Let’s say you have a sample pitched to the C of a real-world harp or a vocal. But why stop there? Take samples, for instance. When designing pluck sounds, it pays to think about layering up multiple synths in the creation of your final pluck. You will find them quite versatile in that sense. The beauty of synthesising a pluck is that you have absolute control over the attack and decay of the sound, and you can then use an envelope to morph your plucks into more well-defined leads, which means you can wring a great deal of arrangement potential out of just a single sound. If engineered right, however, plucks can take the form of a lead. The key here comes in understanding that these sounds are not fully sustained in the same way that a lead instrument might be.
Plucked guitar and other string instruments are perfect examples of the science behind this term. Though you might initially think that the term ‘pluck’ will refer to a sound that replicates the playing of stringed instruments, in actuality they are synth-based lead sounds though with a similar short (but not instant) attack and medium decay to their acoustic namesakes. The job of the vanilla pluck is to bolster leads and grooves. Stabs are chordal one-shots, often fifth, seventh or ninth chords, and are synonymous with house and techno music. In basic terms though, an arpeggiator consists of repeated often 1/16 notes but can be quicker or slower depending on the energy you want to exude. What defines these forms is up for debate. Plucking up the courageĭespite the pluck’s prevalence in melodic techno, the sound lends itself to all manner of genres, and appears in multiple forms. Plucks are also useful for playing trills and bringing excitement to your chord voicing. They also work well as one-shot melodies, perhaps intermingled around with three or four other melodies, complete with reverb and delay across the bar to create powerful variations. Plucks can be used as single-note grooves to slap on some additional funk flavour or as arpeggiators to give listeners the full trance experience.
Often heard scattered among the genre’s distinctive fluttering beats and driving bass lines, plucks really help in crystallising a track’s sound and applying a final layer of vim and vigour.
Melodic techno would be nowhere without plucks.
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