Anyone know how to create this sound ? it is used to transition between one part of the song to the other and features a rising synth sound. The sound has a lot of vibrato on it and then delay at the end of it from 1:19 to 1:26 in the video below. The Smashing Pumpkins - Zero (Official Music Video) A preset that has the sound in a popular plugin would be appreciated or details on how to create it.
That is a guitar. And a fucking crazy one. Big fan here. PS: seems he used a harmonizer or whammy (pitch fxs, by eventide or digitech). Last edited: May 5, 2026 at 5:40 PM
I think its just multitracked but something like Electro Harmonix Micro Synth might be a good call as well
That is guitar, run through a ton, from electroharmonix micro synth, eventide h3x00 series, other pedals/amps/chicanary etc... produced and recorded by Flood (with Billy) and mixed by Alan Moulder. No preset.
Yep, Billy has the most ridiculous collection of pedals and gear and 99% of everything on those first three records is some sort of guitar or a sample of a guitar (which Butch Vig broke out during Siamese Dream to help layer the 20000 guitar tracks Billy needed). I don't believe they started using synths at all until the next record, but there was mellotron on Siamese and Mellon Collie (ie: the strings in Tonight Tonight).
From an interview with Billy, referring to digitech whammy - .....there is a bunch of Whammy on the record. James uses a Whammy for his solo in "Zero." That solo happens later in the song, but is very close sonically. A compressor pedal is important here, to keep the notes sustained and present. Fuzz, Octave or Fifth, LPF to filter the top end making it overall smoother, tremolo. Double or triple tracked. I would do something like this Comp → Fuzz → Harmonizer/Whammy → LPF/EQ → Modulation → Delay → Reverb Comp to sustain the guitar into the fuzz, into pitch which will sound more synth like due to the fuzz before it, LPF to shave off the highs, making it even more synthy. From there you can experiment with modulation, phaser, tremolo, whaterver! Try picking lightly, giving the guitar even more of a synth tone. The reverb at the end of the section sort of reminds me of the EMS VCS3 Spring Reverb. absolutely insane record btw. I just listened to the whole album recently, as there was an anniversary release. Just so good.
Thanks for all the responses. Those guitar pedals are quite expensive. So it is not possible to get there or some way there with vsts ? What about using a vst like this one for the harmony aspect. Harmony at 7:30 Using MHarmonizerMB to create guitar harmony Maybe I could buy one of the pedals Billy uses that is more affordable . Big muff pi would be a pretty cool one to own in general for fuzz with many uses and i could find some other software solution for the modulation parts of it.
You can get close with VST. All of the larger amp plugins should have everything needed. The chain I posted is made using all common FX. You can also try just experimenting, I would try little alter boy for sure, both for the pitch and formant shifting and the overdrive. MHarmonizerMB is great, all the melda stuff it is. I would also make it a priority to experiment with Neural Archetype Rabea X. With its synth tracking capabilities , fuzz and compressor pedals, and some decent amps and FX. The best thing is to just experiment, aim in the general direction of what you want, but find happe accidents along the way and maybe something you like even more.
