How to make Daft Punk's Da Funk synth sound with Moog Grandmother

This is a patch making tutorial for how to make the lead patch from Daft Punk's Da Funk track using the Moog Grandmother analog synth. We make heavy use of hard sync as well as a neat mixer feedback trick.
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[@onceuponasynth]

Hey gang, not sure why this vid has so many more views than my other stuff, but thanks for watching! I few people commented that the sound is not 100% accurate. I hear you, I know, and I'm sorry. I ran across this patch by accident while experimenting with mixer feedback so I kinda got excited and shot the video without thinking too much lol, but I should have taken more time to study the original sound. Next time I'll try to be more prepared. In any case, I hope that getting in the rough ballpark is still useful to watch and that maybe you learned a thing or two along the way. See you in the next one!✌️🤘

[@jetlag1488]

I know that I don't really need to say this because you already know that it's not the correct sound and you have admitted that you didn't do a lot of research but didn't you listen to the song at all? Did you just go "huh, this kinda sounds like that lead in that song I haven't listened to for years."? Sorry if I come off as rude but it really bothers me when people put out videos like this that are completely wrong.

[@jetlag1488]

Steve H No one. I just expressed my disappointment with clickbait titles and inaccuracy in videos meant to educate.

[@rasmusrasmussenmusic]

It was great anyway. Very easy to follow your steps 👍

[@justinkinter8651]

You can also set the switch right under the volume knob to the middle position so the envelope retriggers each time you press a key.

[@GameTeks]

Hey, really enjoy your music man. Do u sell any beats, I would enjoy your originality so much

[@user-ty7re9yh6y]

I don't understand anything, but this is amazing

[@onceuponasynth]

😂

[@slowdadox4762]

Dammit you beat me to it

[@copperlapislazuli4156]

Me neither, but it's fun to watch.

[@erik-janvanoosten1450]

around 1.30 you've quite accurately re-created the "rollin' and scratchin'" sound!

[@otis5d]

yep

[@ronbeat]

yeahh!!! absolutely, it's that raw sound from the Homework era... super cool!

[@lilbean4606]

It’s not far but those robots do know how to make music

[@peewee474]

at 1:37 sounded like the intro on "On Sight" by kanye west

[@heiswatching]

Isnt that also co produced by daft punk

[@HeyItsBoofy]

immediately thought of that and searched the comments knowing someone else would have noticed!!

[@netsab9846]

It was produced with Thomas and Guy-Man' :)

[@JoeIrrera]

Great break down of one of my favorite tracks from DP. 😍

[@hightowerTB303]

Brilliant! Thanks for teaching us all the basics ❤️

[@moognificat]

THAT is a great sound. Inspirational! I'm really enjoying this Grandmother series. Keep it up!

[@youaeid1736]

I got my GM last week... Your contents are very very helpful for me!! Thank you very much! GM is god of synth TT..

[@robertsyrett1992]

Playing knobs by hand is why I got into the game!

[@onceuponasynth]

I need to get a third arm installed on my forehead so I can sweep filters while I play chords.

[@robertsyrett1992]

Or a third eye on your forhead, so you can psychically project filter sweeps right into our brains.

[@reecedeyoung6595]

Or a keyboard with after touch

[@robertsyrett1992]

Actually That Touche controller has CV outs. That would probably be amazing with the grandmother.

[@FatFingerMusik]

Rich understanding blows up my brain....Thanks Bro.

[@copperlapislazuli4156]

This was really awesome!

[@Rocknoob49]

Showed up in my recommended so congrats! :D

[@aphexon.]

Cheers! Have a good weekend :)

[@richferraro4422]

I am a beginner when it comes to synths. Your vids are amazing, thanks for sharing your knowledge! I have the grandmother, but can’t get the growl. I’ve watched the vid so many times, step by step. I get a growless weak wah effect. The perils of being an amateur I guess. I wish there was a way to see the hash marks on the knobs. They reflect the lighting which makes it hard to tell the hash Mark settings. In other words, the reflection looks like the hash mark. Anyway, thanks so much for all the work you do making these videos!

[@pbrninja19]

DOPE!!!

[@TenThumbsProductions]

Love this channel, So very good.

[@lunatunasalad]

Amazing

[@christianaustin9599]

This is so beast

[@AlexBallMusic]

Very interesting to see it patched up this way. Sounds really cool. The original is an MS20 (mark 1) fed back through its own external signal processor with the keyboard voltage tracking the cutoffs of the filters. And the MS20 type 35 filter scream is intrinsic. So different to yours, but similar effect. Was interesting to see it done this way around.

[@onceuponasynth]

Oh cool, I didn't know they used an MS20 for that. The MS20's one of my favourite synths.

[@AlexBallMusic]

@@onceuponasynth Yep, I have a mark I MS20 and someone showed me how to do it. It's the identical sound. Was thinking of doing a video on it and some point, but combined with that TB303 riff that's also in the song.

[@briesmodular]

So you did no research at all, nor do you recognize iconic synth sounds when you hear them. That blows my mind.

[@henryhill92]

Oh fuck off se7ense7, none of that makes a difference to this video. Nowhere does it say "how Daft Punk got that sound", its about what you can do with the Grandmother.

[@Madrrrrrrrrrrr]

I think you can also make it by overdriving a sh101/mc202. The 303 sound you can also make with those.

[@justinkinter8651]

@onceuponasynth you can also set the switch under the volume knob to the middle position so that the envelope retriggers each time you press a key

[@spr30]

Cool patch! I’d use 2 stacked cables from env through attenuator to osc2 pitch and hp freq to make it more vocalish

[@onceuponasynth]

Yeah that'd be cool, but the HPF doesn't have a CV input unfortunately :(

[@0zymanndias773]

Amazing!!!!!!!!!!

[@francisspacehead6587]

Dude, you should do kind of the same type of this video but with radiohead! Would be appreciated.

[@ke0kie]

Instead of using the envelop generator to shape / modulate pitch of OSC, could you use the mod/LFO section? I was thinking it would be cool to impart the vocal/wow effect using the mod wheel as an input method with left hand, essentially playin the single notes with right hand, but imparting the vocal with left, super cool video thanks for sharing!!

[@sangchempaka5416]

Nice

[@TorinDundas]

Love the sound of this...Which modules would achieve this screaming filter sound in eurorack form?!

[@youknowmyname8973]

Wow Wow !

[@distortedmacintosh7020]

The GM is a beast

[@thevertigozoom]

When you were messing with the high pass filter it sounded exactly like their tone in their song “rollin and scratchin”

[@johangustafsson1882]

Could you do the same but show on the grandmother how to make that sync lead sound from Robot Rock?

[@ebmdj]

Mas o menos, igual no tiene que ser el sonido exacto, pero me gusta para que de ahi partir para hacer un buen remix

[@matcaster]

when you bring in the hipass filter, it seems like the sounds drops one octave at 1:10 ? why ?

[@Korgi_Polymer]

The Grandmother is an amazing instrument, but I really feel that the MS 20 handles this better. That being said, there are definitely things that the Grandmother does that the MS 20 couldn't.

[@naturecollision]

examples plz

[@Korgi_Polymer]

@Edward Godsall yee

[@Korgi_Polymer]

@@naturecollision kzbin.info/www/bejne/o57MZ2N4mZmdidU MS 20 original model used.

[@residentsleeper5678]

I don't play keys or own a synth. Idk why I'm watching this but it was interesting. Great melody from a great song :P

[@mrs.featherbottom5901]

Violent Talent sometimes I watch sports even though I don’t play them myself... it’s weird!

[@leoelliondeux]

On sight

[@TaiAbstract]

How to do the angry sound by noise and high pass filter on matriarch?

[@coldplus1]

"you can hear here the sounds are really WOW"

[@corncobjohnsonreal]

Didn't they sample the sound?

[@_speckled_]

Could you provide any tips on making this patch on the matriarch? Many thanks!

[@anhelido]

What is the ending song? I heard it in some of your other videos and I find it sweet and mesmerizing :)

[@kaded_]

You should make a video on some Mort Garson sounds

[@edonslow1456]

Close. I think you're at the wrong octave though. Needs to be 1 higher. Edit: just seen a other comment that says it's two oscillators, 2 octaves apart so go one lower as well.

[@SoundOfVinyl]

Can you make this patch on the Deepmind 12 and make a video of it please

[@TROGULAR10000]

it's actually pretty interesting to see how close you can get to these sounds with other synths especially for those who don't have this synth or immediate plans to buy it but he did mention he sold the Deepmind 12, even after all those killer videos. Wonder what he's using for polyphonic sounds. maybe a piano

[@LouisSerieusement]

it's just a hard sync type of sound

[@_thanksdavid_]

He sold his DM when moving some time ago I believe. The DM's natural High Pass is not resonant, I would suggest trying to use the moog filter in the effect rack since you can do some more versatile feedback routing with that

[@TheEquinoxeHD]

3:48 you're actually getting quite close to the laser harp sound here. I wonder how close can this thing get?

[@galena7474]

Tweaked the resonance and ended up with a cool sound...It's hard to replicate and find that sweet spot, but I'll be fine once I get it. I'll be good.

[@owenmartin7185]

pretty sure the sound is just a default patch on the microkorg (like a few daft punk songs are)

[@arrolate]

Around The World leads pleaseee

[@kaarefestvog6540]

I don't care if it's Daft. I've only had the Gma for a few weeks and didn't know it be this aggressive without outside help. I dig it.

[@martinmilter]

I tried to do this on my Roland Gaia SH-01. The Architecture is a bit different, however there is enough features to re-create the patch - In theory at least. It's a VA, so maybe that's why I cant get quite the "growl" from the HP filter. Is that specific HP filter sound a moog thing, or should it be doable on a low end VA like the SH01 as well?

[@onceuponasynth]

I'm not that familiar with the Gaia. In theory a VA should be able to replicate it, but with this feedback/growl sounds, and distortion in general, there can be some non-linearities which can be tough to emulate in a VA, but that depends on the VA engine of course. Sorry I can't be of more help!

[@diegovillamayor7892]

You can do it robot rock?

[@eazybeatzmannheima2124]

Do G Funk lead please

[@deelilly]

are you gonna do Moog Matriarch tutorials?

[@sswiths5328]

Just turned all the knobs all the way up... and called it the day.. ;)

[@percussionboy4357]

Great video as usual ... *One question: When you plug the mixer OUT to the hipass filter IN, then the hipass OUT back to one of the mixer inputs (noise IN): Why isn’t the synth silent? Doesn’t plugging something into the mixer OUT “break” the normal audio connection that goes from mixer to lowpass filter, and from there to the VCA and then the audio output? (At least that’s how I read the signal flow chart in the manual.) ....What seems to be =actually= happening somehow is that the audio signal from the mixer is getting multed (without the mult!) to both the lowpass filter (through the “normal” connection under the hood) AND to the mixer OUT jack (and from there to the hipass filter, then back into the mixer to create an intentional feedback loop). Thanks for any modular wisdom on this issue....!

[@onceuponasynth]

That's a good question. Ok I just went to try it on the GM and I looked at the schematic in the manual again and I think I understand now. So plugging something into the mixer output doesn't break normal'd connection. This is because it's the input of the VCF that's normal'd, and not the output of the mixer. So to break the mixer->VCF connection you need to patch something else into the VCF input. At least that's my understand now after having tested some simple patches and looking at the manual again. If I'm wrong someone please correct me!

[@percussionboy4357]

once upon a synth - Thanks for solving the mystery. I would never have guessed that just looking at the signal flow chart, but it makes sense . Wiring the GM that way makes it even more flexible as a semi-modular synth.

[@roboterror6366]

I feel like it needs just a nib more of resonance and distortion

[@tehkabob]

Step 1: Buy an MS-20

[@PaulEubanks]

You don't need an MS-20, any dual osc PW/Saw run through a guitar overdrive will do it.

[@AnthonyAnthony-tk4ye]

Lol right….. I get it growling and wowing pretty good on my WASP 🐝

[@StevenCasteelYT]

Sounds like Pursuit of Happiness too.

[@estesenor7248]

Original kid kudi pursuit of happines synt

[@Ni_cocina]

Te faltó digital LOVE

[@daftworld6738]

EXCLU DAFTWORLD

[@vinylwrap5571]

Very very close!

[@caesaroftampa1266]

Why didn't you just patch an LFO into the highpass?

[@onceuponasynth]

There's no CV input for the HPF cutoff freq. (unless I missed something?)

[@caesaroftampa1266]

oh sorry, i just noticed that, lol.

[@hoppspakram]

I think it sounds even cooler than the original

[@claudiamatteolo1459]

Max Hopp Nah

[@limemaid2003]

5:31

[@lakotaskychang9706]

i dont own a grandmother, but i think its best to add less portamento,

[@MikaelJohnston]

Love Once Upon A Synth but here is a very accurate recreation of Daft Punk's "Da Funk" lead synth patch with Moog Grandmother! kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZWVhpJjbM-qhLc

[@Cambaudio]

Kinda cool but the sound is way off lol. The only thing right is the filter.

[@onceuponasynth]

lol, to be honest I kinda accidentally came across this patch. In retrospect I should have probably taken more time to research the sound and perfect it. Ah well, next time #lessonlearned.

[@RiddimWook10]

I agree

[@adexterwolfe]

I dont know how it was done but I cant help but feel it was a manipulated sample of a bass with a wah wah. Could be wrong ay

[@Noodleude]

Still seems a little soft. It needs to be a little sharper to be right.

[@claudiamatteolo1459]

Your patch may sound similar for the untrained ear but it's missing all the raw structure in the attack and release. At today nobody was able to reproduce the perfection of the daft sound of Da Punk

[@Strateggo]

Gee, you found the cash to buy the grandmother... lucky you. If I’d have the doe though, I’d buy an OB-6. I know, it’s not the same stuff, but still. Btw, hum, this isn’t what DP sounds like.

[@hydrolyzer_music]

Close, but you nail it when you just take a more simple patch and run it through an overdrive: kzbin.info/www/bejne/al62oYh8eLCBfNk

[@pachacache5186]

no!

[@RiddimWook10]

At about 1:15 you do a "feedback" routing chain, and you call it "distortion", pretty sure the effect you're hearing is phase cancellation due to having two voices panned mono, this is not distortion tho, its simply just a comb filter effect by having two identical sounds with slight phase variation, layered together. Distortion is a byproduct of either very aggressive compression, or saturation due to clipping an analog device. Just wanted to clarify

[@bigdaddy4302]

nah...

[@rngsilvercraft3995]

This video hurts my teeth.

[@YoYoYo]

This patch does not sound like Daft Punk’s one!

[@AnthonyAnthony-tk4ye]

Jeez… is this little synth really worth a grand? 😬😬 $1,000 is a lot of money for a few keys and smattering of controls 😳😬

[@TransistorBased]

Pretty far off, and a facecam. Wew lads