I'm trying to get a nice long synthetic dive-bomb sound, like the one at the beginning of the Doctor Who theme. I've found several synth sounds that would do if I could figure out how to make the pitch descend. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance. :)

What synth are you trying to program this with?

Bob Bone

Pitch Bend or Pitch Envelope should get you there

@Bob I've been trying it with different synths, most recently NI's Massive. Also thought about starting with guitar and running it through some effects like ring mod, etc. Pitch Envelope is what I was looking for, but I can't seem to find it in Sonar X2. I remember being able to right-click on a track and have a menu option to insert an envelope, but now I can't find insert envelope at all. Have they moved it, or am I just brain-fried?

Phoenix, try this.

In PR View, down at the bottom where the controller pane is, click on the little plus sign which more than likely currently reads 'velocity'

In the dialog box that opens up, select 'Wheel'.

This will now let you do an up or down pitch bend, but the RANGE of the bend must be set in the synth you'e using

Most synths default to something like 2 semitones, and some only let you set a small range, like 4 or 6, but other let you select anything up to 2 octaves.

You can then draw your bends in direclty in the controller pane, or you can practice using the mod wheel on your hardware synth, and when you've got it right, just record the pitch wheel movements.

Remember to reset it back to zero when moving from one phrase to the next or your next phrase will start at the wrong note.

Which doctor who theme do you have in mind?
Post a link if you can find it on youtube. This one ?

Steve

This is the one I was asked for: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73DdgVZ9AcU Not necessary to duplicate exactly, just come close. :)

That sounds more like an LFO sweep to me like used in analog synthesis more than a pitchbend???

Might be, that sound or variations thereof has been in every Dr. Who theme, and the earlier ones were almost certainly LFO sweeps. But I don't think I have to duplicate it entirely. A bit of experimentation leads me to think I can get close enough for my client's purposes using the wheel and the right synth (FM8n, Rapture, and Dimension are the easiest ones I have to adjust the pitch bend range), possibly multiple tracks to fatten it up. Oh yeah, and extra added distortion from Amplitube. I'll still be interested if anyone has any other ideas to try, though, just in case, and to satisfy my own curiosity. Thanks, all. :)

Ah the theme "sting"...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/sounds/index.shtml