Hoover sound refers to a particular

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

sound in

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

, commonly used in

rave techno Belgian hardcore techno (also referred to as Belgian techno or rave techno) is an early style of hardcore techno that emerged from new beat as EBM and techno influences became more prevalent in this genre. It flourished in Belgium and influence ...

hardcore techno Hardcore (also known as hardcore techno or hardcore house) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany in the early 1990s. It is distinguished by faster tempos and a distorte ...

gabber Gabber (; ) is a style of electronic dance music and a subgenre of hardcore techno, as well as the surrounding subculture. The music is more commonly referred to as Hardcore, which is characterised by fast beats, distorted & heavier kickdrums, ...

breakbeat hardcore Breakbeat hardcore (also referred to as hardcore rave or oldskool hardcore) is a music genre of the very early 1990s that spawned from the UK rave scene. It combines four-on-the-floor rhythms with breakbeats usually sampled from hip hop. In ...

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

, hard house and

hard NRG Hard NRG, NRG, nu-NRG, filthy hard house, or more recently just filth, is an electronic dance music genre similar in structure (with regard to sequencing and programming) to UK hard house. The main difference is in the musical/thematic content ...

. Originally called the ''"Mentasm"'', the name that stuck was the one likening the sound to that of a

vacuum cleaner A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum or a hoover, is a device that causes suction in order to remove dirt from floors, upholstery, draperies, and other surfaces. It is generally electrically driven. The dirt is collected by either a ...

(often referred to via the genericized trademark " hoover" in the UK and Ireland).

The sound

The Hoover is a complex

waveform In electronics, acoustics, and related fields, the waveform of a signal is the shape of its graph as a function of time, independent of its time and magnitude scales and of any displacement in time.David Crecraft, David Gorham, ''Electronic ...

that can be created with three

oscillator Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

s, each spaced an octave apart, a heavy use of

pulse-width modulation Pulse-width modulation (PWM), or pulse-duration modulation (PDM), is a method of reducing the average power delivered by an electrical signal, by effectively chopping it up into discrete parts. The average value of voltage (and current) fed ...

and a thick

chorus effect Chorus (or chorusing, choruser or chorused effect) is an audio effect that occurs when individual sounds with approximately the same time, and very similar pitches, converge. While similar sounds coming from multiple sources can occur naturally, ...

. The sound is characterised by its thick swirliness that stems from a fast LFO controlling the PWM and the chorus. It was originally created by

Eric Persing Eric Persing is an american sound designer, professional synthesist and producer based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known as the Founder and Creative Director of the music software and virtual instrument company Spectrasonics. He has ...

for the

Roland Alpha Juno The Roland Alpha Juno series of discontinued keyboards are analog polyphonic synthesizers with a digitally controlled oscillator manufactured by Roland Corporation from 1985 to 1987. Versions Two models were released in 1985: the Alpha Juno 1 (J ...

, although the term 'hoover' was not introduced by him. Roland alpha juno

It is traditionally created with the

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

Alpha Juno-2, Alpha Juno 1, or rack mount version MKS-50 synthesizer using the built-in ''What the''

patch Patch or Patches may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Patch Johnson, a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives'' * Patch (''My Little Pony''), a toy * "Patches" (Dickey Lee song), 1962 * "Patches" (Chairmen of the Board song) ...

. The hoover sound generated on these synthesizers is unique for the use of a "PWM" sawtooth wave, which inserts flat segments of variable width into a sawtooth waveform. p. 21

History and popularization

The hoover sound is believed to first have appeared in a commercial production in " Mentasm" by Second Phase (1991), produced in a collaboration between

Joey Beltram Joey Beltram (born 6 September 1971) is an American DJ and music producer, best known for his pioneering singles "Energy Flash" and "Mentasm" and for remixing Human Resource (band), Human Resource's "Dominator (Human Resource song), Dominator". ...

and Mundo Muzique, and sometimes is referred to as a "mentasm". However, mentasm normally refers to the sound sampled from this tune and re-used. This sound was widely used in

Belgian techno Belgian hardcore techno (also referred to as Belgian techno or rave techno) is an early style of hardcore techno that emerged from new beat as EBM and techno influences became more prevalent in this genre. It flourished in Belgium and influence ...

tracks of the early 1990's. Another notable example of a record using a hoover sound is " Dominator" by Dutch techno pioneers

Human Resource Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include m ...

. This track gained fame in 1991 and became a top 10 hit worldwide. Characteristic for this track was not only the hoover, but also the over-the-top rap: "I'm bigger and bolder and rougher and tougher, in other words, sucker, there is no other... I'm the one and only dominator... Wanna kiss myself!" The sound has also been used in

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

such as ''

Streets of Rage 3 ''Streets of Rage 3'' is a side-scrolling beat 'em up developed and published by Sega in 1994 for the Genesis. It is the third installment of the '' Streets of Rage'' series and the last game in the original trilogy. The game includes several ...

'', which was composed by

Yuzo Koshiro is a Japanese composer and sound programmer. He is often regarded as one of the most influential innovators in chiptune and video game music, producing music in a number of genres including rock, jazz, symphonic, and various electronic genres ...

and Motohiro Kawashima and ''

Robotron X ''Robotron X'' is a multidirectional shooter video game released by Midway Games in November 1996 for the PlayStation. It is a 3D version of the 1982 dual-stick shooter '' Robotron: 2084''. GT Interactive published a Microsoft Windows port in ...

'' by Aubrey Hodges.

Works featuring the hoover sound

References

{{Reflist

External links

A Hoover patch for Native Instrument's Massive

An original Hoover sound bank for Native Instrument's Kontakt and EXS-24

Dubspot Video Tutorial: Reverse Engineering the Hoover sound - Using The Bloody Beetroots and Steve Aoki's "Warp 1.9" as example

Reverse-engineering the rave hoover
- includes some technical analysis of the sound
A hoover by the Modor NF-1

- A Website Dedicated To The Alpha Juno-1 / Alpha Juno-2 / MKS-50 / HS-10 / HS-80 Synths ▻▻▻ Tones, Utilities, Info, DIY's and Reference Materials ◅◅◅ Electronic music