Hi! So I was watching a video recently talking about how to figure out how certain sounds were made, and his key point was that the way to do this is to understand and have an ear for synthesis and basically understand what knob does what; learn the basics so you can reverse engineer. I thought this was a great idea, but my main problem is there's so many complex things out there and I feel like the best way for me to achieve this would be to find some bare-bones, symplistic plugins to teach me what does what. So what would you guys suggest? I'll put down a list of things I wish to learn more about:
-Additive Synthesis
-Subtractive Synthesis
-Wavetable Synthesis
-High Pass/Low pass
-Delay effects (ie reverb, chorus)
-FM Synthesis

(I hope I'm getting all of these terms right orz)
Ah, the production world is a daunting one for a beginner. I knew I wasn't going to get away with just knowing a bit about Compression and Reverb forever, lol. Thanks for your time!

 

Synthesis I think is really in the realm of "learn by doing". The "easiest" is the substractive synthesis. Most synth do that. Sylenth, Hive for example will get you there. Get familiar with the basic waveshapes, the filters, the enveloppes and the lfos. It will be probably a good start.

There is also this software (it used to be on the sister site, I don't know if it's still the case, but you should find it somewhere else if it's not the case anymore). : http://www.syntorial.com/

 

For the basics of subtractive syhthesis, keep it as simple as possible, so standard waveforms. something where everything is on the front panel. http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=Chorg_PS-20&id=2632

 

I think Ichiro Toda's Synth1 is an excellent (free) plug for learning subtractive synthesis, and I'd start with subtractive before moving on to additive, FM, etc. Another good and free "basic" subtractive synth would be TyrellN6 from U-he or TAL Noisemaker. All of these provide a classic subtractive synth architecture with pretty much every available parameter represented by a knob or slider right in front of you.

When I first started I lucked into a book published by German company Wizoo, called Synthesizer Programming by Peter Gorges. It was excellent and it seems they've made the PDF download of the book free from their site here. It think the biggest problem you might have with this is that all the examples in the book use a bundled soft synth from NI that is probably no longer compatible with your OS or DAW. But download it and give it a shot. You can always just use lessons in the book with Synth1 instead of the NI synth they provide and reference.

Rob Papen created a book/tutorial series some years ago called The secrets of subtractive synthesis "The 4 Element Synth", that my cousin enjoyed when he was first getting into synth programming. I checked it out but found it slow and pedantic, but I think I was just too far along in my own learning at that point to enjoy it . . . it really is geared toward beginners.

That site that Talmi linked you to looks like a great resource as well. I've never seen it before but just checked it out and I think it would be a great way to learn.

I'll PM you some relevant links. Are you on PC or Mac?

Good luck! Have fun! Hours and hours are about to fly by!

 

synthorial has everything except wavetables covered

everything will be explained and then you have to program the synth with what you learned

 

Sound School Synth is a Reaktor Ensemble which is still included with the newest version (even the free Reaktor Player version, I believe).
Reaktor Factory Library > Synthesizers > Sound School Analog.ens
If you have Reaktor installed already you shouldn't even have to run the Setup.exe for the standalone. Just load the .ens

I second the MS-20 and it's clones for practice. I have the both iPad and the Korg Legacy versions and this thing might be old but it always been insanely ahead of it's time.

Another somewhat dated but ultra useful synth/learning tool: vemberaudio Surge

 

synth secrets series from soundonsound:
http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/synth-secrets
https://web.archive.org/web/20160403115835/http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/allsynthsecrets.htm

edit:
just realised that i forgot to mention my favorite "tutorial" synth plugin.
Charlatan (windows only).
very versatile for the amount of controls/options.

 

Last edited: Apr 25, 2017

Just get Syntorial. It's like a progressive course taking you through synthesis step by step, making you do exercises before moving one. Should give you more than the fundamentals to then understand what you are doing! I believe it's on the sister site, along with lessons for applying the techniques to Sylenth and Z3ta+2.

http://www.syntorial.com/

 

Using Serum will help you. It's a very Beginner-Friendly synth. It's visual feedback helps you understand what is happening with the sound.