Flat Beat Synth Tutorial (Korg MS-20)
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- Following my Daft Punk synth tutorial, a number of people sent me messages asking for a demonstration of Mr Oizo's "Flat Beat" which was done on a Korg MS-20 and an Akai S1000.
In the video we look at the principals of setting up that sound and why I concluded that he likely created it from a composite of samples, rather than in one pass.
Charles Ferraro's great explanation of the unusual bi-polar nature of EG2 on the Korg MS-20 is here: • MS-20EX pt.2-3 Envelop...
Many thanks for watching and for your ongoing support.
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GOOD JOB ALEX BALL. almost there! bravo.
The man himself!
Are you able to tell me what I missed?
good synth sound - good filters and stuff BUT you missed the GROOVE baby !
Ah yeah, agree definitely not quite got the right vibe. Needs more sausage!
Can you confirm you sampled it and cut it up? Or was it one take?
Thanks for taking the time to drop by, that's very cool of you!
I sampled small bits (akai S1000) and recreated the groove on my sequencer (back in the says it was demo version of cakewalk express!!) cheers !
Awesome. Thank you so much!
We salute your skills.
This is much more complicated than I expected. Such a simple sounding tune, but in reality it's a composition. Thank you for this!
Goldie Foxx: Love this! The attention to detail in the opening video footage wobble is genius.
Cheers!
I was absolutely obsessed with this song when it came out, I tried to recreate that sound on just about every synth I bought in the early 2000s, I never realized it was an MS20, but it makes so much sense now that I've seen it done.
always love the resonant high pass bass boost trick.
That intro and Hotdog cigar is so brilliant lol
Cuba's finest.
Thank you! This is great. I knew the Flat Beat bassline was sampled but didn’t realize how much of a collage it is.
Following your Daft Punk synth tutorial this is the second one I discovered, and it is as amazing as the first. I see long nights with little sleep coming when I will have to start digging and trying all of those... :-)
Finally bought an MS-20 Mini and got to experience this in person :) thank you again for this video! Flat Beat and Oizo’s whole Analog Worms Attack album is one of my absolute favorites!
Appreciate the hotdog cigar :)
Had to be done.
f'ing great! and the feeling you must have got when you told the deli you wanted some hotdogs (for such an obscure reason) must have been priceless! nice work!!
I'm a genuine fan of your vintage color grading, Alex.
I had high expectations on this flat beat. That's perfect ! Well done Mr Ball \o/
Now I know why my music sounds like trash.
It's the lack of sausage.
Weiner
I think the MS 20 is the best synthesizer there's so many things it can do! I have the MS 20 mini and it's so much fun! 😀 thanks very much for the video by the way and it was very informative 👍
Daaaang thank you for the shoutout!
1:30 A way to possibly check if a sound is sampled would be to chop out the phrase in question, flip it's polarity, and align it with a segment containing the same phrase. The idea is that if they cancel, you have a sample. I've had okay results with this while trying to isolate tracks. It's not full proof, and many factors can come into play like master bus compression making the same phrase sound different depending on instrumentation for example.
All that said, we can assume you're right that Oizo sampled a phrase and looped it. No need to go through the strenuous effort to check.
All in all another excellent tutorial, Alex. Great editing on both the camera work and recreating Flat Beat!
Cheers Charles. Shout out was entirely relevant and useful!
Sample - Yep, that's a good trick. Slightly different question here, it's definitely a one bar loop, but it was whether the notes within that one bar were all individual samples recorded one at a time and stitched back together. (Rather than performed in one pass).
Ah ya I see what you’re saying. Yeah it’s surprising, as another commenter pointed out, your vid proves that it’s much more of a collage than you’d expect.
Amazingly, Quentin Dupieux (Mr Oizo) has actually commented on this video and confirmed it was sampled into an Akai S1000 and sequenced in Cakewalk Express. So now we know!
I wonder if it's not an increase in the LFO rate then, but rather rapid note retriggering that makes up that fourth bar of the phrase.
With the korg MS20 vst is the easiest way to behave the original one without sampling since lfo can be key synced and parameters automated.
Thank you for this quick tutorial.
This tune speaks to the core of my bones 🤗. thanks for having a good look at it
Great tutorial. It very well shows that you don't have to complicate things. Keep it basic folks.
Awesome mate! Just bought an ms20 mini and flat beat was a deciding factor!
Dude hell yess I have always wondered how this song was made, I really appreciate you making this!
Man, you're so productive! Great sound from the MS20, it sounds phenomenal through my headphones. The MS10 could really do with the extra EG.
Another way the filter could be rhythmically modulated is with an external signal into the filter frequency input jack.
Cheers Reuben. Ah yes, didn't think of trying that.
The irony is that I tried the patch out on a VST and it was incredibly easy to do! Yet doing it on the identical synth he did it on, not so much.
Be interested if you can nail it on the MS10?
Great video. Love your explanations and getting straight to the point. Can't wait to try this on my MS-20.
The sausages and head-banging-video is such a brilliant "easter egg" !!!!!
This video made me buy an MS-20.
De la balle. Bravo. Je me suis toujours questionné sur ce son sans me prendre la tête mais une réponse est sympa. Merci
I used to do the Flat Beat riff on my Korg 700s, good emulation
Hey Man, please keep on uploading. Your music and style is so flipping inspiring! I even went and bought a mini lab mk 2! One day I hope to make sick stuff like you do!
When Futuremusic was talking to Mr.Oizo about making the flat beat track he talked about how he approached the MS20 as something to sample and said he spent hours getting the LFO timing right. He used an S1000 iirc
Thank you - that would make sense!
@@AlexBallMusic Looks like November 1999 issue.
you can see the cover here, Im not sure about the issue number or how to find it. imgur.com/a/nMVd3eq
Awesome! Thanks. I'll have to see if that's archived somewhere.
Alex Ball If you find it, please pin it in the comments!
I remember reading that article too and him talking about taking loads of samples from the MS20 into the Akai.
Sooo good! Allmost forgot about this song 😍👌
Great video! This song will always hold a special place in my heart 👊🏼 much nostalgia lol
Brilliant video again. Thanks Alex
that spot on as you can be
Been wondering exactly this for about a week , 🙏🏻. Nicely broken down bro.
Very good cover
Dude, more of this please!
This, this I love, I absolutely love
Utterly delightful!
Wish I had even 1% of that skill. Respect.
Thaaaaaank you for making this!! You made my day!
You nailed it! Thank you for sharing, I ll try on my neutron, might sound close
I love that this popped up on my recommend vids!!
Superb!!!
nice synth tutorial man! love this
Nice work! Learned a few things about my MS-20! Many thanks 😁👍
Great video and explanation 😀
You got a thumbs up just because of that intro :P
The envelope behaviour on the MS20 mini is totally different.
It’s true that a zero sustain is the same as the set level of the cut off but as you turn the sustain up on the Mini the cut off drops, and by the time you reach full sustain it’s the equivalent of moving the cutoff from 5 down to about 3.5. The envelope behaviour will start at a lower level as you increase the sustain but will return to that start point, not to zero volts. I think. Confusing.
Another good video, btw. 😀
Love that classic. Nice sounds you get out of that ms20 :D
Wow really well done!
Top skills another top video.Thanks
Thumbs up for the intro!
Cool video. Thanks a lot!
Love ya´ channel, it is full of positive energy ;)
Love it. Nice work
All I seem to do these days is watch online video of a man with a sausage in his hand?!
Who had a sausage in their hand??? I think you're watching the wrong video.
@@auxorion your eyesight is the wurst.
Awesome videos mate
Bravo!
2:28 "you'll only hear this if you got headphones or speakers"
yeah that's usually how it works.
Haha, you know what I mean ;)
best comment ever
Some people have an ESP guitar
haha yeah :D So cool Alex!
Cheers Marko! 😉
Amazing! Thanks for sharing
Love this tune! Thanks for the video!
I wish I still had my MS-20!
thank u friend, u nice n very brave, impossible to get exactly the same, so u made the best possible imo
I love your tutorials. Please do more thing's like this. Maybe next time something from The Prodigy or Boards of Canada ?
+1 for boards
Greate video! :) The MS-20 is a versatile little sizer. :D
Nice!
If you made a video with tutorials for music from ed banger records you would make my day
Dope!
You know, I always avoid doing wub wub sounds with synths that can't tempo sync to the DAW.. but watching this, I realize that's stupid. I can just edit the parts together in the DAW! (I also hadn't realized how good the MS-20 is for these sounds... very cool)
that what i do when i make dubstep
I don’t know if anyone else mentioned it in the comments, but I remember reading in a music magazine that it wasn’t sampled and cut up, he spent an entire day recording lfo knob twiddling to get the right sound.
Mr Oizo himself is the pinned comment. He confirms it was chopped up.
Just come back to this to reproduce on my new full size and saw you replied.
Damn, all these years I thought he spent all day recording slightly off lfo wubs and picked the one that worked. Guess you really can’t trust the media.
really good tutorial serie !!
.....A raw hot dog?
*Subscribed*
Almost all hot dogs are fully cooked when you buy them in the package. He'll be all right.
Awesome vid! Thnx!
gonna buy da synth
You need to patch in the sample and hold function plus some other bits to achieve the different speeds of the modulation
Well, funnily enough Mr Oizo himself is in the comment section saying he just sampled individual notes and snippets and then frankensteined it together.
In terms of sample and hold, the modulation is clearly from the waveshapes available from the LFO. There isn't a way to patch the sample and hold output into the CV in of the LFO on the MS-20 either.
What source would the sample and hold be sampling from and where would it be routed?
WOW! That had my fastest like! :) Nad Quentin in the comments! ANd everybody happy! What a wonderful orthodox Christmas! :)) MC and HNY from Russia! Shweeet! :))
to me it sounds like instead of playing with the LFO he's got the pattern sequenced out and he's playing with the envelope attack, but yes its probably sampled. Also it has a nice late shuffle to it.
The man himself confirmed it was sampled and chopped in this very comments section.
Would you be down for doing a video for the layman on what the acronyms stand for, and their function? (e.g. LFO, VCO, ADSR, ect.) Really dig the channel, amazing videos!
Hey Cody, glad you enjoyed it.
Justin DeLay at Reverb did a series exactly like that. Just explaining one element at a time.
Here's the first episode: ua-cam.com/video/xyVFIPtOsm8/v-deo.html
Cody Harper Lfo- low frequency oscillator, is a signal that can shape/modulate sweeps or rhythmic pulses usually below 30/20 Hz, you can think of it like a phaser or tremolo effect. Vco- voltage controlled oscillator, is controlled by a voltage input, that determines the frequency, Vco are used for Fm- frequency modulation, / Pm phase modulation. Adsr- stands for attack release sustain delay, (envelope) and describe how the sound changes over time, in volume, frequency etc.
LFO = light fantastic orchestra VCO = virtuous conduct orchestra, adsr = angelic divine shining rochestra. they're japanese ELO cover bands
@@AlexBallMusic Much appreciated!
YMO = Yellow Magic Orchestra
exxelent presentation.. cheers
Bruhh you are a genious thats spot on
Love it 👏
New to your channel and easy sub, good stuff right here! Out of curiosity, is that a mini or vintage? I dont own one but those keys look full sized. And likewise, those sliders look bigger than my SH-01A, is that a 101 you're casually reaching over? Fantastic video btw, can't wait to check out your other content!
Thanks. That's an original MS-20 Mk I from 1978 and an original SH-101 below it. All my synths are vintage except my Prophet REV2.
@@AlexBallMusic Mad props. And you play them with impressive skill and aplomb as well. Don't know how it took me so long to find this channel!
Hearing the real Korg just on YT is soooo much better than the VST. Anyone disagree?
run from a 24bit card to a tube amp then a tape delay then back to pc then we talk
@@fullfunk Interesting. I have a lot of top UAD plugs. Do you think they might be able to add back the richness and super liquid high peaks sounds? I just hear something so flat and lifeless compared to this vids.
@@RJ1J I bought an ms20 after using the KLC ms20 and they are similar in behaviour but the sound differs :)
Mr. Oiso just watched this and said "oh yeah, that was how I did it".
Nice one
Good thing you had a cup of Vienna sausages handy, programming this track might have been tricky otherwise.
Now I wanna challenge you... :D
You need to do the Gary's lead synth patch of the " regular show - gary's synthesizers battle"
That lead is amazing hehe
Yeaaah! For me, to get a better "Quentin Dupieux" sound, you have to replace your sausage by a STEAK (one of the great Quentin Dupieux's movies)! :p
Nailed it
5:58 Puhuhuhu!!!
I have the single cassette, saved my dinner money for it. It's in a paper sleeve, thick paper but just paper. I really disliked those singles, it gave such a cheap feeling.
A very nice remake, it's really close. I've not heard this track for >15 years, guess it's time to dig that tape out. Searching UT is too easy
Well done
I wonder if all ms20s sound different like all roland tr808s sound different
Great work! Is the bassline rhythm right though? It feels like it's all played an 8th note late in relation to the drums. Eg- the 2nd note of the bassline should come an 8th note before the snare hit. Not at the same time as it. Geeky enough for you?
Think it starts on the right beat, it's just the rhythm of mine isn't quite the same as the original. It's a degrees of shuffle type question and mine is a little too straight.
Thanks
Hehe very nice :) Thx for that !
Hey Alex, just found your channel! Thanks so much for all these videos, you're insight into synths as well as general music production is so awesome. What synth would you recommend as the first synth someone should pick up? Or maybe just a great all round synthesizer to get started? Budget doesn't have to be cheap.
Greets from Belgium
Thanks Jan. Greetings from the UK.
Synths - depends largely what you're trying to do as they all have particular things they do. That said, I'd say a simple polysynth with a knob and slider for each parameter would be the best place to start. Can be analogue or could be DSP.
As for monosynths, best place to start is the SH-101! It has one of everything (oscillator, envelope, filter, LFO) and it just sounds great.
This song, man- Awesome bass synth, painfully thin drums which sound like they're coming from a tin can.
I'd love to hear Rock 'n Roll on the MS20 by Daft Punk