# Sources where to learn the basics



## mrc (Aug 11, 2020)

I'm fascinated by the world of synthesizers, especially the one concerning Eurorack and Modular Synths. But before I can even approach this rather complex topic, I would like to have some advice on where to learn the theory that underlies the world of synthesizers. Do you have any sources, both literary and online, to recommend? (not so much a guide to Eurorack and Modular Synths, as to something that allows me to address those topics later).

Thanks!


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## b_elliott (Aug 11, 2020)

Best response from a modular guru (not me) to a similar question: read the original Arp 2600 Owner's Manual. 
It is extremely well written; has simple graphics to clarify key synth concepts.
After the first couple of chapters you'll click on why they go on and on about voltage control. 
With that bedrock you can then venture far into the modular world. 
VCV Rack (free) has vary capable artists/instructors such as Omri Cohen. There are many others. 
Start with this link: 





Downloads | ARP 2600 FS - 2600 Original Manual | KORG (USA)


株式会社コルグは、音楽を演奏、作曲するためのシンセサイザーやデジタルピアノ(電子ピアノ）、DJ機器、デジタル・レコーダー、エフェクター、チューナーまでさまざまな電子楽器を製造、販売しています。




www.korg.com




Cheers,


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## JyTy (Aug 11, 2020)

Following this as well! That manual already looks as an amazing source do dive into the subject, thnx *b_elliott!*


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## mrc (Aug 11, 2020)

Thanks! I'll do for sure!




b_elliott said:


> Best response from a modular guru (not me) to a similar question: read the original Arp 2600 Owner's Manual.
> It is extremely well written; has simple graphics to clarify key synth concepts.
> After the first couple of chapters you'll click on why they go on and on about voltage control.
> With that bedrock you can then venture far into the modular world.
> ...


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## csound (Aug 11, 2020)

The Learning Synthesis interactive site that Ableton put up in the last year or two illustrates concepts surprisingly well. It's fun even if you know what you're doing.

https://learningsynths.ableton.com/


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## cuttime (Aug 11, 2020)

b_elliott said:


> Best response from a modular guru (not me) to a similar question: read the original Arp 2600 Owner's Manual.
> It is extremely well written; has simple graphics to clarify key synth concepts.
> After the first couple of chapters you'll click on why they go on and on about voltage control.
> With that bedrock you can then venture far into the modular world.
> ...


That's a great resource. What a blast from the past!


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## Rory (Aug 11, 2020)

The Logic Pro X Instruments User Guide has a very good section on Synthesiser Basics, starting at page 724: https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1926/en_US/logic-pro-x-10-5-instruments-user-guide.pdf


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## MartinH. (Aug 11, 2020)

mrc said:


> But before I can even approach this rather complex topic, I would like to have some advice on where to learn the theory that underlies the world of synthesizers.



I haven't tried this myself, but it sounded useful:









Syntorial: The Ultimate Synthesizer Tutorial | Syntorial


Syntorial is more than just another synth tutorial. It's video game-like training software, that will teach you how to program synth patches by ear.




www.syntorial.com


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## AmbientMile (Aug 11, 2020)

Syntorial is fantastic!


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## ashh (Aug 12, 2020)

+! for Syntorial.

I'm in the same ballpark as the OP. Tried Syntorial, didn't quite scratch that itch but that was me more than the software or the learning generally. I quite like learningmodular.com right now. Also, there are always sites like Groove 3, which our very own site's Deals, deals, deals! forum is advertising a free month of. For? From?

Um, I think, more than anything, I would say to get a synth, a free one is fine. Try Dexed, for starters. That's FM-based. Aaaand, we're off! Additive? Subtractive? As Queen Latifah once said, don't get me started.

Anyway, yes, get a synth and just keep going until you don't know what you're doing, then check out a tutorial on that. There is A LOT to synthesis, as I'm sure you're aware. I tried this approach (after a while) and it taught me that I knew nothing and couldn't use it. You do have to know something to try this approach. Otherwise you stop just after you start. But do try it as soon as possible, otherwise you're just learning stuff that you will forget without actually trying it.

Lastly, thanks for the thread. Learning a lot of new sources of info.


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## ashh (Aug 12, 2020)

Here's a synthesiser learning question for the more knowledgeable amongst us (that's you, in case you were wondering): why does a lot of the teaching around sound synthesis begin with the creation of a sound wave?

I know that it is because the sound wave is what we will be manipulating, whenever we make a noise with a synthesiser, but how does it help me? I am a visual learner but still, once that sound wave gets going, I'm not looking at it and thinking "AHA! That's what a 1500HZ wave looks like when I add some more Nodwangle, a squiggly top is probably what I need next.

When I'm 15 turns of the knobs down the road from that, I don't have a shape in mind. So what is it with teaching me about it? I'm asking because, clearly, it's a foundation stone of sound synthesis that I'm not getting.


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## ashh (Aug 13, 2020)

I have considered my above question and wonder if the answer is somewhere around the '15 turns of the knobs' mark?

That's where my understanding of synthesis and I have parted company, more precisely, on step 2 or 3. Perhaps if I go back to step 2 or 3 and take more time learning what happens to get to step 4 and so on, then sound waves will seem more useful?

I'm getting more comfortable with learning as I grow older. Or as my brain's plasticity diminishes. I was taught that the worst crime on earth is for an idea not to fly into the world in it's final form. Mistakes were for idiots. Now? I love making mistakes. 

Back to the sounding board.


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## bill5 (Aug 13, 2020)

Mixed feelings about Syntorial. It does have a lot, but it kind of reminds me of piano teachers who insist on you playing scales and other exercises about 98% of the time and playing actual songs 2%, teaching as if you could be the next Beethoven and if you don't practice 23 hrs a day you'll never get anywhere. For ex. showing the diff between a sine wave and a square or saw tooth is all well and fine, but they get so far in the weeds about it to every little nuance, and those exercises...thank goodness I found out how to skip around. I'd much rather a tutorial that brings up a more or less typical synth on the screen with ocs, filters, envelope, stuff like that, and that steps you though them, explaining what you really care about...just basically what it is and how it can impact the sound (with immediate examples after the explanation) vs a lot of electronic techno-speak which is often TMI for a beginner (and at times unnecessary and uninteresting, beginner or not).


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## Rasoul Morteza (Aug 13, 2020)

b_elliott said:


> Best response from a modular guru (not me) to a similar question: read the original Arp 2600 Owner's Manual.
> It is extremely well written; has simple graphics to clarify key synth concepts.
> After the first couple of chapters you'll click on why they go on and on about voltage control.
> With that bedrock you can then venture far into the modular world.
> ...


To add a note regarding elliott's suggestion, having some background in math/physics/electronics will help you a lot in understanding the text. Take that into consideration.

Cheers


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## gfd (Aug 13, 2020)

You may want to check this out. This tutorial course is about listening to different types of patches and reverse engineering them, to understand how they're constructed. It's on Groove3: Reverse Engineering Synth Sounds Explained


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## bill5 (Aug 13, 2020)

Rasoul Morteza said:


> To add a note regarding elliott's suggestion, having some background in math/physics/electronics will help you a lot in understanding the text. Take that into consideration.
> 
> Cheers


Thank you for that time-saver!


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## AmbientMile (Aug 13, 2020)

Rasoul Morteza said:


> ...having some background in math/physics/electronics will help you a lot in understanding the text...
> 
> Cheers



Very true. When I graduated high school, I started taking Sound Engineering courses at my local college. Lots of electronics classes to start. When I ran out of money to continue that, I joined the Air Force and had very in depth electronics instruction there. While I was in tech school, I really started to understand my synths that I had been randomly twisting knobs on for years.


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## ashh (Aug 14, 2020)

AmbientMile said:


> Very true. When I graduated high school, I started taking Sound Engineering courses at my local college. Lots of electronics classes to start. When I ran out of money to continue that, I joined the Air Force and had very in depth electronics instruction there. While I was in tech school, I really started to understand my synths that I had been randomly twisting knobs on for years.



Can you explain a bit more about how the electronics instruction helped grow your understanding of synths?

As we're in engineering territory, here' s something from Sonic State with a couple of Moog engineers. They're talking about building the Matriarch. I found it quite interesting that they refer to soundwaves so often.


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## AmbientMile (Aug 14, 2020)

ashh said:


> Can you explain a bit more about how the electronics instruction helped grow your understanding of synths?



In basic electronics, you learn about voltage, current, resistance and many other things related to "electron flow" so to speak. My first synth was a Yamaha CS5 that I got around 1980ish. The panel had controls that might as well have been in a different language. Terms like VCA, VCF, LFO, Cutoff and such. As a kid, I couldn't be bothered to read the manual, so I just twisted knobs and listened to what they did. That worked okay, and I could get to what I wanted eventually. But when studying electronics, I started to understand what those controls really were and how they worked in the signal path. But that was MY experience. I have quite a few friends who are very competent in sound design and don't know a resistor from a capacitor. 

That's what I like about Syntorial. It starts at the very start and gets your ears and brain to understand signal path and each component of subtractive synthesis. Syntorial does start painfully easy, but it will challenge you after awhile if you are new to synthesis.


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## ashh (Aug 14, 2020)

I didn't even consider that those terms were plucked from another realm. It's obvious now, of course.


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## AmbientMile (Aug 15, 2020)

Another thing that I think is very effective in learning synthesis is to have an oscilloscope plug in to see what is happening to your sound as you make adjustments. It gives a clearer picture of things like filtering (Low, band and high pass). Especially when a synth has multiple types of each kind (12db, 24db, etc). But I am a visual learner, so it may not be for everyone.


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## cuttime (Aug 15, 2020)

AmbientMile said:


> Another thing that I think is very effective in learning synthesis is to have an oscilloscope plug in to see what is happening to your sound as you make adjustments. It gives a clearer picture of things like filtering (Low, band and high pass). Especially when a synth has multiple types of each kind (12db, 24db, etc). But I am a visual learner, so it may not be for everyone.


Yes. The Melda free package has a good oscilloscope.


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## ashh (Aug 15, 2020)

cuttime said:


> Yes. The Melda free package has a good oscilloscope.



Along with the 347 other free plugins it installs. After you've unticked all of the boxes on the installer.


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## ridgero (Aug 18, 2020)

I learned a lot from trial & error. At a time when Youtube has not existed yet.


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## Lode_Runner (May 3, 2021)

ashh said:


> Here's a synthesiser learning question for the more knowledgeable amongst us (that's you, in case you were wondering): why does a lot of the teaching around sound synthesis begin with the creation of a sound wave?
> 
> I know that it is because the sound wave is what we will be manipulating, whenever we make a noise with a synthesiser, but how does it help me? I am a visual learner but still, once that sound wave gets going, I'm not looking at it and thinking "AHA! That's what a 1500HZ wave looks like when I add some more Nodwangle, a squiggly top is probably what I need next.
> 
> When I'm 15 turns of the knobs down the road from that, I don't have a shape in mind. So what is it with teaching me about it? I'm asking because, clearly, it's a foundation stone of sound synthesis that I'm not getting.


Seems your question was missed, so I'll have a crack at answering even though I'm no expert... I'd suggest that looking at visual representations of sound waves after the knobs have changed their shape isn't particularly helpful for deciding what to do next in sound design. I doubt there are many people who design sound in that way.

Rather the reason that most teaching resources focus on wave forms is because getting the synth to generate its initial sound requires selecting a waveform using the oscillator controls. Each of these waveforms generates an initial sound which has different harmonic content to the other waveforms and therefore different timbre (some might give a really harsh dissonant character while others sound more pure and flute like etc). In subtractive synthesis this initial sound is then shaped further with other knobs rolling off some harmonic content or adjusting volume over time etc, but essentially what these knobs are doing is removing content from that initial sound. These knobs refine the initial sound, but it's important to have the correct harmonic content to begin with to get the sound you're after.

Put simply, if you we seeking to create sounds reminiscent of real instruments some waveforms make much better starting points for brass like sounds while others are better for cymbal type sounds and others are better for woodwind type sounds. Same goes for choosing different starting points for electronic sounds like ambient pads vs abrassive cutting leads etc.


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