Nord User Forum

Hey all,

My band is doing a Led Zeppelin IV album cover show and I'm having a heck of a time mimicking the synth sound on Four Sticks.
John Paul Jones uses an EMS VCS3 in this song.
Hoping to find a way to mimic that sound that starts 3 mins in.

Thank you!

Working purely by ear here, since I'm not at my instrument, but here is something in case it helps:

I mainly hear a cimbination of two layers (although there is a lot of things happening with guitars which makes this hard).

First is the sound that is also heard before the 3 mins mark. Reminds me of the Mellotron Flute. Or maybe a filtered Cello sample. Mellow and organic.

Then comes the sizzling bright part. Try high passing a lot to get rid of mids, especially lower mids. Probably don't need resonance. Combine basic waveforms like a narrower pulse and a saw at the same frequency. No unison/detune, because the sound is entirely static.

You might get a good enoug combination with the LP/HP filter jus inside one synth engine, even without using the Flute sample approach. But especially if you already had that mellower sound sorted out, just add the sizzling on top and you'll be golden.

PS.
Nailing this sound might be a tempting goal, but in reality I'm fairly confident, that your band and your audience will be happy with just something similar.

PPS.
The problem be the notes you are (or are not) playing. Not the synth programming.

PPPS.
Can you share the program (and samples) and a recording of what you have right now? Maybe people can tell you what's wrong?

This sound is basically three Oscillators tuned to a Triad. If you know somebody with a Minimoog, you can sample it yourself. Start with three Sawtooth waves, fairly bright Filter setting and some Resonance.