Creating a pad synth patch for sci-fi ambiance

This patch was used in the final composition for a Foley and musical score in the sci-fi Foley and music score for a short intro sequence in Halo 4 and can be see in this blog.

Why we want to use granular synthesis

When I was tasked to create a pad sound for the themed intro sequence I needed to create an atmospheric space feeling that would needed to have a large impact at the beginning and then a continuous ethereal sound that lingers for at least 4 bars. This type of sound is common in as many games and movies at the beginning of the title screen or when characters are confronted with a sweeping large landscape scene. Some of the best sounds I found can be heard NASA Space Sound video show here.

(NASA Space Sounds, 2010)

For the space scene I wanted to use a plugin that extensively used granular synthesis in to create the lush cinematic scenes and music that flows with it.

What is granular synthesis?

So instead of playing back and entire sample on short portions of the sample, “the grains” are played. These grains can be played back in any order and thus create all sorts of soundscapes.

From Curtis Roads book Microsound a grain can be described as follows:

(Roads, 2001)

So knowing that a grain is academically defined as around 1 to 100 ms we the effect of gluing all these pieces of audio together is summarised best in an article form Sound on Sound.

“The technique known rather grandly as granular synthesis is an extremely powerful audio manipulation system that makes it possible to adjust the speed, pitch, and formant characteristics of audio samples independently of one another, and all in real time if your computer is fast enough.” (Price, 2005)

Taking this theory I used Cubases granular synth to create the tone that I wanted shown in the below video.

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References:

Roads, C. (2001). Microsound (1st ed., p. Pg 86). Cambridge, Mass.: Mit.

Price, S. (2005). Granular Synthesis |. Retrieved from https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/granular-synthesis

NASA Space Sounds. (2010). [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MmWeZHsQzs