by far the best tutorial i've ever read on synthesis is the moog voyager manaul. it's only like 30 pages but its fantastic and insanely practical. it will apply to nearly every synth on the market (mainly because almost every subtractive synth ever built is somehow modeled after the moog)

read the novation v-station manual

regardless of whether you use vstation or not, it does shed some light on the subject, and most subtractive vst's have alot of similar parameters

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Subtractive synthesis is really not hard to grasp. Its very hard to master though, so I'd recommend you just sit down and start trying to get some decent bread and butter sounds like pads, basses, plucks etc.

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Read the manual on the synth you intend to learn.

The rest is trial and error, sit down and program some from time to time, you are bound to learn something new every time.

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Last edited by Subtle on Mar-23-2009 at 15:14

synth manuals
recreating presets checking what each knob does

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quote:

Originally posted by PlasticSoul recreating presets checking what each knob does

+1

The theory behind it is easy, mastering it is difficult!

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how to make a noise is a good free e-book that I would recommend.

I like to open two midi tracks with the vst synth open on each, find a preset i like on one synth then try and programme it on the other synth. When you get stuck go back to the preset and LEARN what you did wrong or missed.

Lately I have been keeping my synth training sessions seperate from my music arrangement sessions, seems to be helping a bit. Every now and then I think I need a sound, then realise that I taught myself how to make that the other day, that's a cool feeling! As appose to the times when you need a specific sound and try and make something that you have no idea about - that usually doesn't end well (although I have surprised myself on occasion).