SURGE XT THE MOVIE : Amazing FREE Synthesizer - Full In-Depth Tutorial
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Big thank you to everyone involved in the Surge Synth Team for bringing this synth to us for free!!
so much amazing work has been done since this synth became open source. Surge XT really rivals any paid synth plugin. what a time to be alive ;)
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00:00 Introduction
02:00 Layout
03:22 Scenes
04:46 Polyphony
05:10 Patch Browser
08:50 Status
10:05 FX Bypass, Character, Output
11:58 Oscillator
16:00 Classic Osc
17:44 Modern Osc
19:40 Wavetable Osc
22:56 Window Osc
25:14 Sine Osc
27:43 FM Oscs
30:37 String Osc
35:02 Twist Oscs
49:48 Alias Osc
52:32 S&H Noise Osc
54:06 Control Section
54:46 PB and Play Mode
01:00:56 FM Routing
01:04:52 Filter Config
01:13:41 Scene Output and Sends
01:16:51 Mixer and Pitch
01:23:26 Filters, Waveshaper and EG's
01:32:45 AMP and Velocity
01:33:43 Effects Section
01:44:40 Modulation Section
02:21:10 Misc and Outro
Пікірлер: 269
Hey guys, Wanted to do an update to my surge the movie video.... I felt it was warranted. I know this video is extremely long, I felt it was necessary to cover everything this synth can do. I've chaptered it to make it easier to skip to the parts you want. I do recommend watching the entire video though as there may be some things in there you weren't aware of, I certainly found some new things while preparing this video! :) Thank you for watching and please leave a like if you enjoyed it and subscribe for more! :D In a video this long i am bound to miss some details so I will list anything i missed that is picked up here. *in Modern oscillator - with right click options you can set Triangle to other waveforms and change it into sub oscillator mode too. - Evil Dragon As always thank you so much to my patrons, I will have some extra surge sound design content for you guys soon... I'm working on it now
@MrMultiMediat0r
2 жыл бұрын
I have a dumb question. How do we actually play notes on the synth? You seem to have it so you computer keyboard can play notes or something. I can't get surge to play notes for the life of me.
@inn5268
Жыл бұрын
@@MrMultiMediat0r what DAW are you using?
@MrMultiMediat0r
Жыл бұрын
@@inn5268 LMMS. I've also tried using the synth standalone
@beyondalldreams
Жыл бұрын
@@MrMultiMediat0r in many daws you can play by computer keyboard / you can search if you can do this in lmms as well / other way is to use midi keyboard , or use another daw
@mangc_hing
Жыл бұрын
Can you do tutorial on Cardinal sir
This synth and its funcionalities should be taught in every electronic music school/academy
Thank you for putting in the effort to do this twice. That's some real love and dedication to the craft. 🌻
@GarronsMusic
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you 😃
Ironically, I actually started the video, then installed Surge XT and played with it, made a patch and figured out pretty much everything without watching. It has a UI that can be explained very quickly to a experienced synthesist. But then, I've programmed my own softsynth engines, so I probably know more than most ;) With the XT additions, Surge ranks among the most comprehensive "desert island" synths. It's almost easier to talk about what's missing than what's present. Pretty much everything in the gamut of standard synth timbres is possible, some of the most common ones often have a dedicated oscillator engine in "Twist", you can do modulations from the simplest envelope up to "code a procedurally generated sequence in a formula LFO and control it with MPE", and you can also do the entire FX chain on top of that. Your DAW could "plug in" to a complex Surge patch and just be used to trigger scenes and move macro knobs. It's not a multi-sampler, and it doesn't have complex physical modelling like e.g. Pianoteq or the AAS plug-ins, or complex additive synthesis like Harmour. It could always have more filter or FX modes. But it already covers so much that you'll never run out of sounds.
One of the most comprehensive, yet easy to follow overviews of any synth I've seen on youtube. I've been a little intimidated by this synth up til now. I 'm ready to dig into it.Thank you.
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
You're going to seriously enjoy this beast? from the softest fantasies to the harshest of noise, SXT does it all!
I ran my guitar into my DAW and used the Surge ring mod effect and WOW!
I can't believe the "Follow me I'm delicious" guy has such synth knowledge. This is amazing.
1:42:20 that is so beautiful 😭
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
Then to go from that to complete harsh noise, SXT will definitely do it!
This is one very cool synth. I was able to make it actually count from 0 to 10 in the vowel/speech engine oscillator! And you've produced a great tutorial thanks a lot!
The "Twist" OSC is based on Mutable Instruments "Plaits".
Got surge yesterday, looked very intimidating but now I feel I know how it's structured. Thank you!
As a complete noob I massively appreciate the effort that has gone into this video. Fantastic. Every section is a rabbit hole!
I appreciate that in all your talking about things, you're not cussing and swearing. It's clean. Again, I appreciate it.
Fantastic walkthrough. Should probably be mentioned that it now has the Eurorack modules Clouds and Plaits included as fx & oscillators. Kind of a big deal for some.
@alefnull
2 жыл бұрын
really? where can i find these modes? i've been searching all over the plugin and can't see them anywhere.
@frakfeem
2 жыл бұрын
@@alefnull For Plaits go to the oscillator section and next to the octaves it says Classic, click that and choose String or Twist (I think String is Rings and Twist is Plaits). Clouds is in the FX section as Nimbus.
@alefnull
2 жыл бұрын
@@frakfeem ahh thank you. i was looking for them by name.
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
@@alefnull Twist also has a Granular Cloud engine type letting you detune note grains and adjust how long they are; (a bit like FFT smearing, but now per note).
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
Rings is the inspiration behind Twist's ModalResonator. From innocent metal to schoolbells to carillion bells, you're covered here.
Very kind of you to put even more time into updating this tutorial. This is extremely useful. Looking forward to composing with this new XT version. Much appreciated! Salud, Mr. G!
@GarronsMusic
2 жыл бұрын
So glad you found it helpful! Thank you 😃
Oh and I think hour showing all these stuff around in Surge XT was really great!
Thanks a lot for this goldmine of informations. Surge is a hell of a synth, simply one of the best on the market, perheape THE one, and the fact that it's totally free is just fabulous. This new XT extension brings it to another level of epicness !
@GarronsMusic
2 жыл бұрын
Surge XT is unbelievable. You could just use it by itself forever!
@BlindLibrary
2 жыл бұрын
All the better reason you should have a MIDI controller while playing with this synth? Say, something like Novation LaunchKey or Nektar Impact LX+ series.
Wow, absolutely EPIC Thanks 4 putting this together ! Man, I think surgeXT has 95% of all the functions possible in a synth. Anyone disagree ? I can only think of granular , samples , & wavetable editor off the top of my head
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
Did someone say samples? SST (SurgeSynthTeam) is carefully working on a sampler (ShortCircuitXT)... Just as SurgeXT it will be in Juce, so totally accessible to little blind brats (like me) and all the things you'd be wanting to do in a sampler you'll be able to do with ShortCircuitXT!
Amazing, and somehow even better than the last one. Well done! 🙂👍
@GarronsMusic
2 жыл бұрын
🙏
I can't thank you enough. This video got me going with programming my own sounds and actually understanding what I was doing
Thank you for this. I love your dedication.
Excellent and very informative video, thank you for creating and sharing it!
Excellent work man, thank you. How in the living blazes the Surge team have given this to us for free is incomprehensible. I have a good few very decent paid synths but at just under an hour and a half in on this video and I have already had quite a number of WTF moments. A getter and keeper undoubtedly. Top stuff all round.
Excellent tutorial / walkthrough! Thanks.
Excellent video, recommended it to my friends Great channel in general!
You're awesome! Thank you for all your sound design videos.
@GarronsMusic
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks for watching 😃
Fantastically clear and informative. Thank-you!
Thats the best tutorial Imhaver seen! Thank You.
Excellent work, thank you!
Amazinggggg thanks so much for this ♥️🐈⬛🎶
@GarronsMusic
2 жыл бұрын
🤘🍀
Thank you for the video, very helpful!
This video was very helpful, as I have just downloaded this synth to my computer. As I watched, I was amazed at the power of this synth. Thanks for making this video!
Excellent walk-through, thanks!
thank you for sharing this! Best synth movie I've ever seen 😃👍
Great video man! Cheers! :)
@GarronsMusic
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you 😃
yuuuuuup garronnnnnnn been trying to get my head around surge, looked up a tutorial and its my fellow fenian, its a rarity
Awesome video, awesome synth, thank you!
Thank you for this! I learned so much, in a much more engaging format than reading the manual. It's a crash course that goes surprisingly deep. I feel like the control surface no longer is full of mystery, just an endless supply of awesome possibilities.
Thank you very much for the second installment! 🙏 Haven’t had time to watch this one yet but soon yay.
@05degrees
2 жыл бұрын
Finally, watched! Thanks again!
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
@@05degrees Small warning: You're gonna get lost in the noise of what you create in SurgeXT...
Perfectly explained, I don't even think I had any doubts, awesome job making this video!
Wow amazing tutorial thank you! 😍
I started with a korg minilogue, then moved to vital, now learning this, it feels like every step has been exponentially more sound possibilities. I cant even fathom how far the rabbitthole of sound goes.
Thanks, That is so great !!
Thanks a lot for your effort!!! Great introduction in SURGE XT... helps me (as an absolute beginner) much understanding this great plugin and synths in general... 🙏🚀
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
"i'm not the man they think I am back home; oh no no no; I'm a RocketMan" Elton John
You are awesome. :D Was wondering if you'd do the XT edition and was not disappointed. Great work and detailed walkthrough as always. Surge is really becoming a powerhouse! Cheers
@GarronsMusic
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you! Glad you found the videos helpful! Surge is epic!
@BlindLibrary
2 жыл бұрын
I'd say SurgeXT's putting a lot of other synths on notice...
Вот это да! Огромное спасибо за видео, колоссальная работа!
Thanks so much! Good work
I was floored the minute I saw Waldorf wavetables. This thing is a monster and I thank you for explaining everything. I plan on mastering this synth to understand and improve in synthesis overall
@BlindLibrary
11 ай бұрын
Master? This thing? A night's gonna come where you hear a sound in a dream you swear you never heard before and you'll run to your computer to hope to - actually try - pulling it off?
@crnkmnky
8 ай бұрын
@@BlindLibrary 😯 That's some Stevie Wonder stuff. ✨ Has it happened for you yet?
@BlindLibrary
8 ай бұрын
Almost - did... A Discord friend of mine had a generic edition of Yamaha's XG MIDI "StarDust" patch; The dream gave me clarity to white-wash it in the AirWindows>Galactic reverb effect. I ended up layering it two to three times, yet changing the chorus rate on each one to be a tiny bit faster then the previous one. I also tweaked some filters, key-tracked them and added wave shaping to the mix to get what I really wanted.
@XDarkstarXUnknownUnderverse
8 ай бұрын
@@BlindLibrary Nah, I try and stick to my own sounds.
amazing video - brilliant!
Oh wow Am really impressed by this Thanks alot man Just getting into sound design and this had helped alot
Excellent show and tell video
It's taken me 2 weeks, but I've finally managed to watch it all. Thanks for the tutorial - I actually learned some stuff!
@GarronsMusic
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you! I’m glad it was helpful!!
@BlindLibrary
2 жыл бұрын
My fave things so far are waveshaping and key-track filtering. Does very twisted things to sounds depending on the Filter Configuration and the Type/Sub adjustments. Then toss in a splashing of linked resonance... Wow?
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
A fortnight may be all you need to make peace (or war) with Surge. While I'm at it, unison note... Use odd-numbered voice counts to keep at least one voice always in the center at the root note (minimum of 3, maximum of 15)!
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
And LFO? That's just simply... sick? Especially when any parameter can be modded by another one? KeyTrack the LFO rate? or possibly KeyTrack the Deformation slider? That can be done.
Great work 💪 thank you so much 🙏
brilliant tutorial. thanks a lot.
thank you so much!! now it’ll get way easier to engineer my own sounds/instruments in surge 🙃
Somebody has probably mentioned it already, but the Twist oscillator mode is indeed taken from something, in that case an Eurorack module (Mutable Instruments Plaits).
@BlindLibrary
2 жыл бұрын
If I remember right, the "Modal Resonator" engine (that can be chosen under the "Twist" oscillator type) is paying omage to the Rings hardware module.
Thanks friend. This is a life saver
thankyou 😊😊😊🔥❤❤awsm work keep up with your great work sir
Many thanks for this
this is amazing
Great overview! You have sadly missed the right-click options in Modern oscillator - you can set Triangle to other waveforms and change it into sub oscillator mode too. :)
@GarronsMusic
2 жыл бұрын
Awwwhhh dammnnn I knew I’d miss something 😂
@lolilollolilol7773
2 жыл бұрын
Yeah fantastic and super useful video, but for some reason it's in mono. Anyway, still a reference that was super helpful for me. We are so lucky to have this incredible synth for free. No excuses anymore !
@VincentZauhar
2 жыл бұрын
@@lolilollolilol7773 Make sure you use one of the stereo filter configurations :)
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
There's also accessibility built into plug-in courtesy of Juce. Meaning those of us living in darkness, lol, can tab/click the ui like everyone else does?
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
@@lolilollolilol7773 BTW, Choose Stereo or Wide as your Filter Configurationd. Do Not Leave a scene's (A or B) Width control in the center. It Must Either Be at the Top (normal width) or Bottom (reverse width).
Very big heartedly thanks for your effort
Oh, man! I'm not new to synths by a long shot but this one has been difficult for me to get my head around. I tried simple things and getting a good sound is definitely not an automatic thing like my analog synths or even my digital hardware. This video has totally opened this up for me. I'm watching the part on the effects now and hoping you go into the macros and assignments for LFOs and the like next. I love the flexibility of a good routing matrix but this synth is wildly overcomplete and beefy without even going there, I'm stunned. Thanks for a great video! Watching it in bytes when I'm not in the studio or teaching music.
Best Synth tutorial ever!
Good, thanks for share!
Thank you, a great video!
thank you so much!
Thank you so much for this informative video!!
@GarronsMusic
Жыл бұрын
thank you so much
lá fhéile Pádraig sona :) Thanks for putting this up and taking the time.
What an amazingly comprehensive video. Thank you!
@GarronsMusic
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks so much! 🙏
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
@@GarronsMusic BaconPaul and a few others contribute regular patches to SurgeXT; They've also got a Discord server should you be interested. For anyone curious enough to dare doing it, drop your patch offering/s in the "Surge Content Sharing room. If your patch is shockingly out-of-box enough, it just may be plucked into a future release?
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
If you don't mind a moving day in the caves or a plinking moving pad, BP's got you covered.
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
Although as it now, the patch library for Surge at installation's just insane; Something on the order of 3000+ patches from all sorts of people?
Very helpful! Just started out with using synths. Although the UI is self explanatory (for an electrical engineer anyway), this video covers everything that would otherwise take so much time to figure out. Thanks for taking the effort to make it!
Great video! I have been using Surge with VCV Rack for about a year and love the modules but this is a gamechanger! Awesome1
I've never used a synthesizer in my life before. But literally... for someone who has never used one before... this is a monster hahaha. I'm amazed by how many buttons there are. You could create anything you want with this if you understand how it works. I'm a noob so it's hard for me but with just playing around with it I'll get a long way.
@cloudthief8918
Жыл бұрын
Same here. The only one I've ever used is the stock synth in Waveform 11 and that's simple compared to surge 🥲
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
Peaceful monster - or war room monster; Take your pick...
Thanks for the video. The LFOs now have separately addressable outputs for the entire modulator, the raw shape, and just the EG.
Thanks Garron again for this video. It is comparable to a college degree. I have learnt a lot. Cheers
@GarronsMusic
2 жыл бұрын
I’m so glad to hear that! Thank you!
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
Don't feel bad. YOu won't need the college degree (or high school diploma) for this. If it sounds good to your ear it's a definite like.
Hi. I just stumbled across Surge XT yesterday. After installing it I was really impressed, -and a little intimidated as well. After watching your video I'm even more impressed but not as intimidated. Thank you for taking the time and energy to help other people finding their way around this amazing piece of free software. I really appreciate it. 🙌
@GarronsMusic
Жыл бұрын
❤️
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
This synth will take time to swallow.
Thanks for the video, man, I'm starting on sound design and this is extra helpful. I just realized that I don't need to buy any of those riser VSTs to have a riser that adapts to the song's timing because I can just time anything musically on Surge, just set the amp to immediate attack, full sustain and immediate release and LFO the gain to a musically timed saw shape(deformed to a smoothed curve I stead of the linear) on inverse motion. I guess you saved me some bucks so take my like and sub.
dude, holy shit, thank you
Thanks to you and Venus Theory, I'm gonna save a lot of $! I was planning on buying a Hydrasynth Explorer, but Surge XT does even more! I just like creating sounds. (Bought a really nice laptop with 16 gigs of RAM for cheap. Surge runs smooth on it.) Thanks so much!
Thanks to Surge XT, I turned my wife's Casio CTK-710 into a Moog!
This soft synth is together with vital a real synth-marketplace-crusher... - Thanks for this most complete tutorial. cheers*
OMG THANK YOU!!!! 🥰🥰🥰😍😍😍😘😘😘😘 very helpful video THANKKKKK YOOOOUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for these videos, man!! I've watched the previous surge video/movie, and I'm watching this one from start to finish because I think they are super interesting. I like the way you explain things
@GarronsMusic
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much! So glad to hear that!
great video
The Window-thing looks and sounds kind of like what Bazille's Fractalize-thing do, this is the first time I see that Fractilize-thing in a plugin other than Bazille, it kind of Sync-ish sounding but still a different flavor, which I think is nice.
@dudearlo
Жыл бұрын
Oooooo I remember Bazille. I was using the beta for the longest time xD Ended up picking up Cardinal to get my free modular synth fix
Very good and clear walkthrough! Its unfortunte that (at 22:00) the waveform display doesn't show the modulation of the wave, so _what you see_ is no longer _what you hear_ as soon as you use LFOs, etc. But surge seems so mighty, that I still want to continue watching/learning.
I have to say tht I have been trying different daws and instruments for some time now and also mainly on linux but couldny get this to load on my latest distro. I finally went back to an old windows laptop and managed to load it straight away onto my waveform daw. Convinced I now need very little else to have a full working setup. Half way through watching this but thanks again.
Roger Linn sent me here (indirectly) :) I have a Linnstrument and I'm looking forward to trying Surge in MPE mode with that. Thank you, this was a really comprehensive video! I have just a handful of extra questions, but I'll check out the manual.
@BlindLibrary
Жыл бұрын
Manual should have you covered. Otherwise me and other Discordians on the SurgeSynthTeam server can help you become a... SurgeonXT!
Thx brother
The Almighty Emperor of Freeware Synths. The features set is frankly insane, unbeliavable, and you can spend a lifetime creating new sounds every hour of a day (also avoiding the import of new waves). With the massive voice stack and detune for each oscillator, and two layers, immensely fat pads, textures etc are easy to create. The modulation options are insane too, with tons of highly configurable LFOs/MSEGs/Step Seqs etc. And all of this is freeware, high quality and very CPU efficient. Totally overkill. The only (light) downside are the effects (imho) : lots of them are far from top notch, and act weird, with confusing controls (no big deal... I use external effects and I am done).
golden
wow what a brilliant presentation. Thanks again - I finally found a great vst that does it all. Heading to your track put together. Can you point me to the putting it together as a song etc. Had a look on your site but cant see which one it is.
The only thing Ive been having problems with so far (other than the wave shaper type menu not staying open) is the MPE aftertouch setting is just way too sensitive with my controllers and midi keyboards. I cant figure out how to turn down the sensitivity and even when I barely press a key or pad it just uncontrollably cycles through like 9 or waves at once at a very rapid pace like a second or something. I tried uninstalling reinstalling but it’s still going crazy . It’s actually better for me when I disable after touch on my controllers because that way it at least stays on one wave shape instead of going crazy hyper cycle mode.
I just downloaded this and im a complete noob so i was very lost haha u saved me thank u so muuuch
Hi Garran, thanks for a great video, you've saved us hours of head scratching.I used to use surge in GarageBand on my Imac some years ago but I've had a new Imac now. Do you know if you can install surge XT as a plug-in into GarageBand anymore on the latest Imacs? I can't seem to access it from the plugins menu in GarageBand anymore ?
Thanks
@GarronsMusic
Жыл бұрын
THANK YOU!!!
The MPE is a riot with a Jamstick Studio midi guitar.😁🎵🎸🎹🎶Play On
Thanks a lot one more time... 😄
@GarronsMusic
Жыл бұрын
Thank you so much!!
best movie remake !
Surge XT is the only synth you need.