Synths and Machines

[Urza9814]

Our band has been playing with two guitars, drums, and an electric keyboard for a long time now, and we are very interested in moving deeper into the electronic realm, but don't know much about the technical aspect of it.

What exactly does a synthesizer do? They look a lot like keyboards to me, and I have a decent keyboard (Yamaha PSR2000) already...

What other popular electronic devices are being used today?

Basically, I don't know where to begin. So any help would be great...perhaps naming a few products to get me started or something.

Thanks

 

[mawtangent]

Hey...electronic music is a big subject but I might can help you start filling in the pieces of the puzzle...I have a Yamaha PSR540 and I like the sounds but I can't edit the presets sounds or create new sounds...a lot of high-end keyboard instruments (often designated as "synthesizers") give you paramenters that allow you to alter the sounds; you can fine-tune a preset or create something bizarre sounding. I have two older, out-of-production, keyboards which have editing features (Yamaha V-50, Roland XP-50), but honestly I have rarely edited a sound. I have been satified with the presets for my songs and I would guess that a lot of people never really explore the sound-editing features of their synthesizers, but some people spend hours editing and creating sounds that no one has heard before (I imagine this is a skill that takes time to master)
Here is an idea that you could try with the equipment you already have. Do you have a sequencer on your PSR2000? (my PSR540 has a 16-track)...you could experiment by working a song out using the sequencer and layer several tracks of keyboard sounds, you would probably have to include at least a little percussion (in your sequence) to help everyone (especially the drummer) stay in sync with the sequencer...you could layer piano and strings or use a bunch of the weirder sounds if you like...just an idea that you might not have thought of (maybe I'm getting way out in left field)...
Maybe someone else (more knowlegable than I) will write about samplers, computers, and MIDI, etc.

 

[Imaduck]

Usually, a synthasizer will also allow you to import custom sounds and files and use those instead of using the standard piano, etc. From my understanding, a synthasizer basically just acts as a midi controller, and then you add the instraments and it just uses those to create the sounds, instead of relying mainly on presets (though synthasizers may still have presets). Anyway, I'm no expert on keys, but i'm pretty sure that's what the difference is.

 

[bennychico11]

keyboards are generally reffered to as the keys themselves. Synthesizers are the sounds. You have onboard and outboard synthesizers. Outboard synthesizers are generally rack gear units while onboard means the sounds are in the keyboard you buy. The keyboard itself is a MIDI device triggering the on or outboard synths/sounds. You can also have samplers that it triggers. Samplers are boxes that contains prerecorded material that is played back when you press a key. Usually these cannot be customized as much but sound more realistic than a synth. You also have drum machines, MIDI drums, EWIs which are also MIDI, etc. Your best bet is to just go to a local music store and try out a bunch of synths that will sound right for your band.

 

[AlChuck]

Imaduck, you're a bit off there, and bennychico11, your answers are sometimes a bit askew (the one about MIDI messages sending a "1" to start a note and a "0" to stop it, for example) and this one is no exception.

A synthesizer is not a sound. A synthesizer is a musical instrument that uses some form of synthesis to create sounds. Most commonly it take the form of a keyboard as a way to play its notes, but that's not necessary.

Synthesis in its most general usage means "the composition or combination of parts or elements so as to form a whole." In this context, synthesis means a method of combining and manipulating electrical signals to make a musical sound when sent out through a speaker.

The common methods of synthesizing sounds are additive and subtractive synthesis, wave table synthesis, FM synthesis, and physical modeling synthesis. The sounds that are made are themselves are called, well, sounds.

Samplers are musical instruments that use actual recorded sounds as their building blocks. The line between synths, especially wavetable or sample-playback synths, and full-on samplers, is a bit blurry. Usually the distinction is a sampler allows you to actually record the sounds you use for building blocks themselves. The actual audio data is stored in some way, in persistent memory or otherwise, and these stored sounds are often referred to as sound banks.

In the case of FM synths and others that don't use actual recorded sound as building blocks, the sounds don't exist as stored audio per se, they are created by the synthesizer's electronics via whatever algorithm they are using while you play it. The instructions are saved as a program or preset.

All synths have presets in the sense of default sounds they make without your having to do any manipulation or programming. The depth of editing options varies from almost none (play the preste sounds only) to almost total control of nearly every detail of the sound, including blending and stacking multiple sounds. But they're all synthesizers.

Because of MIDI, a protocol for communication between electronic musical intruments that pretty much all producst support, the various components can be distributed -- hence the synths in a box with MIDI ports but no direct way of triggering sounds, and keyboards that are controllers only, sending out MIDI messages but having no actual sounds themselves.