Meng Qi : 静止 Static | 流动 Flow

Meng Qi

流动 Flow


"Link to EP : http://bit.ly/WPResoFb

2020 was a bumpy year. But there was a major achievement for me, which is the release of Wing Pinger and Wingie. For so long I've been dreaming of designing standalone synth, for that standalone synths convey more of designers' ideas and decisions. The release of Wing Pinger and Wingie are not just a graduation ceremony for me, it marks a starting point for new adventures.

In 2021, I have two major plans for me. One is several collaborative synth projects with synth designers I've admired for a long time. Once done, it'll fullfill my life goal in some way. Another is working with Annqi for a Chinese synthesizer podcast and WeChat social media, it's called 合成少数派 (Synthesize Minority). You can consider following it if you use WeChat.

At this moment, I would like to release an EP, it's called Wing Pinger Resonator Feedback. It was an experiment I've done in April, by using Ableton Resonator in the feedback loop of Wing Pinger. The thoughts behind was to use Wing Pinger chaos for timbers and dynamics, and to use Resonator to broadly hinting stable pitches. In this case, there is no need to worry about pitch quantization in a chaotic system, but "quantization" happens naturally with resonances. This method frees up the chaotic system, and at the same time providing stable tonal feels.

This experiment inspired me and actually gave me a new way of thinking. It's the start of designing Wingie, as well as a start for a very important collaborative project, and certainly means a lot to me. I choose the first day of 2021 to release it, as I concluded 2020, and start the new year fresh.

Wish all of you good luck in your future endeavours.

http://mengqimusic.com"

KORG MS-10 LEAD PATCH SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.26

Published on Jul 14, 2017 once upon a synth

"In this tutorial I go over how to make an expressive lead patch from scratch on the Korg MS-10 semi-modular vintage analog monophonic synthesizer. I utilize both the from panel and the patch panel as well as the mod wheel and the trigger button. This is a fairly simple synthesizer but with a nice gritty tone. The MS-10 is a single oscillator little brother to the MS-20."

DSI PRO 2 THUNDERSTORM WIND & RAIN SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.25

Published on Jul 5, 2017 once upon a synth

"How to make a thunderstorm patch from scratch on the Dave Smith Instruments Pro 2 synthesizer. We go over how to create wind, rain and thunder using only the Pro 2. At the core everything relies on noise and some clever manipulation of it. The thunder's secret ingredient is heavy distortion."

DSI PRO 2 PLUCKED PATCH SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.24

Published on Jun 12, 2017 once upon a synth

"How to make a pluck sound patch from scratch on the Dave Smith Instruments Pro 2 synthesizer. I go over two versions of the plucked sound, one paraphonic and another monophonic. In paraphonic mode we can play chords but we are limited to only one oscillator per note. We compensate for that by utilizing the sub octave oscillator and some modulation and effects. In monophonic mode we have 4 oscillators to play with so we can be a little more creative with the sound. I utilize a noise oscillator to add a bit more punch to the attack phase."

DSI PRO 2 PAD PATCH SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.22

Published on Apr 28, 2017 once upon a synth

"How to make a pad patch from scratch on the Dave Smith Instruments Pro 2 synthesizer. The Pro 2 is a paraphonic synth so in order to play chords we need to sacrifice the oscillators. This means we are left with just one oscillator per "voice". In order to make the sound thicker and more interesting we will rely on various techniques and modulation options."

EURORACK SAMPLER PATCH TUTORIAL ~ TipTop One, VCF-74, uVCA, Peaks ~ Synthesize This! Ep.21

Published on Apr 17, 2017 once upon a synth

"This is a patch from scratch tutorial featuring my sampler based eurorack modular system. We start off with the TipTop One which is our primary sound source. We then go through a VCF-74 analog filter and a uVCA. The sound is modulated by both the Korg SQ-1 sequencer and Mutable Instruments Peaks in envelope generator mode. Finally the sound is processed by OTO Machines BAM which is a reverb unit and we also add some drums via the Korg Volca Beats which is synchronized to the SQ-1."

DSI PRO 2 BASS PATCH SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.20

Published on Apr 7, 2017 once upon a synth

"How to make a bass patch from scratch on the Dave Smith Instruments Pro 2 synthesizer. We're not going after a specific bass patch but we'll get into a general bass territory from which you can sculpt your own. The basic concept is to have a software wave in the lower register, a richer wave a couple octave higher, an "organ"-style VCA envelope and a plucky filter envelope. We then explore adding things like hack, decimator, drive and distortion and finally play around with the sequencer."

DEEPMIND 12 BAGPIPES SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.15

Published on Mar 3, 2017 once upon a synth

"Making a bagpipes patch from scratch on the Behringer Deepmind 12. It's not the most realistic bagpipes emulation but it's a pretty good approximation. The main idea is to start with a thin piercing sound, then thicken it up by stacking voices together. Then with the help of some effects and detuning as well as careful playing we can get pretty close to something that resembles the right sound."

Synthesize This!

DEEPMIND 12 ELECTRIC PIANO SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.14

Published on Feb 24, 2017 once upon a synth

"Making an electric piano patch from scratch on the Behringer Deepmind 12. We're not emulating any specific electric piano (like a rhodes, wurly, dx7, etc), instead we'll be creating a generic electric piano patch which can serve as a foundation for building new and unique electric piano type sounds. With the right combination of filter, envelopes and playing style we can get surprisingly close even on an analog subtractive synth like the Deepmind 12. Demo starts at 14:18."

Previous posts here.

HOW TO MAKE DUB TECHNO CHORDS ON THE DEEPMIND 12 | SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.13

Published on Feb 17, 2017 once upon a synth

"Let's make dub techno chords / stabs on the Behringer Deepmind 12 synth. This involves creating a plucky/stab envelope shape and careful tweaking of the filter. But the key ingredient is that analog delay so in this case I've used a TelRay delay which is a built in effect in the Deepmind 12 based on oil cans. It's the closest thing to a "tape delay" in this synth."

DEEPMIND 12 SHIMMER REVERB PAD PATCH SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.12

Published on Feb 10, 2017 once upon a synth

"Let's make a shimmer reverb effect and apply it to a pad sound on the Behringer Deepmind 12 synth. The shimmer effect was created by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. It involves a placing a pitch shifter in the feedback chain of a reverb. The important thing is setting a high decay time on the reverb and a +1 octave pitch shift on the pitch shifter. The result is a high pitched sustained tone that rings out as you hold notes which creates this lovely texture."

More here.

DEEPMIND 12 RHYTHMIC PAD PATCH SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.11

Published on Feb 3, 2017 once upon a synth

"I make a rhythmic pad patch on the Behringer Deepmind 12 synth. This patch makes use of the mod sequencer and LFOs to modulate a few parameters. When you combine that modulation with a pad-like envelope shape you end up with a pad sound that moves around in a rhythmic way which is pretty cool!"

More Synthesize This! episodes.

MAKING A SYNC LEAD PATCH ON THE DEEPMIND 12 ~ Synthesize This! Ep.10

Published on Jan 27, 2017 once upon a synth

"I make a lead patch on the Behringer Deepmind 12 synth. This patch is based around the hard sync sound which sync oscillator 2 to oscillator 1. This allows you to get interesting timbre shifts by modulating oscillator 2's pitch. I then explore adding effects, modulating the filter and making use of the poly chord feature."

DSI PRO 2 LEAD PATCH SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.08

Published on Jan 20, 2017 once upon a synth

"I make an expressive lead patch on the Pro 2 synth. The patch is based on providing performance control such as vibrato via aftertouch, filter cutoff via the mod wheel and distortion via the ribbon sliders. I make use of multiple oscillators including noise and finally add a bit of delay for ambiance."

All parts here.

DSI PRO 2 RHYTHMIC SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ON THE DSI PRO 2 ~ Synthesize This! Ep.08

Published on Jan 13, 2017 once upon a synth

"I make a patch centered around the sequencer on the Pro 2 synth. I make use of all 4 oscillators and utilize the wavetables. Multiple sequencer tracks are then used as modulation sources to create a moving rhythmic patch. Finally distortion and delay is applied to spice things up. We're not going after emulating a specific patch here. Rather, I'm just building a patch from scratch and improvising along the way to keep things moving and interesting."

All parts here.

UPDATES TO THE KARPLUS-STRONG SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.07

Published on Jan 9, 2017 once upon a synth

"In this episode we continue with the Karplus-Strong algorithm but this time I make some tweaks as suggested by you guys. This results in accurate pitch tracking as well as a pretty nasty sounding bass fuzz patch which is surprisingly simple to make."

All parts here.

DSI PRO 2 KARPLUS-STRONG SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.06

Published on Jan 6, 2017 once upon a synth

"In this episode we use an approximation of the Karplus-Strong algorithm to design plucked string sounds on the DSI Pro 2 synthesizer using physical modeling synthesis. The Karplus-Strong algorithm involves a short burst of noise that is fed into a delay line. The samples are averaged as they feed back through the line and this results in a crude simulation of a plucked string which sounds surprisingly good. Unfortunately the pitch doesn't track correctly here because this needs to be calibrated in code and what I'm doing in this video is just a simulation of this algorithm using the delay and some noise."

All parts here.

DSI PRO 2 FM BELLS SOUND DESIGN TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.05

Published on Dec 30, 2016 once upon a synth

"Let's try to synthesize bell sounds on the DSI Pro 2 synthesizer. Synthesizing a bell sound involves simulating the response of a metallic object. The best way to achieve this by utilizing frequency modulation. In this patch we get both large church bells as wells as little bells like a glockenspiel.

~~~ TABLE OF CONTENTS ~~~
00:41 - Theory
01:04 - Synthesis"

All parts here.

DSI PRO 2 CLAP SYNTHESIS TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.04

Published on Dec 23, 2016 once upon a synth

"Let's try to synthesize a clap sound on the DSI Pro 2 synthesizer. Synthesizing a clap sound involves two pieces of noise delayed slightly apart and a carful dash of distortion. The clap sound is not as good as a sample but it has its own unique character. Towards the end of the video you can hear the Pro 2's clap in context with a drum beat from the Korg Volca Beats.

~~~ TABLE OF CONTENTS ~~~
00:40 - Theory
01:00 - Synthesis
06:31 - Demo"

All parts here.

DSI PRO 2 CYMBAL + HI-HAT SYNTHESIS TUTORIAL ~ Synthesize This! Ep.03

Published on Dec 16, 2016 once upon a synth

"Let's try to synthesize cymbal and hi-hat sounds on the DSI Pro 2 synthesizer. Both sounds will be based on the same patch and only differ in envelope shape. The general idea is to create a sound rich in inharmonic frequencies in order to simulate the metalic sound of a cymbal.

Let me know in the comments below if you guys have any other tips with regards to synthesizing cymbals.

~~~ TABLE OF CONTENTS ~~~
00:39 - Theory
01:18 - Synthesis
08:29 - Demo"

All parts here.