One Trick Pony really – Title says it all

I was messing around with the pitch shifter module linked up to a sequencer / clock divider. Somehow I came across this setting, and instantly recognized the pattern. The title says it all. This patch gets pretty close to the main synth line effect from Darude’s Sandstorm.

Middle FSw – switches between tap tempo control and an LFO set to 136bpm (sandstorm tempo)

Left FSw – tap tempo control

Notes – I set the distortion / fuzz modules at random. The tone from Darude’s synth arp could likely be nailed with some different combination of effects in the chain. For now this sounds decent.

I set my guitar on the neck pickup, and the tab in the image is meant as a reference. I use my pick on the 9th fret D string, and finger pick the 12th on the B. Experiment with the rhythm to nail the sound of Sandstorm. The 12 fret natural harmonic on the B string sounds good for the intro as well.

This patch produces such a signature sound, it likely only has a single purpose. For playing Sandstorm on guitar. There are likely redundancies in this patch, (stereo) as I am building an entirely different patch, and stumbled upon this along the way.

Feel free to use this as a starting ground, and while gimmicky, sandstorm could make for a light hearted track to rock live. I’m sure it’s good for a chuckle or two in the crowd.

-Enjoy-

note: alternatively you could bypass, or remove the dist modules + cab sims and use guitar vst’s within your daw for greater tone control. I have an alternate patch without those modules I could upload if anyone is interested. This is also the reason as to why I have stereo outputs. (Separate VST’s on each channel – balanced the spread/levels between L / R)