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nobody on here would flame you so i wouldnt worry about that. why would anyone want to flame you anyway? we all gotta start someplace.
first off. regarding synths. theres lots of different types that require different knowledge of how to use them. you may hear terms like additive synths, subtractive synths, FM synths etc. most of the synths i use are subtractive synths and most of the synths released are based on subtractive synthesis. ill explain. subtractive synthesis is quite simple. in principle anyway. ill use vanguard as an example because you can get the demo from reFX's website and the layout is very clean.
first off you have oscillators. vanguard has 3. an oscillator just generates a flat frequency. all sound is caused by objects vibrating (oscillating). low frequency sound (bass sounds, deep rumbling sounds) oscillate at a low frequency. high pitched sounds oscillate at a very high frequency. in vanguard you will notice you can set each oscillator to generate a sound that oscillates in a certain manner. along a sine wave, a saw wave, a triangle wave, a square wave. each one sounds different to the ear. typically saw waves sound fuzzy, sine waves sound earthy and smooth, square waves sound smooth also but different to sine waves (if you hear some dnb with wobbly basslines, those are clean square wave basses). with 3 oscillators you can layer 3 frequencies over each other, or 2, or just use the one. the more oscillators you have the more complex and thick a sound you can generate because you can a greater variety of different flat tones playing at the same time. some synths have more or less oscillators (z3ta+ has 6 oscillators for example and is good at making thick, evolving sounds, more so than vanguard).
now we move onto the LFOs. LFO stands for low frequency oscillator. again on vanguard there are 3. the 1st is attached to the 1st main oscillator, the 2nd is attached to the 2nd min osc and the 3rd attached to the 3rd. low frequencies oscillate very slowly and if you modify the LFO you will find that you can make the sound generated by the main oscs 'move' or 'wobble' or go up and down slowly. you can change the rate of this too.
the filter is the part that makes this synthesis subtractive. you have your flat tone generated by your oscillators. what the filter does is to cut out some of those frequencies. you can set the filter to high pass, band pass or low pass. high pass filter allows high frequency sound through but cuts everything else. bandpass lets mid range frequencies go through. low pass lets low frequencies through. the cutoff determines the degree to which the filter lets sound through. e.g. if you wanted to make a fuzzy bass you could set your oscillator to saw wave and then select a low pass filter. this would filter out all the higher frequencies. lets say you want a little bit of treble to it. raise the cutoff so that it lets more mid and high frequencies through. do this until you have the desired sound (timbre). the resonance makes the sound feedback. raising the resonance makes your bass sound sharper and makes it seem to 'resonate.'
you get why its called subtractive synthesis? you get a sound and you scuplt away the sound you dont want on the filter by subtracting it. easy huh?
the envelope. the envelope allows you to change the properties of your bass note.
attack = the time it takes for your note to reach peak volume.
decay = the time it takes for the note to decay back to what it started.
sustain = how long the note keeps going for.
release = how long it takes for the note to fade out into silence.
lets say you want a bass that stabs suddenly then seems to echo out. you would have a very short attack time. or leave it at 0. 0 sustain (cuz you dont want the note to keep going on. you want it quick). very short decay time but a long release so it takes a long time to fade out.
those are the basics of subtractive synthesis and they work across all subtractive synths. like vanguard, z3ta+, superwave p8, albino etc. alot of famous hardware synths like access virus and nord lead use these principles. if you can work one, in theory you can work them all although the layout of some is confusing (albino can be confusing and zeta hides alot of its functions in tabs and extra windows).
the rest of vanguard is just effects you can put onto your sound to make it sound better. reverb makes it sound like its in a church. delay makes a sort of echo of the note so it repeats again but not as loud and then fades out.
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