Detuned Unison Pluck

Sounds like: A short, wide, chorused pluck with a lot of body.

Sound type: pluck · Genre: House, Electro · Style: thick, chorused pluck built from unison detune, no chorus effect needed

A short pluck given real width through unison detune rather than a chorus effect — thicker and more three-dimensional than Classic FM Pluck or Analog Filtered Pluck, at the cost of translation difficulty on synths without true multi-voice unison.

Open this patch in the interactive Patchpad

Digitone II

Exact match: Pluck given width by unison detune

SYN page 1

• ALGO: 3
• RATIO C: 1.00
• RATIO B: 1.00
• DTUN: 25
• MIX: -64

SYN page 2 · Operators A & B

• LEV (A): 0
• LEV (B): 0

FLTR page 1 · Multi-mode

• FREQ: 83
• RESO: 25
• TYPE: 0 (LP)
• ATK: 0
• DEC: 30
• SUS: 0
• ENV: 57

AMP page

• ATK: 0
• DEC: 40
• SUS: 0
• REL: 18
• MODE: ADSR

Digitone II's ALGO 3 gives three plain carriers (C, B2, B1) when the FM depth of A and B is off, so LEV (A) and LEV (B) are both 0. MIX -64 selects the X tap (C + B2), and DTUN, which offsets only the ratio of operators A and B2, detunes B2 against C so the two beat against each other. DTUN below 64 is a very slight detune; above 64 is heavier.

Syntakt

Exact match: Pluck given width by unison detune

SYN — SY RAW

• WAV1: Saw
• WAV2: Saw
• DET: 25
• LEV2: 100

FLTR PAGE 1

• FREQ: 83
• RESO: 25
• TYPE: Lowpass
• ATK: 0
• DEC: 30
• SUS: 0
• ENV: 57

AMP PAGE 1

• ATK: 0
• DEC: 40
• SUS: 0
• REL: 18

SY RAW is genuinely dual-oscillator (WAV1/WAV2 with a shared DET detune amount and independent LEV2), so this translates directly without needing a second track.

Novation Summit

Exact match: Pluck given width by unison detune

OSCILLATOR 1

• WAVE: Sawtooth
• RANGE: 8'

OSCILLATOR 2

• WAVE: Sawtooth
• RANGE: 8'
• FINE: +12 cents

MIXER

• Osc 1: 100
• Osc 2: 100

FILTER

• SHAPE: LP
• SLOPE: 12dB
• FREQUENCY: 83
• RESONANCE: 25
• SOURCE: Amp Env
• ENV DEPTH: 57

AMP ENVELOPE

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 40
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 18

Oscillator 2's FINE offset from center (64) provides the detune; each oscillator's menu-only DIVERGE knob can be raised further for a wider per-voice spread if more thickness is wanted, since Summit's three real oscillators per layer give more unison-building room than a two-oscillator synth.

Arturia MiniFreak

Exact match: Pluck given width by unison detune

OSCILLATOR

• TYPE: SuperWave
• WAVE (Waveform): Sawtooth
• TIMBRE (Detune): 55
• SHAPE (Volume of copies): 60

ANALOG FILTER

• TYPE: Low Pass
• CUTOFF: 65
• RESONANCE: 20
• ENV/VELO: 45

ENVELOPE

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 40
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 20

Osc 1 is SuperWave, the stacked-detuned-copies engine: Detune (55) sets the spread between the copies and the third knob (60) sets the copies' level against the original. Values are on MiniFreak's native 0-100 scale.

Dreadbox Typhon

Exact match: Pluck given width by unison detune

FRONT PANEL

• WAVE: ~4 o'clock (VCO1 saw blended with VCO2 saw)
• TUNE 2: ~2 o'clock (enough beating to read as deliberately wide, not just out of tune)
• CUTOFF: ~1 o'clock (~65% open)
• RESON: ~9 o'clock (~20%)
• EG LEVEL: ~1-2 o'clock (fairly strong)
• FILTER TIME: ~3 o'clock (medium-fast)
• AMP TIME: ~3 o'clock (medium-fast)
• VOLUME: ~12 o'clock

FILTER ADSR

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 30
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 20

AMP ADSR

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 35
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 20

Typhon's 2-VCO design handles this cleanly -- TUNE 2's offset from VCO1 is the entire width mechanism here, so nudge it further clockwise for more obvious beating or back toward center for a subtler chorus-like thickness.

ASM Hydrasynth Desktop

Exact match: Pluck given width by unison detune

OSCILLATOR 1

• MODE: Single
• WAVE: Saw
• SEMI: 0
• CENTS: 0
• KEYTRACK: 100%

MUTATOR 1

• MODE: WavStack
• DEPTH: 60.0
• DRY/WET: 100%

FILTER 1

• TYPE: LP Ldr12
• CUTOFF: 83.0
• RESONANCE: 25.0
• ENV 1 AMOUNT: 57.0
• VEL ENV: 0
• KEYTRACK: 0%

ENVELOPE 1

• DELAY: 0 ms
• ATTACK: 0 ms
• HOLD: 0 ms
• DECAY: 110 ms
• SUSTAIN: 0.0
• RELEASE: 70 ms

AMP

• LFO 2 AMOUNT: 0
• VELOCITY: 0
• AMP LEVEL: 110.0

ENVELOPE 2

• DELAY: 0 ms
• ATTACK: 0 ms
• HOLD: 0 ms
• DECAY: 150 ms
• SUSTAIN: 0.0
• RELEASE: 70 ms

Compared with other synths: Mutator 1's WavStack mode is a real, dedicated unison-style thickener -- 5 internally-detuned copies of Oscillator 1's waveform under one Depth control -- a more literal match for this patch's brief than manually detuning a second oscillator, and Hydrasynth's own equivalent to MiniFreak's SuperWave engine.

How the synths compare

Same detune-width considerations as Detuned Unison Pad and Detuned Supersaw Lead, applied to a short pluck envelope.

Patchpad is a free reference of drum patterns and synth patches written for real hardware: Digitakt II, Digitone II, Syntakt, Novation Summit, Arturia MiniFreak, Dreadbox Typhon and ASM Hydrasynth Desktop.