Does anybody know how to make the drop lead sound of Tchami's Afterlife?

 

It's pretty simple but it relies entirely on how you treat the sound afterwards to get that big wedge sound.

I would try getting a one shot sample of a high velocity, relatively low note on a piano or similar (look at the DX piano or EP sounds as a guide) Put this into a sampler in your DAW. Move the sample start time forwards to remove the initial transient / hammer sound. Think about applying an envelope to the amplitude to control the length of this sound & probably make sure that it's only triggering a single voice at a time. This should give you a good starting place for the top layer.

Next you want to layer some low end content. You could use a simple sine wave, making sure to match the amp envelope of this sound to your top layer (try low attack mid decay no sustain and a little release for both) You could alternatively try using a saw or triangle that is filtered with a shorter envelope instead of a sine.

The last layer can be achieved with another synth. You want to make a mono sound & transpose it up by 7 or 19 semi tones apply unison (for stacked width / chorusing effect) and portamento / glide. Possibly give more release here. I would use an FM synth for this sound too as it appears to have a lot of high mid content.

After you have done this you will want to add tasteful amounts of saturation to each layer individually and then buss / group them together. Apply some dynamic control to this buss and eventually some subtle maximization & limiting. I should probably mention a short roomy reverb and an even quieter hall could be added at some stage to give it some more depth if you feel it needs it.

The unison on the portamento lead should take care of most of the width although you will increasingly notice stereo width on sub content nowadays so feel free to apply some subtle width effects to all the layers if you feel they need it. Some effects will work better than others here but it's entirely down to how concerned you are with mono compatibility (if you aren't cutting it to vinyl then don't worry too much if the sound is good to you)

Hopefully that will guide you towards the sound you're looking for without fully holding your hand or offering you a bunch of presets..

Enjoy crafting!

 

Just click here

 

I would say FM + layered percussion would come really close.
Reminded me of this (or similar tracks from the same album):

 

If it is presets you are looking for rather than a guide I created some patches for NI Massive a year or two ago that get fairly close to this sound (I was looking at an Oliver Heldens track at the time but they are really similar).

If you have massive and would like them I can post them here for you..