Synthesize SNARES that sound REAL using the power of FEEDBACK

[@zionjaymes]

I UPDATED THE DESCRIPTION with FAQ and DL for the EXAMPLE SNARE SAMPLES... luckily, I still had that project file from months ago lol

[@Farkonso]

This suddenly appearing in the recommended of all the producers

[@Clayfacer]

hello yes producer here, and yes can confirm that this was, in fact, recommended to me.

[@4_ree]

hello yes. another producer here. in fact, it did.

[@theWyattchannel]

Aloha, another producer here, it was also in my recommended

[@goole7445]

Hello, not a producer and this did not come in my recommended

[@jarautajay]

yes another one here, attendance check

[@zionjaymes]

WHERE ARE YOU ALL COMING FROM? This is literally my first audio tutorial video!? 🤯

[@yesthisisdonut]

idk man it seems there is some feedback loop going on :)

[@gabrielceolato2]

Well you reached Brazil

[@yooniimoto]

I’m Japanese and came here from a KZbin recommendation. Thank you for the great tutorial!!

[@harveytherobot]

Minneapolis. And I guess because I was watching videos on 606 clones. The algorithm is weird.

[@Cyberknigt77]

Denmark here. Also from a KZbin recommendation.

[@adonnimodeste3157]

this is the only tutorial that actually created a snare from a synth, I could cry because I am happy to find this. Thanks for sharing

[@illford]

Wdyn tons of them are via synthesis

[@adonnimodeste8688]

But they don't sound real​@@illford

[@epicon6]

Really? You’ve never found any drum samples?😅

[@meru_lpz]

This gotta be one of the best tutorials on physical modelling

[@mikeciul8599]

Yes! I tried making a snare sound in Supercollider with similar techniques, but I just couldn't get it. This was really helpful.

[@jean-louispech4921]

In fact this is not physical modeling per se, meaning based on physical model. Real physical modeling is telling : this snare drum with this dimensions, this materials, etc... have this harmonics at this levels, this behavior, etc... At least for the drum part, for the snare it is more complex. One easy physical modeling tool is modal synthesis with management of each modes of the head's drum. And unlike here where frequencies are unrelated, there is a link between the frequency of the tone , and the frequencies of the overtones. But you need to program around ten modes/frequencies/filters. With a generic setting of modal synthesis in term of frequencies and levels (1/ freq ratio ) with 2 comb filters , we can get a range of realistic overtones, without managing each levels of the modes , with more accurate frequencies.

[@Sx107music]

For anyone interested, this is karplus-strong synthesis. In ableton, you can use the Corpus plugin for the drum head tone.

[@juanstefan5929]

I want to personally thank @zionjaymes for making this video and you for this comment. You can replicate this method in Ableton by creating the transient/exciter and the snares and then sending the transient to a bus with a corpus, like you said, for the drum head tone. Thanks to both of you I've struck gold, cheers!

[@Sx107music]

@@juanstefan5929 np brother :)

[@mttlsa686]

Isn't this basically physical modeling synthesis? You can do something similar assigning the keyboard tracking to a noise osc, adjusting the adsr to your needs while looping the tiny burst of sound (this would be the "feedback" effect shown in this video), and sending everything into a comb filter or flanger tweaking the resonance and other parameters to get a huge variety sound (even real instruments sound like guitar strings or bass) from a single miserable microburst of noise or whatever micro burst of sound you want to feedback.

[@Sx107music]

@@mttlsa686 karplus-strong is a type of physical modeling synthesis

[@biancoziegler7618]

My last experiments with feedback in ableton were soso, I also thought, how about a resonator something, but yeah using straight up physical modelling is probably the reasonable approach! Thanks!

[@HA11EYS_COM3T]

The garbage can snare in the examples at the end is so metal

[@LCOmusic]

Anyone else looking for it, here you go 17:22

[@joaquinbaume1291]

I NEED IT

[@joaquinbaume1291]

@@patientboi true

[@zionjaymes]

​@@joaquinbaume1291 DL link now in description

[@skenpen8227]

thomas

[@kylepatterson9389]

For my FL Studio homies, this is basically possible with Delay 3 by messing with the feedback amount, feedback cutoff, and delay time. Using a limiter is still required to prevent harsh feedback noise. Got a model of this running in Patcher, not quite the same result but still can produce convincing sounding snares with some work. 4.5ms was a nice sweet spot for me.

[@mcarmands1625]

thanks

[@WangleLine]

This won't let you run EQs in between each feedback loop, unfortunately (Except for FLD3's built-in EQs) If you have MCompare, you can set up actual feedback loops in patcher and place any effects in the loop that you want. ReaStream also works, but the transfer rate between hosts is unstable and fluctuates a lot. There used to be a plugin called "Senderella" that let you do this too, but when I tried an old version from a web archive, it didn't work for me

[@kylepatterson9389]

@@WangleLine yeah I noticed that limitation as well, although I didn't find it particularly intrusive and I was still able to make some pretty cool snare sounds with only stock FL stuff. Mcompare is a great option for people who can afford it and want much more granular control over feedback. Honestly wish FL would just let us create feedback natively, hopefully they'll patch in some setting that lets us enable it eventually. Patcher would be truly OP at that point.

[@eliasalaniz2137]

GOAT

[@bixenter]

With delay 3 not good at all.

[@TonyBullard]

Sounds like a VERY accurate representation of someone tapping on a snare drum with their fingers.

[@Cristalskulle]

Oooooh yeah definitely

[@arunkarthikma3121]

He made the transient too ringy, imo. It sounded perfect when he filtered the upper harmonics a bit more

[@TCHHCTN]

But you hear as soon as he adds distortion it gets pretty thumpy, I reckon this could sound massive with some more distortion, longer atk and decay, longer delay and low end boost

[@jean-louispech4921]

yes there are not the tools for the simulation of a big strike with a stick, on the head level, and on the snare level.

[@dajovajr]

it’s been a long time since i found a music production video that truly just entertained me and made me want to go to my computer to try it out

[@nikolasgray1940]

Amen

[@Sage-zs9qy]

same!

[@azure4302]

Best video ever thanks please make the same for kick and hats

[@xyzg34]

Kick PLZZZZ

[@IanJamesBeats]

YES!!!!!!!!

[@illford]

​if you think about it a kick is a snare with a bigger resonance chamber and a soft exciter

[@tl1882]

and no snare​@@illford

[@sweeterthananything]

@@illford yep, minus the snare element itself, the physics are mostly the same just scaled a little larger. even the snare element can be part of a kick sound with an extra soft+slow attack, if you want a really loose sound of the kit resonating together. i guess the most realistic/real-ish approach would be to have kick+reverb output feeding into a whole actual feedbacking snare patch itself. would need a lot of fine-tuning of course.

[@kewdii]

I just want to say this type of thinking is so important. We got so many cool vintage drum machines because of people tinkering with the technology of their time. Those machines in the end were revered for their idiosyncrasies and their unique sound. I was just wondering the other day if anybody was trying to synthesize drums in a modern way but I wasn't even sure what to look for. Wonderful video.

[@EversonBernardes]

Can probably go a step further by having the batter head layer send to a reso head layer besides itself. Those are often tuned differently and as a result of that create more complex overtones. Can then send the reso head to the batter head to complete the feedback loop - since that feedback will be phase shifted by varying amounts, you'll get a lot of cancellation, that will account for a large part of the dampening needed for the system. The output of the reso head can also be used to modulate the noise layer for the snares, as it is the motion of the reso head that excites the snares.

[@andrwwaugh]

Can you make a video?

[@Jimbo386000]

Holy shit that's brilliant! I was thinking it would be good to add a reso head to his idea, but I didn't know how to incorporate it. This is a really great idea!

[@A.le.xolotl]

If you use Ableton, the Collision instrument should allow you to route noise into the resonators

[@A.le.xolotl]

FYI Ableton users, the “Collision” instrument does all three of these steps! And you can even have two resonators: a “membrane” for the drum head and a pipe/tube for the drum body. Using the knobs to fine tune the tone and formant will achieve the same sorts of things that he’s doing by EQing the feedback bus. If anyone tries this and manages to get realistic velocity settings please let me know as I’ve been trying to get it right but my lack of access to a real snare drum is kind of hampering me. I have dreams of a fully audio modeled acoustic drum kit in Ableton where every drum can be customized with macros tho so if you make any headway towards that please reach out!

[@MisterConscio]

It's interesting that steps 1 and 2 are basically Karplus-Strong synthesis.

[@tukoijarrett9155]

most physical modeling is feedback based, it's the details that matter

[@andrewharing2637]

Interestingly, I'm in the process of making something similar to this in Pure Data after being pleased with my success in making a nice plucked string simulator. In case you're interested, the tweak I made to the algorithm for extra plucked string realism was to have two "node" delays, one for each of the ends of the string, with each one inverting the signal in the way that impulses are reflected in reality, with the initial impulse also getting a small delay into each niode determined by its "position" parameter, and a couple of "pickups" with similar delays at the end of the line. It does sound nice, but it also makes the processor work pretty hard, especially when you start trying to add fancy filters into the feedback loop. Maybe it would be better if I just made a video to explain it.

[@katielowen]

What is Karl’s-Strong?

[@katielowen]

@@MountMatze ah ok lmao

[@rismosch]

@@katielowen Karplus Strong synthesis is a synthesizing technique, using audio rate delay. You can replicate it yourself easily. Use white noise and put a delay with the shortest time possible. You'll notice that it produces a pitch. By changing the time of the delay, you can tune the pitch.

[@CoolDudeClem]

This is the kind of tutorial I've been looking for, synthesizing realistic drums (in this case snare). I've seen so many where people claim to make something that sounds like a kick or a snare or cymbals or whatever, but just end up making the same plastic sounds again and again.

[@GabrielPerboni]

Just one more thing... I would like to congratulate you for the attitude of bringing something different to your viewers. It is really frustrating when you are browsing for ideas about a topic and can only find 100 people doing the same thing you were not interested into to begin with.. .so, yeah! Thanks again... keep bringing it!

[@BunchOfCrazyStuff]

This is absolutely fantastic. I was completely speechless at around 7:57 when you started to eq the feedback chain and it COMPLETELY Changed the tone of the sound.

[@GabrielPerboni]

Wow, what a great approach! Thanks for sharing... ---- In case there are any Live users reading this, here is how I did it: Used Analog, with pulse and noise in separate signal paths, each one to its own filter and amp. Created a return track with Echo. I know Zion said to use something simpler, but more on that later. On the return track you need to enable sends for it to work... don't forget the limiter before feeding it back ---- It is really a simple thing to do, like any good idea. I choose these tools because I'm very familiar with then, but any would do. Now, about choosing a more complex delay. At least with Echo, you will have so many possibilities to sculpt your sound, like driving the input and activating that fun little D, using the filter, modulating the pitch very slightly to create variations. I even used the reverb, just on the feedback, and it created a great sense of size for the snare.

[@GOLABStudio]

Best Snare Tutorial ever.

[@JohnnysaidWhat]

this is so fascinating, really shocked how good those ghost notes sounded!

[@TheMikaelangelo]

FL blocks feedback loop. This content is worth finding a work around though 💎

[@muzy8768]

cant you create feedback loop inside patcher??

[@TheMikaelangelo]

@@muzy8768 if there is a way through patcher, I don't see it. Do tell

[@FerutElCampeador]

@@muzy8768 nope, it is protected. I use my aux out in my usb interface and plug it right into an input.

[@muzy8768]

@@FerutElCampeador ye well that works as well 😄

[@razvanrusan9319]

For anyone looking for a fix to this, there's this free program Virtual Audio Cable. It lets you record your PC's output as a virtual microphone (meaning FL will see it as an input, same as it does with an audio interface input or a mic or whatever).

[@Melodyweavr1105]

Massive X is fantastic for this, you can use the exciter envelopes with the modulation out device to get your impulse, the noise oscillators for the noise, there's a feedback loop, sample delay (keytracked, even), and tons of useful tone shaping tools like EQ, frequency shifting, distortion, etc built right in. Got a full snare working just inside it, sounds great. Also managed to get some darbuka like tones out of it with higher tuning, can be really fun for fake middle eastern orientalist hollywood music too

[@imlxh7126]

farya faraji fan spotted

[@Melodyweavr1105]

@@imlxh7126 caught

[@joshviggiani9844]

Absolutely incredible. This is the kind of stuff that I fell in love with sound design for. Take my sub, like, and comment. Stay blessed, audionaut.

[@Jimmyknapp2]

Coming back for a refresher on your alchemy technique

[@mbrombert]

This is absolutely genius and something I would have never thought of. I most certainly *HAVE TO* try and recreate this with analog circuitry on a breadboard. It will be such an awesome project - thank you for the inspiration!

[@rs-met7170]

Wow! That sounds really good. It's basically Karplus-Strong synthesis with a more fancy equalizer in the feedback loop. ...plus a direct path for the exciter, plus an added noise channel, plus reverb.

[@bigmistqke]

Wow. Kept the best part for the end. Those ghost notes sound incredible.

[@mikosoft]

This is actually a pretty great way of creating a sample layer for live drums in a mix. Not only can this be tuned to sound very close to original snare but also dynamics are preserved and this will really reinforce the live sound especially if you're not a great drummer (such as me)

[@guitatronik-lab]

I'm watching this for the 20th time or so. Pausing, zooming in, rewinding. Condensed and to the point. Finally, a truly inspiring drum synthesis tutorial! Thank you!

[@edinatl2008]

I'm kind of a newb, but it looks like Bitwig users can simply use the Delay+ device to accomplish the feedback part, since it looks like we can't route busses into themselves like you did here in the Logic way. Thanks to everyone translating this stuff for other DAWs like FL as well.

[@jiweh]

love the way u illustrate and explain how the synthesis works. u deserve more views!

[@filipekprod]

i always thought of using a recording of snare drum in anechoic chamber and based of it try and reacreate the very basic sound of snare itself, without the room. once we have that all what would be needed to be done is "emulating" the sound of a normal room which would probably mean putting room reverb on it or like an impulse response of a room

[@gyrran]

for snare wires, you could use waves - snare bus. it's literally a plug that emulates snare drum buzz, reacting to any sound you put through it. really niche, but when you find a use for it, it's really nice to have. pretty sure it's still free

[@illford]

FYI it's Wavesfactory not Waves

[@ryancruickshank1868]

I love that plugin - it’s been saving me a channel while tracking some demos lately lol - but I think it’s just triggering samples with some processing based on your snare and distance choices, which might be kinda against the spirit of this synthesis exercise

[@gyrran]

@@ryancruickshank1868 yeah, most likely triggering samples, I get what you mean. but yeah, it's a really neat plug when you find a good use for it

[@Sheaf]

Nice work! You can take this a bit further by using multiple delays in series and setting up a 2D rotation matrix between the stages. This gives you a nonlinear reverberator that allows for many different timbres and combinations of metallic overtones by slightly changing the angle and delay settings. Not sure how you could set this up using stock plugins, but I prototyped a plugin using this technique a couple of months ago, and it sounded really promising.

[@nntblst]

This is the best example of sound design i ever saw in youtube!!!…. great work!!!

[@elikaplan3431]

This is the best sound design video I've seen in a while (a lot better than some of the videos you've cited haha), you've clearly mulled over this stuff a lot. I've been looking for how to get arbitrary effects mid-delay for ages and I completely blanked on the option to send to self on a bus, thank you so much. Plus in this specific instance, the snares really sound so good. Again, thanks

[@NikkiLayne]

Holy shit, what I wouldn't give to be able to have seen this ten years ago...

[@DruNature]

my thoughts exactly....!

[@ProjectHMF]

This gave me some ideas 👀👏

[@zmbno]

Was honestly pretty skeptical thinking this was another “just find the correct samples” kinda video & “drum kit link in bio” but this was very cool man. Learned alot, now makes me think I can make any instrument just thinking about the physics of it all. Cant wait for the next video !

[@gaabora]

So far the best sound design or even sound modeling tutorial ever

[@havardmusic6767]

This is crazy good content, thank you!

[@LionHrodgari]

I actually created a less sophisticated version of this on accident once. I was playing around with the delay time on valhalla reverb with some kind of sound and suddenly had something that sounded very similar to a snare but I moved on and didn't really bother diving deeper into it. Now I know why it sounded like a snare :P

[@geggveck]

The feedback stage can be achieved by using Khs Resonator aswell

[@Gunstone1980]

Nice.. think i'll be making snare sounds this weekend. Thanks for the video.

[@warpigs330]

A somewhat related trick I use to get a bit of ring out of my synthesized drums is sending them through a resonant filter. You can target some of those mid frequencies and get a nice ringy snare.

[@zionjaymes]

A harmonically resonant filter is effectively doing the same thing as this technique! You can also get pretty much the same result by using a comb filter with a lot of feedback and dampening

[@PixelWaveAI]

If you could make an Ableton project out of this, it would be magnificent. Honestly, out of 100000000 KZbin videos, this is the tutorial that has impressed me the most. I even wonder why a plugin hasn't been made with this impressive "sound reconstruction" ! 10/10

[@kainewman723]

Wow this is great stuff

[@Yeebok]

Those sounds.. hearing it all together feels like a sick drop in the middle of a banger. Don't think I've ever heard synthesised drums sound so real.

[@willemowen2515]

This is amazing, thank you. This is a step forward in drum synthesis and design.

[@enterthehacks]

One more thing you haven't gone over that I would add is that you want to define the noise envelope a bit more. I would introduce a *tiny* bit of attack length on the noise, since in a real snare, the wire is vibrating in reaction to the head being hit, so its sound comes a few milliseconds after.

[@eddmaster]

Great tutorial. Goes deep enough into the understanding whilst keeping it simple to follow the logic. 👌🏼

[@Darushiokan]

Karplus strong and comb filtering have been around for some time, and yield similar results, but you're doing it manually. Good tutorial.

[@numero7mojeangering]

Your technical research are amazing! ❤ Your are a superb science teacher.

[@HappoApina]

Commenting just to help you with the algorithm. Solid work here my friend, the snare sounds really good and realistic! Feedback synthesis seems interesting, now I just need to figure out how to do it in my DAW

[@zionjaymes]

Thank you! If your DAW can do bus sends and routing (which it should) it should be possible unless it's specifically programmed not to as a safeguard.

[@ИльяВитцев]

This and the tutorial you've linked got me into making some odd glitchy drums. Thanks.

[@islatheremin]

that was super creative and amazing. S tier level tutorial.

[@LuLeBe]

15:52 i don't think the ghost note snare sound has anything to go with how they're usually recorded. Even a real live snare with be super "snare-y" without any body. I think it's because the snare wires only need a minimal initial transient to start making noise, while the drum body sucks out a lot of energy, so it's only audible with strong hits.

[@TheEquinoxeHD]

Finally, someone designing drum sounds I'd love to create. Sounds great!

[@mitdemall]

Unbelievable how real this sounds. And it is such a creative process :)

[@rpocc]

Thanks, the idea with feedback synthesis is priceless.

[@kokibg3]

This is is something new to me.Thanx dude!

[@ForeverLiveArt]

you returned my interest to drums, thank you

[@Male_Parent]

Hell yeah! I love drums! 🥁

[@sjh3217]

Around the 14:30 mark these sound indistinguishable from real snare drums IMO. Very well done!

[@illford]

Imo you can tell its not real only because it's An algorithm reverb a console may be better

[@vooveks]

I dunno - close, but still a bit ‘flange-y’ to my ears. I love the technique, don’t get me wrong and the later examples are very good.

[@Ryukau]

Adding a square wave makes it sounds really nice. Thanks for the tip. To get a cymbal sound, a feedback delay network can be used. Bass drum requires some nonlinearity which could be imitated by modulating delay time with the amplitude of feedback signal.

[@zionjaymes]

Au5 has an incredible tutorial on Cymbals. Doing the kick drum technique you mentioned is DEFINITELY more of a job for Bit-wig or Ableton. A bit out of Logic's capability lol

[@Ryukau]

@@zionjaymes I probably watched that video from Au5. That one was quite nice. I've made some plugins using the method in my previous comment, but currently only available as VST 3, so they won't work on Logic for now. There are some demos on my channel. "GenericDrum Quick Demo" is the shortest one.

[@derekhuntingtonmarti]

Thanks so much for this tutorial. You explained everything simply and thoroughly with your description of what actually happens with a real drum to produce the sound we hear. I have heard about Karplus strong, physical modeling and whatever, but I had not grasped what it's actually doing until watching this. This is a good starting point for appyling this real world break down to other instruments as well. Seems like there is also some good info in the comments about how to take this further. Your results are awesome. I also like some of the sounds that are not as realistic - the cool thing about your method though is that you can play with all the different elements to get cool sounds, realistic or not, and understand exactly what you are doing.

[@zionjaymes]

Yep! Plus, this is a very basic application of Karplus Strong. The complexity can be pushed even farther by using multiple delays. I've been experimenting with it lately and have gotten some really rich sounds!

[@EqDior]

This is insane how well you did with creating the acoustic snare sound. Awesome vid!

[@Sage-zs9qy]

What an incredible tutorial!

[@lfakroll]

I was trying to program the funky dummer break yesterday and got annoyed that i couldn't get a ringy enough snare in my drum plugin so this was just what i needed! Great video!!

[@redunant]

Bro this is the best music tutorial i've ever seen you chad

[@eriksteen84]

very nice tutorial, will try this my self!

[@thehiddenchannel636]

Best tutorial I’ve ever seen

[@entanglementtv]

Wow, great video. Very informative. Great analysis of drum sonics. Looking forward to seeing your analysis on other drum sounds and topics.

[@TotalDec]

I started doing this around 2012 cos I couldn't afford to go thu thousands of dollars worth of drums for a few I heard in my head. I have so many tricks for this.

[@disphing]

THIS IS SO SICK tysm for the shoutout btw !!

[@alexanderschweizer115]

@Zion Jaymes abeltons echo effect has build in feedback and modulation - tldr for abelton users : create an effect rag after serum - create 2 chains - one dry one with echo - map feedback to a macro and a chain selector - voila your own snare synth … gonna give it a try after watching

[@viktoronopko1853]

Amazing tutorial! Would love to see tutorials on hihats, rides and cymbals, that's would really fire! 🔥

[@marlaj.6109]

This is inspiring me to go at it again and make a vst in sythedit

[@Yizak]

Excellent tutorial. Great work!

[@lemiffe]

Fantastic video, thank you!

[@Ata_mata]

This is what i come to learn from KZbin Thank you buddy You got my sub

[@macronencer]

Congrats on going viral, and thanks for the video - it was extremely interesting!

[@illGatesMusic]

FULLY sick. Subbed

[@sebp400]

It's like the Bridged-T network resonators in analog drum machines. really good video. the last snare sounds like a piccolo. I've been doing it inside Reaper and synthesizing with Cardinal, the VCV rack open source version. works well with different types of noise in the Befaco Noise Plethora module. I'm going to use this for kicks too.

[@deathmetalhell]

honestly this sounds great

[@Thayne2222]

God tier sound design method

[@RalphB-tru]

Unique mate. And some very good results.

[@nikolasgray1940]

This is killer, explained perfectly & the recaps help

[@Uuuu-y8s]

That strange time we're living where you prefer to sound design a real sounding snare instead of using one of the millions of multi samples libraries that gives you the same XD

[@lucasdrake946]

Even stranger not using the thousands of drummers that wanna jam 😂

[@wackster1]

lol true but with a sample you can’t control every minute detail and then automate/step sequence it. The goal is to micromanage our beats as much as humanly possible.

[@corri303]

Very good tutorial. You are covering new ground here. This video is blowing up for a reason! :)

[@muteqx]

This is a really great tutorial! I'm looking forward to implementing it in Bitwig!

[@fabiantombers4966]

That was amazing Subscribed!

[@NeZversSounds]

I mainly work with metal music and I have hit and tuned acoustic snares. That vibrating head does sounds really close. I think it lacks physical imperfections - resonating harmonics, Multiple tuners. Maybe experiment with parallel feedback busses that's slightly out of tune from each other and decays differently. That's a material for the next video ;) I'll be watching.

[@zionjaymes]

I was thinking about that, too! Since there are multiple tuners on a snare drum, and drum techs usually detune them slightly, or stretch the head in certain ways to achieve different sounds. You can definitely Take the modeling farther!

[@paxtonpods]

how do you literally only have 17 subs man. keep of the good work man

[@cassidysacre9394]

THEY CRACKED THE CODE !!

[@Bplebg]

this trully is drum science wizardness!!!

[@mehmetcemunal]

Impressive

[@peter_jarecki]

This the tut I've been lookin' for!! 🙌Thank you!!! Would love to see one about getting a 'real' crash cymbal.

[@MrZensphere]

Dope technique! Thanks for sharing. Gonna go make snarezzzz 🤘