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Knifonium VST

He is a great guy indeed...I know him very positive energy solid guy...and we played together in 2007 he stood in for our synth player...it’s on yt
Can you post a link?
 
The Knif sounds like it could do this kind of sound pretty well, that has me excited!!

 
The Knif sounds like it could do this kind of sound pretty well, that has me excited!!


It could but it would be a ton of work, at least for me anyway. In essence Knifonium as a subtractive type synth. The synth in that example is more of Buchla style synthesis. So if you wanted to nail that sound, I'd start there with a "westcoast" style synthesis. Knifonium has a wave folder for FX but it's not built into the design of the synth like it is in Buchla style synths.

Here's a hardware eurorack one but the software Buchla Easel V is great too. I'm thinking of getting it.

 
Buchla? Maybe try the free Pendulate. Because Generate (poly paid version) works way easier than the Arturia emulation and has “that”’ sound.
Yes it does. Funny I got Generate before I ever new about Pendulate, but they seem almost the same. Probably could have gotten my feet wet with Pendulate for Generate.
 
You two are really gonna make me go down a synth rabbit hole I swear…

I have so much to learn, but that definitely excites me, synthesis is probably the one thing I want to really get good at more than anything else (well, besides composing in general lol)
 
Now I’m curious, how do both of you feel about Serum? Being that it’s the kind of EDM and all things in the popular music world
 
Have it. Great wavetable synth. Very well respected and supported (both by the developer and third parties). In other words: revered synth.

But. Weirdly I hardly ever use it. I never mention it in my many passionate lists. And I don’t know why… (Massive X: same story).

I need wavetables, I take Hive, Pigments or Falcon. Maybe even MSF. Of those four Hive has “the magic” for me. Id est: the sound. The SOUND haha.

José is a big OTT fan, so I bet he uses more Xfer stuff than I ever will.
 
I’m also a massive OTT fan, I put it on almost everything lol

I feel the same way, I have Serum but I hardly ever touch it, I find it to be too modern for most cinematic stuff in a way, it’s hard to blend it with orchestral stuff and other synths I have
 
So @KEM. Don’t let all our talk get to you. Honestly, with Knifonium and Hive you’ll have enough to chew on for years to come. Soundwise they’re completely different and I suppose pretty complementary. Learn those and you’re golden.
 
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I’m also a massive OTT fan, I put it on almost everything lol

I feel the same way, I have Serum but I hardly ever touch it, I find it to be too modern for most cinematic stuff in a way, it’s hard to blend it with orchestral stuff and other synths I have
Yeah I guess that’s it. It’s like I’m looking for a cool old fashioned knife, with wood and my initials on it and some family weapons (Hive) and Serum is this stainless steel surgery knife. It just doesn’t gel?
 
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Now I’m curious, how do both of you feel about Serum? Being that it’s the kind of EDM and all things in the popular music world
Personally I think Serum is killer, but unfortunately I was never motivated to get it. I am a Reason user and there are a couple of wavetable synths. The Rack Extension Expanse sounds just as good as serum has 4 ocs rather than 3 and then also can read serum wavetables. So I used that until I got Vital and then never really felt the need to get Serum. But when it first came out I was blown away by Serum so you can't go wrong with it. Just for me paying another dime for something that I could already do just didn't appeal to me. Then I got Phaseplant and between all that the idea of Serum became a faded memory.

If you really want to learn synthesis there's a few things that really helped me. First was learning the real difference between the kinds of synthesis so that when something new comes out you know what ballpark to play in. Second, learning what each button really does. Then learn what each part of a synth does.

Lastly I took this course called Synotrial. Never made it to the end, I might someday but even after the first few lessons I was banging out some synth patches. The course forces you to confront by ear what each part of the synth does. It was really more helpful than I care to admit. So now when I listen to a sound, I can deconstruct it and rebuild it like I did with that Tenet patch. I was able from this course to actually sell my first all synth cues for a movie.

 
I’ve actually been looking at Syntorial recently, so I’ll probably go ahead and bite the bullet on it and get it as I was already interested in it anyways.

And you’re totally right about OTT, I love putting it on stuff like Zebra or Arturia’s CS80, makes it the analog sound very modern, I’m a big fan
 
Oh one warning about Syntorial. I loved the course but after a while the synth he's using just started to grate on my ears. My only critique is the course would be a lot better if the sound quality of the synth used in the instruction was better quality.
 
I think @Markrs has done or is still doing the Syntorial courses. I have learned my “chops” on many many hardware synths. First ever synthesis back in the mid eighties was Yammie FM, so that’s still kind of my go-to, but I do like subtractive and wavetable synthesis as well.

What has always amazed me and still does, is the advent of wavetable synthesis as sort of the most ubiquitous “plain vanilla” type of architecture nowadays. Like it’s the starting point for many. I get why it may have evolved like this (basically once you’re conceiving a softsynth you might as well just add wavetable scanning capable osc’s, as the rest of the architecture is basically just subtractive anyway) - but back in the day it was pretty marginal.

For a long period of time, when memory became sort of affordable, we had romplers. M1, D50, AWM and all the derivatives. Never spoke to me, other than in the most practical sense (“I need a shakuhachi like sound”, browse 500 patches, found it, play track). Can’t say that I have ever programmed one of those sample based synths for fun. I do have Xpand2! and honestly… for a tenner it is a ridiculously close emulation of the entire Roland JVxxxx universe. At least to me it is.

What feels weird to me, looking at the current state of affairs, is that I may enjoy the little hardware emulations companies like Arturia and Cherry Audio (and PA) put out almost better than some of the large workhorse synths. That includes UI, but I’m a romantic sucker for skeumorphic shit. What’s even weirder is that it seems to be that’s where the money’s at. Where are the spiritual successors to Yamaha’s 1990s VL1 physical modelling synth? AAS stuff is cool. Audio Modelling, Aaron Venture: cool. But not “hey we’re 30 years in the future” cool somehow?

Anyway… yeah. Restrict yourself to a bunch of synths that you really want to LEARN and program. Buy all the rest (you know you will) for browsing presets ;)
 
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I think @Markrs has done or is still doing the Syntoriol courses. I have learned my “chops” on many many hardware synths. First ever synthesis back in the mid eighties was Yammie FM, so that’s still kind of my go-to, but I do like subtractive and wavetable synthesis as well.

What has always amazed me and still does, is the advent of wavetable synthesis as sort of the most ubiquitous “plain vanilla” type of architecture nowadays. Like it’s the starting point for many. I get why it may have evolved like this (basically once you’re conceiving a softsynth you might as well just add wavetable scanning capable osc’s, as the rest of the architecture is basically just subtractive anyway) - but back in the day it was pretty marginal.

For a long period of time, when memory became sort of affordable, we had romplers. M1, D50, AWM and all the derivatives. Never spoke to me, other than in the most practical sense (“I need a shakuhachi like sound”, browse 500 patches, found it, play track). Can’t say that I have ever programmed one of those sample based synths for fun. I do have Xpand2! and honestly… for a tenner it is a ridiculously close emulation of the entire Roland JVxxxx universe. At least to me it is.

What feels weird to me, looking at the current state of affairs, is that I may enjoy the little hardware emulations companies like Arturia and Cherry Audio (and PA) put out almost better than some of the large workhorse synths. That includes UI, but I’m a romantic sucker for skeumorphic shit. What’s even weirder is that it seems to be that’s where the money’s at. Where are the spiritual successors to Yamaha’s 1990s VL1 physical modelling synth? AAS stuff is cool. Audio Modelling, Aaron Venture: cool. But not “hey we’re 30 years in the future” cool somehow?

Anyway… yeah. Restrict yourself to a bunch of synths that you really want to LEARN and program. Buy all the rest (you know you will) for browsing presets ;)
The key with Syntorial is not so much teaching you synthesis, more than it trains your ear, as you are given examples you have recreate by ear. It is easily worth it.

Now if you just want to learn synthesis there are lots of tutorials online, though easier to find you search with a synth in mind such as "Vital tutorial" or "learn synthesis with Vital". I used Vital as an example as there are so many tutorials on it. You can also search for a synthesis type such as "learn subtractive synthesis"
 
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