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Synth Programming

What do you think makes a good synth? I've listened through alot of the presents and find them to be cheesy garbage...(Sylenth1)

Just started programming and I actually quite enjoy it...Throw on an arpeggio and then start tweakin' knobs.

I know that some take pride in being trained in how to make them...where they know that if they turn oscillator A 15 degrees out of phase it will reinforce or detract from oscillator B in a determined way...

But what about just sitting down and having a go at it using your ears?

Anyone have alot of experience here with programming? (Post up your custom synths/sounds if you have 'em too!)

I actually kinda find synths to be quite personal, as they can really represent the kind of sound you like. And sometimes it may be completely different than anything anyone has heard...(Mine are pretty generic analogue sawtooths, but someday...)

Sounded kinda like this : Synth3 by TheTA

Re: Synth Programming

quote:

Originally posted by theterran What do you think makes a good synth? I've listened through alot of the presents and find them to be cheesy garbage...(Sylenth1)

Most of the patches are going to sound cheesy, especially if they are timbrally static. I know how to work all of the knobs on a subtractive synth, but I don't bother trying to come up with new sounds; other people can do that for me. I think of a synth more as an instrument with many sounds, than a computer to program.

Re: Synth Programming

quote:

Originally posted by theterran I know that some take pride in being trained in how to make them...where they know that if they turn oscillator A 15 degrees out of phase it will reinforce or detract from oscillator B in a determined way...

Don't think anyone programs synths like that.

Most people just take a preset and remove the cheese to make it sound cool and fit the track. Occasionally people might try to make their own unique feature sound, but I think thats not something to do while actually producing a track.

Bread and butter sounds are easy enough to make while making a track though, so thats a bit of a different thing I guess.

So not a common thing to enjoy this sorta thing? (Was joking about technical synth creation btw)

Figured musicians would be all for making their own custom sound palettes.

No I think lots of people enjoy stuffing around with synths. Its just not usually something that one does while simultaneously focussing on more creative and less nerdy aspects.

For me its like only one side of my brain works at a time, so I have to seperate the two

I think most find a sound that seems to have potential and fit in the track, then go crazy on the knobs. Quite often to a point where it's not even remotely similar to the original sound, but I guess that's a good thing.

Designing a sound from the init patch is an absolute nightmare.

I made a huge FM synthesis thread a while ago, with a bunch of patches and explanations for how they worked, but I deleted the patches and sound examples from my web space. Silly of me.

Anyway, I love synth programming and always start from init patch. Not a matter of pride, really, it's just the way I like doing things.

A lot of the time I like really odd or twisted sounds. For example:

http://jbj.raceriv.com/music/pand.mp3
http://jbj.raceriv.com/music/JBJ--Telled-Automater.mp3

For me sound crafting is half the fun of electronic music.

synth programming has a lot to do with experience. at first you have not the slightest clue what happens if you turn this knob or that slider. with the time you'll learn to predict the result of changing a knob. this will get you once so far that you can listen to a sound and break it down to the single components of eg. a subtractive synth. that said you need so fully understand how the synth works internally. but once you have this experience, synth programming is very predictable. though i wouldn't say that for all synthesis methods.
though FM is still very tricky to break down to the single settings as it's built around a much deeper interaction between the components.
my starting point for a new sound is usally a init preset. it's usually faster for me than finding a preset which i have in mind and tweaking it to my liking.

fm synthesis..is complicated..

i design everything from the initial setting. Don't see the big fuss.

quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles I made a huge FM synthesis thread a while ago, with a bunch of patches and explanations for how they worked, but I deleted the patches and sound examples from my web space. Silly of me. Anyway, I love synth programming and always start from init patch. Not a matter of pride, really, it's just the way I like doing things. A lot of the time I like really odd or twisted sounds. For example: http://jbj.raceriv.com/music/pand.mp3 http://jbj.raceriv.com/music/JBJ--Telled-Automater.mp3 For me sound crafting is half the fun of electronic music.

First link doesn't seem to work but that second sound would be fucking nuts for some FXwork.

Also cool to see how some view music creation on a basic level...I kind of relate it to making your own paint as a painter...I suppose a little pride should be involved right? at least in making subjectively "good" sound opposed to bad?

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