Using randomization to create synth presets (with video)

zvon · March 2020

Some synthesizers have a feature to create presets by randomizing their (or some of their) parameters. Even though it may be frowned upon by some as being lazy, I personally enjoy creating presets this way. It can give surprisingly good results, create sounds that I would not have imagined and/or be a good starting point to a new sound.

This is not an in-depth tutorial, it's only an overview of 3 synths that have good randomization algorithms, at least to my liking: Cube Synth and Addictive Pro by Virsyn, Kauldron by Yonac

Of course just randomly modifying parameters will often yield unpleasant or unusable presets, for instance an amplitude envelope with way too slow attack or too long release. Or worse, even ones that could potentially harm your hearing or your speakers (always a good to lower volume first). Like a filter with too much resonance or a sound that has too much low or high frequencies.

So restricting the parameters that are randomized and/or the range of the randomization is a good idea. Synth designers create algorithms to do just that. These algorithms can be more or less customizable. Those in the 2 Virsyn synths I used in the video are not customizable, the one in Kauldron is, but I used it in basic mode only in the video.