Maximize Your MC-505: Using attack!
New sound tricks for your old MC-505
The old Roland D50 synthesizer accomplish a lot of sonics with noting more than little pieces of the attack portion of a complex sound. Typically the rest of the sample was fairly mundane, often a couple of cycle loop. Roland was smart and clever: much of what we perceive of a sound's character is due to those few milliseconds at the onset of the sound.
Basically what the D50 did was graft a short "attack sample" to the front of a short looping tone sample. This afforded the D50 a decent size sound library even though it only had a few megabytes of samples. The resulting composite sample then proceeded through the rest of the D50's prototypical ROMpler synthesizers (perhaps the first of its kind) and effects. And while the samples, synthesizer, and effects themselves were quite primitive by today's standard the result was nothing short of stunning. The whole was indeed greater than the sum of the parts.
The MC-505's sound engine is in many ways a direct decedent of the D50. Much of the terminology like TVA, TVF, Partial, and Tone were first used to describe the D50 synthesizer. So it should come as no surprise that the MC-505 is capable of the same tricks the D50 pioneered. These are an ideal way to quickly create new sounds from old, or to construct new sounds from scratch.
The MC-505's second tone structure is essential a mini-D50. Structure 2 features Tone 1 combining with Tone 2 before sending it on to the filter. This is more than simply mixing two oscillators as Tone 1 in these configuration applies an amplitude envelope to its waveform output before sending it on for mixing with Tone 2. This means that you can use the envelope to extract the attack portion of any sample in the MC-505 ROMs and combine it with a second sample more generic sample such as one of the sawtooth waveforms.
There is a lot that can be done with this basic "architecture" and you are encouraged to explore. Before you set out on that journey of discover you should first try the basic D50 technique.
First of all set the filters wide open or to the "NO Filter" setting and Tone 2's AMP ENV to a fast on, full sustain. Adjust release to your liking, though you might find a longer setting helpful when first getting the sound happening.
Next adjust Tone 1's AMP ENV so that it has *no sustain*, somewhat long release and fast attack. Adjust Decay by ear so that you just hear a "blip" of the wave assigned to Tone 1. This is an important aspect of the technique. You really are not trying to hear Tone 1 per say. Rather you want just enough of Tone 1's attack to influence the overall sound's character. Too much and the result will be too much like the sound assigned to Tone 1. Too little and Tone 2 will dominate the result. Try adjusting Tone 1's decay setting with Tone 2 muted until you are close.
Once you have Tone 1 and 2 set in this manner you can freely explore combinations of waveforms. Selecting a different waveform does not alter the remainder of the patch settings. So you can "dial up" any of the MC-505 samples for either Tone 1 or Tone 2. Choose Tone to carry the sound when it is sustained and releasing and then augment that with a suitable attack on Tone 1. You'd be surprised what cool transients come out of some of the wavesforms when assigned to the "Tone 1 role".
This is good method for adding punch to a sound. You can also use Tone 1's Pitch ENV to initially bend the sound. The ear loves these transients and actually bases most of its judgements about a sound from them. So even a lame acoustic instrument patch is brought to life with the right attack.
Do not stop with just this method. Also explore the affect different STRUCTs have on the sound. You'd be surprised at how many variations you can get out of a single sound simply by changing the waveforms and the STRUCT!
Structure 2
There is a lot that can be done with this basic "architecture" and you are encouraged to explore. Before you set out on that journey of discover you should first try the basic D50 technique.
First of all set the filters wide open or to the "NO Filter" setting and Tone 2's AMP ENV to a fast on, full sustain. Adjust release to your liking, though you might find a longer setting helpful when first getting the sound happening.
Next adjust Tone 1's AMP ENV so that it has *no sustain*, somewhat long release and fast attack. Adjust Decay by ear so that you just hear a "blip" of the wave assigned to Tone 1. This is an important aspect of the technique. You really are not trying to hear Tone 1 per say. Rather you want just enough of Tone 1's attack to influence the overall sound's character. Too much and the result will be too much like the sound assigned to Tone 1. Too little and Tone 2 will dominate the result. Try adjusting Tone 1's decay setting with Tone 2 muted until you are close.
Once you have Tone 1 and 2 set in this manner you can freely explore combinations of waveforms. Selecting a different waveform does not alter the remainder of the patch settings. So you can "dial up" any of the MC-505 samples for either Tone 1 or Tone 2. Choose Tone to carry the sound when it is sustained and releasing and then augment that with a suitable attack on Tone 1. You'd be surprised what cool transients come out of some of the wavesforms when assigned to the "Tone 1 role".
This is good method for adding punch to a sound. You can also use Tone 1's Pitch ENV to initially bend the sound. The ear loves these transients and actually bases most of its judgements about a sound from them. So even a lame acoustic instrument patch is brought to life with the right attack.
Do not stop with just this method. Also explore the affect different STRUCTs have on the sound. You'd be surprised at how many variations you can get out of a single sound simply by changing the waveforms and the STRUCT!