Synth Brass
A Basic synth brass patch.
This is a version of an 80’s style ‘synth brass.’ It uses multiple oscillators to create a brass ensemble effect.
1: Use sawtooth waves.
2: Tune the oscillators to avoid beating, and have a slow chorusing effect.
3: Brass instruments take a moment for the pitch to stabilize. To emulate this effect, FM VCO-A with a fast envelope with instant attack. Keep the amount of FM on VCO-A very subtle. Try it with positive and negative amounts of FM.
Alternatively, try using ENV-B as a burst generator for a raspier attack.
4: Patch the mixer back into itself. Set the level high enough to beef up the sound, but pull back when it starts cracking up.
5: Use a low filter frequency. Brass instruments start low and increase frequency as the note stabilizes.
7: Set keyboard tracking between 50% to 75%. This range mirrors the nonlinear increase in brightness on real brass instruments.
8: Patch ENV-A to filter FM1.
9: Set ENV-A to use velocity sensitivity.
Further Reading
Gordon Reid delves into the fundamentals of synthesizing wind instruments, explaining the similarities between vibrating strings and air columns in pipes, and how to recreate them.
Synthesizing Brass Instruments
Explains the principles of synthesizing brass instruments, using subtractive synthesis to recreate realistic trumpet-like sounds.
Roland SH101 & ARP Axxe Brass Synthesis
How to synthesize brass sounds on simple monosynths like the Roland SH101 and ARP Axxe by adapting idealized brass patches to suit their more limited capabilities.
Gordon Reid demonstrates how to create brass patches on the Minimoog.
A YouTube video where Steve Porcaro demonstrates how to synthesize a synth brass lead by focusing on shaping the attack using sharp, transient "blip" envelopes on one oscillator.