Flat Beat Synth Tutorial (Korg MS-20)

[@bunuel3333]

GOOD JOB ALEX BALL. almost there! bravo.

[@AlexBallMusic]

The man himself! Are you able to tell me what I missed?

[@bunuel3333]

good synth sound - good filters and stuff BUT you missed the GROOVE baby !

[@AlexBallMusic]

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!

[@bunuel3333]

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 !

[@AlexBallMusic]

Awesome. Thank you so much! We salute your skills.

[@I967]

This is much more complicated than I expected. Such a simple sounding tune, but in reality it's a composition. Thank you for this!

[@ZeroSpectra]

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.

[@StudiokillersOfficial]

Goldie Foxx: Love this! The attention to detail in the opening video footage wobble is genius.

[@AlexBallMusic]

Cheers!

[@HAZARDOUS88]

That intro and Hotdog cigar is so brilliant lol

[@AlexBallMusic]

Cuba's finest.

[@DivKid]

always love the resonant high pass bass boost trick.

[@1stapproach]

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... :-)

[@raistaparta]

Thank you! This is great. I knew the Flat Beat bassline was sampled but didn’t realize how much of a collage it is.

[@MrMacs90]

Appreciate the hotdog cigar :)

[@AlexBallMusic]

Had to be done.

[@epicon6]

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!

[@ZethKeeper]

I'm a genuine fan of your vintage color grading, Alex.

[@WangleLine]

Now I know why my music sounds like trash. It's the lack of sausage.

[@GodWeenSatan]

Weiner

[@dreamhyperdrive]

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 👍

[@ReubenSound]

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.

[@AlexBallMusic]

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?

[@edjwise]

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

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thank you - that would make sense!

[@edjwise]

@@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

[@AlexBallMusic]

Awesome! Thanks. I'll have to see if that's archived somewhere.

[@firestarter5205]

Alex Ball If you find it, please pin it in the comments!

[@gregbrookman]

I remember reading that article too and him talking about taking loads of samples from the MS20 into the Akai.

[@romainsegaud1180]

I had high expectations on this flat beat. That's perfect ! Well done Mr Ball \o/

[@Citracid]

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.

[@KoltronZer0]

Dude hell yess I have always wondered how this song was made, I really appreciate you making this!

[@soulandfire9252]

I used to do the Flat Beat riff on my Korg 700s, good emulation

[@Ow_ee]

Awesome mate! Just bought an ms20 mini and flat beat was a deciding factor!

[@adpt_music]

Great video. Love your explanations and getting straight to the point. Can't wait to try this on my MS-20.

[@KimStennabbCaesar]

Great tutorial. It very well shows that you don't have to complicate things. Keep it basic folks.

[@stoatystoat174]

This tune speaks to the core of my bones 🤗. thanks for having a good look at it

[@keeganmurrell5638]

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!

[@danpreston564]

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. 😀

[@essenceoftheanimal]

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!!

[@CharlesFerraro]

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!

[@AlexBallMusic]

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).

[@CharlesFerraro]

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.

[@AlexBallMusic]

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!

[@CharlesFerraro]

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.

[@NaviRetlav]

I love your tutorials. Please do more thing's like this. Maybe next time something from The Prodigy or Boards of Canada ?

[@Gavinshortall543]

+1 for boards

[@Neverkilltime]

Great video! This song will always hold a special place in my heart 👊🏼 much nostalgia lol

[@britain2brasil]

Been wondering exactly this for about a week , 🙏🏻. Nicely broken down bro.

[@kennethwedmorelund6449]

The sausages and head-banging-video is such a brilliant "easter egg" !!!!!

[@robertsyrett1992]

Utterly delightful!

[@reaktiv1408]

You nailed it! Thank you for sharing, I ll try on my neutron, might sound close

[@miscible21]

Dude, more of this please!

[@PC0067]

De la balle. Bravo. Je me suis toujours questionné sur ce son sans me prendre la tête mais une réponse est sympa. Merci

[@drjazz7278]

Brilliant video again. Thanks Alex

[@epicon6]

Thaaaaaank you for making this!! You made my day!

[@iKiWY]

This, this I love, I absolutely love

[@onni9472]

Very good cover

[@RussArteaga]

I love that this popped up on my recommend vids!!

[@MarshalArnold]

Nice work! Learned a few things about my MS-20! Many thanks 😁👍

[@StephenMcLeod]

This video made me buy an MS-20.

[@cnltaf4532]

Love ya´ channel, it is full of positive energy ;)

[@shayusu8317]

.....A raw hot dog? *Subscribed*

[@antongracon3345]

Almost all hot dogs are fully cooked when you buy them in the package. He'll be all right.

[@zink9698]

that spot on as you can be

[@codyharper3824]

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!

[@AlexBallMusic]

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: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqq5d3yGqbSmo5o

[@aphexon.]

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.

[@dextrodemon]

LFO = light fantastic orchestra VCO = virtuous conduct orchestra, adsr = angelic divine shining rochestra. they're japanese ELO cover bands

[@codyharper3824]

@@AlexBallMusic Much appreciated!

[@NeuronalAxon]

YMO = Yellow Magic Orchestra

[@Embolder]

Wish I had even 1% of that skill. Respect.

[@KristerNielsen]

You got a thumbs up just because of that intro :P

[@watercolourmark]

All I seem to do these days is watch online video of a man with a sausage in his hand?!

[@auxorion]

Who had a sausage in their hand??? I think you're watching the wrong video.

[@watercolourmark]

@@auxorion your eyesight is the wurst.

[@Gunzee]

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

[@ninjak13]

If you made a video with tutorials for music from ed banger records you would make my day

[@rosssmethurst6942]

Great video and explanation 😀

[@LooneyBinJim303]

Top skills another top video.Thanks

[@amfimoll9428]

Cool video. Thanks a lot!

[@SjN7HETIK]

thank u friend, u nice n very brave, impossible to get exactly the same, so u made the best possible imo

[@VCVRackIdeas]

nice synth tutorial man! love this

[@lightningslim]

I wish I still had my MS-20!

[@conrad3k]

Wow really well done!

[@ericriggsbee]

Love this tune! Thanks for the video!

[@onkelberra3166]

Love that classic. Nice sounds you get out of that ms20 :D

[@auxorion]

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)

[@colourbasscolourbassweapon2135]

that what i do when i make dubstep

[@comicKkrakK]

Love it. Nice work

[@kimfromnewyork]

Superb!!!

[@Eric-LB]

Amazing! Thanks for sharing

[@wingflanagan]

Well hot DOG! Are you WIENing us off your other videos with all these tutorials? Because I have to be FRANK, I'd like to see FURTER episodes on light music as you get the chance. I don't want to be a WEENIE about it, though; this is not the WURST thing you've made. Quite the opposite - you can definitely cut the MUSTARD with electronic instruments. I just hope you can KETCHUP on your other projects some point, too. I RELISH the thought of another music analysis or re-creation of a film score cue. Have to ROLL with the punches, I guess. Come to think of it, something on German electronica or KRAUTrock might make a nice tutorial, too! :-)

[@DarkSideofSynth]

Are you sure your real name is not Lord of the Puns? ;)

[@KILLAGORILLA7000]

Wing Flanagan haha well played sir

[@skiddzie9526]

2:28 "you'll only hear this if you got headphones or speakers" yeah that's usually how it works.

[@AlexBallMusic]

Haha, you know what I mean ;)

[@RBRT02]

best comment ever

[@fritsvanzanten3573]

Some people have an ESP guitar

[@rdean150]

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!

[@AlexBallMusic]

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.

[@rdean150]

@@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!

[@Cadesworth]

This song, man- Awesome bass synth, painfully thin drums which sound like they're coming from a tin can.

[@AsteroidKiller]

Sooo good! Allmost forgot about this song 😍👌

[@SwanAudio]

Awesome videos mate

[@vr4ever645]

Thumbs up for the intro!

[@retrosound72]

haha yeah :D So cool Alex!

[@AlexBallMusic]

Cheers Marko! 😉

[@mynameisChesto]

I'd love to hear Rock 'n Roll on the MS20 by Daft Punk

[@herontotem1065]

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

[@LouisSerieusement]

really good tutorial serie !!

[@valentin8626]

gonna buy da synth

[@Vandalsounds]

Awesome vid! Thnx!

[@demokid2000]

Greate video! :) The MS-20 is a versatile little sizer. :D

[@soviut]

Could you not use an external LFO that is clock-synced and use it's voltage to control the filter cutoff?

[@marcoxmas89]

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

[@MuhnMaxVicinelli]

Nice!

[@RichRobinson]

Bravo!

[@sokoleski]

exxelent presentation.. cheers

[@yrussq]

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! :))

[@HH-Thorsten]

Nice one

[@janterlyn4343]

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

[@AlexBallMusic]

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.

[@mono6839]

Hehe very nice :) Thx for that !

[@Inception1338]

Dope!

[@KarlHamilton]

Nailed it

[@ritamasefield9225]

Love it 👏

[@adamwhite1934]

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.

[@AlexBallMusic]

Mr Oizo himself is the pinned comment. He confirms it was chopped up.

[@adamwhite1934]

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.

[@pascaldeshayes5459]

Super disappointed that you did not wear your Daft Punk Norwegian pullover on that one. The rest is brilliant.

[@johnnyboy2459]

You need to patch in the sample and hold function plus some other bits to achieve the different speeds of the modulation

[@AlexBallMusic]

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?

[@Joejoegopro]

but how do you make that french kick and snare so punchy

[@RJ1J]

Hearing the real Korg just on YT is soooo much better than the VST. Anyone disagree?

[@fullfunk]

run from a 24bit card to a tube amp then a tape delay then back to pc then we talk

[@RJ1J]

@@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.

[@ronlaboa1]

@@RJ1J I bought an ms20 after using the KLC ms20 and they are similar in behaviour but the sound differs :)

[@imothy]

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.

[@AlexBallMusic]

The man himself confirmed it was sampled and chopped in this very comments section.

[@DownButNotOutYet]

Good thing you had a cup of Vienna sausages handy, programming this track might have been tricky otherwise.

[@emilyschmanks]

great video. how many years of experience do you have?

[@Richard_P_James]

Very good :-)

[@query1527]

Mr. Oiso just watched this and said "oh yeah, that was how I did it".