Remaking the lead synth from the 1994 song "Poison" by The Prodigy can be an exciting challenge for any synthesizer enthusiast. Here’s how you can create the "Poison" lead patch and play this iconic sound on most hardware or software subtractive synthesizers (Serum, Vital, Pigments, Prophet, Korg, Moog, etc). We've included the preset download directly for your convenience, but we strongly recommend you use our programming tutorial to recreate it yourself.
Original Audio
The Prodigy’s 1995 track “Poison” features a piercing, resonant lead synth that defines its aggressive acid house aesthetic. This gritty, squelchy lead enters prominently at 0:40, delivering sharp tones that cut through the track’s breakbeat-driven rhythm. Its aggressive character stems from oscillator sync and aggressively fast pitch modulation.
Original Performing Instrument
Korg Prophecy
Our Remake of The Lead Synth
This audio clip is how close we've matched the original tone of the lead synth from the song "Poison" by The Prodigy, giving you a reference point as you design your own synthesizer preset. Play it as often as you need to familiarize yourself with the nuances of the sound.
Synth Patch Programming Recipe
Getting Started
- Start by initializing your synthesizer to a plain saw with no filter, modulation or effects. For soft synths use the "init"/"default" preset or the the button to reset all parameters to their default factory values.
- No two synths are exactly alike, so treat the values below as approximate, and use your ear.
- Percentage values (e.g. 50%) represent the relative position of a knob or slider within its full range. The full range of each parameter may differ from synth to synth, so use your ear.
Voices
- Voice Mode: Mono
Amp Envelope
- Attack: 0 ms
- Sustain: 100%
- Release: 20 ms
Oscillators
- Sync: On
- Leader
- Volume: 0%
- Follower
- Waveform: Pulse
- Pulse Width: 100%
- Pitch: +27 Semitones
- Volume: 100%
Filter
- Type: Low Pass
- Cutoff: 85%
Modulation Envelope
- Destination: Follower Pitch
- Modulation Amount: 18 Semitones
- Attack: 0 ms
- Decay: 50 ms
- Sustain: 0%
Note: the patch settings may slightly differ in the Syntorial challenge.
Explore More
- Recreating The Prodigy’s synth sounds on the original hardware (CDM)
- Nord User Forum: Recreating Prodigy lead sounds (discussion on pulse/sine combinations)
- Poison-202 Synthesizer (Jim Pavloff’s site for Prodigy-style recreations)
- The Prodigy “We Eat Rhythm” recreated on Poison-202 (YouTube)
*Note: While direct references to “Poison” are limited in the provided sources, these resources address Prodigy’s signature acid/lead synthesis techniques using TB-303, JD-800, and Poison-202, which are applicable to recreating similar gritty synth sounds.*
Preset Downloads
Don't want to learn synth programming now? Use our synth preset as your starting point and tweak it from there. Register an account with Audible Genius and download the presets for free for the following synths:
- Primer, our free synthesizer VST
Comments
This recipe is the result of a Syntorial community preset remake request. Need support remaking this sound? Have comments?
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