Make Bigger Synths by Using Unison

Using previously made presets found within numerous VST synthesizers is always helpful. But you should not be afraid to experiment if you're genuinely interested in advancing in music production. Even a simple sawtooth wave, which sounds flat and dull initially, can be turned into something massive using Unison. Find out how.  

Utilizing Unison

To put it simply, the effect of unison means multiplying the signal that is being produced by the oscillator. In most cases, it is possible to detune each signal against the other. This helps create a much bigger sound. The typical number of signal multiplications in a unison effect can be 2,4 or 8 voices. Nowadays, we have synthesizers that allow us to go much further, and in this example, I will use one of them called Serum by Xfer. Let's start by adding a new instance of Serum to the clean project in SoundBridge. The first thing to do afterward is hit that 'Init Preset' tab in the menu section.

After making a melody, you would agree that the initial sounding preset sounds flat and lifeless.

~Melody with Initial Preset

Nevertheless, in the oscillator section, you will see several parameters. Let's start by increasing Unison to a maximum of 16 voices. Now, we can hear that the sound has consequently gained some stereo width compared to the previous audio example.

~Melody with Increased Unison Voices  

Moving Forward with Sound Designing

Subsequently, I will turn up the following parameter in line "detune." Detune will slightly change the fine-tuning for every of the 16 multiplied voices and amplify the unison effect to the maximum. Also, Serum has an excellent graphical representation of the voice bearing, which you can see in the picture below.

~Melody with Increased Unison Voice + Detune

To polish the sound further, I will process it with a reverb and some compression. In conclusion, you can now hear how easy it was to make a big-sounding lead in just a few simple steps we went through.

~Full Processed Sound