ROUNDS Explained

Synth guru Scottie Dugan brings you a series on the amazing Native Instruments ROUNDS virtual synth! If you’re dizzy with all the features and options this powerful synth offers, Scottie stops your spinning and breaks it all down simply, while getting in-depth with his top-notch videos.

Videos
Introduction (04:16) - Say hello to ROUNDS. She can be nice or mean depending on which side you're on... the analog side or digital side. In this video we’ll get you up and running, make introductions and take a look at just a few presets.
Analog Synthesizer (07:02) - This is the nice side. Warm and fuzzy. We have a two oscillator subtractive synth. There’s everything you would need to create an analog sound. Standard wave forms, a great filter section and some great modulation routings.
FM Synthesizer (05:55) - Moving the the opposite side of the spectrum we have a three oscillator FM synth. FM can get very complex but ROUNDS' interface makes it easy. We can get those bell like piano sounds all the way to aggressive lead or bass sounds. For such a simple setup this synth can get down right mean and nasty.
FX Panel (04:10) - There are two built in effects. Reverb and Delay. Now I’m pretty picky about the two when it comes to synth world. If it’s too clean it just doesn’t wound right. I think the guys at NI made some really nice built in effects. They can be clean but they can also sound very warm and natural. Great for synths.
Voice Mode (06:35) - Now that we know how to create different sounds using both Synth types, let’s learn how to trigger all those different sounds. There are five different sections of the Voice Programmer that will let us do just that. Voice Mode tells ROUNDS how to allocate notes to the individual Sound Cells. We also have options when it comes to playing chords.
Progress Mode (04:10) - So we have our different Cells being triggered. Now let’s take a look at how to progress though the eight Blocks. It can be based on time or we can sync it to our DAWs playback.
Sound Blocks & Cells (01:48) - We've been using these just a bit in the previous videos but now it’s time to get formally acquainted. Let’s check out the heart of the Voice Programmer and how we set it up.
Morph Controls (06:04) - Not only can we trigger the different sound in different Cells. We can also morph between them. Many previous synths have attempted this feature but I think ROUNDS has got it right when it comes to being musical. Morphing allows everything from very subtle movement to drastic sequencing.
Sound Bar (02:33) - In the last section of the Voice Programmer is were we can make those Cell assignments, select sounds to edit and also copy and past sounds to other instances.
Control Page (08:11) - Finally, let’s take a look at how to play this Synth. There are some really intuitive features in this section. We can use Multi-Edit to make changes across all instances of the Analog or Digital synth. We can also use Macros to clean up the interface and utilize the Remote Octave make performing a breeze.