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Oscillator Sync Pluck

Sounds like: A bright, ripping pluck with a harsh, glassy attack.

Sound type: pluck · Genre: Trance, Psytrance, Electro · Style: bright hard-sync pluck design

A bright, glassy plucked tone built from oscillator hard-sync where the hardware genuinely has it — a fast-decaying envelope catches the harmonically rich attack of a synced oscillator before it settles, for a percussive pluck rather than a sustained growl.

Open this patch in the interactive Patchpad

Digitone II

Exact match: WAVETONE MOD = HARD SYNC

SYN page 1 · WAVETONE

SYN page 2 · WAVETONE

FLTR page 1 · Multi-mode

AMP page

MOD page 1

Same real WAVETONE HARD SYNC mechanism as a sync-growl bass, but here MOD page 1 runs a one-shot (MODE ONE) Exponential LFO on TUN1: each note starts with the synced oscillator's tuning swept high and lets it fall back, so the bright, harmonically dense sync 'tear' happens at the attack and settles as the note decays — the sync pluck. FLTR and AMP both decay to zero sustain so only that transient remains. Requires the WAVETONE machine (FM TONE has no sync). TUN1 is in cents; the SPD/DEP values are starting points.

Syntakt

Approximation: No sync on Syntakt: SY RAW oscillator beating plus filter envelope

SYN — SY RAW

FLTR PAGE 1

AMP PAGE 1

Same WAV1/WAV2 beating approximation as the growl bass, transposed up (TUNE 76) with zero-sustain FLTR/AMP envelopes so the whole voice is a short, bright transient rather than a sustained tone. (Confirmed from the manual's machine list: none of Syntakt's Digital machines, nor the analog SY DUAL VCO, has a hard-sync parameter — SY DUAL VCO's CNFG offers only mix, ring mod, FM and FM+ring, so this stays an approximation.)

Novation Summit

Exact match: Virtual oscillator sync via VSYNC

OSCILLATOR 1

MIXER

FILTER

MOD ENVELOPE 1

AMP ENVELOPE

MODULATION MATRIX

Summit's oscillator sync is real but 'virtual': each of the three oscillators has its own inaudible virtual master oscillator whose frequency offset the VSYNC parameter (0-127) sets, and that master re-triggers the audible oscillator. It is not locked to Oscillator 2. When VSYNC is a multiple of 16 the virtual master is a musical harmonic of the oscillator, and values in between are more discordant, so modulating VSYNC is exactly the classic sync sweep; the manual itself suggests modulating it with an LFO or the mod wheel via the Modulation Matrix. Here Mod Envelope 1 (fast decay, zero sustain) is routed to VSYNC through the matrix, so the sync harmonics are densest at the attack and collapse as the note decays — the sync pluck — while the amp and filter envelopes also decay to zero sustain. Live control: the Mod Wheel adds sync brightness and resonance through two Mod Matrix slots.

Arturia MiniFreak

Approximation: No sync: VAnalog Shape sweeps similar harmonics

OSCILLATOR · Osc 1

ANALOG FILTER

ENVELOPE

CYCLING ENVELOPE

MODULATION MATRIX

Osc 1 is VAnalog, whose Timbre knob is the pulse Shape: high values give the harsh harmonics of hard oscillator sync (MiniFreak has no true oscillator sync; this is the closest engine). Detune between its saw and pulse is left at the middle. Mod Matrix: the CycEnv row to the Timbre 1 column at +60. Values are on MiniFreak's native 0-100 scale.

Dreadbox Typhon

Approximation: No sync: VCO1/VCO2 cross-FM position of the WAVE knob

FRONT PANEL

FILTER ADSR

AMP ADSR

Same VCO cross-FM approximation as the growl bass, TUNE 2 set wider/brighter and both ADSRs decaying to zero sustain for a percussive pluck.

ASM Hydrasynth Desktop

Exact match: Mutator OSC Sync mode

OSCILLATOR 1

MUTATOR 1

FILTER 1

AMP

ENVELOPE 1

ENVELOPE 2

Macros

Same real, literal OSC Sync as the growl bass via Mutator 1, but Ratio raised to 5.0 for a denser, brighter harmonic tear, with both envelopes decaying to zero sustain fast for a percussive pluck.

How the synths compare

Same sync availability as Oscillator Sync Growl Bass: Digitone II (WAVETONE), Novation Summit and ASM Hydrasynth Desktop are literal, the others approximate. What changes here is register and envelope: everything brighter and every sustain dropped to zero, turning a sustained growl into a short percussive pluck.

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.