With its multi-stage envelopes, deep modulation system and capacity for long-form sound design, Absynth by Native Instruments has always offered far more than evolving pads and cinematic textures. Using a single gong sample, we explore how the newly revived instrument can generate a complete, performance-ready techno riff.
Absynth is best known for complex atmospheres, unconventional timbres and sounds that evolve over extended periods. The instrument's architecture makes it such a powerful instrument for scoring and experimental sound design, but naturally lends itself remarkably well to techno. And the latest update to Absynth 6 , available in Komplete 26, is the most powerful version yet - by far.
Its envelopes can shape far more than amplitude. They can control pitch, filtering, effects and modulation over multiple stages, allowing a single source to become rhythmic, layered and constantly shifting. Shorten those movements, tighten the amplitude contour and introduce repetition, and an expansive texture can quickly become a focused riff or loop.
Absynth 6 builds on that foundation with an expanded set of sound-design and modulation tools. In this tutorial, we’ll use a single gong one-shot as the source for a multi-layered techno patch, transforming it into a heavy, evolving sequence with enough variation to function as the central element of a track.
Everything begins with one sample.
Starting soundKing GongStep 1
First add Absynth 6 to your DAW and program a MIDI clip. You can copy what we have below or make something of your own. We are at BPM129. Select New Preset in Absynth, hit play and we’ll hear a boring sine wave playing our riff. Go to the Patch tab, replace this default oscillator with a Granular Engine and select the Peking Opera Gong.
Starting SineGong sample
Step 2
It sounds a bit more interesting but nowhere near ‘filth’ yet. Detune the sound by 12 semitones / one octave. Then swap to the Grain tab and pull the size down to 3ms. Dirty. And that’s due in no small part to Absynth’s overhauled Granular Engine. The maximum density has now been whacked up to a whopping 32. To hear how it sounded before, drop that Density to 4 and listen to how limp it sounds.
32 densityOld density
Step 3
Envelopes now (the source of Abysnth’s secret… er… sauce). Click Osc A Amp then select Expand to Rhythm from the Transform menu and engage BPM Sync. Next click New Envelope and select Osc A Main Pitch. Click the LFO button and pull the first envelope breakpoint all the way down. Now we have an envelope pumping the level and an LFO creating pitch modulation. And, remarkably, it’s an acid b-line!
Amp envelope actionLFO pitch mod
Step 4
Go to the LFO page and deselect channels B and C from the LFO’s pitch assignment – we only want it to affect this layer of the patch. Now raise the Pitch slider to 25, the time to 1.6919 and the phase to 32.063. This creates some wobbly pitch modulation and some nice, nasty spikes. Even more remarkably, we now have a filthy acid