19-04-2014, 09:17 PM
No problem! I used distortion in parallel all the time on synths of this kind that have so few harmonics. You'll find that the extra harmonics give you a whole lot more power in shaping the sound with EQ if you're going for more edge, more warmth, more welly, more anything. Just send the combined signal to a stereo bus and EQ it to taste!
Modulation effects like choruses, flangers, and phasers are also good tools for getting synths to sound wider, because they alter the harmonics in a pattern. Stereo widening tricks pay the bills, too... try duplicating a synth track you want to sound bigger, and insert graphic equalizers on each. Boost every other band all the way and cut the remaining bands all the way on the first one, and use the exact opposite settings on the duplicate track, and pan them about 20% in opposition. Since either track is going to have a significantly different sonic character, and contrast is the key to wideness, this has the effect of making the synth sound muuuuch bigger than it is... and added bonus is that since the EQ settings are opposite, when collapsed to mono the effects effectively cancel eachother out, so although you lose the wideness, the tone and volume don't appreciably change, so your balance will remain untouched. I used this trick on my mix of human mistakes (the lead synth line during the choruses) if you want to hear what this might sound like. It only works for synths in my opinion, though... for more natural instruments or vocals you're better off using a pitch shifting based technique. Hope that's useful!
Modulation effects like choruses, flangers, and phasers are also good tools for getting synths to sound wider, because they alter the harmonics in a pattern. Stereo widening tricks pay the bills, too... try duplicating a synth track you want to sound bigger, and insert graphic equalizers on each. Boost every other band all the way and cut the remaining bands all the way on the first one, and use the exact opposite settings on the duplicate track, and pan them about 20% in opposition. Since either track is going to have a significantly different sonic character, and contrast is the key to wideness, this has the effect of making the synth sound muuuuch bigger than it is... and added bonus is that since the EQ settings are opposite, when collapsed to mono the effects effectively cancel eachother out, so although you lose the wideness, the tone and volume don't appreciably change, so your balance will remain untouched. I used this trick on my mix of human mistakes (the lead synth line during the choruses) if you want to hear what this might sound like. It only works for synths in my opinion, though... for more natural instruments or vocals you're better off using a pitch shifting based technique. Hope that's useful!
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!