Synthesis

[Villuccikeys]

How does one begin to learn about synthesizers? I just got a GAIA SH-01. I have a vague understanding of some of the terms. But I can't seem to find any concrete tutorials on general synthesis.

[Mordwin]

http://www.vintagesynth.com/resources/glossary.php is a nice list of terms, and http://www.explainthatstuff.com/synthesizers.html a quick overview, and http://documentation.apple.com/en/logic ... ion_3.html a bit more detail.

Basically, you play the oscillator directly from the keyboard, this sets the basic character of the sound, the filter then adjusts that by removing/boosting certain frequencies, and the amplifier shapes the output volume. You also have a low frequency oscillator, used to provide additional modulation of the sound (volume, frequency or both) and/or of the filter.

best bet? We had the original of that at school, great fun just tweaking knobs and sliders and seeing what happened

[Mikey]

Careful, school and tweaking knobs in the same sentence could get you in trouble these days

[E.S.]

Subtractive Synthesis (like the GAIA and "analogue synths") is the easiest one to learn, and it is in fact quite easy to get the basic concept of it. That is a very nice synth to experiment on, because all the parameters are available as a dedicated knob. Some master functions are hidden behind the classic Roland shortcuts, but that's not important to begin with.

Those links have lots of great information. Read that, and just experiment with the parameters. You can create a blank patch and build a sound from that, it's in the manual somewhere, can't quite remember.

After that, there's also FM, additive and spectral synthesis, so there's more than enough to play with.  

[Brom]

It's not the operation of the controls you have to worry about, the tricky part is the row of black and white things at the front.  

[Mordwin]

Indeed, I got quite good at making the sound I wanted... never really got the hang of the other bit

[E.S.]

Yeah, it's tricky isn't it. I don't quite know where to start...

[Mikey]

   

[MarkOneMusic]

You could do a lot worse than working your way through Gordon Ried's 'Synth Secrets' series on the Sound on Sound archive:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/allsynthsecrets.htm

Also, although it's primarily aimed at the Alesis Fusion* This ZIP File contains an excellent and quite short document called 'Intro to Analogue Synthesis' which is synth agnostic.  It's written by the rather excellent sound designer (and mate of our very own Jem) Steve Howell from the sound design company Hollow Sun, and he knows his synths!

*The Fusion is the most underrated synth ever, it has Virtual Analogue, Sampling, FM Synthesis, Physical modelling, a hard drive, a sequencer oodles of FX, and it plays and sounds amazing. It was a shame they rushed it out, tried to compete with the Korg Oasys and provided it with an under-spec'd PSU and made it run too hot.  Had it been built right and had they continued development,it would now be a legend and not a footnote in synth history.

[Villuccikeys]

Thanks for all the help, guys! This is going to be a learning curve, but I'm really excited about it.

[David]

Have you watched this one ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlA3Vmo8Oes

[Fat Bastard]

Gordon Reid's Synth Secrets series is Superb.

Try messing around with what you have. Just jamming and having fun can help

Fats.

[JakeWorrell]

I'd call my self a novice synth wrangler but although it may seem quite overwhelming initially (there are a lot of controls on these things) its reasonably straight forward and it won't be long until you find yourself listening to music and saying "that sounds like a pulse wave with some PWM" or "thats just a bunch of detuned saws". Good luck on your synth journey!