How can I synthesize guitar chords with a Yamaha keyboard?
Doug asked:
I don’t know what model my keyboard is.
I don’t know what model my keyboard is.
It has a chord dictionary, and a lot of different voices, but how can I make the keyboard sound like a strumming guitar?
Pick a patch with a string sound and edit it. First, edit the envelope. Make the attack short, the sustain long, and the decay short. Secondly, look at the shape of the waves that make up the patch. Increase the frequeny in the sine wave and if there is no sine wave in the patch, then add it. Get rid of any square wave (a string patch shouldn’t have a square wave, so there probably isn’t one). Make sure there is a saw wave and if not, then add it. Finally, look at the FX on your synth. If it has reverb, then add some. Most synths have modulation, so you can add some moduation and adust it so it sounds like reverb rather than vibrato (just make the modulation really short).
The user manual that came with your synth should have a list of factory presets (patches). See if there is any patch for guitar. That might be easier to tweak than starting from scratch with a string patch.
Finally, take a look at the filter on your synth. Cut back the mid tones and the very low end to bring out the treble and the baritone.
To make your synth strum a chord over and over, use the arppegiator. If you want to program more than one chord, then you need a sequencer. Some synths have one, some don’t. If your synth doesn’t have a sequencer, then upload you finished patch to your PC and use a software sequencer. You can get professional quality studio software for a free trial. The program is called REAPER. If you use it more than 30 days and you like it, then pay the small fee ($40 or $60 - I don’t remember) because it’s in development and from what everyone has seen so far, it’s going to replace a lot of programs currently used in small to medium-sized music/recording studios.
If none of that works for you, then ask your question at at Sonic State. Victoria