what is your favorite layers?

[bluzeyone]

I thought it would be a helpful tool to learn from each other and share your most useful layers of patches and maybe to tell how or when you use them.

Mine- common

 

Piano/strings or warm synth pad: great newage vibe with a little delay on piano.

 

Nylon guitar/strings or w.s.p.

 

Choir/warm pad: With some reverb sounds great in a chorus

 

Brass/strings: big and fat for theatrics.

 

Timpani/brass: Great having the sudden attack followed by strings. Again for theatrics.

 

Timpani/strings: same as above. Most effective in lower octaves

 

Piano/piano: sometimes same piano sometimes not. Main reason is to slightly detune one and maybe sharpen the other to get that honky tonk jangle. Usually brighten it with eq effect.

 

Well there are some of mine that I use on a daily. How about you?

 

 

[ABECK]

AC Piano, FM Piano, Synth String. Full, lush, good sustain, good attack, dynamic.

 

Analog brass and sampled brass. I'm seldom impressed playing either by themselves, but together, they can be punchy and fat!

 

The ability to create layers easily is one of the things I miss about my Jupiter 80. It really is designed for layering.

[I-missRichardTee]

Whipped cream on a nice devils food cake with strawberries Merry Christmas!!

 

I have heard AP and B3 layered nicely on a Triton I believe.

I have a Tyros that has nice vibes, and voices.. There is great potential there.

 

Fretless bass has nice potential too, thanks to Jaco Pastorius.

I used on Fantom a Peruvian flute with pads, that was nice .

Looking forward to hearing more.

 

I think naming the model instrument ( Motif, Krome, etc ) helps identify the best sounds.

And finally this... I marvel at how the sound designers come up with great sounding combinations of layers.

[Dana.]

I'll tell you what my least favorite layer is: piano and strings.

 

:deadhorse:

[David Loving]

Whipped cream on a nice devils food cake with strawberries

 

Very well said!

[bloodyMary]

I love piano and an aah choir with fast attack. Great for 'epic' moments

 

Also layer a piano with a weird shimmering or tinkling pad, adds so much coolness to those basic rock ballads

[I-missRichardTee]

I love piano and an aah choir with fast attack. Great for 'epic' moments

 

Also layer a piano with a weird shimmering or tinkling pad, adds so much coolness to those basic rock ballads

 

What about those 80'- 90's Yamaha bell like higher octave rhodes sounds.. love that sound.. Do not know how to get it yet ( Tyros )

[Rusty Mike]

I'll tell you what my least favorite layer is: piano and strings.

 

:deadhorse:

 

This. It simply screams David Foster/wedding band cheese to me. I never understood the appeal of it.

[J. Dan]

I use layers most on brass. Usually a darker brass ensemble with a softer attack layered with a brighter one with fast attack - volume pedal assigned to the bright one, ride the pedal.

[bluzeyone]

I use layers most on brass. Usually a darker brass ensemble with a softer attack layered with a brighter one with fast attack - volume pedal assigned to the bright one, ride the pedal.

 

Now that's a clever idea.. So were the strawberries!!

[I-missRichardTee]

Yes those strawberries!!!

[16251]

I'll tell you what my least favorite layer is: piano and strings.

 

:deadhorse:

I don't mind AP/strings if the music is strong. This song came to mind reading this thread.

 

[video:youtube]

[SpaceNorman]

One of the most useful layered patches I have is created using the Grand Piano I voice from my CP300 ... and a stock organ voice titled "Soul'em" from my Motif ES Rack unit. The CP300 is configured to ignore the expression pedal - while the Motif rack unit responds to it. I use the expression pedal to swell the organ in and out. The piano gives the layered sound some attack ... and the organ gives it some sustain when it's needed. I use this "generic" layered voice in many pop/rock tunes.

[bluzeyone]

One of the most useful layered patches I have is created using the Grand Piano I voice from my CP300 ... and a stock organ voice titled "Soul'em" from my Motif ES Rack unit. The CP300 is configured to ignore the expression pedal - while the Motif rack unit responds to it. I use the expression pedal to swell the organ in and out. The piano gives the layered sound some attack ... and the organ gives it some sustain when it's needed. I use this "generic" layered voice in many pop/rock tunes.

 

Tats a really cool idea! I imagine it takes some time to get used to. Would sound killer once a guy got the feel for it though.

 

[Jazz+]

Rhodes EP layered under Acoustic Piano when playing live and LOUD. It supplements the Acoustic Piano without being noticed.

[bluzeyone]

I'll tell you what my least favorite layer is: piano and strings.

 

:deadhorse:

 

Even with al that disco your pushn Jellyroll, you hate strings and piano layered? :idk

[bluzeyone]

Rhodes EP layered under Acoustic Piano when playing live and LOUD. It supplements the Acoustic Piano without being noticed.

 

Now that's a great idea! Do you keep them about level in volume? I'll try it..

[Brettymike]

I'll tell you what my least favorite layer is: piano and strings.

 

:deadhorse:

 

Yes , it often sounds cheesy or worse depending on the music and/or player. Because the strings can't be controlled right.

 

Piano and light pad sounds fantastic , I use it just about all the time.

 

Brett

[timwat]

I've been using a Rhodes-based combi that includes Rhodes, "Africa" brass, bell pad, and strings. This "kitchen sink" layer drops to Rhodes only with expression pedal, and since this is a Kronos combi the EP sounds wonderful.

 

But for the bigger EWF tunes the funk / party band does, it also provides the little boost to 11 I need when they haven't gotten me properly dominating the FOH mix.

 

Which is, basically, always.

 

So forget I mentioned the expression pedal.

 

 

[bluzeyone]

Hey Tim! I like your new avatar pic of you and the Mrs. Wow! Sound like that that kronos has some serious horsepower. If your schedule allows, we would love to hear some of the patch work you got going. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

[timwat]

Not the new Mrs. yet...if Brooke was the new Mrs. Wat, I'd be spending less time on the forum. Still working on that.

 

Yes, the Kronos offers serious HP and polyphony. Because I'm so easily distracted, building combis for me is a matter of starting with a clear idea what I need - it's way too easy to build an "all things in the universe" that does nothing for the song - or doesn't have any presence in the live mix.

 

I'll see if I can record a few snips after Christmas and post them up.

 

 

[JeffLearman]

Acoustic piano over Rhodes, especially Ensoniq MR76 Suitcase Rhodes, which is full-bodied, not too bright, and with stereo vibrato. It thickens and adds an ambience that a lot of people like in piano/strings, without the annoying strings!

 

An oddity of the MR76's Suitcase Rhodes is that the stereo vibrato isn't authentic. The speed and sweep is authentic, but it triggers independently for each note. That's bad for authenticity, but really is lovely for stuff like arpeggios, where all the notes float around independently. That sounds gawdawful in a way, and it's not for everything, but when it's right it's sweet. Fortunately, the mod wheel controls the depth, so I only have it when I want it.

 

I'm thinking of sampling that sound so I'll always have it. The MR isn't long for this world, I'm afraid.

[I-missRichardTee]

Another aspect is controlling volume change on one ( or more ) of the layers, including esp, but not only, strings. How to control the level of individual parts.. is a thread all it's own!

[brenner13]

7-layer bean dip...

 

For a long while, before I found a couple cool bands to jam with, I layered every synth I had in the studio...fading them in and out during live improvisation, recording them to soundcloud. Talk about instant gratification.

 

Maybe OT here, but I love quality close vocal harmony that goes in and out of dissonance. Also three analog oscillators tastefully detuned provide joy to my ears...there, back on topic.

[marino]

Imitative synthesis is not exactly my favorite kind of electronic sound. In the same way, layering *two* imitative sounds is to my ears the equivalente of eating two diffeent types of cheese at the same time... squared cheese.

 

I *do* layer piano with pads sometimes, or choir with Hammond, etc. in pop/rock gigs, when a quick solution is required... but usually, those combinations bore me to no end.

 

Having said that, I'd say that I use layering a lot. To do what, you ask. Well, I like to program the various components of a layer with the goal of building *one* sound - one complex sound, which would trascend the somewhat implicit sterility of some electronic sounds.

 

That means that I tend to program a layer in context, while listening to the other component(s) too. This is equally valid if the components are coming from different synths, of from the same machine.

 

In my view, even a simple pad benefits from being built from two or more different sources. Of course, you have to be careful, and know what you're doing, otherwise the risk of going overboard and programming a huge mess of sound is always behind the corner.

 

I think this comes in part form being accustomed to Kurzweil's VAST system.... since the times of the K2000, it encourages you to experiment with layers to build a single "program". But I've obtained spectacular results by layering Matrix-12 with K2600, Wavestation with JX-10, VL-1m with XP-80... it never ends.

 

 

[SpaceNorman]

...I imagine it takes some time to get used to. Would sound killer once a guy got the feel for it though.

 

It does take a little getting used to. When in "piano" mode - you've got to back the expression pedal way out. When you're in "organ" mode - you've got to remember to play with ppp velocity to minimize the attack that the piano brings. But, once you get used to it ... you can transition between piano and organ sounds effortlessly - which is real useful in a lot of pop and rock stuff.

[High Diving Act]

AC Piano and Phazed Rhodes with the piano just slightly hotter.

[JeffLearman]

Another aspect is controlling volume change on one ( or more ) of the layers, including esp, but not only, strings. How to control the level of individual parts.. is a thread all it's own!

Sometimes it *just works* ... and sometimes it *just doesn't* !

 

Back in the late 80's through mid 90's, one of my favorites was my imitation of a Rhodes, using a Prophet 2002 sampler (12-bit), and a Roland JX10. The samples were from my own Rhodes, just one layer recorded well below the bark, capturing the round bassy fundamental plus the bell-like attack. On the JX10 I built just the bark, using cross-mod to get a real throaty tone. I set the dynamic response on the bark relatively high and on the samples quite low, and the result was a remarkably realistic and playable imitation, which even sounded pretty good A/B with my Rhodes -- yet was a lot easier to move! Only thing is, I hated the unweighted action of the JX10 for playing piano/Rhodes parts.

 

In any case, controlling layers can be a challenge, but there are lots of tools. Setting the dynamic range (keyboard velocity response) is just one of them; expression pedal and mod wheel or assignable controllers are another.

 

I do particularly like layers where one is far less dynamic than the other, so it comes out most in quieter passages, and the other tone dominates when I dig in. No doubt this is just what Norman is talking about above.

 

I saw Bill Payne solo recently. He used an SV1 and pretty much all night just used one patch, piano with a stringy pad beneath. I understand the responses to piano+strings above; I share that a bit, despite sometimes enjoying it. It worked well enough for Billy, but I confess I do wish he'd have killed the pad for some of the songs.

[I-missRichardTee]

It also depends on the nature of your string patch! I like Kurzweil.. and my Fantom G in stereo sounds good too!

[Michael W]

Acoustic guitar and acoustic piano, panned wide, with a solo/lead instrument in the center.