Hello everyone, today I will show you how to make the glorious, mythical, elusive THX intro riser with a synth. I will use Vital here because of its VITAL synthesis capabilities. We will also use additive synthesis that isn't limited to boring sine waves, we will use additive synthesis with SAW waves. You don't even have to pay a penny for this. You will NOT use filters here, filters are for the WEAK who only know how to use subtractive synthesis.

First, you need to open Vital. Then, you look at the first oscillator; it's lonely, depressed, anti-social, the initial patch has been like this for years now and the poor thing still did not get a friend. So we will force the saw wave to have FRIENDS. Up the voice unison to eight. Now the saw wave has 7 friends to hang out with. The oscillator becomes a small choir. But it only sounds like a choir. We want the THX RISER. This oscillator sounds too conventional, too boring, not discordant enough.

Second, we now go to the ADVANCED tab. Yes, ADVANCED; because we will change the OSC1 unison stack option from "Unison" to "Harmonics". This is proof Vital possesses additive synthesis capabilities capable of materializing discordant sounds on demand. But wait, we all know that the THX intro riser sound EVOLVES. It's NOT STATIC, it's an entire village of voices trying to be as loud as possible but somehow not get loud. Our goal here is to make the sound EVOLVE like the THX.

Third, you look at one of the LFOs and change the mode to "Envelope". The LFO naming is merely a suggestion. Then, because the THX riser takes some time to evolve, the tempo needs to be 4/1. We can NOT jump scare the listener. Also, make sure the LFO go up linearly.

Fourth, you now use the LFO, or envelope? Well, LFO... actually no, it's an envelope where you can change values and delta times precisely. That's what it is. Anyways, you route the LFO to the detune range in the advanced tab of OSC1. The detune range shall evolve from the puny value of 0 (ZERO!) to 48 in a span of only 4 bars.

Finally, just hold down a note and BOOM. OH NO, it ends abruptly too, make sure to have a HIGH release in the volume envelope. That way your listener will NOT be jump scared by the sudden end of the THX mighty discordant riser.

And you can have the Vital patch I made that sounds like the mythical THX right here (Okay, maybe not exactly, but it has the same FEELING): https://www.mediafire.com/file/9v9csh5c6mh8sk0/THX_Riser.vital/file

 

THX sound effect can be found in the YAMAHA MOTIF XF library in category effects or musical effects. i love that sound

 

A fun read to anyone into sound design, I loved the casual character of the writing

 

For those interested, the sound is called "Deep Note" and it's by James Moorer for THX. There was a two-show special on "20 Thousand Hertz" with him explaining how this sound came about. Must listen for anybody into sound design with computers!

The THX Deep Note: From chaos to cinematic legend
THX Deep Note Part 2: How a lost file shaped movie history

It's a good podcast otherwise too, can recommend.

 

Thanks for the tutorial!

 

if you dont do it exactly like it was done with the originals, it is not the deep note.

"fiddle with the LFO and then go boom" will probably not get anyone there.

 

Last edited: Jul 7, 2026

If you have the old Tone2 Gladiator. the default opening preset ""Welcome" is a good one to try also for that THX sweep..

 

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