[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Introduction to Analog Synthesizers (Simulat...
___________________________________________________________________
Ask HN: Introduction to Analog Synthesizers (Simulation OK)
I realized I've had a long fascination with analog synthesizers
going back to the first one I saw in 1977. The band teacher had one
in his office. And I was tempted toward random knob twisting today
when I saw yet another 'analog' synthesizer runnable in the
browser. But I'd really like to have some basic idea of how to put
together rudimentary sounds with intent. I was wondering about
book like objects that explain the basics. Maybe a good used book
to pick up. Thanks.
Author : brudgers
Score : 131 points
Date : 2021-07-13 15:52 UTC (7 hours ago)
| SN76477 wrote:
| Step 1 Go through this process
|
| https://learningsynths.ableton.com/
|
| Step 2 Learn what is possible with an easy to follow advanced
| tutorial
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gipTFNhniMo
|
| Step 3 use the sound on sound inside synthesis as a reference
|
| https://www.soundonsound.com/series/synth-secrets
|
| Step 4 Do it yourself.
|
| vcvrack.com can be a good start once you understand the
| fundamentals.
| 500ServerError wrote:
| This is also a good source of enjoyable online synths :
| https://synth.playtronica.com/
| immmmmm wrote:
| using some several times a week, used to design some and built
| many
|
| to be fully pedantic, simulation is often called virtual analog
| :)
|
| random thoughts:
|
| - ableton had some synthesis lessons with interactive demos.
|
| - modular is great to learn cv/patching basics
|
| - moog werkstat is cheap and patchable
|
| - you can certainly find old second hand doepffer modules for a
| bargain (modular is very expensive)
|
| - VCV rack will give you the same experience, on your computer,
| for free
|
| - not exactly the same experience actually, turning a knob and
| having 1000 dancing and shooting in front of u is always a nice
| experience, try that sweep with a mouse cursor
|
| - similarly, having a failed cable, among many, in front of same
| audience is nicely terrifying:)
|
| - if you're ready to spend nights burning yourself with a
| soldering iron, there's a lot of ressources for "synth diy".
|
| - analog used to sound better due to non-linearities and
| harmonics, nowadays good (and expensive) plugins achieve
| impressive results but requires massive cpu
|
| - it's much funnier to travel with suitcases full of very
| expensive gear rather than just a computer. who doesn't dream of
| TSA destroying your most valuable belongings:)
| PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
| If you have a 1000 MIDI knobs, you can connect them all to VCV
| Rack and have the same experience. It works also if you only
| have 1.
|
| And with Stoermelder's Sail module, the knob can be dynamically
| assigned to wherever the mouse is, which sometimes feels even
| easier to use than actual modular.
|
| Remember that you can generally only operate 2 knobs at once
| with your hands, but can get good at using 8 faders at once.
|
| > analog used to sound better due to non-linearities and
| harmonics,
|
| It sounds _different_ , not better.
|
| > who doesn't dream of TSA destroying your most valuable
| belongings
|
| Given what TSA did to Ballake Sissoko's hand-made kora (a west
| African stringed instrument), I'm not sure that anything is
| safe.
| immmmmm wrote:
| being corrected by Paul Davis himself is too much of an
| honor!
|
| much, much, much respect, Sir!
|
| (sorry writing that too quickly)
|
| never used Sail, but sounds good! thanks reminding me i miss
| 8 hands and 3 brains when performing live :)
|
| i have a midibox 8 motorized fader project waiting for an
| enclosure somewhere, but never really thought of it as more
| simultaneous controls. but indeed. will probably write a m4l
| patch to handle long sweeps while doing other stuff too.
|
| > it sounds different, not better
|
| agreed, sry
|
| > Given what TSA did to Ballake Sissoko's hand-made kora (a
| west African stringed instrument), I'm not sure that anything
| is safe.
|
| i was thinking of a story by Underground Resistance, but the
| one you mention is even worst.
| PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
| > (sorry writing that too quickly)
|
| well, not really :) There is still a fairly big difference
| between having all the knobs for module A as part of the
| faceplate of module A rather than just mapped to some
| generic MIDI knob surface. Maybe not as much as some people
| claim, but not zero.
| cronix wrote:
| I actually think modular is the best way to learn vs an all-in-
| one synth unit. Instead of "Ignore 99% of what you see in front
| of you, we are going to isolate an oscillator," you just give
| them an oscillator. Hook it up, hear it. Now change the tone by
| altering the cv input. Now add a filter by connecting the
| output to the filter input.
|
| I just think it's a lot easier to learn what each component
| does independently (as much as possible...can't have a filter
| without something to actually filter) and how they interact
| without adding the complexity of everything at once. Kind of
| "additive learning" which is easier than "subtractive learning"
| :)
| fab1an wrote:
| I'm knee deep into complex modular synthesis patches these days,
| but started like you a few years ago. I would say: ignore the
| software stuff and treat yourself to a great analog hardware
| synth. You will learn a lot more, have a real instrument to play
| with, listen to its amazing sounds -- and if you don't like it,
| you will be able to resell it with a tiny loss.
|
| In order to learn things, I would recommend a semi-modular synth
| like the Moog Grandmother. It's great for learning all the basics
| and sounds absolutely phenomenal.
| ryanwhitney wrote:
| If you'd like a no-setup, no-tools, no-cost way to just start
| messing around, the WebAudio API[0] isn't a bad place to start.
|
| It has its shortcomings, but in many ways mimics the logic of a
| real synth. They've got a synth[1] tutorial that works and if you
| search "webaudio synth" a bit, there are other helpful write-ups
| to start learning or playing with concepts you learn about from
| other resources.
|
| 0: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
| US/docs/Web/API/Web_Audio_A... 1:
| https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Audio_A...
| beardyw wrote:
| I am not sure why they use the word 'analog'. If it is in a
| browser it definitely isn't, it is digital, though the one you
| saw in 1970 probably was analog. In operation though the
| difference is subtle, like a real piano vs a digital one.
|
| There is a lot of science behind audio and if you are that way
| inclined, learning about it is really worthwhile. All those
| effects create the sound they do for a reason.
| brudgers wrote:
| Thanks for the clarification.
|
| I know that there is a semantic difference in technical
| contexts. It doesn't bother me. It's a true-enough Scotsman.
|
| The distinction for me is with sampling synths (which can also,
| though rarely be analog)...I mean I have a forty plus year
| passing interest and the personality to gravitate to HN.
|
| I am more interested in the empirical part. And digital has
| some practical advantages like using my iPhone.
| beardyw wrote:
| Analog samplers - ah the Mellotron - Strawberry Fields, King
| Crimson, Moody Blues - drifts into the past ....
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellotron
| DennisP wrote:
| Generally it means they're simulating analog synth components
| in software; i.e. starting with oscillators producing stuff
| like triangle or sawtooth waveforms, running it through high
| pass and low pass filters and an amplitude envelope, throwing
| in some low-frequency oscillators controlling various
| parameters, adding some effects like reverb at the end.
|
| That way you're doing the same stuff you would in a pure analog
| synth, and getting similar sounds. In the digital realm there
| are lots of other ways to make sounds: FM, additive, samples,
| physical modeling, etc.
|
| Pure analog synth hardware had fallen out of favor by the turn
| of the century but since then it's made a comeback.
| ChuckMcM wrote:
| I was the same! I saw synthesizers in the mid-70's and heard some
| Wendy Carlos tunes and Rich Wakeman and said "Now THAT is a
| pretty cool instrument!" That lead to me taking an electronic
| music class in college to get access to a Moog Model 15, and then
| to buy Hal Chamberin's book Digital Music Synthesis, and
| eventually to buy a synth from Roger Arrick who runs
| synthesizers.com and basically hand builds modular analog synths.
|
| Designing those "fat" analog sounds from the 70's requires a
| subtractive synth which starts with a harmonic rich waveform
| (like a sawtooth) and then applies filters to it that are
| modulated by an ADSR envelope.
|
| Dr. Chowning over at Stanford invented (or at least documented)
| using FM modulation (mixing) of multiple sinusoids to achieve
| interesting sounds. That was the basis for the Yamaha DX-7 and
| you can hear it on a lot of 80's and 90's band tracks. His book
| is somewhat dry but it goes over the theory well and with
| something like the Yamaha TX81z sound module you can put his
| ideas into action and hear the results.
|
| Later synthesizers went full on DSP which allows you to
| effectively emulate that other forms and also to do things that
| they can not (like phase coherent modulation schemes).
|
| All said, for me at least, playing with the model 15 in college
| and playing with my Arrick 22-slot modular synth since, has been
| the only way for me to internalize the connection between the
| sound I wanted to hear in my head with how to set things up to
| produce it.
| dimatura wrote:
| It depends on whether you're more interested in the theory of how
| things work or how to make nice sounds (two things that are
| correlated, but not 100% correlated).
|
| It sounds more like the former; in that case Puckette's book is a
| classic (and free) http://msp.ucsd.edu/techniques/latest/book.pdf
| Cybotron5000 wrote:
| +1 for Miller Puckette's book (and Pd) - might be a bit
| hardcore as an intro. for some, but if you're technically
| inclined it'd be a great overview... If the second option is
| more important, there's no substitute for messing about
| starting to get familiar with how different primitive
| oscillators/filters sound in subtractive synthesis maybe first,
| then moving on to explore other types from there... (FM for
| example is less intuitive) ...recreating/ researching your
| favourite sounds from records, synth internals, or just trying
| to make whatever you've dreamt of/heard in your head/twiddling
| 'til you find something you like and then trying to work out
| what makes it sound cool... ('The Computer Music Tutorial' is a
| beast of a book, if you wanted an all-in-one reference:
| https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/computer-music-tutorial )
| [deleted]
| dylanz wrote:
| I highly recommend Syntorial: https://www.syntorial.com/
| sramsay wrote:
| A thousand times yes. You can _read_ all the tutorials you
| want, but the ear training that Syntorial offers is really
| worth it.
|
| Getting "the sound in your head" coming out of the machine
| takes lots of practice, but this really, really gives you a
| running start.
| bwanab wrote:
| I second the Syntorial recommendation. You can get a number of
| lessons as a free introduction and it's a very hands on
| approach that allows you to "get your hands dirty" as others
| have suggested.
| machinehermiter wrote:
| I love synths so much I have basically banned myself from them.
|
| I started with Generator in 1999, the precursor to Reaktor. I
| want to say it was on a 150mhz Pentium.
|
| Reaktor is so much fun but when I think of all the time I spent
| on it, something more productive would have been better.
|
| If I was going to start right now I would get a Waldorf Blofeld.
| Just hard to beat that synth for the price, sound and features.
|
| I search for the latest Blofeld videos some times on youtube to
| get a little synth fix but that is the closest I will let myself
| get. If I bought a Blofeld I would do nothing all day but make
| weird sounds for the next 5 years.
| brylie wrote:
| The basics of modular synthesis with VCV Rack
|
| https://omricohen-music.com/index.php/2019/09/05/new-to-modu...
| tlackemann wrote:
| This! Omri is amazing. I've been watching his videos since the
| pandemic started and taught myself modular using VCV from
| scratch. I even bought a few modules :)
|
| VCV is an amazing tool, seriously amazing. I would have never
| dove into modular without it as the cost to entry is just too
| high. VCV also nice because you can play with what you want and
| just ditch it if you don't like it. Can't say that when you buy
| a $550 module.
|
| Highly recommend VCV + Omri videos.
| awillimus wrote:
| Loopop is frequently updating his "In-Complete Book of Electronic
| Music Ideas, Tips and Tricks", which covers the basics of analog
| synthesizers and way beyond. https://www.patreon.com/loopop
| [deleted]
| abetusk wrote:
| Not a book, but I found the Underdog Electronic Music School to
| be pretty helpful [0] [1], though I have yet to feel comfortable
| enough to design any sound "with intention".
|
| [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfJ9Dbjz6cs
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNk-lIFq7ms&t=1301s
| woudsma wrote:
| Underdog really amazed me with their videos over the past few
| months! Quality tips and tricks.
| Grustaf wrote:
| A pretty specific and weird, but interesting alternative is
| PureData, a sort of visual programming language where you can
| build your own "analog" synths and effects.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7Gv7SR0Nrk
|
| It's very easy to get started, and extremely powerful. Not sure
| how well it covers your use case, but it's fun.
|
| There's a great introduction to PureData called Designing Sound
| by Andy Farnell.
| necrotic_comp wrote:
| fwiw, I've always found the PureData/MaxMSP family of languages
| really difficult to wrap my head around.
|
| SuperCollider is another alternative, but that's a whole other
| discussion, really.
| sheinsheish wrote:
| I don't know if someone already posted this :
| https://www.soundonsound.com/series/synth-secrets
| sumr wrote:
| One of my favorite resources I find myself going back to time and
| again is Synth Secrets a 63 part article series by Gordon Reid:
|
| https://www.soundonsound.com/synthesizers/synth-secrets
| indigochill wrote:
| I cannot recommend Syntorial enough. It builds up your knowledge
| of subtractive synthesis knob by knob, starting just with an
| oscillator and working up to the whole shebang (filters,
| envelopes, modulation, legato, mono vs polyphonic, etc). For
| every single step, you're given a typical softsynth interface
| (with only the settings you've unlocked so far), given a short
| melody played with the target configuration, and you have to
| duplicate the configuration by ear from scratch (the intent is
| that this is the most direct way for you to learn to dial in
| sounds you hear in your head). You'll also be shown which knobs
| you got wrong when you make a mistake so you can intuitively see
| which settings you need to focus on better hearing.
|
| On top of all this, the license includes free add-ons for popular
| softsynths like Massive and Serum that go into specific detail
| about applying what you learn to those synths if you're
| interested in that.
|
| And there's a hands-on demo! https://www.syntorial.com/
|
| It is pretty expensive, but the combination of brilliant hands-on
| implementation and sheer volume (no pun intended) of learning
| content warrants it IMO if you're invested in learning the topic.
|
| Also, not directly related to this, but they have a forum as well
| where people will share sounds they hear in popular songs and ask
| each other for tips on programming what they're hearing, which
| can be a neat resource as well, though I've personally not got as
| involved in that.
| samdafi wrote:
| I have an old copy of this book, which you can find for about
| $20, and it's excellent!
|
| https://encyclotronic.com/books/theory/synthesizer-basics-th...
| [deleted]
| jeffreyrogers wrote:
| Syntorial is a little bit expensive, but awesome for showing you
| how to actually use a synth. It shows you what you need to know
| as a musician, not as an electrical engineer.
|
| I think it is superior to any book.
| cbzbc wrote:
| It's regularly sold at a 50% discount, so if you aren't in a
| hurry you can just wait for a deal to come around (though it's
| that price at adsr currently).
| smoldesu wrote:
| Get Vital[0].
|
| It has been exceptionally difficult to teach modern sound design
| to people without forcing them to buy expensive digital (or
| physical) synthesizers to learn on. Vital changed that. It
| democratized nearly every feature you might come across in a
| modern synth, and it does so better than the industry leaders
| (Vital kicks Massive's ass, same for Serum). If you only download
| one synth, make it Vital. If you're downloading two synths, you
| should also grab Helm[1], the creator's _other_ freeware
| synthesizer.
|
| [0] https://vital.audio/ [1] https://tytel.org/helm/
| xzel wrote:
| Some great resources have already been posted that I'd second
| such as the Ableton website and Syntorial. I'd add the course by
| Sean Luke out of GMU [0] if you'd like something after and
| possibly a little more academic. His ebook is free on his site.
| If you're able to find a copy of The Roland Synthesizer Book [1]
| I found it incredibly interesting reading. They have pictures of
| patches for specific sounds. I'm not sure if anyone would be able
| to find a print version though and I've assumed they're
| collector's items.
|
| [0]: https://cs.gmu.edu/~sean/book/synthesis/
|
| [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Synthesizer-Four-Volumes-Roland-
| Corpo...
| brylie wrote:
| Learning synthesis (from your browser):
|
| https://learningsynths.ableton.com/
| nrjames wrote:
| This is an excellent resource! I recommend starting here as a
| beginner.
| jacquesm wrote:
| It's also a gateway drug to spending a fortune on analog
| modules.
|
| Let me save you some $:
|
| https://vcvrack.com/
| [deleted]
| tamasnet wrote:
| I found this series of articles from Sound On Sound to be
| fantastic, covers a lot of ground at reasonably technical level:
| https://www.soundonsound.com/series/synth-secrets
| hatsunearu wrote:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYk8r3QlNi8&list=PLOunECWxEL...
|
| THis guy is my favorite professor from my school. He has posted
| online lectures because of COVID and decided to put it up on his
| youtube channel so people can watch.
|
| back in the day this course had like 25 official seats but like
| 40 people would show up every day to "unofficially" audit the
| course.
| drlobster wrote:
| I saw some lecture videos this guy put up years ago (nearly a
| decade now), lost the link and couldn't rememeber his name.
|
| Thanks for this
| cushychicken wrote:
| YES! Lanterman's courses are excellent.
|
| I particularly loved how he was able to be vulnerable and admit
| that, even with a PhD in EE/CS, he had no idea what was
| happening in most circuits when he started.
|
| Mad props to that. I don't know a lot of PhDs who'd cop to not
| knowing something.
| qwertox wrote:
| Wow, thank you so much for posting this. I didn't know it
| exists and watching the introduction made me want to watch the
| entire course.
| hatsunearu wrote:
| there's a few other "experimental" courses that he teaches
| like the guitar amplifier/effects course, it's pretty cool. I
| was a "beta tester" for that course before it went official,
| shit was pretty wild and fun.
| munificent wrote:
| Ableton's guide and Syntorial, both mentioned elsewhere here, are
| great introductions. Subtractive synthesis (which is the style of
| synthesizer your probably have in mind implicitly when you say
| "analog") is fairly straightforward in practice and decomposes
| into separately understandable components really well. It's a
| good fit for programmer brains that think in terms of composing
| smaller units together. It's literally just oscillators,
| envelopes, filters, and LFOs. Everything else is secondary.
|
| Once you get the basics down, when it comes to real sound design
| I've found the best tool is to get on YouTube and search for
| "<name> sound design" where <name> is the kind of sound you want
| to make: spacey pads, EDM pluck, dub techno stab, 90s synth bass,
| etc.
|
| Over time, your ear will get better at hearing a sound and
| understanding how to build it in a synth. You'll learn to hear
| the difference between a sawtooth and square, what different
| filters sound like, and how detuning, unison, PWM, etc. all
| affect a sound. Tutorials are a good way to build up that
| knowledge.
|
| Also, just like programming, there is absolutely no substitute
| for just sitting down and noodling with it yourself and trying to
| make sounds. Like cooking, much of the learning happens in the
| intuitive non-verbal part of your brain. You don't just need to
| learn the _words_ for things, you need to develop a deep auditory
| intuition around sound. You need to feel it. Books will only get
| you so far with this. Making sounds yourself is key.
|
| You can do this all on a computer using software synths if you
| want. You can get a free or cheap DAW like Reaper or Ableton Lite
| and then a free soft synth like Tytel's Helm.
|
| But, personally, I think it's more fun and easier to learn on
| hardware. That lets you engage your sense of touch and muscle
| memory, which helps really lock in the learning. The Korg
| Monologue is a great analog subtractive synth to start with, or a
| Minilogue if you want to play chords. Hardware holds its value
| really well, so you can always sell it and recoup most of your
| investment if you lose interest.
|
| Note that subtractive synthesis is just one way that machines can
| make sound (but it happens to be one of my favorites). Over time,
| you'll want to explore FM, wavetable, additive, granular, etc.
| There's a ton of fun to have.
| PhaseLockk wrote:
| This may not be the level of detail you are looking for, but I
| found this short tutorial to be effective at explaining the
| basics: https://learningsynths.ableton.com/
|
| Ultimately, I think using synthesizers does entail a lot of
| exploratory knob turning, even if understanding the effect of
| different components can help guide you to the sound you are
| looking for.
| 2ndseq wrote:
| You really should just buy a synth and play with it. The Elektron
| Analog 4 can be found cheaply and has a huge breadth of
| parameters.
| dimatura wrote:
| I know $900-$1500 is "cheap" for most of the HN crowd, but for
| the rest of us there's hardware synth options that are much
| cheaper! For example, the Korg Volca Keys [1] is a perfectly
| suitably synth to learn the basics of analog synthesis and can
| make some nice sounds to boot. YOu can get it for $150 new or
| even less used. (And of course, there's plenty of free software
| synths, as others have linked in other posts here). [1]
| https://www.korg.com/us/products/dj/volca_keys/
| bartread wrote:
| ^^^ Underrated comment. There really is no substitute here for
| hands on experience.
|
| I got back into making music during the pandemic, partly as a
| deliberate choice where I turned my formerly chaotic and
| cluttered office/music room into something actually usable, but
| also through watching a lot of YouTube videos, researching,
| listening, and looking for a synth to buy.
|
| The key is to get something with all physical controls so you
| get that immediacy of feedback in terms of the sound changing.
| You can hear the effect of switching between different wave
| forms, playing with the pulse width, maybe using an LFO to
| modulate pulse width, applying a filter and so on. Avoid
| anything that involves menu diving or relies heavily on a touch
| screen where you're not getting realtime feedback.
|
| Analogue synthesis is super-popular at the moment so bargains
| are hard to come by - you are _not_ going to get a used Prophet
| of _any_ era for a couple of hundred quid, and basically forget
| _anything_ vintage - but you can get some really good synths
| for not that much money, particular if you go the monosynth
| route. The Arturia MicroBrute is great, for example. They 're
| about PS260 new and I've seen them for PS160 - 200 used on
| Reverb and eBay. If you're happy to spend a bit more, something
| like the Behringer Deepmind 6 packs a lot of punch for about
| PS400, and the Deepmind 12 is available for around PS600.
| (Behringer had a sketchy reputation for quality but their synth
| division seems to absolutely nail it - I have a TD-3, which is
| a clone of the original Roland TB-303, that costs about PS100
| new as opposed to PS3-4000 for an OG 303 on the used market.
| Sounds spot on. Couldn't be happier.)
|
| I'd also recommend easing yourself into it. One day I'll get
| into modular (it's inevitable) but I'm not there yet, and it
| would have been a mistake to start there as it would have been
| a bit overwhelming for me. You might be different but I'd say
| get something that, again, gives you results and immediacy -
| something that you can tinker around and learn and have fun
| with, and then take that knowledge and use it with other
| synths.
|
| Sorry, not really a tutorial, but there are _plenty_ on
| YouTube, which will help, but what you really needs is hands on
| time with synths, and lots of it. Try programming patches that
| you 've heard on different tracks you like from scratch. For
| example, I really felt like I was getting somewhere when I
| managed to program a decently credible Tom Sawyer bass patch
| with a really dirty vintage-ised filter sweep. It's one of the
| few events during the last lockdown that brought me some proper
| joy.
|
| And that's really the final piece of advice: have fun and don't
| be afraid to experiment. You will probably create some really
| awful sounds, along with some really interesting ones, but just
| embrace it all as part of the journey.
| brudgers wrote:
| I appreciate that because it is the kind of thing I might say.
|
| But I am not that committed. At least yet.
|
| I try to avoid starting by shopping when I can. This seems like
| one of those. A browser is probably enough to gauge the
| stickiness of my current interests and avoids figuring about
| where to put "the damn thing."
|
| Or to put it another way, I give this kind of interest time. It
| might have been awesome to have lived circumstances that
| encouraged my interest of forty five years ago. But I don't let
| that put me on a rush.
| bartread wrote:
| This is an interesting perspective. I would still argue that
| you need the hands on experience, and I cannot emphasise the
| immediacy and satisfaction of using physical controls enough.
|
| In my other comment I suggested that you won't find a bargain
| in vintage gear. That's true. However, if you don't want to
| be financially committed, you might do well do buy a vintage
| synth because you should get your money back - or maybe more
| - if you decide you're not that interested after all and want
| to sell it. Whereas with a new piece of gear, it will
| depreciate.
|
| As I say, the market for these things is pretty hot now. I'm
| weeping that I didn't pick more gear up 10 or 15 years ago
| before it all became so popular. Of course, I didn't have any
| spare cash back then so there's that.
| brudgers wrote:
| I suppose you could argue so. But I am not arguing. I know
| myself well enough to know what makes sense for me.
|
| It's not the spending money.
|
| It's that spending money can seem like progress. But not
| really. At least not at first. Doing the thing is progress
| and I can spend what time I spend that way without product
| research and bargain hunting and shipping and unboxing and
| making room for another hobby object.
|
| And accessories.
|
| If I find myself at the point where buying something is
| progress, then that's the time, but that is statistically
| less likely.
| tomduncalf wrote:
| The Analog Four has a huge range but I don't think it's
| particularly beginner friendly due to the large array of
| parameters accessed by just 10 knobs. Its flexibility also
| means it has fewer "sweet spots" than simpler synths - it's not
| as easy to make something that sounds great by messing with a
| few knobs compared to e.g. the Roland SH01A.
|
| I think for a beginner it's more helpful to have as many
| controls as possible accessible hands on, rather than having to
| go to different pages and have different knobs do different
| things depending on context.
|
| Analog Four is awesome as you get more experienced though as
| you can create a whole track on it if you are creative!
|
| I'd personally probably go for a Korg Minilogue as a beginner
| these days...
| kall wrote:
| I would second this general idea, but I don't know about the
| Analog 4 specifically? Out of all the analog synths it is the
| most like a little computer. It's awesome but doesn't feel like
| a learning tool. There are a lot of synths that kind of have
| the signal flow laid out on the front panel, like a Korg
| Monologue. That seems helpful.
| twis wrote:
| https://www.youtube.com/c/MoritzKlein0
|
| This guy has a channel where he builds up analog synths from
| basic components. He does a great job explaining the intuition.
| MrRadar wrote:
| Seconding this recommendation. As long as you have a basic
| understanding of electric components he's really easy to follow
| and does a great job of explaining how the circuits work.
| lintbrush wrote:
| Nothing beats just getting your hands dirty. This video actually
| does a great job of covering the basics that are common to 99% of
| synths, physical or virtual:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfJ9Dbjz6cs
| wheels wrote:
| There are a bunch of different ways that one could approach this,
| depending on if you want to learn to play a synth vs. understand
| synthesis (which obviously have some overlap).
|
| Neither of the books that I'll recommend here are specifically
| about learning to play analog synths, but they both give a bunch
| of background to understanding analog and digital synthesis:
|
| I read an earlier edition of this when I was getting into working
| in electronic music, and found the background very useful and a
| pleasure to read.
|
| https://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Experimental-Music-Thom-Ho...
|
| This one is specifically _not_ about analog synthesis (but rather
| digital synthesis and sound processing), but is kind of a classic
| in the field:
|
| https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/computer-music-tutorial
|
| The most common physical analog synths have two to three
| oscillators and a resonating filter. The first book would give
| you enough info to know what that means and begin to explore the
| space a little more intelligently.
|
| Assuming you're a programmer, you can also do a lot of things by
| creating synths using either a visual or code-based synths on
| your own. I'm partial to ChucK, but there's also Supercolider,
| CSound, Max, Pd, Reaktor, ...
| shams93 wrote:
| Even though its about webaudio, webaudio uses virtual analog so
| this book isn't just great for learning webaudio but great for
| learning the details of analog subtractive synthesis in the
| browser. https://webaudioapi.com/book/
| cushychicken wrote:
| This link came up in a synthesizer based topic thread a while ago
| and was real informative to me:
|
| https://modwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2858814#p285881...
| maxekman wrote:
| I would recommend VCVRack, a mostly free virtual Eurorack system.
|
| https://vcvrack.com/
| sramsay wrote:
| I would _not_ recommend that someone just starting out and who
| doesn 't fully understand subtractive synthesis start with a
| very sophisticated, open-ended modular system.
|
| oscs, filters, lfos, envelopes, vcos . . . for a beginner, this
| is all hard enough without adding control signals and fancy
| routings to the equation.
|
| Rack is amazing; I don't mean to criticize it in any way. But
| if you're trying to learn to fly, you might want to start with
| a Cessna instead of trying to jump into the cockpit of a 787.
| biztos wrote:
| There is something very similar, but not open, available for
| iPad, called MiRack[0]. It was a _great_ help to me in figuring
| out basics like VCO /LFO/ASDR/VCA.
|
| Virtual modular isn't going to sound quite like real analog but
| it's a great way to learn and experiment at very low cost.
|
| I have promised myself to get VCVRack working before I spend
| any real money on modular gear.
|
| [0]: https://mirack.app
| jacquesm wrote:
| Hah! you beat me to it by 4 comments. Upvoted.
| singingfish wrote:
| Hardware-wise the Yamaha Reface CS is a very stripped down
| beginner friendly but versatile instrument with which to
| understand subtractive analog synthesis better.
| PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
| One thing not mentioned in the comments here so far is that in
| general, almost all analog synthesis uses _subtractive_ models.
| That 's perfectly fine, but you should be aware that there are
| other synthesis models too. Frequency Modulation (FM) is one,
| famously used by the Yamaha DX-7. Additive synthesis is another,
| and rarely if ever found on actual analog synth equipment. There
| are a few more that were developed in the digital realm and will
| never (or likely never) appear in analog form.
|
| There's a whole world to explore in subtractive synthesis, but
| you may find yourself at some point wanting to go outside that
| paradigm, and if so, it's easier to explore in the digital realm.
| deckard1 wrote:
| My first PC sound card was an AdLib, which used a Yamaha FM
| chip. That thing was incredibly cool at the time. It had a
| jukebox[1], instrument creator[2], and composition software[3].
| Lots of early Sierra and LucasArts games used it.
|
| Almost all early sound cards had an FM chip, so I forget that
| people today might not have been exposed to this tech.
|
| Also, there is the interesting area between the AdLib ROL/MIDI
| synthesis and full blown digitized audio such as wav/mp3... the
| demoscene was sampling digital audio, chopping it up
| (MOD/S3M/etc. file format). The result was a wav-like audio
| file in a tiny file size. Some of the tracker formats, such as
| Scream Tracker I believe, could do both FM synth and PCM
| output[4]
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USNTZl7DGls
|
| [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H_g7WQMnFE
|
| [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQa7uSFA0Zg
|
| [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lFNYJ7B820
| PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
| > Also, there is the interesting area between the AdLib
| ROL/MIDI synthesis and full blown digitized audio such as
| wav/mp3... the demoscene was sampling digital audio, chopping
| it up (MOD/S3M/etc. file format). The result was a wav-like
| audio file in a tiny file size.
|
| This is typically called wavetable synthesis. You generate
| the (typically complex) waveform using other means, then load
| it into the synth and do stuff with it.
| disqard wrote:
| I haven't heard of Scream Tracker (ST3) since... the late
| 1990s. That took me back :)
|
| I remember ripping .MOD files from DOS games and marvelling
| at how well they were composed/crafted. In particular, I
| still remember some amazing work by Andrew Sega, aka "Necros"
| [0].
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Sega
| PaulHoule wrote:
| Didn't the DX-7 use a DSP?
| TomWhitwell wrote:
| Custom logic chips, not universal DSP - this was the early
| 80s
| PaulHoule wrote:
| But still it was working in the digital domain if I
| remember right.
| nightcracker wrote:
| A counterpoint to this is that if you wish to recreate many of
| the classic (and modern) sounds, that often they were created
| with subtractive synthesis, the easiest path to a close sound
| is to also use subtractive synthesis.
|
| If you wish to train your ear and learn subtractive synthesis
| I'd highly recommend https://www.syntorial.com/, which makes
| you recreate various sounds in a very structured and
| interactive way, slowly building up complexity.
| eunoia wrote:
| Upvote for Syntorial. Hands down one of the most effective
| learning tools I've used in any domain.
| xbar wrote:
| Precisely this.
|
| Syntorial will get you far down the road of listening to
| the elements of subtractive synthesis. It's a happy journey
| and one that gives you subtractive synth skills that can be
| applied to any of the hardware recommended here.
| stets wrote:
| Andrew Huang has a really good intro video on modular synthesis:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWslSTTkiFU
|
| Warning that modular synths are typically not cheap. However,
| most of the physical standalone synths that exist today use the
| same principles.
|
| Physical hardware can be really fun if you don't end up going
| with VCV rack or syntorial as mentioned in this thread.
|
| Good pieces of hardware for a n00b:
|
| - arturia microfreak
|
| - korg minilogue
|
| - any of the korg volca lines
| reality_inspctr wrote:
| The Moog Grandmother is an extremely easy analog synth - my
| kids know how to use it
| trypwire wrote:
| Great recommendations in here, and I'm happy to see this thread
| getting such attention!
|
| This is totally a shameless self-plug, but I think it could be
| interesting for you:
|
| I'm working on a project called Elementary Audio [1] which is a
| javascript runtime + framework for writing native audio software.
| It's like the Web Audio API in that it's javascript+audio, but
| unlike Web Audio in that it aims to target true native audio
| apps, like plugins for your DAW or hardware projects.
|
| The API that it offers feels to me very much like thinking and
| working in analog synths, which is why I think you might find it
| interesting. You can describe and wire up signals and just see
| what they sound like without having to worry about what needs to
| happen under the hood for you to hear it.
|
| I put together a guide for dipping your toes into making sound
| [2] and you'll find there a bunch of other resources that I
| recommend for getting into the topic.
|
| I should note too that it's currently in beta and only supports
| macos and linux (windows coming soon!)
|
| [1]: https://www.elementary.audio/ [2]:
| https://docs.elementary.audio/guides/making_sound
| brylie wrote:
| Intro to synthesis parts 1 and 2
|
| https://youtu.be/atvtBE6t48M
|
| https://youtu.be/gJkxGvhOS-M
| djaychela wrote:
| I teach music technology and have a YouTube channel. I'm doing a
| series on exactly this subject, so hopefully you'll find it
| useful. [1] I have a book on music tech which I wrote that covers
| subtractive synthesis basics as well [2]
|
| [1] https://youtu.be/l1B7ym59VJs [2]
| https://tinyurl.com/cubase11book
| mortenjorck wrote:
| This is an odd one and is a bit of an acquired taste, but some
| sound designers swear by the original 1971 manual for the ARP
| 2600, of which you can find a PDF here:
| http://guitarfool.com/ARP2600/Arp%202600%20Owners%20Manual.p...
|
| If you want to follow along with your own synthesizer, there's a
| breadth of options ranging from software recreations of the 2600
| to a licensed hardware reissue, but for $25 you can get Cherry
| Audio's respected CA2600:
| https://cherryaudio.com/instruments/ca2600
| jacquesm wrote:
| I had an Omni 2 that almost set my apartment on fire (the synth
| itself was lost), it's not such a collectors item today as the
| 2600 but beware when buying/restoring this old equipment that
| some of the parts are _well_ over their predicted life span and
| that can cause trouble. I tracked the start of the fire down to
| a tantalum cap, and recreating the conditions that it was under
| fairly reliably caused these to burst into flame.
|
| So if you go the route of buying a broken one and restoring it
| make sure you refresh all of the caps that are across the
| voltage rails (of which there are quite a few).
| ace2358 wrote:
| I can highly recommend Reaktor 6 by native instruments! A full
| virtual DSP program for creating things at different levels of
| abstraction. It's the backend they use for a lot of their
| products and sounds phenomenal. Heaps of tutorials on YouTube and
| plenty of space to explore and learn.
| awillimus wrote:
| The Intro to Synthesis video series put out by Reverb's Justin
| DeLay is really excellent: https://reverb.com/news/intro-to-
| synthesis-our-6-part-video-...
|
| As mention previously, Reverb.com is an excellent place to find a
| great deal on a used synth.
| nixpulvis wrote:
| - Buy a Korg MS-20 (or anything, ideally pure analog)
|
| - Learn some music theory
|
| - Learn some signal / information theory
|
| - Synthesize!
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| I'll have to find the site, but someone posted an _awesome_ site
| here, some time ago, that taught synthesizers, using a cool
| JavaScript tool.
|
| _[UPDATE]_ Here we go: https://learningsynths.ableton.com
| lunatuna wrote:
| This is lots of fun, thanks for finding it.
| nicetryguy wrote:
| > But I'd really like to have some basic idea of how to put
| together rudimentary sounds with intent.
|
| There are really only 4 main waves: Sine, Square, Triangle, and
| Sawtooth. The "complexity" comes from using these waves to
| modulate and transform each other. Apply Volume: labeled as
| Attack, Sustain, Decay, and Release; and you have yourself a
| patch! Find any synthesizer plugin, load up some of the patches,
| and start twiddling knobs: Disable things and break each patch
| down to it's individual components. You can get a feel for how
| complex sounds are built with "digital VCO's".
|
| Music isn't an exact science: You just have to play with it until
| it sounds good to you. Have fun =)
| dr_dshiv wrote:
| Why are there only 4? Are these like Platonic forms?
|
| I see that sine are "no harmonics", sawtooth are "all
| harmonics", square are "odd harmonics" but a triangle wave is
| also all odd harmonics. Okay.
|
| Why these 4 forms? There are lots of other forms, like a
| cycloid.
|
| Last question: is a sawtooth heard as an octave lower than a
| square wave, because there is only one pulse per cycle, whereas
| a square has two pulses per cycle?
| dreamcompiler wrote:
| Besides the engineering reasons others have pointed out, some
| of these waveforms tend to occur in wind instruments. For
| example a flute produces a waveform close (for some
| definition of "close") to a sine wave and clarinets produce a
| waveform closer to a square wave. Thus these waves sound
| somewhat familiar to most listeners before you start
| subtracting harmonics. (I don't know that a sawtooth is
| similar to a natural instrument but it's popular in
| subtractive synthesis because it's a rich source of
| harmonics.)
|
| In the early days of synthesizers the goal was to emulate
| non-electronic instruments, so familiar waveforms were
| desirable. Then Bob Moog came along and said "Synthesizers
| are instrumemts in their own right and should not be
| considered as imitating something else" and then Wendy Carlos
| released Switched-On Bach and the rest is history.
| nicetryguy wrote:
| > Why these 4 forms?
|
| It has to do with Voltage Control Oscillators, or VCO's, and
| actually controlling Voltages with physical components: These
| are the shapes you can actually make. Modulation is applying
| a waveform to another, so, if you apply a Triangle wave to a
| Sine wave you'll get another more complex wave that looks and
| sounds like neither of the two. You can theoretically make
| infinite shapes by modulating these forms with each other
| again and again. This is the bread and butter of analog
| synthesizers.
|
| I don't think a square, or any wave, is measured in groups of
| two pulses. "Pitch" is just how many times the pattern
| repeats per second, the same as how many times a string would
| vibrate back and forth on a guitar when you pluck it.
|
| Harmonics is a deep rabbit hole that i don't quite understand
| myself, so, i don't feel comfortable speaking to that.
| TheOtherHobbes wrote:
| They were easy to make with uncomplicated circuitry. That's
| it.
|
| The original big modulars included oscillator sync - which
| locked a bank of oscillators together - and waveform mixing.
| So you could create more complex shapes. (With some effort
| and imagination, and not in a particularly intuitive way.)
|
| When digital started to become a thing in the 80s you could
| start using any shape, including your own hand-drawn
| waveshapes or a custom mix of overtones.
|
| But that turned out to be less exciting than expected, so
| most people just switched to samples instead.
|
| A sawtooth is not heard an octave lower. The fundamental is
| the same for both shapes, because the Fourier decomposition
| has the same f0.
|
| There are some unexpected psychoacoustic effects which change
| the perception of fundamental pitch. E.g there's almost no
| fundamental in the lowest octave of a piano, but our ears
| fill it in anyway.
|
| But simple repeating shapes tend to do what it says on the
| label. (And in the textbook.)
| IvyMike wrote:
| Realizing this was exactly what I learned when playing around
| with the C64 SID chip in 1983. Neat!
| martyvis wrote:
| Noise generators tend to be pretty important as they allow you
| to add complexity to sound synthesis that you can't extract
| from very determinative wave forms
| elevaet wrote:
| There's only one wave, sine ;)
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourier_transform
| nicetryguy wrote:
| In a sense that reality is "nothing but atoms" you're correct
| =p
|
| These are the main shapes from a user standpoint =)
| elevaet wrote:
| Yes, you're right of course. I just felt obliged to do the
| pedantic HN thing =D
| desine wrote:
| Everyone else has covered some good places to get started reading
| and learning, but eventually you'll have to twist some knobs on
| your own. Assuming you do go down this path, I want to throw out
| a suggestion.
|
| If you get into synthesizers and music production, I highly
| recommend picking up a couple of Korg Volcas. They're not fancy,
| you won't impress any synth musicians with them, but their design
| is wonderfully fun. They often get overlooked by "serious"
| bloopmakers; they're a bit limited in capability, inexpensive,
| and the sound quality (noise floor especially) is not that of a
| high end synth. But their immediacy, learning curve, and common
| design makes it very easy and fun to play with. I can get someone
| who's never played any music in their life to start making beats
| and dance rhythms with me in under an hour. Elektron has some
| similar devices in the Models line, but their learning curve (and
| capabilities) are greater.
|
| If I had $800 to spend on gear, I would much rather have 3 volcas
| covering rhythm, bass, and lead, and a mixer and recorder, than a
| single mid-range synth. I'd be able to make more professional
| sounding tunes with just a license for a major DAW (and maybe one
| piece of hardware with the leftover cash), but the fun factor and
| joy of beat crafting would be far greater.
|
| Basically I'm a huge fanboy of Tatsuya Takahashi, a man who went
| to Korg with a home-built synth from his engineering degree's
| final year, got a job, and ended up causing a relatively large
| shift in the industry. There's an interview with him here:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb_-q5GKxK4
| biztos wrote:
| I second the Volcas -- I bought a Volca Modular[0] this month
| and am enjoying it greatly, though if "music" is what you're
| after you probably want the Volca Keys[1] which is cheaper and
| less weird and has MIDI input.
|
| I also recommend the Keystep 37[2] from Arturia as a MIDI
| controller -- super interesting sequencer and arpeggiator plus
| decent quality mini-keyboard and some assignable knobs -- but
| must point out that it's only "bus powered" on a computer, your
| iPad or smartphone probably won't power it without an
| additional power bank.
|
| [0]: https://www.korg.com/products/dj/volca_modular/
|
| [1]: https://www.korg.com/us/products/dj/volca_keys/
|
| [2]: https://www.arturia.com/products/hybrid-
| synths/keystep-37/ov...
| brudgers wrote:
| Odds are I won't get terribly into those things. Just a little
| more into them than I am now. I have other rabbit holes
| already. I just want to know a little more down the flat early
| slopes of the curves.
|
| I have "a few YouTube videos" worth of interest. Not ten
| channels of subscription level.
| dharma1 wrote:
| I don't think you need any books or hardware at this stage,
| maybe just someone to explain the basics to you and ask
| questions from, and a few YouTube videos.
|
| And try installing Audiokit Synth One (it's free) on your
| iPhone or iPad to mess around with. Best to learn how
| oscillators, filters, envelopes and LFOs work from just
| messing around with a synth.
| desine wrote:
| Fair enough, but:
|
| 1) Hardware is a lot more fun than software. Being able to
| twist knobs two-handed, live, not using a mouse, is pretty
| freaking cool, and is a big part of the experience, IMO
|
| 2) If you do spend money, don't write off the volcas. They
| may offer less sound design, but they're a great capturing of
| that experience essence. You can syncronize a few, put in a
| mixer, and jam with a friend or two very easily. It's an
| expensive hobby if one falls into it's rabbit hole, but this
| particular model line is both inexpensive and good.
| burnt_toast wrote:
| I love the volcas. Still just a novice and can't do much but I
| love their design and all the knobs to play with. I've got the
| drum, keys, and bass.
|
| It's a personal preference but there's just something about the
| physical hardware that I like better than software
| zoomablemind wrote:
| There are many ways to approach the synths. Books and tutorials
| often do this methodically - waves, harmonics, modulation, etc.
| This is the way to learn the mechanics of the sound synthesis and
| ideally should let one figure out how to design 'new' sounds.
|
| However, a lot of musicians prefer the practical way of using
| synths by getting familiar with the presets which often accompany
| the synths. Sure, someone had to design those presets somehow.
| Well, it's also possible to learn that from these presets created
| by the pros.
|
| Meanwhile for the purposes of music production the presets could
| be tweaked to better blend with the intended soundscape.
|
| So the question is what's the driving reasons for getting into
| synths.
|
| As for the resources, there's a nice collection of vintage synths
| emulators - Bristol https://sourceforge.net/projects/bristol/
|
| Bristol runs on Linux, and supports MIDI. The filters are not
| very true to original hardware, but good enough for synth
| explorers.
|
| Also there's a nice set of original manuals that were
| accompanying the classic ARP synths. They give a theory intro and
| then detail the presets, mostly how to synthesize acoustic
| instruments.
|
| There's also a dub of ARP Odyssey original audio tapes by Roger
| Powell which follow the construction of the described patches
| https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu2JwwG3bjA
| codeulike wrote:
| The very very basics of classic analog 'subtractive' synths are
| that you have a wave generator (oscillator), usually these
| generate Sine, Square, Triangle or Saw waves. You then pass that
| through a Low Pass Filter. The Low Pass Filter has a cutoff set,
| frequencies lower than the cutoff pass through unaffected, higher
| than the cutoff gets attenuated and monkeyed around with. Thats
| the classic synth sound basically. But there's loads of other
| stuff on top of that - multiple oscillators slightly detuned from
| each other, attack/decay/sustain/release of the volume, using an
| LFO (low frequency osciallator) to modify the cutoff of the low
| pass filter, etc etc
|
| If you play with a wave generator and a Low Pass Filter and try
| the different wave types (Sine, Saw, Triangle, Square) you will
| quickly recognise all kinds of synths sounds that you already
| know, e.g. you'll recognise the distinctive sound of a square
| wave bassline. Or the pure sound of a sine wave (think classic
| Doctor Who theme)
|
| In Propellerheads Reason, there's a device called 'Subtractor'
| which is basically a classic synth. This page explaining how the
| use the Subtractor covers a lot of the different things that
| analog synths do.
|
| https://www.reasonexperts.com/subtractor-basics.html
| [deleted]
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2021-07-13 23:01 UTC)