how to make a birdsong

hiawog · Post by **hiawog** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 9:41 am

tweet tweet

i've heard some amazing birdie patches on the forum from plenty of different formats. what tips do you have for making realistic birdsongs? i never seem to get the cv quite right.

thanks!

Navs · Post by **Navs** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 9:52 am

Listen to the birds. They'll tell you

Gated VC AD envelopes and LFOs work well. The Plan B Model 10 was great for this. A little melody too, depending on the bird.

hiawog · Post by **hiawog** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 9:58 am

damn navs that's a great one. i knew you'd know what's up.

i think an issue i was having was that i wasn't gating the cv, just cross-modulating it. i'll try that. and you're right; it's all in the ears.

denim dan · Post by **denim dan** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:48 am

osc into ring mod or pitch shifter, take the higher harmonics and round them out with a soft attack EG for "tweet." slow LFO can then take you to "two-wheat."

ersatzplanet · Post by **ersatzplanet** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:53 am

Remember the reverb - that's the glue that puts it all together.

For birds that trill a lot you can use chained envelope generators running VCAs with LFOs going threw them modulating the primary VCO. Then stage the EGs to open in the order you want. An A-143-1 or A-143-2 with a VCAM work great for this. Of course the VCO you modulate should in most cases be a sine or triangle, unless you are trying for crows or sea gulls...

chamomileshark · Post by **chamomileshark** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 6:36 pm

for me it's about layering different "songs" . Reverb is important as noted. I've found many ways of creating fairly realistic birdsong - it tends to be about listening to the natural world and recognising it when you hit on the right sound from the modular.

The environment below was created entirely on the Wiard 300 series. I was most interested in doing the grasshoppers but then added a bit of birdsong as an afterthought. Still very basic and if I complete this more work would need to be done on that. Plus getting rid of the fly.

http://snd.sc/YRi8Zd

poppinger · Post by **poppinger** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 8:01 am

[video][/video]

oootini · Post by **oootini** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 8:04 am

man i love birdsong. one of these years i'm going to get up early to record a dawn chorus.

pixelmechanic · Post by **pixelmechanic** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:47 am

Hardcore description (and PD examples) of Birdcall Synthesis by Procedural Audio guru Andy Farnell

http://www.obiwannabe.co.uk/tutorials/h ... birds.html

anarchy4bits · Post by **anarchy4bits** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 3:40 pm

What you think, is it possible to make a realistic "crow" sound with modular?

FetidEye · Post by **FetidEye** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 4:12 pm

http://soundcloud.com/martijn-verhallen/birds
bird sounds with the 4MS Noise Swash and the Atoner + Serge Resonant EQ
with some delay (SoS) and reverb

oljud · Post by **oljud** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 4:17 pm

I got birdsong (and much more) using two feedbacked Serge voltage controlled stereo mixers. Not sure why people are talking about cv? Just do crazy feedback until it sounds like a bird. It does quite often. Oscillators not needed.

wbkennedy1 · Post by **wbkennedy1** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:31 pm

chamomileshark

thats the most realistic natural environment sound design ive ever heard from modular land!

MindMachine · Post by **MindMachine** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 2:29 am

anarchy4bits wrote:What you think, is it possible to make a realistic "crow" sound with modular?

Crows are tough. I bought a 'Crows Rook' birdcall for those.
http://acmewhistles.ca/products/bird-ga ... -rook-call
With a little practice it can be very good. Makes my lips tickle and almost hurt.

maybe I should not have said that.

I have had real good success w/ Seagull sounds and some electronic chirps w/ high resonance from different synths. I have patch sheets of those. I could scan them, but every synth will differ of course. PAiA used to sell a bird chirp 'synth'.

I also recorded a mockingbird for about 30 minutes one morning. He ran trhough different birdcalls, car alarms, ambulances, etc. It is on a microcassette that I still process. I bought a Radio Shack 'Amplified Listener' that I use for crude field recording. He came in loud and clear.

chamomileshark · Post by **chamomileshark** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 6:49 pm

wbkennedy1 wrote:chamomileshark

thats the most realistic natural environment sound design ive ever heard from modular land!

Thanks

The birds still could do with some (alot) of work.

MR-808 · Post by **MR-808** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 2:58 am

I'm with Navs. :) For the month or so centered on summer solstice, I often listen to the birds singing whilst falling asleep. One thing I've noticed is that there's a "perfect" tune that the birds are trying to sing every time, only they can't always sing it. And that's actually what the the female birds are listening for - the more accurate male singers, as that's an indicator of their reproductive suitability. The variations tend to be in the last few notes. So, however you generate the notes in your birdsong, make sure any randomness in pitch or time come at the end of the sequence.

MR-808 · Post by **MR-808** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 3:04 am

[video][/video]

pixelmechanic · Post by **pixelmechanic** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:39 pm

"field recordings of genuinely fake nature sounds"

http://boomkat.com/downloads/317658-anders-dahl-habitat

Pascal · Post by **Pascal** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 3:38 am

very nice thread, really enjoyed all posts and shared vids

crispy_porker · Post by **crispy_porker** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 7:16 am

One of the first patches I did on my modular was some great chirping noises with the 2 outputs of a Noisering modulating the cutoff of two self oscillating Borgs. I'll see if I can recreate the patch this evening

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how to make a birdsong

how to make a birdsong