Minimal Microhouse Pluck

Sounds like: A dry, tight, understated tick of a note for sparse minimal tracks.

Sound type: pluck · Genre: Minimal House · Style: dry, tight, understated pluck built for sparse minimal arrangements

An extremely dry, tight, restrained pluck — no effects, minimal harmonic content, built to sit in a sparse minimal arrangement where every element has room to breathe.

Open this patch in the interactive Patchpad

Digitone II

Exact match: Extremely dry, plain pluck

SYN page 1

• ALGO: 1
• RATIO C: 1.00
• MIX: -64

SYN page 2 · Operators A & B

• LEV (A): 0
• LEV (B): 0

FLTR page 1 · Multi-mode

• FREQ: 64
• RESO: 6
• TYPE: 0 (LP)
• ATK: 0
• DEC: 15
• SUS: 0
• ENV: 19

AMP page

• ATK: 0
• DEC: 20
• SUS: 0
• REL: 8
• MODE: ADSR

Deliberately the plainest pluck in the library -- ALGO 1 is one unmodulated carrier, no FM color at all, and the FX page is left empty entirely. Fast AMP/FLTR decay and zero sustain keep the hit tight enough to sit in a sparse minimal arrangement without crowding the space around it. ALGO 1 routes operator A (and B) into carrier C, so LEV (A) and LEV (B) are set to 0 on SYN page 2 and MIX is -64 (the X output, C only): that leaves C a plain, unmodulated carrier.

Syntakt

Exact match: Extremely dry, plain pluck

SYN — SY RAW

• WAV1: Sine
• TUNE: 0

FLTR PAGE 1

• FREQ: 64
• RESO: 6
• TYPE: Lowpass
• ATK: 0
• DEC: 15
• SUS: 0
• ENV: 19

AMP PAGE 1

• ATK: 0
• DEC: 20
• SUS: 0
• REL: 8

No FX pages used.

Compared with other synths: SY RAW's plain Sine keeps the harmonic content minimal, matching every other synth's guide here.

Novation Summit

Exact match: Extremely dry, plain pluck

OSCILLATOR 1

• WAVE: Sine
• RANGE: 8'

FILTER

• SHAPE: LP
• SLOPE: 12dB
• FREQUENCY: 64
• RESONANCE: 6
• SOURCE: Amp Env
• ENV DEPTH: 19

AMP ENVELOPE

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 20
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 8

Sine, a gentle filter, and no effects at all keep this the plainest patch of its kind on Summit -- restraint, not sound-design complexity, is the point.

Arturia MiniFreak

Exact match: Extremely dry, plain pluck

OSCILLATOR 1

• TYPE: SuperWave
• WAVE (Waveform): Sine
• TIMBRE (Detune): 0
• SHAPE (Volume of copies): 0
• VOLUME: 100

ANALOG FILTER

• TYPE: Low Pass
• CUTOFF: 50
• RESONANCE: 5
• ENV/VELO: 15

ENVELOPE

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 15
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 8

Osc 1 is SuperWave used as a clean sine: Detune and the copies' volume are both 0, so it is a single sine wave. No Digital Effects used. Values are on MiniFreak's native 0-100 scale.

Dreadbox Typhon

Approximation: No pure sine position on the WAVE knob

FRONT PANEL

• WAVE: ~12 o'clock (VCO1 sine, VCO2 unused)
• CUTOFF: ~12 o'clock
• RESON: ~8 o'clock (low)
• EG LEVEL: ~8 o'clock (low)
• FILTER TIME: ~5 o'clock (fast)
• AMP TIME: ~5 o'clock (fast)
• VOLUME: ~12 o'clock

FILTER ADSR

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 15
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 10

AMP ADSR

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 20
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 8

The roundest VCO waveform (sine-leaning WAVE position) with low resonance and a low filter-envelope amount keeps this the plainest patch in the family. Front-panel knobs are physically unmarked, so WAVE/CUTOFF/RESON/EG LEVEL/FILTER TIME/AMP TIME are described by clock position, not a percentage. No FX pages used.

ASM Hydrasynth Desktop

Exact match: Extremely dry, plain pluck

OSCILLATOR 1

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

FILTER 1

• TYPE: LP 1 Pole
• CUTOFF: 64.0
• RESONANCE: 6.0
• ENV 1 AMOUNT: 19.0
• KEYTRACK: 0%

ENVELOPE 1

• DELAY: 0 ms
• ATTACK: 0 ms
• DECAY: 70 ms
• SUSTAIN: 0.0
• RELEASE: 35 ms

ENVELOPE 2

• DELAY: 0 ms
• ATTACK: 0 ms
• DECAY: 70 ms
• SUSTAIN: 0.0
• RELEASE: 25 ms

Deliberately the plainest pluck in the library -- a plain Sine, a gentle Filter 1, and no Pre/Post-FX, Delay, or Reverb at all. Restraint, not sound-design complexity, is the point for minimal microhouse material.

How the synths compare

Deliberately the plainest pluck in the library — restraint, not sound-design complexity, is the point for minimal microhouse material.

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.