Hey I was just wondering how you guys approach synthesis from a purely creative/artistic point of view. Sometimes we need "that bass" or "that lead" for a track, but im sure everyone has at least once messed around with a synth with the single goal of creating cool sounds. In that case, how do you do it? Do you:
1. Have a more or less clear idea of what sound you want to make beforehand, then translate it in the parameters or
2. Improvise, twist knobs and test stuff out on the fly

And the question is, how often do you use your "creative synthesis" material in a track?

A little from column A and a little from column B.

I spend a lot time turning knobs with no clear sound in mind, but just listening to the results of different modulations. A lot of those times, I'm just wondering to myself what it would sound like if I modulated parameter X with parameter Y while it's modulating parameter Z, or things like that. Sometimes, I'll try the same thing with several different synths to see how similar/different the results are, etc. I've created a lot of useless sounds, and a few cool ones that have ended up in songs that way - either way, that's one of the things I do a lot when I'm not actively working on songs.

When I am actively working on songs, I tend to be a lot more goal-oriented, so I usually focus on trying to create the specific sound I want. If I don't know what sound I want, I'll usually start flipping through presets and just playing along with the chords in my track or solo until I find something I like, then go in an tweak as necessary until I'm happy. I rarely use straight presets in a song, but my tweaking of them may consist of something as minor as backing off on some of the effects, or as drastic as initializing the patch and recreating my own version of it (sometimes even with another synth that I like better).

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When I want to synthesis a sound , but don't have a base idea to work from , most of the time I just mess around with the knobs and stuff.

It's actually not a bad idea , you can get inspirations from randomly created stuff.

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quote:

Originally posted by cryophonik A little from column A and a little from column B.

+1

I think, to a large part, I pretty much have done some form of modulation of synth and sampler parameters for about every (95%) of my productions - to the point that, for the most part, the sound I wind up with is indistinguishable from the sound I started with - be it a preset or one of my own saved tweaks.

The cool thing about it is that the longer I own a synth, the more of my own presets are stored on it so I'll find myself flipping through those when I'm looking for a sound palette to start with.

I read, somewhere, a long, long time ago, that every time Depeche Mode got a new synth Alan Wilder would just delete all the presets that came along with it and start from scratch - when that was possible. That approach, I think, is what helped them to give a voice to their music. It allowed them to form an identity because they basically forced themselves to forge it.

I'm sure a little of that applies to me. What I've found, for the most part, however, is that synth manufacturers tend to want to impress potential buyers, so they'll make all of these really cool sounding "show-room" instruments that have a lot of layers and modulations running throughout the depression of the keys. While I think such an approach is excellent for show-casing a synth's capabilities, I have generally found very little use for these presets.

They just don't fit into the mix.

I've found that songs I make sound better with everything tailored for the mix I'm going for.

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quote:

Originally posted by cryophonik A little from column A and a little from column B. I spend a lot time turning knobs with no clear sound in mind, but just listening to the results of different modulations. A lot of those times, I'm just wondering to myself what it would sound like if I modulated parameter X with parameter Y while it's modulating parameter Z, or things like that. Sometimes, I'll try the same thing with several different synths to see how similar/different the results are, etc. I've created a lot of useless sounds, and a few cool ones that have ended up in songs that way - either way, that's one of the things I do a lot when I'm not actively working on songs. When I am actively working on songs, I tend to be a lot more goal-oriented, so I usually focus on trying to create the specific sound I want. If I don't know what sound I want, I'll usually start flipping through presets and just playing along with the chords in my track or solo until I find something I like, then go in an tweak as necessary until I'm happy. I rarely use straight presets in a song, but my tweaking of them may consist of something as minor as backing off on some of the effects, or as drastic as initializing the patch and recreating my own version of it (sometimes even with another synth that I like better).

+1 same same

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i just wait untill i hear something then go about making it.
creating cool sounds for your own track is very different then sample packs ect.

just tune ya ears in to what you think will work and dont be affraid to have a god go at it.

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owien-us

know your waveforms and their properties, coupled with effects how it will it sound, and how it will effect the mix. experimentation is power, you'll be coming back to things.

ive been spending 1 hour a day creating random sounds on my a6 (as a procrastination method for midterms), like really modding anything with anything i can think of, that shit helps with your synthesis skills!

i think, when people ask "how do I make this sound", the answer should be "spend more time with your synths"