how to understand SYNTHS??

[gkowal]

hey guys I am new to SYNTHS but i want to make trance music can someone EXPLAIN me how different sound is produced by all those effects in SYNTHS like.. what does POLY does also , transpose, lfo , oscilators... HOW DO THEY WORK what is the FASTEST way to learn how they work in order to produce your own SOUNDS ... THere is plenty of presets BUT many artists now make their own specific sounds ... i`m interesting in making different sounding LEADS and BASS LINES and other stuff like that. I don`t own any hardware SYNTH but i have a VST plugins like FM7 and ABSYNTH and i think they are simillar to HARD SYNTHS maybe with a little worse sound.. CAN SOMEONE HELP ME wITH THIS I can`t FIND any INFO ABOUT THAT...

 

[Stealthtech]

If you want to create your own sounds you can do things such as layering several instruments together, adding effects to the sounds. Basically, experiment with all your knobs, wheels and buttons.

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo 'Owal:

You are asking a question that takes a couple of manuals to answer; however, I'll try to give you a couple of clear insights.

I use the Yam DX7 synth keyboard and it has all of those items you mentioned in it. The synth is actually a computer but mine has no mouse so making it function takes button pushing rather than mouse clicking.

POLY = many -- Some synths can only play so many keys at once: like ten notes. Any more pushed than ten do not play or are cut off at the low or high end.

Mono - single note only. So, in this mode no chords can be played -- only single notes.

Transpose = to change keys. On some synths, like mine, I can set up a key change, say from C to Ab. All I need to do is set the change and key it in at the appropriate time. Also, if you find playing in the key of C on a keyboard easy, and who doesn't, but you need to do the tune in E for a singer, you can transpose the key of E to be played on the white notes, or C. The newer synths do all of this and, of course, much more.

Also, the newer synths, beyond the DX7, are multi-timberal and contain sequencers -- my synth, alas, is not multi-timberal and has no sequencer. But, I kind of like the DX7 now that I've finally learned some of its ins/outs.

If you are not using a keyboard type sythesizer, the terms still apply but the method is different.

You can find out more by searching the net or going to the keyboard forum and asking for specific information.

Keep reading the manuals.

Green Hornet

 

[gkowal]

thanks guys!! I am trying to figure out everything playing with all those functions but then it is still hard to understand what they do....one more thing do you know how to get that strings-saw lead sound? do you layer different string sounds? and that stereo sound? it is all panning and delays? or what?

 

[dragonworks]

To compose your own sounds you will have to use the edit mode.
Start with a preset you like or is close to the sound you are looking for and edit it. Some presets are one voice only, some two etc. I have an alesis qs8 and some presets have up to 4 voices. If I am editing one of these I only edit one voice at a time. I must turn the volume down on the other three in the edit
parameters or I will never really hear the particular voice I am editing. Parameters are electronic switches. You will scroll through each set of parameters for the particular voice of a particular preset and edit as desired (just tweak them around to get a feel for what each does). When completed turn the other voices back on or up and listen to the whole preset, you may not like them together and may have to go back and reedit what you have allready edited.(dont worry about screwing them up, if you dont save the changes the voice will be restored to original upon leaving edit mode) Once you have completed this process you will have to edit all the other voices in the preset if you so wish. Once you complete this process you can edit certain parameters pertaining to the preset as a whole. Once you are satisfied you can save your edits. You can usually overwrite the preset you have edited or save it somewhere else, say in a user bank(whenever you do this some preset will be overwritten somewhere) and this will preserve the original preset.
You can usually restore all factory presets through a simple procedure outlined in your manual. And of course you will have to read your manual to do any of this if you are not familiar with synths. The fastet way to learn is to go in an edit. Fool around with the different parameters, lfo=low frequency ocillator, hfo=high frequency ocillator etc. Be careful of editing global parameters, you can screw up the keyboard that way. Global parameters affect the keyboard as a whole, what midi channels are communicating, etc. Search for some midi sites and learn the terms, there are lots of good ones out there. Transpose means just what it says, this is usually a global parameter. Poly can be misleading. On the Qs8 I can play 64 notes simutaneously as long as the preset I am using only has one voice. If it has two or more the amount of notes able to be played at one time drops. There is also a mix mode which is using 2 or more presets at one time and if these presets have 4 voices the amount of notes that can be played simutaneously drops pretty quick. But then again how many notes are you going to play at one time.
I hope this helps.

 

[XerXes]

i'm still learning about programming synths but what helped me the most was using search engines to search for things like
"synth programming", "synth faq"
sorry i can't remember any specific websites.

also since your using the fm7 and absynth, search for
"fm7 tutorial" etc.

i also learned a lot by just looking at the presets, and seeing what happened when i messed with each knob or fader....

hope that helps

 

[James Argo]

...been around for years with synth, from that old dayz of DX7. If you want to learn programing synth, consider KORG simple synths (like X5D), or Roland JD800. I think they had the manual very plain about how synth works. Explain clear about LFO, VDA, VDF, how they afect the sound, how to assign controller to each, etc... Even if you don't buy some of them (the synth), get the copy of the manual will help alot. Ask your local music store to get the copy.