Granular synthesis is so much fun and perfect for Ambient! This is on my wish list for my Granular Synthesis set up! Starting with Morphagene and Borderlands Granular first :)
No, you don’t start with Morphagene, since it is not a true granular sampler, it’s a tape machine. And beside this, the company offers terrible face plates. The text font and the print looks absolutely chaotic.
Thank you for sharing this video. It was the final push I needed to go ahead and order the Lemondrop and I couldn't be happier. I've been playing with this thing all day. Your patches really show off the breadth of this little wondrous machine - great stuff. Cheers to you!
Thanks for sharing. I recently got a Lemon Drop synth and am slowly learning how to use its features. These walk throughs are helpful. I am hoping to use it for ambient backgrounds, while the foreground is being generated by an Argon8 synth (and from what you show, they could switch roles!).
Incredible. This is my next synth. I have a hydra explorer and record streams and make ambient music. This is pretty much identical to how I wanted to use it. Thank you for recording this, making such an elegant and explanatory patch and putting me to ease that it can do exactly what I was hoping it could make. Gorgeous. Great job most enjoyable/relaxing tutorial I've seen
Thanks !!! I was actually a huge fan of the lemondrop but stopped using it because 1010music couldn't get it together to fix an annoying “bug” and I didn't feel taken seriously by their support. If you put a heavy load on the processor (high grain density/length, all OSC used, reverb very long....) the lemondrop starts to produce unpleasant clicks (like when you use a plugin on a too low latency). If you can live with this and are willing to work around this limitation then the Lemondrop is great. I ended up with the Tempera and am more than happy with it.
@@substan_music I think they upgraded a couple of the "I'd like to be able to..." moments from this tutorial too, didn't they? I need a granular machine and Tempera almost looks too complicated for my needs but this news about the lemondrop "bug" is a bit worrying. Anyway, great work as ever Substan - this is probably the only tutorial video I'd ever put on just to listen to good music!
absolutely beautiful. I am about to pull the trigger and buy one of these. Would have loved to see the XY screen effect after you finished applying all the additional modulation. Well done!
This is fantastic! Can you describe the hydrasynth sample? Is it a sequence of notes? Chords? In your experience what types of samples are best for granular synthesis? Thank you! I love all your elektron videos as well.
Thanks a lot ... it's a single held note but there is a lot of movement in it. I think in general samples with nice overtones (mostly in the attack phase) works great .. that's why piano or kalimba is used so often. Sounds with a lot of movement and change of the frequency spectrum result in exciting and lively granular sounds ... also field recordings are great. The opposite would be a simple subtractive pad where maybe only the filter opens and closes... don't expect anything exciting from that. But of course it depends a lot on what you want to do.
@@substan_music Thank you for your response! It is extremely helpful. I've been playing with various samples in my lemondrop and was looking for more ideas.
Tempera or Torso? I am not overloading my lemondrop for the clicks to appear but since Torso finally updating the unit, I am considering an upgrade. Thank you for the best lemondrop demo out there.
If you are considering the Torso S-4 as a replacement or upgrade for the Lemondrop you will be disappointed ... it is not really a granular synth but only has a granular effect. As much as I like the S4, I'm “a bit” disappointed how little has changed with the box so far and on the contrary you still have to deal with heavy bugs. I find it difficult to recommend the S4 to anyone in this state. The Tempera is the complete opposite ... what has happened since the release and the speed at which updates appear is insane. If you're looking for a beast of a granular synth, the Tempera is the way to go.
Can this thing overlap multiple samples? Could you trigger one sound, and a while later trigger another that slowly comes in and overlaps? Or is it just one sound at a time?
No overlapping. Just 2 granular oscillators with one sample each. Highly recommended to take a look at Tempera if you want overlapping samples ... that's THE box for such things ;)
Can the XY pad be automated? How cool would it be to have it gently move about smoothly and slowly? Maybe if not now in a future update they will add this option.
No, the X-Y-Pad is only intended for manual input .. but of course you can have the parameters used on the x and y axis modulated with an lfo ... which has the same effect. But of course more modulation option would be always a good thing 😉
Vielen Dank !! ... ist in den letzten Jahren (leider) sehr sehr selten geworden. Bin aber gerade dabei mir einen plan für ein neues live-set zu machen .. könnte also vielleicht bald wieder öfter vorkommen.
Hello! Long time follower here, I love your music. How do you find the lemondrop after 1 month? I'd like to buy one but I'm afraid that even if I get creative with samples the patches end up sound samey. What's your experience? Greetings from Italy !
Thanks a lot !! I honestly admit that I have not used the lemondrop that intensively so far. But don't get me wrong...I still love it...it's more the too much gear and not enough time syndrome. I understand your concerns... sure a granular synth will sound like a granular synth most of the time... but that's exactly what I expect from it. Personally, I can't get enough of the granular stuff... I already have a few modules that work granularly, but being able to play the sounds polyphonically is an asset. For me, the lemondrop is a huge playground ... I don't care much if some sounds sound similar ... it doesn't get boring. greetings from germany
@@substan_music So, if you pretend to love granular sounds but admit that you don't use your Lemondrop extensively, there's only one possible explanation: you have other granular devices and I want to know which granular device you prefer over the Lemondrop.
Tempera :) ... but joking aside ... unfortunately I can't say anything about the texture lab. I've never had it in my hands...but it looks like a fun box. I REALLY like the Lemondrop but since 1010music can't (or doesn't want to) fix an annoying bug that causes a crackling sound when you push the device to the limit, I've unfortunately had to leave the Lemondrop out lately. For me the Tempera is THE dream of a granular synth.
Not really, granular synthesis excels at pads and ambient stuff mostly. You COULD make basslines, but you'd get faster results with a subtractive, FM or wavetable synth. There are better value wavetable synths but the Fireball might be the one you want if you like the Lemondrop feature set and form factor.
Well, I would like to buy my first synth...I would like to use it for bass, but not limited to (i also like ambient stuff). I don't really care about type of synthesis; I just care about size (max 37 keys), low menu diving and high "out of the box fun". Can you give me any advices? Budget is around 450usd. Thanks
@@tonyhc427 I’m tempted to recommend a bunch of synths but in practice I’ve found there are too many factors making it a very personal choice. There is no perfect synth, there are always trade-offs, so the best thing you can do is figure out what matters most to you, and what you really want to do with it. Why do I want hardware when software is so cheap and powerful? Do I care more about features/versatility or immediate interface? What types of sounds do I most want to make, and what kind of synthesis produced them? What kind of synthesis am I familiar with or interested in learning? These will all have a huge impact on your choice. E.g I’m a hobbyist who likes very small desktop synths I can sequence or play with my Keystep. I like them to have enough focus to do their job well, and enough depth for me to explore. I like sound design away from a PC screen so easy patch creation and naming is important, and saving FX settings with the patches is ideal so good built in FX helps a lot. The Dreadbox Typhon was a good fit, but the trade off was being monophonic. Your needs will most likely be different. Good luck! If I HAD to choose a synth that seemed capable in most ways and also cost effective it would be the Hydrasynth Explorer (which I don’t own) but I think it’s out of your budget. But even that isn’t ideal for everyone.
OK Thanks ! I have 2 other questions before buying one : can it be bitimbral (différent notes on each G Granular layer)? Can we play Lemondrop synth in the same time as the Line out (I want to inject my Mother 32 for bass enjoying the Lemondrop Reverb)? Thanks a lot !
@@somethingintheuniverse760 no .. you can’t play each oscillator on different MIDI channels / you can use the signal from the input as source for the oscillators .. but you can not run it parallel to the osc through the FX.
The great support from my patrons makes all of this possible ... thank you so much guys !!
www.patreon.com/substan
I'm amazed by what the Lemondrop can do in your hand, you are a great ambient creator ! Thanks :-) Whish I could do that.
you sold me on this. best tutorial on the lemon drop i’ve seen.
Granular synthesis is so much fun and perfect for Ambient! This is on my wish list for my Granular Synthesis set up! Starting with Morphagene and Borderlands Granular first :)
No, you don’t start with Morphagene, since it is not a true granular sampler, it’s a tape machine. And beside this, the company offers terrible face plates. The text font and the print looks absolutely chaotic.
Well my friend, all I can say is WOW! Of course we need, not want, but need more Lemondrop tutorials like this. Fantastic!!!
Thanks a lot !!! i will definitely come back to the lemondrop soon
Thank you for sharing this video. It was the final push I needed to go ahead and order the Lemondrop and I couldn't be happier. I've been playing with this thing all day. Your patches really show off the breadth of this little wondrous machine - great stuff. Cheers to you!
And this is why mine is arriving today. Bravo awesome tutorial.
Thanks for sharing. I recently got a Lemon Drop synth and am slowly learning how to use its features. These walk throughs are helpful. I am hoping to use it for ambient backgrounds, while the foreground is being generated by an Argon8 synth (and from what you show, they could switch roles!).
SUPERB effects too, very naturally spatial .
Nicest sounding patch from scratch video i’ve ever heard! Beautiful and peaceful throughout. Kudos 🎉
Incredible. This is my next synth. I have a hydra explorer and record streams and make ambient music. This is pretty much identical to how I wanted to use it. Thank you for recording this, making such an elegant and explanatory patch and putting me to ease that it can do exactly what I was hoping it could make. Gorgeous. Great job most enjoyable/relaxing tutorial I've seen
Thanks !!!
I was actually a huge fan of the lemondrop but stopped using it because 1010music couldn't get it together to fix an annoying “bug” and I didn't feel taken seriously by their support. If you put a heavy load on the processor (high grain density/length, all OSC used, reverb very long....) the lemondrop starts to produce unpleasant clicks (like when you use a plugin on a too low latency). If you can live with this and are willing to work around this limitation then the Lemondrop is great. I ended up with the Tempera and am more than happy with it.
@@substan_music I think they upgraded a couple of the "I'd like to be able to..." moments from this tutorial too, didn't they? I need a granular machine and Tempera almost looks too complicated for my needs but this news about the lemondrop "bug" is a bit worrying. Anyway, great work as ever Substan - this is probably the only tutorial video I'd ever put on just to listen to good music!
absolutely beautiful. I am about to pull the trigger and buy one of these. Would have loved to see the XY screen effect after you finished applying all the additional modulation. Well done!
Really intricate and detailed layers of sound you've built and shared on this.... I'm amazed by what the Lemondrop can do...
Ordered one yesterday and can't wait! Lovely patch from scratch here
Hope you enjoy it!
@@substan_music I sadly didn't, I got the Fireball instead and that mangled my patches so I sent it back, huge shame!
@@JamesRamboPearce Dammit James....why the hell did you get the fireball?
Thanks for your fine contribution! Granular synths are powerful sound generators :-)
Interesting little instrument and amazing performance 💯
Thank you very much for this. It was super useful ...and beautiful
Wow, I have to get one. Great patch!
this little thing sounds great
This is fantastic! Can you describe the hydrasynth sample? Is it a sequence of notes? Chords? In your experience what types of samples are best for granular synthesis? Thank you! I love all your elektron videos as well.
Thanks a lot ... it's a single held note but there is a lot of movement in it. I think in general samples with nice overtones (mostly in the attack phase) works great .. that's why piano or kalimba is used so often. Sounds with a lot of movement and change of the frequency spectrum result in exciting and lively granular sounds ... also field recordings are great. The opposite would be a simple subtractive pad where maybe only the filter opens and closes... don't expect anything exciting from that. But of course it depends a lot on what you want to do.
@@substan_music Thank you for your response! It is extremely helpful. I've been playing with various samples in my lemondrop and was looking for more ideas.
Voice samples?
Great demo and wonderful sounds. I always wanted a GR1 but this looks like it will do the job perfectly.
Thanks !! ... those were exactly my thoughts :)
From what i've heard, i prefer the sound of the Lemon Drop... Did you end up getting one?
Having owned two GR-1s, I can confidently tell you that you couldn’t make these sounds on it.
Thanks a lot for your demo !
Show Lemon Space sound very good ..thank you my friend
Nice sounding patchwork. I accidently overwrote my default patch . Ha!!
Thinking about how to substitute it with iPad apps and Korg Kaoss with x-y effects. Probably maybe?
How?
@@kingtrance307 iConnect Midi4+ with iPad and Quanta or FRMS then usb audio (D-D) to PC or Mac + LK as midi controller for Ableton
@@mikg2618 - You cracked the code… 👍
Tempera or Torso? I am not overloading my lemondrop for the clicks to appear but since Torso finally updating the unit, I am considering an upgrade. Thank you for the best lemondrop demo out there.
If you are considering the Torso S-4 as a replacement or upgrade for the Lemondrop you will be disappointed ... it is not really a granular synth but only has a granular effect. As much as I like the S4, I'm “a bit” disappointed how little has changed with the box so far and on the contrary you still have to deal with heavy bugs. I find it difficult to recommend the S4 to anyone in this state. The Tempera is the complete opposite ... what has happened since the release and the speed at which updates appear is insane. If you're looking for a beast of a granular synth, the Tempera is the way to go.
Only you can turn a demo tutorial into performance art.
see I'm so excited to get mine in the mail cuz I definitely don't make the same type of music I see this used with. this is gonna be such a move
amazing ordered one..was going for a tasty chips gr 1 but i think this with fireball will be massive
Love the sounds, just wish it was same form factor as blue/black box
Great patch. Did you have a MIDI sequence going into this while you were doing the video?
Thanks .. I think I just played it with the Keystep of camera
This sounds great. Might have to sell something and get one of these to pair with my Fireball...
Can this thing overlap multiple samples? Could you trigger one sound, and a while later trigger another that slowly comes in and overlaps? Or is it just one sound at a time?
No overlapping. Just 2 granular oscillators with one sample each. Highly recommended to take a look at Tempera if you want overlapping samples ... that's THE box for such things ;)
Can the XY pad be automated? How cool would it be to have it gently move about smoothly and slowly? Maybe if not now in a future update they will add this option.
No, the X-Y-Pad is only intended for manual input .. but of course you can have the parameters used on the x and y axis modulated with an lfo ... which has the same effect. But of course more modulation option would be always a good thing 😉
Brilliant. How did you make/record the HydComet sample?
Thanks !! I have build a patch on the Hydrasynth .. recorded a single note into the DAW and put it on the SD card.
Danke für das wundervolle Video! performst du irgendwo manchmal? Ich möchte unbedingt mal kommen und dich live hören!
Vielen Dank !! ... ist in den letzten Jahren (leider) sehr sehr selten geworden. Bin aber gerade dabei mir einen plan für ein neues live-set zu machen .. könnte also vielleicht bald wieder öfter vorkommen.
Hello! Long time follower here, I love your music. How do you find the lemondrop after 1 month? I'd like to buy one but I'm afraid that even if I get creative with samples the patches end up sound samey. What's your experience?
Greetings from Italy !
Thanks a lot !! I honestly admit that I have not used the lemondrop that intensively so far. But don't get me wrong...I still love it...it's more the too much gear and not enough time syndrome. I understand your concerns... sure a granular synth will sound like a granular synth most of the time... but that's exactly what I expect from it. Personally, I can't get enough of the granular stuff... I already have a few modules that work granularly, but being able to play the sounds polyphonically is an asset. For me, the lemondrop is a huge playground ... I don't care much if some sounds sound similar ... it doesn't get boring.
greetings from germany
@@substan_music So, if you pretend to love granular sounds but admit that you don't use your Lemondrop extensively, there's only one possible explanation: you have other granular devices and I want to know which granular device you prefer over the Lemondrop.
quick question..would the lemon drop work well with another lemon drop?
two are usually better than one 😉 ... the lemondrop is no exception.
Great!
Which is better, Lemondrop or Liven Texture Lab??
Tempera :) ... but joking aside ... unfortunately I can't say anything about the texture lab. I've never had it in my hands...but it looks like a fun box. I REALLY like the Lemondrop but since 1010music can't (or doesn't want to) fix an annoying bug that causes a crackling sound when you push the device to the limit, I've unfortunately had to leave the Lemondrop out lately. For me the Tempera is THE dream of a granular synth.
Killer!
Hi, would it be the right choice for making basslines? Thanks
Not really, granular synthesis excels at pads and ambient stuff mostly. You COULD make basslines, but you'd get faster results with a subtractive, FM or wavetable synth. There are better value wavetable synths but the Fireball might be the one you want if you like the Lemondrop feature set and form factor.
@@Monkeywhip thank you very much for reply
I can only agree with @Luke Smith There is nothing to add.
Well, I would like to buy my first synth...I would like to use it for bass, but not limited to (i also like ambient stuff). I don't really care about type of synthesis; I just care about size (max 37 keys), low menu diving and high "out of the box fun". Can you give me any advices? Budget is around 450usd. Thanks
@@tonyhc427 I’m tempted to recommend a bunch of synths but in practice I’ve found there are too many factors making it a very personal choice. There is no perfect synth, there are always trade-offs, so the best thing you can do is figure out what matters most to you, and what you really want to do with it. Why do I want hardware when software is so cheap and powerful? Do I care more about features/versatility or immediate interface? What types of sounds do I most want to make, and what kind of synthesis produced them? What kind of synthesis am I familiar with or interested in learning? These will all have a huge impact on your choice.
E.g I’m a hobbyist who likes very small desktop synths I can sequence or play with my Keystep. I like them to have enough focus to do their job well, and enough depth for me to explore. I like sound design away from a PC screen so easy patch creation and naming is important, and saving FX settings with the patches is ideal so good built in FX helps a lot. The Dreadbox Typhon was a good fit, but the trade off was being monophonic. Your needs will most likely be different. Good luck!
If I HAD to choose a synth that seemed capable in most ways and also cost effective it would be the Hydrasynth Explorer (which I don’t own) but I think it’s out of your budget. But even that isn’t ideal for everyone.
Super nice. But tell me, are you playing some note somehow (on a keyboard off the camera) or are you simply looping the samples ? I don't get it :/
Thanks !! .. yes .. it’s a keyboard off camera.
OK Thanks ! I have 2 other questions before buying one : can it be bitimbral (différent notes on each G
Granular layer)? Can we play Lemondrop synth in the same time as the Line out (I want to inject my Mother 32 for bass enjoying the Lemondrop Reverb)? Thanks a lot !
@@somethingintheuniverse760 no .. you can’t play each oscillator on different MIDI channels / you can use the signal from the input as source for the oscillators .. but you can not run it parallel to the osc through the FX.
Too bad for that price ! Thanks anyway for your explanations :)
Looks to me it has a similar workflow to the Digitone..
aside from scrolling through the menus i totally agree.
dreamy
Can you tune that sound. I am alittle unclear on that
yes of course ... there is a pitch parameter for each oscillator