yedey » trance

Official release of TranceDrive

Maik Menz — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:31:51 +0000

In the last year, KVR anounced a new Developer Contest, so I came up with the idea for TranceDrive. Basically it is a subtractive synth like many other, the challenge was to build it completely from scratch using SynthMaker. So, every single part of it was custom made, and optimized to the limits (of SynthMaker). Also I don’t use the standard FX from SynthMaker, instead I made my own versions by using some hints from Harmony Central. After concentrating on all this technical stuff, I forgot to submit the result for the KVR Developer Contest. Shit happens!

So, enough about the story here are the facts:

TranceDrive is a subtractive synthesizer, that was build for Trance music. That means, it has builtin supersaw oscillators for realy fat synths and pads, harsh filters, a trancegate and a hugh reverb effect.

Here is a list of the features that I can remember:

3 main oscillators
each main oscillator supports 6 waveforms: sine, saw, triangle, pulse, saw7, cry
the waveform “saw7″ is a supersaw with 7 detunable sub oscillators
the waveform “cry” is an experimental waveform, it is built up with several hardsynced saws
main oscillator 2 has an additional unisono mode, when it is enabled, the whole oscillator triples its voice and the voices can be detuned from each other
the oscillators can be chained (osc1 to osc2 and osc2 to osc3) using FM, PM and sync, these 3 options can also be used at the same time
seperate noise oscillator
3 LFOs, each supports 5 waveforms: sine, saw, triangle, pulse, sample and hold
the LFOs can be synchronized to the host tempo or run free at a specific frequency
each LFO can control multiple parameters of each OSC, you can even assign several LFOs to the same parameter
LFO1 can control the filter cutoff
2 Envelope generators (Mod & Amp) with variable shapes
the modulation envelope can control multiple parameters of each OSC, and it can also be mixed with the LFOs. Additionally it can control the filter cutoff
3 types of filters: lowpass, highpass and bandpass
each filter type can be set to 6dB, 12dB, 18dB and 24dB steepness
9 effects, and they can be used at the same time: gater, chorus, phaser, flanger, distortion, delay, reverb, equalizer, stereo-effects
each of the unused parts of the synth is shown with less contrast, so you can focus on the active parts
the output of the synth can be clipped to avoid overdriving noise. The clipping is done with a soft limiter, that can be used to compress the whole synth sound (just enable clip and turn up the main volume)

Of course you’ll also find the standard features that every synth supports, but I don’t want to list them here, that’s just too much

Right now there are only a few presets, I’m not good in programming this and I don’t want to waste my time with stuff, that every musician can do. Hopefully someone else makes a nice bank and I can include it in an update, but right now I haven’t this person

Downloads

TranceDrive-VSTi

TranceDrive Executable

The synth is Freeware, you can use it as it is. If you like it, please show me your appreciation for my work by making presets.

Simple melody

Maik Menz — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:30:28 +0000

This arpeggio melody is quiet simple, but in the right arrangement, it could be used to drive an uplifting song.

Download audio file (simple.mp3)

Here is the corresponding midifile

The licence for the usage of these files can be found here.

Slow (1/8th) Arpeggio

Maik Menz — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:07:27 +0000

This melody was made long time ago, using a JP8000. I’ve tried many times to make a song out of it, but I never found a good arrangement. Due to the fact that I don’t have the JP8000 anymore I’ve made a VSTi based version:

Download audio file (jp8000melo1.mp3)

I’ve already made a lot of variations, but I only found this one to demonstrate:

Download audio file (jp8000melo2.mp3)

Here is the midifile of the original melody and here the midifile of the variation.

The licence for the usage of these files can be found here.

Arpeggio June 2008

Maik Menz — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:03:04 +0000

The following arpeggio was made this month, so it is the newest thing that I made. As most of my unfinished song stuff, this part has no name, and for me the easiest way to manage unfinished stuff, is to give it the name of month in which it was created. That’s better than having project files with “untitledXYZ” as filename

Download audio file (june2008.mp3)

And like in the previous posts, here is the midi file. Use it when you like it, and leave a comment when you’ve finished something.

The licence for the usage of these files can be found here.

Hands up

Maik Menz — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:04:09 +0000

This song idea was my attempt to make stupid German “hands up” trance. For those who don’t know what this is: damn, you’re lucky. I don’t like that style anymore, but 3 years ago when I made it, that kind of style was IN, and you could hear it in any club in Germany. So here is the original “draft” that I made 3 years ago:

Download audio file (handsup.mp3)

And here is a version that I made yesterday:

Download audio file (handsup_melo.mp3)

If you like it, use it… here is the midi file of the melody

Thanks to tektook from the SynthMaker board, for converting my old Cubase project file into a midi.

The licence for the usage of these files can be found here.

Scared

Maik Menz — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:16:47 +0000

This is my last finished song, it is weird mix of “old german hands up” and dutch uplifting trance. I’m not happy with the result, because I finished it in a hurry.

Download audio file (scared.mp3)

The vocals are from a friend who made them for one of his song called “scared”. At this time his artist name was PrivatePanic. He gave me the permissions to use them in my own production.

If you think you can do it better, here is your chance:

Main melody midi file | Pad melody midi file

The licence for the usage of these files can be found here.