OffsetGuitars.com

I'm tired of being a preset hunter on my software synths, right now I just use the browser to find something with the right "key words" and hope it's cool to varying degrees of success. I've got the Arturia synth bundle and thought about exclusively using the mini moog model and mastering that first so I can start to dial in the sounds I hear in my head. There's loads of tutorials on youtube but it's all over the place in level of annoyance of the YouTuber and/or quality/ conciseness of the material, so wondered if anyone had any suggestions!

I feel like this is an excellent question, and one I've had myself for a while.
I'm following and hoping for lots of good insight from out esteemed members!

Jack

I see these two recommendations a lot -
https://learningsynths.ableton.com/
https://www.syntorial.com/

Honestly, though, I think you're better off picking one synth (I wouldn't go with the Minimoog, with the Arturia set, either the Jupiter 8 or OB-Xa emulation should offer enough modulation/polyphony to dive deep) and attacking it piece by piece - here's what it sounds like when I detune one oscillator against the other, leave the oscillators at a set point and try every variation on the envelopes/filter position you can, etc..

Beyond that think of a synth sound you like and experiment with your one synth to see if you can get close.

Like the first thing I do at almost any synth the first time I try it is giving the Mr. Fingers "Can You Feel It" bass a spin - it's a Roland Juno sub-oscillator square wave into the chorus, if you don't have a chorus then PWM will get in the ballpark, tweak the envelopes and filter to get the right bounce. Or the Portishead "Mysterons" theremin that's actually a SH-101's resonance being played with the mod wheel (bender).

Well, I don't think using soft synths to learn is the best idea but I do know people who have...
It would've been too slow and off-putting for me. But yes, synths are expensive and most don't want to spend $2k on an instrument they don't know how to use. I always recommend a Korg Odyssey to people. You can get a lot of mileage from that one. Or a Moog Sub Phatty. Both are around $600 on the used market.

First, I'd learn how the signal flow works in all the popular synths. Stick with Monos for now as it'll transfer to the Polys.
All your classic synths that are not modular have a linear signal flow that's easy to follow. A Juno 60/106 is very basic but it's super easy to follow the signal flow for beginners.

Everything you're looking for is probably in the envelope generators. You can do a lot with one EG but having two is ideal; one for the filter and one for the amp vca.

I apologize if these are too simple for your skill level but in guitar terms:
Think of an oscillator (saw or square) as a guitar string. The filter is your overall tone shaper and the EGs to shape your overall sound.
-Attack and sustain are pretty obvious. pick attack vs volume swells, Ebow or no Ebow to put it in the simplest terms.
-Decay & release are like different degrees of palm muting and many synths vary in this section in regards to sensitivity & amount of time.
Having these controls for both the filter and amp gives you lots of sound shaping options.

When it comes to the filter, experiment with higher resonance settings (just before oscillation) and your frequency control at zero. Use you filter EG to determine how bright you want your sound and when (fast attack or slow attack, etc) and how long (decay & release).

An LFO can be anything from vibrato (sine or triangle modulating osc pitch) to Tremolo (modulating filter or amp).
Example: Several LFOs (2-3) at different speeds slightly modulating an osc's pitch with slow attack on the EGs will give you a more realistic string sound. Using noise or S&H as well to modulate the pitch just a touch will give you an even more realistic string (or brass or percussion) sound.

Using a synth to recreate acoustic sounds is old school to some but it was the basis of early synthesizers and the gateway to many not-acoustic sounds. There's lots of other things like oscillator sync, ring modulation, FM, keyboard tracking for the filter and envelopes, the different types of filters, and much more but just stick with the basic stuff above. Master those things first.

Also, if people want help with certain sounds, feel free to ask. Like, add a post here about a specific sound you want to figure out in a song and I'll see if I can figure it.

wooderson wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 07, 2023 4:58 pm

Like the first thing I do at almost any synth the first time I try it is giving the Mr. Fingers "Can You Feel It" bass a spin - it's a Roland Juno sub-oscillator square wave into the chorus, if you don't have a chorus then PWM will get in the ballpark, tweak the envelopes and filter to get the right bounce. Or the Portishead "Mysterons" theremin that's actually a SH-101's resonance being played with the mod wheel (bender).

I love both of these songs!

Beyond that think of a synth sound you like and experiment with your one synth to see if you can get close.

I agree! I think a minimoog is perfect tho, if you can learn how to do 100 different things on a basic synth like that, you'll go much further with a big analog poly.

Manuals. Read old school analog synth manuals. They are quite thorough in explaining the signal path and what’s going on in an interconnective way. Moogs manuals are good as are sequential circuits.

wooderson wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 07, 2023 4:58 pm

https://learningsynths.ableton.com/

This looks really cool and wasn't on my radar- thanks!

OffYourFace wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 07, 2023 7:41 pm

Well, I don't think using soft synths to learn is the best idea but I do know people who have...
It would've been too slow and off-putting for me. But yes, synths are expensive and most don't want to spend $2k on an instrument they don't know how to use. I always recommend a Korg Odyssey to people. You can get a lot of mileage from that one. Or a Moog Sub Phatty. Both are around $600 on the used market.

First, I'd learn how the signal flow works in all the popular synths. Stick with Monos for now as it'll transfer to the Polys.
All your classic synths that are not modular have a linear signal flow that's easy to follow. A Juno 60/106 is very basic but it's super easy to follow the signal flow for beginners.

Everything you're looking for is probably in the envelope generators. You can do a lot with one EG but having two is ideal; one for the filter and one for the amp vca.

I apologize if these are too simple for your skill level but in guitar terms:
Think of an oscillator (saw or square) as a guitar string. The filter is your overall tone shaper and the EGs to shape your overall sound.
-Attack and sustain are pretty obvious. pick attack vs volume swells, Ebow or no Ebow to put it in the simplest terms.
-Decay & release are like different degrees of palm muting and many synths vary in this section in regards to sensitivity time amount.
Having these controls for both the filter and amp gives you lots of sound shaping options.

When it comes to the filter, experiment with higher resonance settings (just before oscillation) and your frequency control at zero. Use you filter EG to determine how bright you want your sound and when (fast attack or slow attack, etc) and how long (decay & release).

An LFO can be anything from vibrato (sine or triangle modulating osc pitch) to Tremolo (modulating filter or amp).
Example: Several LFOs (2-3) at different speeds slightly modulating an osc's pitch with slow attack on the EGs will give you a more realistic string sound. Using noise or S&H as well to modulate the pitch just a touch will give you an even more realistic string (or brass or percussion) sound.

Using a synth to recreate acoustic sounds is old school to some but it was the basis of early synthesizers and the gateway to many not-acoustic sounds. There's lots of other things like oscillator sync, ring modulation, FM, keyboard tracking for the filter and envelopes, the different types of filters, and much more but just stick with the basic stuff above. Master those things first.

Also, if people want help with certain sounds, feel free to ask. Like, add a post here about a specific sound you want to figure out in a song and I'll see if I can figure it.

This is all awesome stuff. Pasting it into a phone note for reference!

Are build-it-yourself kits like the Moog Mavis https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... odule-44hp helpful in learning the basic of what synths do and how they work helpful to the beginner?

I don't think the DIY aspect is important but the Mavis is a nice little package - my only beef would be the single envelope generator. Having separate EGs for the filter and VCA is valuable for 'sound design' (and not in the sci-fi soundtrack sense but just like making a string patch).

Two EGs and a LFO with a delay parameter will take you a long way in modulation.

I have nothing add but want to say what off your face said is exactly how I learned and I highly recommend it.

redchapterjubilee wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 08, 2023 3:34 am

Manuals. Read old school analog synth manuals. They are quite thorough in explaining the signal path and what’s going on in an interconnective way. Moogs manuals are good as are sequential circuits.

I missed this, I agree. The original user manual for the SCI Prophet 5 is great! So is the manual for the Arp 2600.