching moment. Good information.
It would be the same video again, except using a soft synth that has Kbd/Tracking/Note. I do this in Phase Plant, where the control is called Note and I can link the output by amount to any parameters of any voice or effect inside there.
You can do it independently of synth VSTis in Ableton Live, and maybe other DAWs too. In Live, there's Expression Control; you could map Keytracking in there to a parameter of any plugin.
Key Follow?
👍
Not from USA: so what is tider dotter? Dotted? Dieter doepfer? Toder? Came in knowing what key tracking is but now I'm more confused...
😂 a teeter totter is the American English name for a seesaw - a piece of playground apparatus that consists of a long length of wood or steel that balances on a fulcrum. Kids sit at either end and go up and down.
Oooo eeee oooo eeeee
lmao i use Key Tracking on my grandmother moog
Is it me or is this video glitchy?
Yeah I saw a bunch of it too.
Nope. You having flashbacks, bruh.
Peak videos