Hi.
I'm new in the world of synthesis but I'm making good progress. my question is:

which synthesis method (additive, subtractive, FM, wavetable, granular etc.) or synthesizer do you prefer and why?

is this question of comparing them together is a wrong one(like comparing an apple to an orange) or it's possible to compare them?

is there one method that is more powerful(more creative possibilities)?


I'll be happy to hear your ideas, thank you.

 

As with all things creativity-wise, there's no better or worse, it solely depends on what you're trying to accomplish with your tools. IMO, FM synthesis is the most powerful of them all, since you can synthesize every sound with it (but, because of so, it's probably the most difficult). Granular and subtractive synthesis are probably more mainstream and easier to use, but they can only reach a defined range of sounds...
I believe that, to answer your question, they can't be compared, simply because they are the same thing (in the end, they all start from a sinewave...), it's just a comparison about how difficult/easy they are to use, but with some practice you'll find what best suits you and your music

Cheers!

 

Substractive is the standard for simpler synths (sylenth,synth1), you can achieve the classic EDM sounds but you can't go very experimental, I believe. Additive (Reaktor's Razor) has higher possibilities in my opinion, and is less common than substractive, but CPU is higher. FM (NI FM8) is quite unfamiliar to me, typical sounds are bells, house basslines and FM8 is also used in dubstep I think. Wavetable has grown a lot lately (Serum,Codex) but has been a while in the scene (Massive). I haven't tried Codex, but with Serum and Massive you can do pretty much every genre. Also you could try U-he's bazille, it's more complicated but you can get very deep with sound design.

 

They all have different limitations imposed by the way the sound is generated. Its all self explanatory, and there is a lot of crossover between all synths in terms of the sounds you can create. Just by reading what they can do and experimenting with the synth you can listen to what can be made. I would say any synth that has a matrix is capable of making more complicated sounds due to the subtractive and addictive capabilities. Then you can do post additive synthesis using things like harmor or alchemy with exported version of the synth.

 

Personally I think combinations of the different types gives the most unique results both when layered in parallel or routed in series.
Using random granular synthesis to modulate a sound wave in massive gives pretty cool results.
I started off with sylenth which is pretty easy to get results due to the relatively limited number of paramaters.
Im a big fan of massive but since I started using serum about a week ago, I don't think I'll use much of anything else. It's awesome. Just awesome

The best peice of advice I got though was to keep it simple. Start with just one Oscilator, two at the most. It's easy to get carried away with more and end up really chasing your tail to get to where you want to be.

Hope this helps

 

nice idea *yes* , thank you so much.

 

interesting. what do you think of "dance music production - synthesis 2"? it's about NI FM8. is it a reliable source to learn the basics of FM8?

is there anyway I can get just a big picture of what type of sounds these all can make?

 

yeah you're right. thank you. since I started learning the synthesizers I'm constantly feeling a lack of most basic stuff about sound and audio. I know how LFOs and other things affect the sound but not knowing about what's going on behind the scene makes me feel bad. how can I learn these stuff? studying an Audio Engineering book helps?

 

YOUTUBE

 

sure it is thanks.

 

I found this was a good tutorial, Good advice but not an overload of info: Synth Programming: Beyond the Basics with Scott Hirsch TUTORiAL

Massive: MassiveSynth Electronica Sounds With NI Massive

Sylenth: ADSR Sylenth Masterclass

This was a pretty good tutorial as well: Bassgorilla Tips And Tricks Synthesis

I found the bassgorilla website well worth the introductory membership of about 10 bucks. Just keep going back till you get a good offer.

 

Master subtractive synthesis first. Then move on to additive, granular, wavetable, etc. and then master the art of FM. Dance Music Production makes some good tutorials. Check them out.

 

how come you use the word "art" for FM?

 

FM will be the hardest out of the synthesis types you will encounter but it is also the most powerful. You can make some truly unique and dynamic sounds that you can't make any other way but it takes a long time to learn the ins and outs. However this rite of passage is well worth it. That's when you become a warlock.

 

sounds like a dark horse to me do I really need to learn other types before FM?

 

Yes because it's complicated and not the most common type you will encounter. You don't have to learn all of them but subtractive is a must and the others are worthy of experimentation as well. Also a fuck of a lot easier.