Can anyone help me with this Patrick Moraz sound from Sound Chaser by Yes?

[Morris]

I’m learning to program sounds in Pigments. I wanted to get some feedback and ideas to see if I’m on the right track. The song is Sound Chaser by YES from the Relayer album. Patrick Moraz plays a synth solo that I’ve always loved. I’m a Jazz guitarist (not a keyboard player). So, I can’t actually perform the synth solo. So, I found a midi file for it online, loaded that into Logic started to work on getting a similar sound in Pigments. I’m really excited about what I’ve done. But as a “new” synth person I’m sure you with more experience can help.
On the Youtube link, the solo starts at 7:45

So, I’ve created 2 different version os the sound.

1. Using the Analog Engine( using FM between oscillator 1&2 with Mod Wheel). This makes sense cause I’m pretty sure that when this album was made there were only analog synths around.
2. Using the Wavetable Engine (modulating the table with LFO 2). I actually think that I like what I did with the wave table engine more. I think it captures the “bite” that is in the original sound.

btw…the pitch bend and mod wheel are used a lot in the solo (I’m fairly certain) and they add lot’s of character. The midi file was really quantized and kinda mechanical sounding.

I’ve never exported or uploaded Pigments patches before so I hope this works.

Thanks for any help or ideas.

thanks,
Morris
Pigments_Preset_Patrick Moraz Analog Lead_20230810_17h08.pgtx (117.3 KB)
Pigments_Preset_Patrick Moraz Wavetable Lead_20230810_17h08.pgtx (117.3 KB)

[Morris]

I just tried uploading 2 mp3 files, one for the ANALOG version and one for the WAVETABLE version of the lead sound in my original post. I could not figure out how to upload mp3 files on this forum. How do people usually share short audio examples on the Sound Explorers Corner / Your sound?

thanks
Morris

[matjones]

Hi Morris,
Afraid i can’t help you with your original request, most people tend to link to any sound files or videos.
HTH!

[Morris]

I uploaded 2 mp3 files to DropBox. I’m wondering if people are able listen to them that way?

Analog

Wavetable

Again, the song is Sound Chaser from the Yes album, Relayer.
Here is a link to the song on YouTube. The solo I’m trying to imitate starts at 7:45

Sound Chaser (2003 Remaster)

Just a reminder that I have a MIDI file playing the solo. My keyboard skills are not strong enough to play it myself. : )

[matjones]

Yes, people should be able to hear those files.
Hopefully someone will hear them and be able to point you in the right direction. Just pays to be patient sometimes.

[JulioEr]

Hi Morris!
Well…yes and no haha.

It’s actually a Minimoog solo and I just made a patch on Arturia Mini V to approximate it
However…no clue how to do it on Pigments, sorry!

The sound was/is made mainly by using a narrow pulse oscillator wave (the most nasally sounding one), with a wide open filter.

Recommended settings would be a moderate glide, a 3 semitone pitch bend range, a second identical pulse wave (slightly detuned to fatten the sound), high octaves (i.e 4’) and some sort of short delay or room reverb.

Hope that helps!!
All the best
Julio.-

[JulioEr]

Added short stereo delay on Advanced Panel…

[JulioEr]

Finally, my Mini V patch…
Mini_Preset_Sound Chaser Lead_20230822_19h20.minix (12.6 KB)
Cheers!

[Morris]

Julio,

Thank you very much for letting me know about using the narrow pulse waves. That really helps. I’m trying to get better and “hearing” which waves are in synth sounds I’m trying to create. I’m not always able to tell for sure. : )

best,
Morris

[matjones]

Hi @JulioEr and welcome to our Sound Explorers community!

Many thanks for your input here, this is what community is all about!

If you haven’t already, then Please make sure to subscribe to our Newsletter to be the first to know about anything new and exciting from Arturia!

[JulioEr]

Hi Morris
Glad it helped!

Like you, I’m a “guitarist who is also into synths”, though in my case I’m a rocker haha
Regarding wave shapes, roughly think of them like this:

Sine:
A very pure vintage Strat neck single coil, clean tone, plugged into a flat Bassman amp

Triangle:
Still gentle “flute like” neck pickup tone, but with a bit more harmonics and character.

Sawtooth:
Almost equivalent to the classic rock’n’roll bridge pickup biting tone, this is the bona fide lead synth sound and also forms the basis for “string ensembles” (ie Solina) and biting “brass” stabs (ie VH Jump, Oberheim)

Pulse/Square:
This is the pulse wave with equal time on both phases (or “50% duty cycle”). This would be the sound of Gameboy (think Super Mario;-) and early console family games. Also can sound “accordion like”, and also think of it a Les Paul neck humbucker thru a chorus pedal into a slightly distorted amp. It is also the sound of the famous ELP Lucky Man Moog lead.-

Rectangle:
These are pulses with different values on the “up” and “down” phases, or duty cycles different than 50%. The narrow one would be for instance 25% on the up value and 75% on the negative phase. The lower the duty cycle, the more thin and nasal the resulting wave wound.
In the modular Moog you can shape the duty cycle yourself from 10% to 90%, whereas in the Minimoog you get 3 preset pulses (Square, Rectangle and Narrow).
Think of the most narrow as a “Clavinet” biting whiny tone, or a guitar on a middle single could pickup, picked very closely to the bridge.

A very nice use of pulse waves is Nick Rhodes’ brilliant opening sequence on the Duran Duran classic “Save a Prayer”. It uses two pulses an octave apart, on being a square and the other a rectangle. And so on…

Spend some time on this because it is universal, since wave shapes apply to almost any synth, brand or platform!

All the best
J.-

[JulioEr]

My pleasure!
Been subscribed for years already haha

All the best
J.-

[matjones]

Good to hear!