How do I recreate The Crystal Method's Busy Child Siren Sound?

Hi! I’m fairly new to Sonic Pi, and I’ve recently begun an attempt at recreating the song Busy Child, by The Crystal Method, with a few of my own additions. I’ve finished most of it, but I can’t nail the dub siren sound effect. So far, I’ve had to use a siren effect I found elsewhere on this site, but it doesn’t sound anything like in the song, despite my modifications:

set_mixer_control! amp: 1

slider = 1

chords= (scale :e3, :minor_pentatonic)
chords = (ring :c4)


live_loop :siren do
  c=chords.tick
  use_synth_defaults amp: 0.5, cutoff: 100, env_curve: 2
  siren = synth :tb303,  note: c, note_slide: slider, sustain: slider
  sleep 0.25
  control siren, note: c+12
  sleep 1
end

This sounds absolutely awful. I’ve used tb303 for the synth because I couldn’t think of anything better, but it just doesn’t work. Does anyone have any suggestions to recreate the original sound, or at least come close? As an aside, can anyone tell me what synth would be best for the sound effect starting 18 seconds into the song?

The link doesn’t work for me (it says Video Unavailable), but I found this which I assume is the same, although the timing must be a bit different since what I assume is the siren sound effect starts around 31 seconds.

I had a little play around and came up with something. I wouldn’t say I’ve nailed it, but maybe it sounds a little closer?

live_loop :siren do
  c = :c5
  use_synth_defaults amp: 0.5, cutoff: 100, env_curve: 2
  siren = synth :hollow, note: c, norm: 1, noise: 2, note_slide: 0.25, sustain: 1
  sleep 0.25
  control siren, note: c+12
  sleep 2
end

Yes, that does sound much better. Thank you! I don’t think hollow is the best synth for the sound, but it’s much better than tb303. The song you found is the same; I had been mentioning the other sound effect starting at 18 seconds, some sort of bass sound I can’t really describe. Thank you for your help!

1 Like

Erm… something like this?

Eli…

set_mixer_control! amp: 1

with_fx :whammy do
  
  live_loop :veep do
    c = :a1
    use_synth_defaults amp: 0.5, cutoff: 50, env_curve: 2
    siren = synth :fm, detune: 5,note: c, note_slide: 0.25, sustain: 0.5
    sleep 0.0625
    control siren, note: c+3
    sleep 0.0625
    control siren, note: c+6
    sleep 0.0625
    control siren, note: c+9
    sleep 0.0625
    control siren, note: c+6
    sleep 2
  end
end

That sounds similar, yeah. I think I’ve got it now, but thanks anyways!