Dissect the preset: FORM – Long Beat

In the second part of a new series of videos, Native Instruments helps you get a better understanding of digital synths by looking at the presets that have been custom designed for them. Product Expert Matt Cellitti, takes a deeper look into FORM, pulling apart the Long Beat patch, showing how it can turn every day organic sounds into more complex, and random effects.

FORM is a unique sample-based synthesizer that is great for sparking musical ideas the moment you load up a preset. This is due in large part because of how the engine can manipulate the sample it utilizes for sound creation. Even the most bland, boring audio files can be moulded into wild new sounds with very little tweaking.

The FORM preset Long Beat exemplifies this last point perfectly. Starting with what sounds like a lo-fi recording of someone tapping on an aluminium water bottle, the preset completely reconstructs that plain sample into a moody, percussive loop which instantly evokes a dark mood.

The Long Beat patch also utilizes an often overlooked function of FORM: the ability to layer multiple sub-presets of the same sample, each with different parameter settings and motion curves. Imagine different motions controlling direction, speed, and shape of how the sample is being played back, and then being able to stack these all together in one patch.

Download free FORM demo