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Curve Sound Designers

Curve's shared Preset Library is packed with great sounds by well-known preset designers and skilled users.

Here, we introduce you to some of the people who contribute their skills and help to shape the sound of Curve.

As with all of Curve's sounds, their sounds are free to all users, even if you're using the demo version only.

February 7, 2015

Beautiful keys and deep chords: Earworm's sounds for Curve 2

Earworm's rich and detailed presets are always a huge enrichment to the community. With great love to detail he created many beautiful sounds, including a collection of great key sounds and some fantastic deep chords.
Cableguys: Please tell us shortly how long you are making music and when you have started to design sounds?
Earworm: I play guitar (badly — damn these stubby fingers!) since I was a kid and got interested in the weird and wonderful world of sound design about five years ago.

What do you like most about Curve 2 and what makes it unique in your opinion?
The online preset database is a neat idea. I like to use Curve for pads, stabs, dub effects, wub wub basses, electric pianos, bells, choirs — everything!

Which of your own presets is your favorite?
Not exactly a single preset, but I'm pleased with the trick I discovered for building chorded patches of up to six notes. I turned each oscillator into an interval by drawing and mixing "mutli-duty-cycle" waveforms. Do that with each oscillator and then tune them relatively to one another and it's possible to get some quite complex chords. Have a look at, for example, "Chord - Deep Ninth" in the preset database.

Do you have any suggestion to users of Curve 2?
Try turning something up to eleven, try extreme settings that ought not to work — sometimes they do!

Experiment with different filters types in parallel, in series, different filters on different oscillators, the same filter in parallel but with opposite modulation, or with high resonance and offset cutoff for formants.

And check Sound on Sound's "Synth Secrets" — it is well worth a read for those interested in an analytical approach to sound design.

Last but not least: Upload your best presets to the database!


Listen to Earworm's presets. Everything is the unchanged sound of Curve, even the drums, without any additional effects:

August 19, 2014

Qwertybob: Winner of the Curve 2 Sound Design Challenge

Complex, deep and huge creative possibilities — the Jury praises Underground Electronics, the winner preset of the Curve 2 Sound Design Challenge. Its creator Stephen Builta aka Qwertybob is a long-time Curve user, who continuously shares his presets with the community. We asked him how he came to work with Curve 2.
Cableguys: Hi Stephen, when did you start making music and creating sounds?
Stephen Builta: My background is mainly in classical piano due to childhood piano lessons (thank you Mom and Dad!). During the same time I avidly enjoyed video games and the chippy electronic sounds stuck in my head like glue. I found out about VST instruments while exploring MIDI files on the computer and slowly worked my way to using them.

How did you come to work with Curve 2?
The idea of editable curves for use as oscillators grabbed my attention at first, but the integration with the "LFOs" (not really "low frequency" as they are tunable up to kHz!) is what I liked the most.
And I love to browse through the presets to see the unique ways other users utilize Curve 2. Seeing the secrets of a preset in Edit mode jogs my creativity and clues me in on useful techniques for working with the synthesizer.

Your preset "Undergrounds Electronic" is a very complex and deep sound. What was your idea behind it?
I really wanted to push Curve 2 to its limits and see what I could get — to make a preset where I could spend significant time playing with the macro knobs and still discover new sounds.

Do you have any suggestion to users of Curve 2?
Play with the curves. Apply liberal use of the modulation matrix and the macro knobs. Sometimes changing multiple things at a time can trigger new ideas. Stretch the limits of the synthesizer, your own imagination, and don't forget to have fun!

June 15, 2014

Multi-layered melodies and complex rhythms: David F on his new sounds for Curve 2

Curve 2's shared Preset Library is enriched by new great sounds from David F, a hobbyist sound designer who continuously shares his fantastic presets with the Curve community.
Cableguys: Hello David, how long are you making music?
David F: I started making music with ReBirth last century and I remember how glad I felt when my friends were listening to my first track — which was basically a single loop of a TB-303 sound playing for 20 minutes!

What do you like most about Curve 2 and what makes it unique in your opinion?
Well, I'm a 3d designer so I spend my days pushing points an pulling curves. So when I say Curve it felt like home :) Seriously, I love that you can draw precisely what you want, and that you can do that basically for everything. Having the ability to test the sound of a waveform in real time it fantastic.

For what kind of sounds do you prefer to use Curve 2?
I like the screaming FM sounds you can get when you choose the right oscillator shape. And the multi-point LFOs are great to create complex rhythms, many-faceted synthlines and even drumloops.

Which of your new presets is your favorite?
My favorite preset is probably "I used to be a hero" — a complex synthline. It expresses anger and sadness which are two feelings I really like to mix together in my music. I used two LFOs linked to the oscillators' pitches to create its melody.

Do you have any suggestion to users of Curve 2?
This synth is not like the usual VA. Curve is about... curves. So play with them, move their waveform points while the sound is playing to find the sweet spot! And create crazy LFOs!

April 23, 2014

Synthesist Michael Kastrup: New sounds for Curve 2

Michael Kastrup's creations reflect his knowledge about decades of synthesizer and keyboard sounds, giving you beautiful classic synth sounds and some fantastic rich pads with a lot of motion.
Cableguys: Hello Michael Kastrup. Where do you come from and since when are you designing sounds?
Michael Kastrup: I am a synthesist from Denmark and started working as a sound designer in the late 80's when studios began to implement advanced synthesizers like Korg M1, Roland D-50 and Yamaha DX7.

What do you like most about Curve 2 and what makes it unique in your opinion?
Today's modern music making requires tight and interesting modulation. Curve 2 is perfect for that, with more options than most other synthesizers.

Which one of the new presets is your favorite?
"E-Motion" is my favorite because there is lots of motion in it. It uses keytrack to speed up the LFOs as you play higher notes, which adds this special touch.

Do you have any suggestion to users of Curve 2?
Curve 2 is perfect for experimenting with sound: Often the real interesting modulation happens when you combine 2 or more LFOs at different settings on the same target. You won't always be able to predict the outcome and that's the fun with it!


Listen to Michael Kastrup's new presets, including his beautiful pad "E-Motion":

April 14, 2014

Striking pads and lead sounds: Xenos' new sounds for Curve 2

Xenos Soundworks created some beautiful deep atmospheric pads and striking lead sounds, letting his preferences for FM synthesis shine through.
Cableguys: Hello Xenos. How long have you been making music?
Xenos: I had about 18 years hobbyist experience as a synth programmer before getting my start professionally back in 2006. My first real keyboard was a Yamaha DX100 my mum got me for my 10th birthday, and I learned my way around FM synthesis from a very early age.

What style of sounds do you prefer?
As FM was the very first synthesis type I learned, it definitely influenced my style and sound. I would describe it as being very tonal and precise, with a tendency towards more stark and gritty textures. However, when I first got my hands on a non-FM synth (Roland JX8P), I was like "WOW!" It sounded so smooth and organic. I had never seen filters before then, and was surprised how the sound could be so dramatically changed with something so simple. A VA synth just has a character you simply cannot get from an FM synth. That had quite a big effect on my style as well.

What do you like most about Curve 2 and what makes it unique in your opinion?
What I like most about Curve 2 is the ability to use your custom waveforms as LFOs. Its FM synthesis parameters are great for adding an icy touch to your sound. If you're into Dubstep, FM is definitely your friend. It's how you get those robotic, aggressive basses.

Do you have any suggestions for users of Curve 2?
Take a Dubstep bass, automate Curve's Macros, and you have the twisting, warbling, morphing basslines we all love. There's another aspect of Curve 2 that deserves a mention: Thanks to the ability to draw complex waveshapes and use them as LFOs, it's a GREAT choice for making moving, evolving pads, soundscapes and atmospheres. You can stack 4 LFOs at once, each having a custom built shape, and create complicated rhythmic sequences that loop across several bars.

February 13, 2014

Crazy patterns and synthlines: EdT on his new sounds for Curve 2

Ed Ten Eyck's trademark are unique rhythmical and melodic synthlines that take full advantage of Curve's freely editable LFOs and envelopes.
Cableguys: Hello Ed Ten Eyck. How long have you been making music?
Ed Ten Eyck: Hi. I've been making music since 1985. Through the years I have made presets for hardware synths (Juno-106 and Wavestation), but switched over to creating on virtual synths in 2010.

What do you like most about Curve 2 and what makes it unique in your opinion?
The thing I like the most about Curve 2 is that I can draw my own waves. The ability to use these waves as OSCs and LFOs makes it unique. It's quite flexible and a great way to get inspired.

For what kind of sounds do you prefer Curve 2?
Rhythmic, synthline and bassline sounds are my favorite with Curve2. Layering them can produce some interesting grooves.

Which one of the presets you have just uploaded is your favorite?
Mantis Groove. It's fun to experiment making glitchy patterns with it in the DAW vs. just holding a note for the whole bar. Filter and resonance are assigned to the modwheel which is useful for effect.

Do you have any suggestions for users of Curve 2?
Try using fast fixed sync LFOs to modulate filter cutoff and resonance for interesting tones. Use LFO 3 or 4 for fixed syncs, and you still have LFO 1 and 2 open for beat retriggering.


If you want to listen to EdT's typical glitchy patterns in action, listen to this track, including his new presets "Mantis Groove", "Sawpan" and "Biperc":

Want to check out their sounds?

Just open Curve 2, hit Sync from the options menu and they will be added to Curve's Preset Library—even if you're running the demo version only.