Drum design: synthesized snare, clap and hi-hat

Snare: anatomy

The acoustic snare drum is a membrane (tone, 150–300 Hz) plus the snare wires (noise, 2–10 kHz). In synthesis it is recreated with two components:

• Tone: one or two oscillators (sine or triangle) around 160–250 Hz, with a short pitch envelope (+3/+7 semitones falling over 10–30 ms) and decay 60–150 ms. In the TR-808 the tone comes from two oscillators tuned to different frequencies.
• Noise: white or pink, filtered HP at 1–2 kHz (or band-pass 3–6 kHz), decay 100–300 ms: this is the “snap”.
• The tone/noise ratio (the “Snappy” control on the 808) determines the character: more tone = “drum-like” snare, more noise = “sandy” snare.

Clap

The handclap is synthesized as 3–4 closely spaced noise bursts (8–15 ms apart, simulating hands that are not perfectly in sync) followed by a longer tail (noise with 100–250 ms decay), all band-pass filtered around 1–2.5 kHz. This is exactly how the clap on the TR-808 and 909 works. Typical layering: clap + snare or clap + rim to add body.

Hi-hats and cymbals

• 808 approach: six square-wave oscillators tuned inharmonically (frequencies between roughly 200 and 800 Hz, not multiples of each other), summed and band-pass/high-pass filtered around 7–10 kHz. The result is a metallic noise, more “pitched” than white noise.
• Noise approach: white noise with HP at 6–8 kHz, optionally a resonant band-pass at 9–12 kHz for a metallic character.
• FM/RM approach: two or three operators at inharmonic ratios (e.g. 1:1.41:2.23) with short decays: “digital” hats.
• Decay: closed 20–80 ms, open 200–600 ms.
• Choke: the closed hat must cut off the open one (as on a real hi-hat). In FL Studio, use the cut groups in the channel settings (Cut / Cut by): assign the same number to the open and closed hat.
• The TR-909 used (low-resolution) samples for hi-hats and cymbals, while the kick and snare were analog.

Tuning and character

• Tune the snare's tone to the key or to a chord tone (in A minor: A3 = 220 Hz, E3 = 165 Hz, C4 = 262 Hz are good choices for the tone).
• Noise has no pitch, but the band-pass filter suggests one: shift it to fit the snare to the rest.
• Tail length: in fast tracks (DnB) short tails; in ballads long tails with reverb.

Basic recipes

• 808-style snare: two sine waves 180 and 330 Hz, pitch envelope +4 semitones in 15 ms, decay 100 ms + noise HP 1.5 kHz decay 180 ms at 60%. EQ: +2 dB at 200 Hz, +3 dB at 5 kHz. Short room reverb.
• “Dry” trap snare: tone 220 Hz + very short noise (80 ms), transient shaper for the attack, clap layer.
• House clap: 4 bursts at 10 ms, tail 200 ms, BP 1.5 kHz Q 1, plate reverb 1.2 s.
• Closed hat: 6 inharmonic squares → HP 8 kHz, decay 40 ms, velocity → decay (harder hits slightly longer).

In FL Studio

Fruity DrumSynth Live (drum synth with tone and noise), 3x Osc with a noise oscillator, Sytrus, Fruity Kick for tones, FPC for playing the rendered results. Render the synthesized sounds as one-shots for your library.

Example in A minor

House beat at 124 BPM: synthesized clap (4 bursts, 180 ms tail, BP 1.8 kHz) on beats 2 and 4 layered with a rim tuned to A4; 6-square closed hat in sixteenth notes with alternating velocities; open hat on the offbeats (steps 3, 7, 11, 15) with choke from the closed hat; synthesized snare only in the fills with the tone at 220 Hz (A3).

Common mistakes

• Full-band noise: the noise's lows dirty the mix; always add an HP.
• Hats all at the same velocity and decay.
• No choke between open and closed hat: unnatural sound.

Exercise

1. Synthesize a snare, a clap and two hats from scratch and compare them with the samples from an 808 library.
2. Create three versions of your snare with a tone/noise ratio of 70/30, 50/50, 30/70 and choose one for each of three different genres.

Related topics

“Drum design: the synthesized kick”, “Layering sounds”, “Oscillator sync and ring modulation”, “Ghost notes and dynamics”.