Learning synthesis?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2sqwOQksjs

http://www.xoxos.net/vst/clearsynth.zip

 

Ooh, I forgot LuSH-101. Very good sounding synth that one is. A bit cpu hungry--but that is forgivable. It isn't the most noob-friendly gui, but it isn't the worst either. I've owned a roland sh synth (sh-32) before so the interface is fairly familiar to me, but I wouldn't think that it would be that difficult to learn. Although it took me a second of playing with the layering and multi-timbral functions to get it right.

 

This is also interesting, a synthesis tutorial: http://www.syntorial.com/try.php

Yeah, Catalyst, Minimoog is pretty straight forward, too. Great synth to learn synthesis on.

 

fcuk all that nonsense. try the free vst called 'basic' - it's good for undcerstanding vco, lfo, adsr and combining, and the... basics

http://myvst.com/vst-instruments/basic-64-freeware

 

Just get stuck in, twiddle n plonk away.

One could say All synths are the same with varying amounts of buttons, knobs & sliders and each 1 of them will require you to experiment and twist, turn and slide those controls until you get the noise/sound that inspires you or fits the project.

I'd love to see someone hear a synth sound and then repeat it identically, without having seen the settings.
Just go straight in, set up the synth exactly and hit 1 key & 1 key only and have it sound exactly like what they just heard.
Unlike a guitarist returning the right chord I'll be surprised if 1 in a 1000 could achieve exact play back on a synth - its 99% experimentation and 1% intention.
(no doubt there will be 1 or 2 that disagree but that's no shock)

When you've twisted those knobs & slid the sliders & so on, enough you'll soon begin to learn how to get the sound you want but until you start twiddling you will look at all those buttons and think it terribly complicated when it actually isn't - the only secret is not to be baffled but to just get stuck in.
oh and having a few basic piano lessons wouldn't be a bad idea but isn't essential

 

+1 on the very sensible advice...dont be mistaken though, Element is a good synth and has everything on board to make nice big animated sounds(arpreggiated if necessary)...you dont really move on but stash it as a go to piece and add other flavours/colors to your audio palette as you become more proficient in the art of programming sounds.

 

Just because it's called basic (as in the programming language of the Commodore 64) doesn't mean it's a good learning synth. It's a chip synth, damnit. ;)

Heck, I programmed my first ever sounds in Basic on the c64, when I was 12 years old. Oh, the lovely SID-chip! I was completely hooked. Now 26 years later I can pretty much recreate any sound I hear (both sonically and "in my head"). I "visualize" sounds and see the layers, the harmonic content, the effects, etc. Learning the basics is fundamental (waveforms, filters, envelopes, modulation, LFO shapes, etc) for further understanding and identifying sonics. It's like learning the alphabet, the grammar, then different languages, etc. Get to really know subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis, ROMplers, FM, then moving on to vector and granular. Identify different filters, effects, etc.
Then things will fall into place. Be patient, stubborn and good luck!

 

Thanks a lot for the help guys. Ok Zebra in standby for now and I will continue exploring Spire, with my basic-intermediate synth level. I think I can deal with sylenth too.

Arturia Minimoog, khs one and waves element look nice, I will check them.

Cheers

 

This is true. I was looking for the original BASIC synth. I don't feel like searching the web now because the name makes a search difficult. I have it though and would up it if it's wanted. The original BASIC is not a chip synth, just simple 2 waveform VCO, LFO, ADSR, etc.... good for learning, but it sounds like our OP doesn't really need as basic as they thought

 

Togu Audio Line's synths are nice and easy to use and may help you learn.

TAL offer's some good vsts and vsti's which are also Free. http://kunz.corrupt.ch/Products

Another good synth for a beginner I would suggest, isn't a Vsti but one of Reason's Synths is the "Subtractor".

Also Vember's Surge is easy. But you could end up easily getting lost for hours just tweaking away the time.

 

There's also Guda Euterpe



I use this sometimes. I can get quick results. Also has a nice oscilloscope builtin.

 

When it comes to subtractive sounds with only triangle, saw and pulse oscillators, I can always make the sound I want or recreate one. it's boring, actually.

But simple subtractive synthesis is a great starting point! Everything else is mostly a derivative of it. Mostly... Additive and FM is a bit in reverse. In my opinion, additive or FM, or PD is really great when used within the subtractive context. Kinda ultimate all in one synthesis. My personal favourite. Synapse Dune is kinda like that. Even FM-7 can do things not previously possible with DX-7. It's hard for me to imagine any synthesis without the subtractive synthesis on top of it and lots of different filters. Yum! One thing they never made possible is FM synthesis with samples. They should make a sampler that's capable of doing FM, PD and Subtractive synthesis. All in one. That would be really interesting.