Electro Robotic Pluck

Sounds like: A cold, resonant, mechanical little plink.

Sound type: pluck · Genre: Electro · Style: cold, resonant, robotic electro pluck tone

A tight, resonant, cold pluck — the percussive counterpart to Electro / Drexciya Bass, sharing its narrow, cold, resonant-peak character but voiced higher and shorter.

Open this patch in the interactive Patchpad

Digitone II

Exact match: Tight, resonant, cold pluck

SYN page 1 · WAVETONE

• TUN1: 0
• WAV1: Square (PRIM table)
• PD1: 20
• LEV1: 100
• TUN2: 0
• WAV2: Saw (PRIM table)
• PD2: 0
• LEV2: 0

SYN page 2 · WAVETONE

• OFS1: 0
• TBL1: PRIM
• MOD: OFF
• RSET: ON
• OFS2: 0
• TBL2: PRIM
• DRIF: 0

FLTR page 1 · Multi-mode

• FREQ: 76
• RESO: 57
• TYPE: 0 (LP)
• ATK: 0
• DEC: 22
• SUS: 0
• ENV: 57

AMP page

• ATK: 0
• DEC: 33
• SUS: 0
• REL: 13
• MODE: ADSR

Digitone II's WAVETONE machine (select with FUNC+SYN). Square on WAV1 with a touch of PD1 gives the narrow, cold, hollow tone; the resonant filter and short envelopes make it a pluck. LEV2 is 0, so only Oscillator 1 sounds.

Syntakt

Exact match: Tight, resonant, cold pluck

SYN — SY RAW

• WAV1: Square
• TUNE: 0

FLTR PAGE 1

• FREQ: 76
• RESO: 57
• TYPE: Lowpass
• ATK: 0
• DEC: 22
• SUS: 0
• ENV: 57

AMP PAGE 1

• ATK: 0
• DEC: 33
• SUS: 0
• REL: 13

Kept dry -- no reverb or delay sends -- for the same cold, robotic character as the rest of this family.

Compared with other synths: SY RAW's real Square waveform option gives a literal square oscillator, unlike Digitone II's FM-approximated one.

Novation Summit

Exact match: Tight, resonant, cold pluck

OSCILLATOR 1

• WAVE: Square/Pulse
• RANGE: 8'

FILTER

• SHAPE: LP
• SLOPE: 12dB
• FREQUENCY: 76
• RESONANCE: 57
• SOURCE: Amp Env
• ENV DEPTH: 57

AMP ENVELOPE

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 33
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 13

Dry, no effects -- the cold, resonant-peak character comes entirely from the Square wave plus a fairly high-resonance filter, matching Electro / Drexciya Bass's own approach on this synth.

Arturia MiniFreak

Exact match: Tight, resonant, cold pluck

OSCILLATOR

• TYPE: BasicWaves
• WAVE (Morph): 0 (square)
• TIMBRE (Sym: pulse width): 85
• SHAPE (Sub): 0

ANALOG FILTER

• TYPE: Low Pass
• CUTOFF: 60
• RESONANCE: 45
• ENV/VELO: 45

ENVELOPE

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 20
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 10

Osc 1 is BasicWaves with Morph at 0 (square): the Morph knob runs from a square (0) through a sawtooth (50) to a double sawtooth an octave up (100), Sym only changes the pulse width below 50, and Sub adds a sine an octave down (0 here). Short-envelope sibling of Electro / Drexciya Bass -- keep it dry, no chorus/warmth, for the same cold robotic character. Values are on MiniFreak's native 0-100 scale.

Dreadbox Typhon

Exact match: Tight, resonant, cold pluck

FRONT PANEL

• WAVE: ~5 o'clock (narrow VCO1 pulse, minimal VCO2 blend)
• CUTOFF: ~1 o'clock (~60% open)
• RESON: ~1-2 o'clock (pushed)
• EG LEVEL: ~1-2 o'clock (strong)
• FILTER TIME: ~4 o'clock (fast)
• AMP TIME: ~4 o'clock (fast)
• VOLUME: ~12 o'clock

FILTER ADSR

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 22
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 13

AMP ADSR

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 25
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 13

Dry, no FX -- the narrow pulse plus pushed resonance and fast envelopes are the entire cold, robotic character here.

ASM Hydrasynth Desktop

Exact match: Tight, resonant, cold pluck

OSCILLATOR 1

• MODE: Single
• WAVE: Pulse 1
• SEMI: 0
• CENTS: 0
• KEYTRACK: 100%

FILTER 1

• TYPE: LP Ldr12
• CUTOFF: 76.0
• RESONANCE: 57.0
• ENV 1 AMOUNT: 57.0
• VEL ENV: 0
• KEYTRACK: 0%

ENVELOPE 1

• DELAY: 0 ms
• ATTACK: 0 ms
• HOLD: 0 ms
• DECAY: 75 ms
• SUSTAIN: 0.0
• RELEASE: 35 ms

AMP

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

ENVELOPE 2

• DELAY: 0 ms
• ATTACK: 0 ms
• HOLD: 0 ms
• DECAY: 90 ms
• SUSTAIN: 0.0
• RELEASE: 35 ms

Pulse 1 comes from the Pulse group of the 219-waveform list (Pulse 1-6); audition the others for the width you like. Kept dry -- no Pre/Post-FX -- for the same cold, robotic character as the rest of this family.

How the synths compare

Short-envelope sibling of Electro / Drexciya Bass — keep it dry, no chorus/warmth, for the same cold robotic character.

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.