I have recently began to try and produce again after a long hiatus, it's stressful though, because of after a head injury i've gotten in the Army i'm having to relearn simple things again.

I've been trying to stay away from romplers and the sorts, i'd like to be able to produce my own sounds, sound design.
I know that its not easy, and maybe very difficult to sound design but i need help learning the basics, to be honest, it's pissing me off moving knobs around and getting this ridiculous sound, i dont have any money, so if anyone has any links to free content, i dont mean pirated, as in free free, legit free, or someone just help me out here, it's difficult and i have absolutely no direction.

I have rob papen Blue
Sylenth1
Albino
and Massive


VST's that were highly recommended by a few buddies, unfortunately they dont want to teach me.


Thanks in advance,
-Alonso Mejia

I can recommend the free book "How to Make a Noise" which has some chapters missing in the free version but will cover different synthesis type with different softsynths, which will be enough to get you started.

http://noisesculpture.com/how-to-ma...e-free-download

you will be pleased to hear their is loads of freeware to cerate your own sounds http://www.vstplanet.com/

best bet is to check out the freeware vst sites and see what suits your needs synth 1

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quote:

Originally posted by AlonsoMejia I have recently began to try and produce again after a long hiatus, it's stressful though, because of after a head injury i've gotten in the Army i'm having to relearn simple things again. I've been trying to stay away from romplers and the sorts, i'd like to be able to produce my own sounds, sound design. I know that its not easy, and maybe very difficult to sound design but i need help learning the basics, to be honest, it's pissing me off moving knobs around and getting this ridiculous sound, i dont have any money, so if anyone has any links to free content, i dont mean pirated, as in free free, legit free, or someone just help me out here, it's difficult and i have absolutely no direction. I have rob papen Blue Sylenth1 Albino and Massive VST's that were highly recommended by a few buddies, unfortunately they dont want to teach me. Thanks in advance, -Alonso Mejia

Those synths you have are already pretty good! This is really obvious, but: make sure to read the manual. A really simple and easy way to learn is to just copy patches verbatim and you can learn a lot from just that.

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quote:

Originally posted by dj_alfi change your avatar for fucks sake.

Hey Alonso - thanks for your service and sorry to hear about your injury. I can't imagine what it's like to have to relearn so much, but I definitely wish you well.

Soundonsound ran a monthly series from 1999-2004 called Synth Secrets - you can access the entire series at:

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

BTW, they have the pdfs in reverse chronological order, so be sure to start at the bottom of the page (May 1999).

Good luck and use this thread to ask questions if you get stuck - there are a lot of excellent and knowledgeable sound designers hanging out here.

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As stated earlier, thank you for your service and I wish you well in your recovery.

The good news is that while almost every synth has sound characteristics unique to them, they almost universally operate on the same principles. Each has one or more oscillators which can be configured to operate a variety of waveforms from the sine wave, which is basically what you hear in a hearing test, to saws (which like their wave form would indicate, has kind of a buzzy sound), to square waves and pulses. Many synths allow you to layer these sounds. When I'm making a bass-line sound, for instance, I like to layer a sine with a saw or a square wave.

There is almost always a mix part of the oscillator section which will allow you to control the volumes of each oscillator. If the synth doesn't have a volume control in the oscillator section, the volume for each oscillator will be controlled in the Amplitude Envelope Section.

Some synths have ring modulation in their oscillator section, which mixes the signals from two or more oscillators to create something of a hybrid wave. You might try experimenting with this section to see what you can come up with but don't be surprised to find the sounds canceling one another out. Ring modulation works by taking the loudest matching part of each signal and amplifying that while it subtracts from the rest of the wave, and whatever is lost by that metric is pretty much silence. Also, be careful when futzing around with this because it can also amplify the harshest matching signals.

Most (but not all) synths have a typical amplitude envelope configuration consisting of Attack (How quickly the sound begins), Decay (How quickly the volume of the sound decays), Sustain (how long and/or loud the sound is played while the key/sustain pedal is depressed), and Release (how quickly the sound dissipates after the key is released). ADSR, as it's known, can, in some synths, be married to filter control (which I'll cover, in a bit). Again, synth designers have found ways of creating nuance in each of these sections by offering ways in which to shape the attack and releases providing linear, concave, and convex options.

The next part, usually, is the filter which I'll refrain from discussing in great detail, just because there's a lot of options which kind of merit their own mega-post. The typical filters are Low Pass (which cuts the high frequencies above its Q), High Pass (cuts the low frequencies below its Q), Band Pass (allows for a width of frequencies to be allowed through), and Notch (cuts frequencies where its Q is placed - some designers have even allowed for one to control the width of the notch). Resonance amplifies the remaining frequencies not cut by the filter and is typically used to add harmonic warmth to the sound.

The filter envelope, when there is one, operates on the same ADSR envelopes as the amplitude envelope and, when used in conjunction, can really help to shape a sound. I typically like to use a slow attack filter over a fast attack amplitude, for instance, to give the attack of a sound a kind of wah effect.

With the exception of ring modulation, these are pretty much the basics of almost every soft-synth I've come into contact with. As requested, here are some free synths I could find using kvraudio.com (I highly recommend the plug-in database, there, but be careful and read reviews because sometimes you wind up with stuff you don't want or is just ridiculously esoteric)

HAHAHACS33v2 - I cut my teeth in sound design using its predecessor. I actually made this sound using it:

Beautiful - It Came from the Woods by DeepEddieZilker

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/2541.html


Andreas Erson also has synths that I've used, including the Iblit and the PolyIblit:

http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php?mode=results&st=d&c=206

Finally, The DreamStation DXi2 is simple but offers a nice robust sound which has also been used, heavily, by me:

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/102.html


Anyhow, I hope this helps and I'll try and answer any questions you might have.

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my old stuff, not quite up to snuff - but I still dig it - UPDATED 9/23/2012

The synths you have are all you need tbh. I'd recommend starting to learn with Sylenth, because (to me at least) it's the easiest to program with and is very simple in design and very logically laid out. There are quite a few tutorials on youtube to get you started - type "sylenth1 tutorial" for start. And there's a shitload of patches in sylenth you can reverse-engineer to get an idea how this all works. I'd recommend opening the Adam Szabo bank (Factory bank 2 I believe) and learn from there.
Definitely don't try learning with Massive, because it's waaay more complicated. But very, very capable.

Theres a lot of good synths mentioned in this thread but synth1 really does some pretty neat sounds and I definitely recommend getting it on top of whatever you might have already.
I accidentally made a bass patch on synth1 that sounded very familiar one time, and for about a year I couldn't figure out where I heard it. And then I realizd tyas had used that same exact sound in one of his CM interviews, the track "somethings up".

I'm not even sure if he used synth1 for that sound, but the way the preset is set up slight changed in the FM level really create mean, dirty, basses. Very useful synth in my opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by RedShift Theres a lot of good synths mentioned in this thread but synth1 really does some pretty neat sounds and I definitely recommend getting it on top of whatever you might have already. I accidentally made a bass patch on synth1 that sounded very familiar one time, and for about a year I couldn't figure out where I heard it. And then I realizd tyas had used that same exact sound in one of his CM interviews, the track "somethings up". I'm not even sure if he used synth1 for that sound, but the way the preset is set up slight changed in the FM level really create mean, dirty, basses. Very useful synth in my opinion.

That was actually a saw in sylenth or es1 I think through Ohmicide. If we're thinking the same thing?
But yeah, I've heard synth1 do some crazy shit and it has one of the best detunings/unisons in softsynths. But I can't use it for the life of me. The interface is so ridiculously bad it sucks the life out of me.

edit: you could take the "engine" of synth1 and repackage it in a nicer gui, add some professional effects and tweak it up a bit and start selling it. I bet people would grab this shit like crazy. Too bad the developer doesn't see this and looks like he has no interest in it anymore.

Yes you are right my friend I just went back and looked and he is also using v-station for the sub layer, another v-station layer for the fm/distorted sound, and then another layer from vanguard + the es2 from Logic like you said.

I can't stand the GUI on synth1 either which tends to make me neglect it more than I should, but recently I've been forcing myself to incorporate it a bit more in my mixes.

their is also layering to create new sounds also as the oster above said here is a vid to help see how its done

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quote:

Originally posted by RedShift Yes you are right my friend I just went back and looked and he is also using v-station for the sub layer, another v-station layer for the fm/distorted sound, and then another layer from vanguard + the es2 from Logic like you said. I can't stand the GUI on synth1 either which tends to make me neglect it more than I should, but recently I've been forcing myself to incorporate it a bit more in my mixes.

Yeah, I watched the shit out of that video Probably one of the best FM videos around.

There was a thread at kvr about supersaws and someone posted a sample which seemed like the most perfect lush supersaw you ever heard. Later he said it was from synth1!