How to Create a huge Pluck Sound in Massive

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The pluck sound became popular in early House music and has slowly made its way into all forms of electronic music.  In terms of synthesis, it’s not a complicated sound to create, but showing some attention to detail can go a long way.

In today’s walkthrough, we’ll  look at how to create this huge pluck sound in Massive.

Take a listen to our audio example:

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Let’s get started…

Step 1 – Set up your Oscillators.

Set all of your Oscillators to a Saw wave.  Raise Oscillator 1 up an octave (+12), bring Oscillator 2 down an octave (-12), and leave Oscillator 3 where it is.  Slightly detune each and route them all to Filter 1.

You should get a sound similar to this:

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Step 2 – Adjust your Voicing environment.

Click on the ‘Voicing’ tab.  Set your unison to 8 voices and then adjust your Pan Position and Pitch Cut-off just as you see in the image above.

Here is our sound now:

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Step 3 – Set up your Filter.

Select the Daft filter for Filter 1.  Set the Cut-off and Resonance to zero.

Next, you’ll need to route Envelope 3 to your filter Cut-off.  Set the range to the max.

Step 4 – Tweak Envelope 3.

Turn your Attack and Decay level all the way down.  Set a moderate Release using the image above as your guide.

Your pluck synth should sound something like this:

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Step 5 – Route Macro control 1 to your Decay level.  Set the range to the max.

This will allow you to morph between a traditional pluck sound and a trance-like pad sound on the fly.  You could even take it a step further and route that Macro control to the Mod Wheel on your MIDI keyboard.

This is a great way to give your sound more character.

Listen to the way it affects my synth:

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Step 6 – Fatten it up.

Scroll up to your effects section and choose a Chorus for FX 1.  Throw a Dimension Expander on FX 2.  Moderate settings normally work well.

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Step 7 – Polish it off with some Reverb and Delay.

Some tasty Reverb on the mid range frequencies will give your pluck that “larger than life” feel.  I chose Ableton’s Ping Pong Delay to give my sound some movement and depth.

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Summary

Don’t be afraid to try other effects like a Phaser or Flanger.  They can yield some interesting results too.   We hope you found this tutorial helpful.  Be sure check in regularly for updates, new tutorials, and more – courtesy of Samplepacks.ca.