Seriously, even if you gave more info I wouldn't be able to help. But yeah, example or something?

Once the drums kick in, you can hear a underlying synth....through the whole song, its just noticeable but even more so when you take it away... I have done the drums but struggling to re-create the synth.

Good luck dude.
Sounds to me like a cross between a DJ and a Theremin.

Are they plugin types? =/

Hmm god knows how the other guy did it then he seemed to know what direction to head in.

Not that I know of.

Well its deffinately created via a synth in midi for sure... theres no way it would be an instrument making the sound.

lol @ sirchick - "created via a synth in midi". Take a hammond organ, run it through some effects and some verb and you would be damn close.

This isn't that hard. You can hear the sound the best at the end of the song.

This kind of sound is what commonly falls under a synth category called a "pad". If you've got a VSTi that has sounds stored in categories scroll through the pads and find something that tickles your fancy. This particular one has an organ tone to it...like a B3 type of sound with a low pass filter on it.

I don't know what sort of VSTis you have, so telling you what to do next is pritnear impossible. But, if you have one that has something like a hammond organ sound that would be the place to start.

You may want to run it through a low pass filter if it's too bright and change the envelope on the sounds to have a mediumish release time. That's about as far as I can go with an explanation on what to do with the sound. If you are creating from scratch you are on your own.

Add some reverb and it sounds like there's a little flanging in the sound as well and you may get something that'll pass.

Thankyou pr0gr4m that was the kind of help I was hoping for. I am using Absynth's Vsti. Do you know where I can read up about "low pass filters" so I can understand what you mean.

And what do you mean by B3 type of sound? Are you relating to the note pitch ?

Hammond B3 is an organ
http://www.theatreorgans.com/grounds/docs/history.html

a Drawbar Organ that often had a Leslie Cabinet near by
(rotating speaker/horn)

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the pad were a guitar. Fade it in slowly with a good amount of verb and delay. Sounds like it too me.

It's not a guitar. Maybe a midi guitar controlling a synth but I doubt even that. I don't ever remember Joe using a MIDI guitar. It's not out of the realm of possibility though.

Anyway, back here on Earth...
The Absynth is very good for making this kind of sound. I have the first version but haven't used it in several years. I'd recommend creating a two chord loop, and have it play back through absynth and just cycle through the differnet sounds until you find something close. Then you can start working it from there. I may be able to find a couple patches that could be useful sometime this weekend.

Thanks guys for the help.

Yes, Joe has used a midi guitar before now for organ sounds on a song in Super Collossal on a song called Crowd Chant, but Tumble is slightly older possibly made back in the days of tape recordings.

But I will have a tinker on Abysnth, thanks for the help guys. Pr0gr4m if you do have them patches I would like to try them, so let me know.. thanks :)

It sounds like a three or four drawbar Hammond patch; on a real Hammond you would pull out the first three or four drawbars, probably with the second drawbar pulled out about half way, the other two or three all the way. This is a standard patch even in general MIDI, and most synths will have it.

Thanks guys for the help!

This is what I have so far,

http://h1.ripway.com/sirchick/Sofar.mp3

I think it is pretty close, though was wondering if you guys know what could be causing the original synth (to my ears anyway) have a sorta polished tone to it, as mine sounds a bit harsh and "in your face" to my ears.

Also is there a way to allow midi to start softly rather than suddenly, or will I have to export the midi to audio, import the audio and put a fade in on the sound to soften it ?

p.s the original track is very quietly playing at same time just to compare and helps me know what part of the song im at in the recording, hard to know where in the song you are if you only have drums sorted :P

For a slower attack go to the ADSR (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release) in the synth and adjust the attack rate.

You can take some of the edge off of it with the filters with EQ and also with Reverb and FX. You should probably try it in that order - get the filters close, adjust the EQ a bit, then dive into the FX.

Ok, shall mess around with it a bit more.

Do you think there is much else I need to change with it in your expert opinion?

I think you nailed it on the recreation. Great Job!

The sound in the song sounds like its been washed in effects. Adjust the attack on it so that it's got sort of a fade in, not too long though. Add some reverb, maybe a bit of delay. To me it also sounded like it had a bit of a chorusing effect on it too.

Ok thanks pr0gr4m! And every one else who contributed some info for me :) Much appreciated :)