NathanielCraiglowPatches2026

Sound Design Patches

With Crowd

For the first patch I made, this is the **With Crowd** patch. The goal of this patch is to allow audio inputs to be filtered as if they are being heard through a wall, while also having crowd density and background talking sounds.

The main feature of this patch is the click button, which enables either a predetermined MP3 or a live input. You can also plug your own input directly into the signal chain. The audio is sent through a pitch shifter, which shifts it down slightly, then through reverb and delay to make the sound feel more distant. After that, it is run through a filter and a gain control before being sent to the output.

The upper half of the patch handles the crowd sounds. You can add your own custom crowd audio, although I am currently using a generic crowd recording. The crowd audio runs through a similar filter chain, but with a different cutoff value so it remains more clear. The crowd density, or loudness, can be adjusted using a separate gain control.

The main controls of the patch are the click button, the crowd density control, and the gain control for the instrumentals. Together, these allow the user to create the effect of hearing music through a wall while a crowd talks in the background.

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Pounding on Metal Door

This patch is called **Pounding on Metal Door**. The inspiration for it came from playing the Silent Hill 2 remake and hearing the pounding sounds associated with Pyramid Head. I wanted to create a sound effect that could recreate that feeling or produce similar metallic impact sounds.

The patch works primarily through a knob that adjusts the rate of both a sine-wave LFO and a square-wave LFO. These signals are sent through a crossover with a cutoff frequency and then into a filter. Only the low band is processed through the filter before being sent through a high-pass filter.

To achieve the sound I wanted, I used an analyzer to verify the signal before sending it through a reverb module with custom settings. The main knob controls how quickly the impacts occur and effectively changes the number of pounds on the metal door.

There is not a huge amount going on in this patch, but I think it creates a very convincing sound effect. It could also be expanded by replacing the LFO controls with other inputs or by modifying the crossover settings and high-pass filtering. However, the most important component is the reverb. Adjusting the dampening and room size settings can drastically change the final character of the sound.

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Spooky Bass

The final completed patch I created is currently called **Spooky Bass**, although I would like to come up with a better name for it.

This patch is based on an early version of the With Crowd patch. While experimenting with that design, I found that removing the crowd sounds created an interesting effect, so I decided to develop it into its own patch.

The patch begins by loading an MP3 and reducing its playback rate to 0.5. This rate can also be controlled through an input if desired. Slowing the audio down is what creates the deeper sound.

The signal is then split into two paths. The upper path runs through a pitch shifter that keeps the audio relatively close to its original pitch before being sent into a filter. The lower path runs through a second pitch shifter that lowers the pitch much more significantly. This path is then processed through reverb and delay before reaching the filter.

Both signal paths are combined and sent through a gain control before reaching the output. The result is a deep, atmospheric sound that works well for darker or more ambient audio.

One limitation of the patch is that increasing the gain too much introduces distortion and artifacts. Through testing, I found that keeping the gain below approximately -35 provides the cleanest sound. Above that level, noticeable artifacts begin to appear that I was not able to fully remove.

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Time Machine (Unfinished)

The most ambitious patch I worked on was the **Time Machine** patch. Unfortunately, it remains unfinished.

The goal of the patch was to create a system that could make audio sound as though it came from a different era. This idea was controlled through two main parameters: Age and Preservation. The Age control determined how old the audio sounded, while the Preservation control determined how well the recording had been stored over time.

In theory, the concept worked well. In practice, however, it became more complicated than expected and did not fully achieve the effect I wanted.

The Age control mainly works by adjusting delay times and other processing parameters. It affects the ping-pong delay, tape delay timing, feedback values, and several additional effects. The Preservation control focuses more on degradation by stacking sounds together and creating a less organized, less pristine signal. It also interacts with reverb, dampening, drive, and hiss parameters.

The largest challenge I encountered was the lack of accessible inputs for the FIR filter. Having direct control over the FIR filter cutoff would have significantly improved the realism of the aging effect. I also wished there was a way to customize the output range of the knob controls, since they were limited to values between 0 and 1.

If I had more time, I would have added controls for the FIR filter cutoff, room characteristics, and flanger rate. However, I was unable to find a clean implementation that would not make the patch overly complicated.

Although unfinished, the Time Machine patch represents my most ambitious attempt at sound design.

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