Some love for synthesizers

pinksoir

This forum seems very much geared towards guitar and bass. But I'm wondering how many of you are interested in synths.

I've got the synthesizer bug pretty bad at the moment. It started from using VSTs. I really fell in love with the sound of the Yamaha CS-80 from using the soft synth Memorymoog ME80. You might know the CS-80 from Vangelis, eg. the Bladerunner soundtrack, and a bunch of other 70's acts like Stevie Wonder, Jean Michel Jarre, Brian Eno. Daft Punk used one too. Soft synths are great for getting to know the sonic characteristics of real synths and also for becoming familiar with synth programming.

Programming synths is surprisingly easy once you get the hang of it. What put me off for a long time was when I looked at a soft synth I really had no idea what all the functions of the controls were. ADSR, LFO, VCA, VCO, VCF. It scared me cos it just seemed so esoteric and sort of unintuitive. But with a little effort it's easily understood.

Anyway, after a while soft synths didn't cut it any more for me. I wanted the hands on feel of knobs and sliders, not the inaccuracy of a mouse. I bought a V-Machine, which is a sort of VST host module. You can load VSTs onto it and play them live. This was pretty good for a time, especially being able to map knobs and sliders from my midi keyboard to control the VST synths. It wore thin though because generally midi keyboards don't have the right amount of controls to be able to map them to every function of the soft synths. Plus, often I'd forget which button or knob did what.

So I made the switch to hardware. As I said, i loved the CS-80 sound, especially the brassy sound. But CS-80s are BIG money. So I searched about the internets to try and find a decent compromise of sound and price. I found a Yamaha synth of similar vintage called a SK-20. It has a similar sounding filter and oscillator, but is severely limited in programmability. But it's cool.

To begin with I wasn't that interested in mono synths as I came from a piano background. I thought they were too limited, but they really have their own world of functionality. I've got a Yamaha CS-15 in the post from Japan now as I type.

I've also been interested in chiptune for the last few years. But especially in the Commodore 64's music chip, the SID. I used to love the loading music on the games and after being referred to a site called MIDIbox.org, I found that some brilliant dude has come up with a way to build your own SID chip synth called the MIDIbox SID. It's a really versatile synth/sequencer/drum machine that can be built by you or me. The site has links to places that sell pre made PCBs and full kits to do it yourself. There is a great community there too that'll help you should you run into any trouble. I've been working on mine for the past few months and it's coming together slowly but surely.

Next up for me is a Prophet 600 if I can find one!

So, is there anyone else here that has love for synthesis? What gear do you use? What music do you make with them?

rcaz

Synthesisers? Yo!

I'm into digital stuff. I do all my stuff at the moment with Ableton Live and Pure Data. I use subtractive and frequency modulation synthesis mostly, but I've been doing lots of sampling lately. Taking samples of guitars or voices and putting pitch shifts and filters and time stretching and other things on them to make them into drum sounds is my new favourite thing to do!

I have a Roland SH-32, which is a really nice ROMpler synth, but I don't use it as often as my laptop 'cause it's not as convenient mostly. It sounds great and all but it's a whole extra piece of gear, with its own power supply, signal cables and a MIDI cable and extra keyboard if you want to play it live. I'd like some analogue gear some day, like a Prophet 5 or an SH-101, but I don't have the money, space, or car I'd need to use them right now

garfieldsghost

Good to see some synth love around here!

I have a Moog Prodigy that once upon a time resided in the BBC's Maida Vale studios. Love, love, love it to bits!

I do have a bit of a thing for the Yamaha CS series as well, although I don't own one... would love to own a CS-40M someday.

rcaz

Completely forgot to say last night, as soon as I can afford to start spending money on gear relatively regularly, I'll start building a modular synth. I like the idea of buying a rack and PSU, then some basic modules to get started, then like a module a month or as I need/can afford, and ending up with an always-changing synthesiser. Also they look way cooler than any other instrument I know of :cool:



"That kick drum doesn't sound exactly right.... TO THE COMMAND CENTRE!"

pinksoir

El Pr0n wrote: »

Synthesisers? Yo!

I'm into digital stuff. I do all my stuff at the moment with Ableton Live and Pure Data. I use subtractive and frequency modulation synthesis mostly, but I've been doing lots of sampling lately. Taking samples of guitars or voices and putting pitch shifts and filters and time stretching and other things on them to make them into drum sounds is my new favourite thing to do!

I've never used Ableton, but I used to do something similar with samples on a program called Octamed back in the day (early 2000's). It was based on the Amiga sequencer and looked like this:



It was incredibly in depth and versatile, and actually very logical and intuitive.

I've seen you talk about Pure Data on here a good bit. It looks interesting enough, but I've spent years on the software side of stuff already. It can be a little bit too absorbing!

I have a Roland SH-32, which is a really nice ROMpler synth, but I don't use it as often as my laptop 'cause it's not as convenient mostly. It sounds great and all but it's a whole extra piece of gear, with its own power supply, signal cables and a MIDI cable and extra keyboard if you want to play it live. I'd like some analogue gear some day, like a Prophet 5 or an SH-101, but I don't have the money, space, or car I'd need to use them right now

The Prophet 5 is always the dream. At 3000+ it's pretty unlikely though..!

garfieldsghost wrote: »

Good to see some synth love around here!

I have a Moog Prodigy that once upon a time resided in the BBC's Maida Vale studios. Love, love, love it to bits!

I do have a bit of a thing for the Yamaha CS series as well, although I don't own one... would love to own a CS-40M someday.

Yah, the CS-15 I picked up is an amazing synth . It's considered by many to be the best vintage monophonic synth besides the Minimoog. Whether that's true is obviously debatable and down to personal taste, but it's definitely incredibly versatile - 2 VCOs each with their own multimode filter and filter ADSR. It can go from very warm and mellow to outright harsh and cold, and plenty more besides. Plus it has audio input, which you can route the headphone-out back into to get that sound from Daft Punk's Da Funk. It's also duophonic, but duophony can only be achieved by using another keyboard through CV in.

It's quite underrated and under-appreciated. I bought mine for under 500 from Japan, post included, so it's also one of the cheapest mono synths.

pinksoir

El Pr0n wrote: »

Completely forgot to say last night, as soon as I can afford to start spending money on gear relatively regularly, I'll start building a modular synth. I like the idea of buying a rack and PSU, then some basic modules to get started, then like a module a month or as I need/can afford, and ending up with an always-changing synthesiser. Also they look way cooler than any other instrument I know of :cool:

"That kick drum doesn't sound exactly right.... TO THE COMMAND CENTRE!"

Ha. Yeah, modular. The final frontier. Definitely cool.

Mr NoTV

I have modular - Roland System 100m with 3 Roland System controlling keyboards and sequencer - awesome, complex sounds. I can put any of my other 14 synths through it or it through some of the other analogue synths or analogue outboards. I've owned modular for around 15 years and should have bought into it earlier. I was going to buy a VCS3 and an AKS in the 1970's but went down the Japanese line instead.

rcaz

Mr NoTV wrote: »

I have modular - Roland System 100m with 3 Roland System controlling keyboards and sequencer - awesome, complex sounds. I can put any of my other 14 synths through it or it through some of the other analogue synths or analogue outboards. I've owned modular for around 15 years and should have bought into it earlier. I was going to buy a VCS3 and an AKS in the 1970's but went down the Japanese line instead.

Pics? :pac:

rcaz

Saw this link posted over in Music Production, sonicstate.com did a list of the 20 Best Synthesisers ever or something and here's a list of commercial and free software clones of them;

http://musicandrecordingtoolbox.blogspot.com/2008/09/vst-discovery-special-feature.html

I'll be getting a few of them this evening :cool:

pinksoir

Yah, I saw that too but you beat me too it!

There are some really amazing VSTis out there. Have fun!

If you decide to try out a CS-80, try the Memorymoon ME80. It's far superior to the Arturia one, and a tenth of the price:

http://www.memorymoon.com/me80.htm

Obviously there's a demo too. I found their other emulations, esp the Prophet 5, to be much closer to the real thing than the alternatives too.

This nutjob loved it so much he built a midi controller for it from (I think) a Doepfer midi kit. Looks really good:



http://www.synth-project.de/Project-5.html

He's built a ton of controllers for various VSTis and I have to say they're very impressive.

I'm in the middle of building a midiBox SID at the moment and am going to build a control surface for it too, taking inspiration from his builds.

Should (hopefully) look something like this when it's done...

garfieldsghost

Those MIDIbox SID synths look interesting... are you finding it straightforward to build?

pinksoir

Yah, it's fairly easy. Any problems I ran into I got help with from the community. You can order the PCBs and parts from two different sites, one in the US and one in Germany. I bought my kits from Germany, but by all accounts the US ones seem a lot better. Price difference was negligible really.

The one thing I'd recommend is to read through and familiarise yourself with what it entails, then plan out exactly what you want before going ahead and ordering. There are a bunch of different control surfaces you could go for.

I'm building a stand alone synth, but you can be as simple or as complex as you need/want/money allows. You can always expand the control surface at a later time if you want.

Some good kits are the
Sammich SID (I think he's doing his last batch now though, so be quick if you want one) and the MB6582 (probably the most popular, most supported)

Some helpful links are:
Ucapps.de - project site
Midibox.org - community forum
SmashTV - US kits, parts and PCBs
Mikes Elektronikseite - German kits, parts and PCBs

It might seem a bit overwhelming to begin with, but if you read at your leisure and slowly plan what you want you can ease yourself in. It's pretty straightforward and the community is really great. You might have to wait a day for a response but someone will help. No question is too simple or too complex.

Make sure your soldering skills are up to scratch though. There's a lorra lorra soldering...

happyman81

I am just starting out where you began OP, using Ableton to run emulators such as Minimogue.

Like you, I would really like a physical synth, but find the price prohibitive. Are there any modern devices that are analog or emulate analog that are under €500? Not a controller, but a standalone device. Just something to start out with, but still stage worthy.

This is my dream, btw:

http://www.analoguesystems.co.uk/Reviews/fconnection_review.htm

garfieldsghost

happyman81 wrote: »

Like you, I would really like a physical synth, but find the price prohibitive. Are there any modern devices that are analog or emulate analog that are under €500? Not a controller, but a standalone device. Just something to start out with, but still stage worthy.

This is my dream, btw:

http://www.analoguesystems.co.uk/Reviews/fconnection_review.htm

You should check out the Roland GAIA. It's a VA synth with an old-school analogue-style interface, unlike other VAs like the Venom, etc. It costs around €550-€570, but you should be able to find them secondhand on eBay for less.

My bandmate has one and it's great fun to play and trick around with.

pinksoir

happyman81 wrote: »

I am just starting out where you began OP, using Ableton to run emulators such as Minimogue.

Like you, I would really like a physical synth, but find the price prohibitive. Are there any modern devices that are analog or emulate analog that are under €500? Not a controller, but a standalone device. Just something to start out with, but still stage worthy.

This is my dream, btw:

http://www.analoguesystems.co.uk/Reviews/fconnection_review.htm

There are a lot of VA, or virtual analog, synths available. They became popular in the 90's, but they've come a long way since.

It really depends what sound you want/type of music you make.

POLYPHONIC

By all accounts the Roland JP8000 is a good VA. Available on eBay pretty regularly, there's even one on Adverts at the mo -
http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/jp8000.php

Then there is the Korg MS2000. A good VA, but only 4 note polyphony. Also pretty common on fleabay and there was one on adverts recently for under €400 -
http://www.vintagesynth.com/korg/ms2000.php

The Oberheim OB-12 is a good synth too. A modern take on the classic Oberheim sound. Prices €6-700 and I think there's one on Adverts at the moment -
http://www.vintagesynth.com/oberheim/ob12.php

There's the Dave Smith Prophet 08 too which is a modern (true) analog but is pricey enough (over €1000 used) -
http://www.vintagesynth.com/dsi/p08.php

MONOPHONIC

For monophonic, you have a lot of cheap options. If you want a modern analog the Dave Smith Mopho is good. One sold on Adverts recently for under €400. Available as a desktop or full keyboard synth -
http://www.vintagesynth.com/dsi/mopho.php

For vintage mono synths you have a lot of choice for the ~500 price range. The Yamaha CS series (CS5, CS10, CS15) which are fantastic synths and only going to go up in price. Very highly regarded and a CS5 was on Adverts the other day for €375. I bought my CS15 from Japan for under €500 posted-
http://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/cs5.php
http://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/cs10.php
http://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/cs15.php

Then there's the Roland SH1000. A preset mono synth. Very cool, though a little restricted editability-wise. Still more than enough on it to keep you busy and make great sounds. It was a toss up between this and the CS15 for me. One sold on eBay for ~€500 last week. Before that one sold for €375. It's well capable of getting sounds very close to the Ondes Martenot -
http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/sh1000.php

The Jen Synthetone SX1000 is a cool little mono synth too. One went on Adverts recently for €350 I think and regularly on ebay.
http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/sh1000.php

You have a ton of options. Most people can't afford a Minimoog. The prices are ridiculous. Thankfully there are loads of alternatives if you don't have to have the exact Moog sound. My advice is to look through VintageSynthExplorer and try to decide which one you want.

If you want o go the vintage route sit tight and wait until one comes up you can afford. Have a price in your head you want to pay and don't go over it. Fairly priced synths come up all the time both on Adverts and eBay. You just have to be patient. eBay is driving the prices of synths up, partly because sellers are putting ridiculous BIN prices on them, but mostly because buyers are paying the ridiculous prices enough to encourage sellers to keep them high. Auctions are mental too, cos all you need is one or two people bidding with more money than sense and a €500 synth can go for €1200 or more. You need to have a price in your head and stick to it.

The good thing about vintage analog is that the resale value is equal to what you paid. So if you buy a synth and decide you don't like it, you can sell it on and not make a loss. Plus, at least for the moment, the prices are still going up so you may even make a small profit if you decide to sell in the future to upgrade or whatever.

happyman81

Awesome.

garfieldsghost

Here's a nice surprise... Arturia are introducing an analogue synth called the Minibrute which looks like a whole lot of fun. Expected retail price is $550/€428.

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2012/01/18/arturia-minibrute-analog-synthesizer-sneak-preview/

rcaz

garfieldsghost wrote: »

Here's a nice surprise... Arturia are introducing an analogue synth called the Minibrute which looks like a whole lot of fun. Expected retail price is $550/€428.

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2012/01/18/arturia-minibrute-analog-synthesizer-sneak-preview/

That thing looks deadly! Really cool move for Arturia too!

happyman81

So close to buying that GAIA right now. I have been writing more keyboardy songs to justify it! :-)

garfieldsghost

happyman81 wrote: »

So close to buying that GAIA right now. I have been writing more keyboardy songs to justify it! :-)

Nice one! I've noticed lately that a lot of big acts have started using the GAIA on tour. Have seen photos of it in stage set-ups for Lady Gaga and The Prodigy.

happyman81

Where in Dublin can I get a GAIA? Waltons sell them for €583 but refused to offer any deal on one.

Dord

happyman81 wrote: »

Where in Dublin can I get a GAIA? Waltons sell them for €583 but refused to offer any deal on one.

Xmusic are the main Roland dealer in Dublin, so I'd say there would be the best place.

punchdrunk

I'm currently rocking a vintage Korg MS-10,and an ipad/Moog animoog combo (using some kind of roland midi keyboard-can't remember what model I've got)

add to that a kaoss pad,a Linn design adrenalinn III,and EHX 16 sec delay,a 70's copicat,and an original 301 space echo and i've loads to be playing with!

did i mention Animoog sounds incredible!! it's a serious music making tool
I've been pretending I'm vangelis all week :pac:


planning on buying a korg monotribe soon,and then hacking it for midi
with a kit from these guys
http://amazingmachines.com.br/

garfieldsghost

happyman81 wrote: »

Where in Dublin can I get a GAIA? Waltons sell them for €583 but refused to offer any deal on one.

As Dord said, try Xmusic if you want to buy one in the Dublin area for a decent price. Thomann sell them for €579, which includes shipping from Germany. Also, I just checked Adverts.ie and there are a few secondhand Gaias for sale there for around €450-€480.

There's a Gaia users forum at www.gaiausers.com that's worth checking out. One of their members developed a handy piece of software for editing patches, arpeggiator settings, etc. You can download it here: www.grauw.nl/projects/gaia-tool. It's generally considered to be better than Roland's own software for it, which you have to pay for.

garfieldsghost

punchdrunk wrote: »

I'm currently rocking a vintage Korg MS-10,and an ipad/Moog animoog combo (using some kind of roland midi keyboard-can't remember what model I've got)

add to that a kaoss pad,a Linn design adrenalinn III,and EHX 16 sec delay,a 70's copicat,and an original 301 space echo and i've loads to be playing with!

did i mention Animoog sounds incredible!! it's a serious music making tool
I've been pretending I'm vangelis all week :pac:


planning on buying a korg monotribe soon,and then hacking it for midi
with a kit from these guys
http://amazingmachines.com.br/

Show-off! :pac:

What are you using to link up the iPad and the keyboard?

happyman81

garfieldsghost wrote: »

happyman81 wrote: »

Where in Dublin can I get a GAIA? Waltons sell them for €583 but refused to offer any deal on one.

As Dord said, try Xmusic if you want to buy one in the Dublin area for a decent price. Thomann sell them for €579, which includes shipping from Germany. Also, I just checked Adverts.ie and there are a few secondhand Gaias for sale there for around €450-€480.

There's a Gaia users forum at www.gaiausers.com that's worth checking out. One of their members developed a handy piece of software for editing patches, arpeggiator settings, etc. You can download it here: www.grauw.nl/projects/gaia-tool. It's generally considered to be better than Roland's own software for it, which you have to pay for.

I went ahead and bought it in Waltons, the shop is around the corner from where I live and I dont have a car so the Xmusic or Adverts options were kinda tough for me, and I don't like making big purchases from Thomann in case something goes wrong.

Anyway, I'm very happy with the synth, even though I haven't a bloody clue what I'm doing, it's my first. Those websites are handy, thanks.

garfieldsghost

happyman81 wrote: »

Anyway, I'm very happy with the synth, even though I haven't a bloody clue what I'm doing, it's my first. Those websites are handy, thanks.

Best of luck with it!

If you're just starting out, I'd recommend reading 'Analog Synthesizers' by Mark Jenkins, which will teach you all you need to know.

happyman81

garfieldsghost wrote: »

happyman81 wrote: »

Anyway, I'm very happy with the synth, even though I haven't a bloody clue what I'm doing, it's my first. Those websites are handy, thanks.

Best of luck with it!

If you're just starting out, I'd recommend reading 'Analog Synthesizers' by Mark Jenkins, which will teach you all you need to know.

I was just going to ask for literature, because I am bit lost, I must admit. At this stage I am trying to replicate sounds I heard in songs. I basically like the Radiohead, Midlake, Grandaddy and Pink Floyd style. Simple but effective. Harder than I thought!

Thanks

happyman81

Ordered the book. I have also been reading this, very informative and extensive.

www.soundonsound.com/sos/allsynthsecrets.htm

Also a free dual channel oscilloscope for PC. handy for analysing waveforms:

http://hotamateurprograms.com/downloads.htm

happyman81

I got that book by Jenkins. Upon first glance it appears to mainly be about the history of synthesisers, rather than an in-depth technical look at how different modules/elements create the various sounds. Am I wrong?

punchdrunk

garfieldsghost wrote: »

Show-off! :pac:

What are you using to link up the iPad and the keyboard?

just an irig midi,no issues with it except my newer midi Keyboard has that printer USB type cable connection,so I've no way to hook it up as the irig only comes with those 8 pin DIN type leads

happyman81

happyman81 wrote: »

I got that book by Jenkins. Upon first glance it appears to mainly be about the history of synthesisers, rather than an in-depth technical look at how different modules/elements create the various sounds. Am I wrong?

This book has been a disappointment, so far. Seems like a book written for people who want to know some interesting facts about synths, but never actually wants to learn how to use one.

I would like to learn how to create sounds on this machine, is there a technical book out there that helps a person learn how to do that, in the same way that a book would teach someone how to cook*, not the history of cooking?



*(an apt analogy, since the recipes are merely a start and experimenting allows you to make your own variation)

pinksoir

Welsh's Synthesizer Cookbook is what you're looking for:

http://www.amazon.com/Welshs-Synthesizer-Cookbook-Programming-Universal/dp/B000ERHA4S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332185145&sr=8-1

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/WELSHS-SYNTHESIZER-COOKBOOK-welshs-synth-programming-/290684795893?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43ae29fbf5

rcaz

Er, I don't get why you'd spend money on a book to learn how to work a synthesiser...

Have a read through Sound On Sound's Synth Secrets articles, Google for particular sounds you want, there are tons of message boards that will have threads on this stuff, and YouTube is full of "how to get X sound with Y" videos.

pinksoir

Sometimes it's nice to have a book in front of you?

I dunno though, I'd be with you and just read the SOS guide, it's pretty comprehensive. Also, just experiment, listen to real instruments and try to work out the timbres that make up their sounds.

happyman81

pinksoir wrote: »

Sometimes it's nice to have a book in front of you?

I dunno though, I'd be with you and just read the SOS guide, it's pretty comprehensive. Also, just experiment, listen to real instruments and try to work out the timbres that make up their sounds.

I don't know why, but I find it hard to read complex stuff on a computer screen. I just seem to absorb information better from a book. There is a lot of research on this effect, apparantly, seems that the fact that the screen refreshs at a certain rate has something to do with it.

Anyway, I do experiment with it, but I would like a more directed approach rather than me twisting knobs without really knowing whats going on. I want to understand the device.

pinksoir

I hear you on that. The SOS articles are printer friendly, though. Do it.

Or else buy the book I linked you to.

What exactly are you having trouble with? I'm sure I can give you a few pointers to help you on the way...

happyman81

pinksoir wrote: »

What exactly are you having trouble with?

Finding the time...

pinksoir

Well it's really easy to get to grips with the basics and your synth is laid out perfectly to that end. It's just a case of understanding what all the sliders and selectable parameters do.

I presume you've tried building a sound from scratch in the manual mode. Turn off all the effects and select just one voice (Tone). Set the filter envelope to

A-0
D-0
S-10
R-0

Do the same with the amp envelope.

Then select a waveform. Saw is for strings or brass, Square is for woodwind, Pulse is like an adjustable square, Triangle is like a Saw without the upper harmonics, and Sine is like a flute.

Now play a note. You can start messing with the cutoff and resonance of the filter envelope and see how that changes the sound. Set the resonance about mid way and the cutoff to about 3/4. Set ENV depth to about 2.

Then go to the filter ADSR. Set it to

A-3
D-10
S-3
R-0

Now play a note and see what happens. It will sweep the filter. Changing the ENV depth will adjust how much filter sweep there is. 0 will be a full sweep and 10 will be no sweep at all.

Basically, S (sustain level) is the base level of the filter. So D (decay amount) is directly related to it. That's to say that the filter will decay from the highest amount down to the level S is set at. A (attack amount) is how fast the filter will reach the highest level. If S is set to 10 then the filter won't decay at all.

Obviously on your synth there are two ADSR envelopes, one each for filter and amp.

So if you set the filter envelope with sustain at full and the rest at 0. Then go to the amp envelope and set it the same as you had set the filter envelope before.

A-3
D-10
S-3
R-0

Now play a note. See how the sound gradually gets louder and then it decays down to a lower level. That's how e ADS of the ADSR envelopes work. Simple.

But what about R? Well on the amp envelope set the R parameter to 5. R, release, is the amount of time it takes for the sound or filter to stop affecting the sound after you let go of the note.

Set the amp back to

A-0
D-0
S-10
R-5.

Now go back to the filter and set it to

A-2
D-5
S-3
R-3.

See how that affects the filter. Obviously both the amp R and filter R are related. The amp R always has to be set at equal to or greater than the filter R or the filter won't release fully before it is cut off by the amp.

So that's how you begin to sculpt sounds. Then there's the LFO which can be used to modulate the Osc, Filter and Amp and also the pulse width of the Pulse waveform. Have a mess around with it.

I hope this has gone some way towards getting you going and I hope you didn't know all this before!

happyman81

Thanks, that was useful. I guess the difficulty I have is that I have a sound in my head, but can't get myself to that point. I guess it's trial and error, but my hope is that the book could add some certainty.

pinksoir

Not really. It will give you pointers in the right direction but nothing that a few youtube videos won't do waaaay quicker and better.

Absolutely trial and error is the best way. You won't get it over night but you'll get to grips with it quickly enough.

happyman81

pinksoir wrote: »

Not really. It will give you pointers in the right direction but nothing that a few youtube videos won't do waaaay quicker and better.

Absolutely trial and error is the best way. You won't get it over night but you'll get to grips with it quickly enough.

But surely there are the basic elements of a cello sound, for example? Something that even the most elaborate cello sounds all stem from?

That's the kind of thing I want. Like a recipe book for a tomato sauce, where the basic ingredients will almost always be chopped tomatoes, basil and garlic. And although more elaborate variants of this dish will involve more ingredients, they all will share a few core things in common.

Know what I mean? Is there some book or online source that has that kind of information, rather than me randomly twisting knobs and pressing buttons in the hope that I will someday land on a cello sound? I find it hard to believe that this is the best method. I don't want my hand held, but I don't want to work in the dark, either.

pinksoir

Well then the book I linked you to is exactly what you want. Especially volume 2 which delves into replicating particular instruments.

Here's the site where you can view page samples:

http://www.synthesizer-cookbook.com/

happyman81

Danke.

garfieldsghost

Apologies Happyman! I had both books on the shelf beside the computer and gave you the name of the wrong one in my post. The Synthesizer Cookbook is the one you want...

happyman81

garfieldsghost wrote: »

Apologies Happyman! I had both books on the shelf beside the computer and gave you the name of the wrong one in my post. The Synthesizer Cookbook is the one you want...

All is forgiven.

flyswatter

happyman81 wrote: »

happyman81 wrote: »

I got that book by Jenkins. Upon first glance it appears to mainly be about the history of synthesisers, rather than an in-depth technical look at how different modules/elements create the various sounds. Am I wrong?

This book has been a disappointment, so far. Seems like a book written for people who want to know some interesting facts about synths, but never actually wants to learn how to use one.

I would like to learn how to create sounds on this machine, is there a technical book out there that helps a person learn how to do that, in the same way that a book would teach someone how to cook*, not the history of cooking?



*(an apt analogy, since the recipes are merely a start and experimenting allows you to make your own variation)

The ebook How To Make a Noise is available free to download online, try that.