-=[THE SYNTH ZONE]=-

Does anybody want to recommended sites or tutorials for gaining a practical understanding of synthesis? All I do is play with free VST synths at this point and I get the basics but I want to have a better handle on it.

Also own a Microbrute - it's brilliant. The minikeys aren't as shitty as on the MicroKorg, allowing you play quite smoothly. And it can do anything from exquisite to big and squelchy.

St3ve, check out the Synth Secrets series, should teach you a bit (start from the bottom): http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/allsynthsecrets.htm

Oh yeah, I had started in on those Synth Secrets articles but gotten sidetracked, thanks for reminding me.

i've had the most luck looking on youtube for either the VST i'm working with or general synthesis tutorials.

what are your favorite synths for bass sounds? that's the #1 thing I'm lacking right now. I've got an Oberheim Matrix 6 (I finally got it fixed!) which makes some really lovely & mellow sounds, and I also recently bought an MS-20 Mini but haven't done anything too ambitious with it yet.

the Matrix isn't very good for heavy tweaking on the fly though

read that as heavy twerking on the fly

uhm, I think your MS-20 mini should be able to produce some great bass sounds, although I personally don't like the KORG Sound, it's just too.. "crispy" and "defined" for my taste.

The MS-20 is a fabulous bass synth, probably the best currently-available combo going, in that regard? I always forget about it! So great.

yay for fixed matrix!

my fave bass machines are juno 60 & pro one

i'm in a snit with vintage machines at the moment though since my really fucking expensive prophet 5 hasn't worked at all since i got midi installed

Vintage synths can be so uncompromising, that's why I like them

Well, until they stop working of course.

ha. it wouldn't hurt so much if it didn't sound so incredible when it's working

Speaking of vintage synths, I just realized how much 70's and 80's library music has this sci-fi synth soundscape thing going on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di_HMqlO28E

So many broken synthesizers. ;_;

Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Synths

Actually I'm wondering: Has anyone here played a Synclavier?

no, but if i did i would make it say jammin on the one

I am fascinated/curious about what makes people say this or that synth is good for particular applications, or how to to understand the different character of different synths besides the dry technical details about oscillators and such. e.g. electricsound says he likes the Juno 60 for bass sounds but for whatever reason I associate Juno 60s more with string pads and like mini Moogs or Korg SH101s with bass sounds? Maybe those are just more obvious cliches?

Yeah, it's interesting since I always thought synths to be sonic all-rounders, even with their various configurations and designs. But maybe some people like the sonic capabilites of, let's say, an ARP Odyssey more than the capabilites of a Minimoog in terms of bass/lead/pad?/... sounds.

personally when i say the 60 is good for bass it is because it has nice snappy envelopes and very tight but not wooly low end. it can do string pads well too though, it it a p amazing machine tbh. i appreciate it even more now after five years than i did in my initial rushes of excitement when i first got it

also i have never played a minimoog or sh101

i need to step up my pad game

One day I'll type out my synth adventures but not today. I own a lot of synths. Maybe I will type it. Here we go.

Juno-106 - great entry level synth. Start here and end here if you plan to own house or children. Only issue is that the oscillators like to burn out, and replacing them involves ordering chips and soldering.

Juno-Alpha - teeny tiny, the B is velocity sensitive, super light, super durable, mine got the shit kicked out of it and it still works. There is a cool fifth- and sixth-stage on the envelopes, it's like an ADADSR, so you can make stuttery sounds. It is a pain to program. I bought a PG-300 (the programmer) from a guy who was looking at me like I was a sucker and then I sold it to somebody and understood what a sucker looks like. This takes a little effort to program properly but it's easier than a DX-7. It's good if you're somebody who needs to travel light.

Juno-60 - I think it's this one that has the miracle arpeggiator. Any time I want to do something arpeggiated I borrow one of these guys. I have never owned one but I use them a tonne. It receives clock in so you can send it pulses from Logic using beat mapper to live drum takes and have the arpeggiation stay in time. It also has CV-out so you can double it up with an ARP or a Minimoog. The "ensemble" function is famous and it sounds good, I never felt comfortable using it because any time I turn it on it's like "oh, that sound". This is a great synth and I'd own one except that I own a Jupiter 8.

Jupiter-8 - a weird synth. It's hella expensive, I bought it with a film score budget for a sci-fi movie. It is heavy (a two-person lift, really) and runs hot. The envelopes are too mushy to be really useful for percussion but they are good for bass and pads. I was working on a film where the director hated synthesizers, and he came by the house and kept asking for any noodles to be removed, he just wanted lame-ass indie piano/ukelele plunky-plunks. The Jupiter was the one exception, he loved the Jupiter. It does sound otherworldly, like The Best Synth Ever! But its arpeggiator sucks, it can't be controlled without MIDIfying it (and the kits are poorly reviewed so I haven't done it), it's not particularly routable, and it's too heavy and expensive to really be useful in any home studio. Mine is out on semi-permanent loan to a friend's studio until I get my own space for it, which will probably never happen. I don't know what to do with it, it's kind of like having a convertible in the garage.

Nords - they sound bad. There is something in that frequency spectrum that drives me crazy. Their pianos and organs sound "realistic" without sounding good, and they never sound good in a band. Nord synths are slightly better but still bad-sounding. All that said, I travel with and play a Nord Wave because it's light, it samples, the FM synths sound good, it's got built-in delay and reverb. You have to wrestle hard with these synths to make them sound good but the lightness, durability and usability makes it work it.

Nord Modular - especially these ones. Capable of sounding unbearably good. This is a DSP-run synth where you built a virtual modular on your PC and upload it into the hardware. Like, you drag and drop your modules on to an environment and connect them with patch cords. Super steep learning curve and, like other Nords, sounds terrible 99% of the time, but it worth it for that 1%. I am a thief, not a programmer, I download other people's architectures and tweak them. I have a Memorymoog clone on mine that is so precise in its emulation that it's uncanny. My Nord Modular is my DX-7 and my drum machine, what a great synth. Any time I need to do a shitty film score real quick I turn it on and the score is done.

ARP 2600 - my favourite synth ever, and the only one I use on recordings that I want to be proud of. It never sounds bad. The envelopes are enormously flexible, the CV modulation is amazing, you can build anything and get absolutely lost in creating self-generating patches. Sometimes if I have a houseguest I make a seagull + seashore patch and put it in their room. The spring is noisy but is fun to route sound through it and then back into other things. I am sending mine in to a synth spa in Savannah to get the ring modulator repaired and the connections tricked out. There is no HPF so you have to figure that out if you want to make hi-hats. There is no MIDI, but I use a lightpipe-to-CV converter; the added control of the Silent Way plug-ins is miraculous. I wish I was at home playing with this synth right now. Todd Terje says that the Cwejman S1 is just as good, better in other ways, and less expensive and that he's been using that these days instead of his ARP.

Mutable Instruments - I have a Shruthi and an Ambika. They are both totally awesome but I haven't found a use for either of them just yet.

I have a modular, too. I've lost a week of my life into creating beautiful, useless music with it, but haven't cracked it yet, made it feel like an instrument. I'll type about it another time.

the 106 is weird, i can't stand the results i get from playing one, but other people seem to be able to coax really nice things out of it

Sometimes if I have a houseguest I make a seagull + seashore patch and put it in their room

aw.

This is all really interesting. I'm drowning in free VST plugins and should really pare down, but I've also made my microscopic first step into hardware 'synth' world by ordering one of these http://www.gear4music.com/Keyboards-and-Pianos/Korg-Monotron-Delay-Analogue-Ribbon-Synthesizer/HTN. I was thinking about getting a Microbrute too but money got tight and now I must wait. The Microbrute seems to be in a class of its own for that price range (next step up being the MS-20 Mini, I suppose?), is that right?

don't discount the volca keys (which imo sounds better than the arturia anaolgues)

lol. anaolg sysnthiziers

The Microbrute's real appeal, afaic, is that it's the most cost-efficient way of getting MIDI-to-CV conversion, it's as useful as a controller/interpreter as it is as it's own sound source. Definitely a fun mono synth on its own, reminds me more of an SH-101 than an MS-20. It really can't be overstated how great the MS-20 Mini is.

God, reading this thread makes me realise, despite having played synths for way over a decade, I am a shitty shitty synth person. No tech ability at all, I just press stuff and twiddle knobs and eventually something sounds good.

front not can i, i am a chronic preset-relier

that doesn't make one a shitty synth person!

goon tie, that's an impressive list. All I own is a Microbrute (awesome), a Novation K-Station (awesome, it also has VCO drift and filter drive settings which every VA should have) and a MicroKorg (Baby's First Synth, which I'm also selling right now). Oh, also the AN1x that should arrive soon. Not as cool as all the vintage stuff, but it gets the job done.
I especially agree with you on the Nords - the Nord Leads sound too commercial and "nice" to me and most people seem to use it solely as a keyboard with 70s Moog lead/organ presets. I'll never buy a Nord Lead.

There's nothing wrong with ribbon synthesizers, they look cute and sound awesome. And while you're at it you might as well get a Stylophone, too.

Twisting knobs and pressing stuff = Playfulness, and that doesn't make you a shitty synth person at all

Yeah I must admit I'm a bit sheepish about the synth collecting habit, as it's the result of workaholism + no car + no house + no kids + no joy in taking vacations. My real gear-embarrassment is the number of CP-70s (Yamaha electro-acoustic pianos, i.e. Joe Jackson "Steppin' Out") that I've bought in strange places for peanuts. I love CP-70s so much. (I hate digital pianos so much; I actually bought one specifically for aero to use while we were touring together because I couldn't stand to hear him play a digital piano every night it was making me crazy.)

I've used a bunch of DSI stuff too. I started off by hating the Prophet 8 because the knobs were drifty and the sound was very un-Prophetlike. I've semi-come around on them since I used a modified one where the knobs didn't drift? Or a later issue? And also stopped comparing them to Prophet 5s. But still unsure about how I feel. I know a couple people who've recently given up on their Mophos and unloaded them.

I've never used a Novation anything!

I always quite liked the Nord Lead, but agree with fgti about the piano sound.

MicroKorg (Baby's First Synth, which I'm also selling right now)

No need to be so dismissive - I'm using one of these now (my analogues are fucked and 'my' MS2000 stayed with the old band, oh yeah, and my AN1X is fucked too, oh god why am I so terrible?) and it's actually pretty great. Yeah, ideally you want more, but I'd consider having at least one of this range to be essential. I am a massive Korg stan, though.

Yeah, it sounds dismissive, but the MicroKorg was literally the first synth I owned and learned synthesis on. After I bought more synths I took it out again, played my patches - and remembered why I hungered for more synths, because something about that KORG Sound doesn't please me at all. Thank you for everything, MicroKorg, but bye bye.

It's kinda weird that people make Dave Smith look like he lost his grip on building synthesizers and it's also kinda sad that almost every polysynth he makes has to face the comparison to the legendary Prophet 5. I think he's still able to design great synths nowadays.

BTW emil.y how was the AN1x like?

I think it's a great synth, though it was vastly underused for most of my ownership as it didn't go with my band's sound, and I was under-confident and under-equipped for doing solo stuff... which is possibly why it broke when I started using it a fair amount ten years later. I mostly made horrible grotesque noises on it (I love horrible grotesque noises) but it seemed good for sequenced electro things too.

"Horrible grotesque noises" sounds good! "Electro things" sounds good as well. Can't wait!

my ARP 2600 VST plugin just made my laptop overheat and crash. Feels like I got some of the genuine vintage analogue synth experience there.

Did it go out of tune?

always wanted to try an an1x. i've played lots of romplers & fm synths but never done much in the way of VA

i have a fair amount of time for the DSI synths but i found the 'pro one' reference on the mopho circuit board laughable - it's a cool synth on its own but sounds nothing like an SCI synth no matter how hard i tried..

Which 2600 VST were you using? I used the TimewARP, very useful to learn, not at all like the real thing, not even a little, but still good for familiarizing yourself with "this does that"

I already downloaded the AN1x editing software from the Yamaha webpage. And from the looks of it the synth seems to have impressive features, eg. it has four automation tracks where you can record/draw automation lines and assign them to ~30 settings. I'm getting hyped!!!

Were you using the Arturia Arp VST?

it's a free knockoff one with the very subtle name 'Arppe2600va'. I have very little sense of how to use it (tbh I have very little sense of how synths work in general beyond ADSR) but it seems fun.

first thing i got to grips with after adsr was lfo modulation, v useful

I suggest getting an oscillator VST plugin so you can see how various synth settings affect the waveform. Helped me a bit

^^^

http://bram.smartelectronix.com/plugins.php?id=4

That's exactly the VST plugin I use, can't recommend it highly enough

The new Moog poly sounds great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmYrB4Cg4Sw

https://surge-synthesizer.github.io

...this one looks like a beast...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohoQeAuSopM

I think this is hilarious, honestly more humor than I would have expected from TE

It's a paint job and some medieval samples. Could be funny if TE don't charge a premium for it on top of the standard unit. But I'm not TE's target audience anyway. I'm much more looking forward to AudioPilz' review video (presumably dropping this Friday).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvCxIeZqQ40

I’m honestly tempted but I know I could just sample a bunch of early music into my Digitakt with almost zero effort.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgYEuJ5u1K0

I bet if TE released a Monty Python version it would sell like hot cakes.

https://github.com/iftah-og/Synthesizers-1896-2024

This repository contains an analysis of hardware synthesizers, samplers, and drum machines. The project focuses on exploring trends in electronic music devices, highlighting the evolution of these instruments and the various features they offer. It aims to provide insights into the development of these devices over time, using attributes such as synthesis types, polyphony, and production duration to name a few.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mehCDLtvRuk

love my Nymphes despite elements of the UI being awful (have to use the knob switch menu system to put a LFO on PWM), $350 for a USB powered Korg Polysix is crazy, this looks like it could be the Super Nymphes

teenage engineering KOII on sale for $219 - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1763136-REG/teenage_engineering_te032as001_ep_133_ko_ii.html

that's a good deal, now I'm kind of wondering what else might be out there post-holidays

https://www.yankodesign.com/2025/01/23/lego-minimoog-synth-sports-a-gorgeous-11-scale-design-with-playable-keys-and-rotating-knobs/

It's gonna cost more than a Minimoog clone

Wait for the Mega Bloks version - the Behringer of the plastic bricks market.

Moog Subsequent 25's are 30% in the usa (and are being discontinued).

(that URL has an extraneous http)

Try this

https//synthanatomy.com/2025/03/deal-moog-subsequent-25-analog-synthesizer-is-now-30-off-us-only.html

(missing a : before the // )

Underrated godspeed you black emperor album

I give up (not sure if that's a godspeed album as well)

https://synthanatomy.com/2025/03/deal-moog-subsequent-25-analog-synthesizer-is-now-30-off-us-only.html

30% off, that is. now $700.

Serum 2 is out, free update for owners of Serum 1

the brostep revival is ON

Just in time for Trump-era EDM 2.0

https://hackaday.com/2025/03/19/reviving-a-maplin-4600-diy-synthesizer-from-the-1970s/

maplins was the uk version of radio shack, although the project started in australia. and that pegboard looks a lot like the one on a vcs3.