Tip #6 or the bonus tip could be: teach a child or an adult with very little electronic music knowledge but with a mild curiosity the basics of synthesis on a soft synth or use an analog synth. Teaching someone is good learning tool. Also works great on girlfriends, wives, boyfriends, etc.
Found your page over the past month and I cannot say enough good things about your content. I picked up a Minilogue and a Grandmother last weekend (first time synth purchase). Appreciate your work and will definitely be referencing your page often moving forward!
These look all very useful tips to me. I'm a bass player with a passion for synthesizers and I believe that the most important tip is to try and make a song with a single instument. I think it could really bring you to the heart of the instument.
Very timely advice given the abundance of affordable, excellent synths available on the market today. I would add the following to your excellent top 5: - If it's a two oscillator synth start with one only. Ensure it's in tune. There are some great tutorials posted on YT by very experienced practitioners - study their work. Join a user-members forum or two. Try to use the settings on VST pre-sets to see if you can replicate the tone. Begin to understand the power of modulation.
I just got a Behringer Model D and Printed the Owner's Manual (and Schematic) in advance. When I first got it, I took it to a jam and plugged it into the Keyboard player's Yamaha Motif.
Thanks for the great tips, I really appreciate your content and your approach! I’ve spent a few years learning synthesis and I will have to challenge myself to make a song at least with just one synth, I love it when people make demo songs like that.
Thank you so much for this. I have a Volca Fm. I'm in love. I downloaded the DX7 manual and Chowning's papers. My fav thing to is destroy presets using what I learned. Or taking a preset working my way back to initial patch.
Its a loooot to learn. Last year I bought a Korg Opsix as I love 80´s FM synthesis stuff. Im just starting to understand what setting does what but so far I hardly can strategically create a certain sound. So far Im limited to modifying presets and fiddling around. Also I have to figure out how to use the sequencer and the MIDI capabilites.
Great tip on using one synth to make the whole song. I'm gonna try that. What I would like to get advice on is how to familiarise myself with the preset libraries that come with synths. It's extremely frustrating and overwhelming when there is thousand(s) of sounds in the and no easy way to let them play and listen to without sitting in front of the synth.
Probably not the answer your looking for but I have a similar struggle but what I do is I put a sticky note or tape a piece of paper on or around your setup and write down the number and or name of the ones you like the most
you are someone good, it's a nice advice to recommand people to read manuals ! I teach syntesis and several time I learn a synth I don't have by reading the manual ; then I went to the student studio and showed him how to use it ; manuals are awesome, too many people dump them :/
Great advice... took my Boutiques to the cafe and played and learned for hours. Created many new patches there. Go thru presets and write down the number for the ones you hate... use those numbers to save/overwrite the new patches you create.
lol yeah I do the same thing, except I write down the numbers of the ones I like (cause usually there's less of those, although I guess it depends on the synth).
I've made a couple of stacks of notecards for my Rev2, one that has every possible source in the mod matrix and one that has every destination. Starting with an initialized patch, I'll draw two cards and play "what can I make with this?" Has led me to explore routings that I wouldn't likely have messed with.
Looking forward to your track making. It would be helpful if you went into theory, a bit, as to how you integrate rhythm (drums) and melody. I should breakdown and get a boutique drum synth to learn percussion. Now, any percussion happens by complete accident. For me no detail would be too granular. Maybe notes in the description, to keep your usual, well polished video flow. I need to get the Mother-32 on its own with headsets and the manual. I have a big problem getting stuck on a patch I really like. I need "pull the plug" discipline. My funk patch has been on for months now and I finally pulled all the patches last night. Wooglebug > z8000 > uScale > troika (detuned root-3rd-5th) > Jove > uVCA "You stopped me mid-funk." -- Freaks and Geeks
I learned a lot about filters with my arturia minibrute. Since it had a multi-mode filter I found by messing around you can get some serious bass using a high pass filter, put the resonance up and bring the cutoff down till you find the right spots for the knobs. Been doing that on my kick samples on the digitakt lately.
Hello and thanks for the videos. I am a amateur drummer that has taken an interest in synthe. I have always loved electronic music and recently have been listening to alot of synthwave. So I decided to purchase a Korg Prologue 16 and hope to get it i the next few days. I will be a complete beginner with anything with a keyboard so i am gonna start with basic piano lessons but I thought I would ask if there is a on-line source, a forum or something like that you would recommend to help me as I learn what a synthesizer is and how to get the most out of the one I bought? Thanks.
If you are totally new to synthesis I recommend these 3 old but good videos: "Dean Friedman also set up the New York School of Synthesis and provided a series of videos entitled Intro to Synthesis. Friedman presents the rudiments of this topic in an audio-visual format, whilst incorporating a unique sense of humor." From Wikipedia. Intro to Synthesis Part 1 - The Building Blocks of Sound & Synthesis Intro to Synthesis Part 2 - Types of Synthesis & Programming Examples Intro to Synthesis Part 3 - Additional Synth Features, Performance Controls & Wrap Up th-cam.com/video/atvtBE6t48M/w-d-xo.html You find the other two to the right on this page.
The RTFM tip is fine, but not all (cheaper} synths come with a manual, and it can be a real pain to print a pdf all out,, Some manuals are next to useless, like all Korg and most of Roland 2 page wonders. ,and as for the Elektron octatrack totally horrendous, it has a steeper learning curve than the octatrack itself! The make noise 0 coast being an exception with an excellent manual including patch ideas. Do you contact makers in case of difficulties not clearly explained in manuals?? Just curious. their manuals are full of typos though. Also how r you getting along with yr Blofeld, ?? I am on my third desktop and still having trouble with the Multi mode. Thanks for any guide to this if you can give me some tips. John Horrobin {UK}
I absolutely cannot make presets while I make music, it kills my muse. Even though my job is actually (partially) preset creation, I almost always use presets when I make music. Sometimes raw, sometimes modified, but always find sound by flicking through presets. It tends to spark more inspiration than starting from scratch.
yes, all very true. what is not cool about presets is when i have 1000 of them to wade through and organize as in my Deepmind 6. That is just totally ridiculous. I prefer the *0* presets of my Minibrute 2S, although they have about 30 described "presets" in the manuals
This is a very helpful video considering I've taken a huge liking to synth sounds. But as stupid as this may sound, does learning to use a synth require a musical background like knowing how to play the keyboard? I'm in my early 20's and don't have prior music knowledge but would really like to learn how to use a synth and eventually expand on that as I progress. I've had the longest urge to learn to make electronic-based music. I'd be willing to learn, but my lack of knowledge at my age is daunting and I feel it would be too late to actually get good. Anyways, any kind of feedback would be super great!
I don't think you need a musical background to learn synths and synthesis. Of course it helps if you want to make music with those synths. But synths are very technical machines so you can approach it from the sound design side of things. There are also plenty of sequencers and generators that can produce musical results, and there are also synths built with a more experimental/atonal philosophy. So depending on the style/genre you can go a long way without music theory, but it never hurts to know it as it will help steer you in different directions and give you more options later. Hope that helps somewhat.
@@onceuponasynth Thanks so much. This really helps. Apart from watching online tutorials, what other sources for learning would you recommend? Are there any particular online courses from places like Udemy or books that can help a novice get his foot in the door?
I actually haven't talked about plugins too much. I do use them. Right now I'm using mainly effect plugins and for things like rhodes/pianos, etc. But I do want to spend more time learning synth plugins too because they're very convenient for composing since you just need your laptop. I hope to do more plugin tutorials on this channel too.
Looking forward to your insight on this! I'll have a go at the one synth-one track challenge with my Microbrute (hope to eventually grab other synths, it is a slow path to walk, though). Meanwhile, Ableton Suite and Diva plus controllers are the way of the ninja. Cheers!
Do you think that 5 years would be enough to wait my synth to arrive and meanwhile to learn something about it? Mine arrives in days and I'm just a bit excited... ;)
Great content & advice has I'm totally guilty of many things here!! I'm a beginner with multiple synths & don't read the manuals!🤦🏻♂️ I expect every synth to do what I want soon as I've plugged it in! I don't concentrate on one synth at a time! Your advice is brilliant buddy & thank you very much..I also think with myself included here that a lot of us new guys to synths think that they'll do magical things soon has there unboxed!! Wrong,I'm starting to realise that I've got to "unlock" & find what I want has the chances are strong that it's in there waiting to be found!!💯👌🏻 Thanks again
Paper manuals are crap now but need to come back in the same fashion that old manuals did like step one touch this step two touch that etc. peace Christo
#5 is great advice! I did exactly that when I got my Korg Volca Keys. Here's the track: th-cam.com/video/mXLz_72S3Rw/w-d-xo.html Also enjoyed Jexus back in the day... It might be a good thing he's not making videos anymore, bought too many synths because of him, haha!
For more on that concept, worth checking out is the album Automat which was all made on the MCS70, of which there was only one made, since it never went into production. More info is in the video desc... th-cam.com/video/w7nQHBiv_u0/w-d-xo.html May not be everyone's thing, but I think it's great...
Tip #6 or the bonus tip could be: teach a child or an adult with very little electronic music knowledge but with a mild curiosity the basics of synthesis on a soft synth or use an analog synth.
Teaching someone is good learning tool. Also works great on girlfriends, wives, boyfriends, etc.
100% agree, this is part of the selfish reason I try to make tutorial vids, cause it forces me to really learn something and understand it first.
I’m currently reading a real page turner, the Digitakt manual! It’s one knobby, button pushing plot twist after another.
You are a great tutor for any person who is trying to take the best out of their self-teaching process.
Found your page over the past month and I cannot say enough good things about your content. I picked up a Minilogue and a Grandmother last weekend (first time synth purchase). Appreciate your work and will definitely be referencing your page often moving forward!
thanks Scott!
Yessss! I always download the manual before a piece of gear arrives! And sometimes even before I even purchase. Thanks for the great tips my dude.
+1! Reading the manual before buying a synth is a great tip too. No better way to get the true sense of how the synth works.
I bet it gets you excited too haha
These look all very useful tips to me. I'm a bass player with a passion for synthesizers and I believe that the most important tip is to try and make a song with a single instument. I think it could really bring you to the heart of the instument.
Very timely advice given the abundance of affordable, excellent synths available on the market today. I would add the following to your excellent top 5:
- If it's a two oscillator synth start with one only. Ensure it's in tune.
There are some great tutorials posted on YT by very experienced practitioners - study their work. Join a user-members forum or two.
Try to use the settings on VST pre-sets to see if you can replicate the tone.
Begin to understand the power of modulation.
Fin Corrigan any certain channels worth following?
Great content as usual! I always read the manuals for any new gear I get at least twice and obviously reference them
often.
It is so rare to hear these kind of common sens advices. Simple but very important. Thank you very much.
Just got one..first EVER.. I needed to hear this, good job man.tnx
I just got a Behringer Model D and Printed the Owner's Manual (and Schematic) in advance.
When I first got it, I took it to a jam and plugged it into the Keyboard player's Yamaha Motif.
Waiting for my first synth atm, this was really good to know! And I'll be back here soon. Great vid, man.
same for me bruh, waiting for my 1st Synth, a Korg Volca FM and i cannot wait
Thanks for the great tips, I really appreciate your content and your approach! I’ve spent a few years learning synthesis and I will have to challenge myself to make a song at least with just one synth, I love it when people make demo songs like that.
downloading the manuals now....Great tips!!!!
Thank you so much for this. I have a Volca Fm. I'm in love. I downloaded the DX7 manual and Chowning's papers. My fav thing to is destroy presets using what I learned. Or taking a preset working my way back to initial patch.
Nice man, Chowning's papers are hardcore, props!
Great advice for a beginer, many thanks!
Its a loooot to learn. Last year I bought a Korg Opsix as I love 80´s FM synthesis stuff. Im just starting to understand what setting does what but so far I hardly can strategically create a certain sound. So far Im limited to modifying presets and fiddling around. Also I have to figure out how to use the sequencer and the MIDI capabilites.
Very helpful. Thank You
Reading the manual for non owned Synths seems like a great idea, thanks.
Yup. Thx to the video creator
Great tip on using one synth to make the whole song. I'm gonna try that.
What I would like to get advice on is how to familiarise myself with the preset libraries that come with synths.
It's extremely frustrating and overwhelming when there is thousand(s) of sounds in the and no easy way to let them play and listen to without sitting in front of the synth.
Probably not the answer your looking for but I have a similar struggle but what I do is I put a sticky note or tape a piece of paper on or around your setup and write down the number and or name of the ones you like the most
you are someone good, it's a nice advice to recommand people to read manuals ! I teach syntesis and several time I learn a synth I don't have by reading the manual ; then I went to the student studio and showed him how to use it ; manuals are awesome, too many people dump them :/
I’m tweaking presets and rewriting. I start with the int once a week. Thank you for reiterating the manufacturer guide,,, ✌🏼
Really great tips. Manuals and TH-cam tutorials and user forums are helpful.
Very éloquent,thank you for the recalls.
Great advice... took my Boutiques to the cafe and played and learned for hours. Created many new patches there.
Go thru presets and write down the number for the ones you hate... use those numbers to save/overwrite the new patches you create.
lol yeah I do the same thing, except I write down the numbers of the ones I like (cause usually there's less of those, although I guess it depends on the synth).
Yeah, I did that for the Monologue... such crappy presets. But the Monologue is capable of some great analog sounds.
I've made a couple of stacks of notecards for my Rev2, one that has every possible source in the mod matrix and one that has every destination. Starting with an initialized patch, I'll draw two cards and play "what can I make with this?" Has led me to explore routings that I wouldn't likely have messed with.
awesome tip, thanks for sharing
Looking forward to your track making. It would be helpful if you went into theory, a bit, as to how you integrate rhythm (drums) and melody. I should breakdown and get a boutique drum synth to learn percussion. Now, any percussion happens by complete accident. For me no detail would be too granular. Maybe notes in the description, to keep your usual, well polished video flow.
I need to get the Mother-32 on its own with headsets and the manual.
I have a big problem getting stuck on a patch I really like. I need "pull the plug" discipline. My funk patch has been on for months now and I finally pulled all the patches last night. Wooglebug > z8000 > uScale > troika (detuned root-3rd-5th) > Jove > uVCA "You stopped me mid-funk." -- Freaks and Geeks
I learned a lot about filters with my arturia minibrute. Since it had a multi-mode filter I found by messing around you can get some serious bass using a high pass filter, put the resonance up and bring the cutoff down till you find the right spots for the knobs. Been doing that on my kick samples on the digitakt lately.
nice, yeah HPF for bass is counter-intuitive but it really get go super low! The MS-20 has the same characteristics.
Awesome video smart guy
Try plugging outs into outs on your new modular synth, it makes really neat sounds!!!
RTFM! Especially Moog Manuals! They are awesome!
The voice of reason.
needed this
Hello and thanks for the videos. I am a amateur drummer that has taken an interest in synthe. I have always loved electronic music and recently have been listening to alot of synthwave. So I decided to purchase a Korg Prologue 16 and hope to get it i the next few days. I will be a complete beginner with anything with a keyboard so i am gonna start with basic piano lessons but I thought I would ask if there is a on-line source, a forum or something like that you would recommend to help me as I learn what a synthesizer is and how to get the most out of the one I bought? Thanks.
This is great, thank you.
If you are totally new to synthesis I recommend these 3 old but good videos:
"Dean Friedman also set up the New York School of Synthesis and provided a series of videos entitled Intro to Synthesis.
Friedman presents the rudiments of this topic in an audio-visual format, whilst incorporating a unique sense of humor." From Wikipedia.
Intro to Synthesis Part 1 - The Building Blocks of Sound & Synthesis
Intro to Synthesis Part 2 - Types of Synthesis & Programming Examples
Intro to Synthesis Part 3 - Additional Synth Features, Performance Controls & Wrap Up
th-cam.com/video/atvtBE6t48M/w-d-xo.html
You find the other two to the right on this page.
very helpful tips man. cheers
The RTFM tip is fine, but not all (cheaper} synths come with a manual, and it can be a real pain to print a pdf all out,, Some manuals are next to useless, like all Korg and most of Roland 2 page wonders. ,and as for the Elektron octatrack totally horrendous, it has a steeper learning curve than the octatrack itself!
The make noise 0 coast being an exception with an excellent manual including patch ideas.
Do you contact makers in case of difficulties not clearly explained in manuals?? Just curious. their manuals are full of typos though.
Also how r you getting along with yr Blofeld, ?? I am on my third desktop and still having trouble with the Multi mode.
Thanks for any guide to this if you can give me some tips.
John Horrobin {UK}
Great tips and great channel 👍
thanks!
Who’s the synth programmer you mentioned
I absolutely cannot make presets while I make music, it kills my muse. Even though my job is actually (partially) preset creation, I almost always use presets when I make music. Sometimes raw, sometimes modified, but always find sound by flicking through presets. It tends to spark more inspiration than starting from scratch.
I can relate to this too... Really two separate arts to me and I guess I prefer composition :)
Beginner here as well. Your content is supercool, thanks for sharing! Btw which channel did you recommend on patches? Was it Jacque(s)'?
Jexus ;)
@@Zaubrer488 aah I see it now! First videos are from the beginning of youtube, wow! Thank you!
Jexus! Classic punk synth vids!
Oh oops I forgot to include the link, I've added it to the description now, thanks. (but yeah it's Jexus, as others have said).
@@onceuponasynth thanks again! ;))
yes, all very true. what is not cool about presets is when i have 1000 of them to wade through and organize as in my Deepmind 6. That is just totally ridiculous. I prefer the *0* presets of my Minibrute 2S, although they have about 30 described "presets" in the manuals
I got gifted a korg prophecy so these tips are great thanks. 👍
Jexus is synt demon god. I hope some day he will come back.
Same. Let's all sacrifice an oscillator to Lord Jexus.
@@onceuponasynth ahhahah i'l sacrifice my volca bass! 3 oscilators for Jexus!
Be curious, be wild, experiment, keep trying and have fun. That is why it is called PLAYING ;)
And... RTFM!;)
Thanks dude!
i have a behringer 2600 on its way so this will be helpful!
This is a very helpful video considering I've taken a huge liking to synth sounds. But as stupid as this may sound, does learning to use a synth require a musical background like knowing how to play the keyboard? I'm in my early 20's and don't have prior music knowledge but would really like to learn how to use a synth and eventually expand on that as I progress. I've had the longest urge to learn to make electronic-based music. I'd be willing to learn, but my lack of knowledge at my age is daunting and I feel it would be too late to actually get good. Anyways, any kind of feedback would be super great!
I don't think you need a musical background to learn synths and synthesis. Of course it helps if you want to make music with those synths. But synths are very technical machines so you can approach it from the sound design side of things. There are also plenty of sequencers and generators that can produce musical results, and there are also synths built with a more experimental/atonal philosophy. So depending on the style/genre you can go a long way without music theory, but it never hurts to know it as it will help steer you in different directions and give you more options later. Hope that helps somewhat.
@@onceuponasynth Thanks so much. This really helps. Apart from watching online tutorials, what other sources for learning would you recommend? Are there any particular online courses from places like Udemy or books that can help a novice get his foot in the door?
for those who did not understand the name of the youtuber at the very end: his name is Jexus. His channel: th-cam.com/users/Jexus
Maybe you've talked about this before. Do you use plugins? If you do, how do you approach them? Thanks for the tips, btw!
I actually haven't talked about plugins too much. I do use them. Right now I'm using mainly effect plugins and for things like rhodes/pianos, etc. But I do want to spend more time learning synth plugins too because they're very convenient for composing since you just need your laptop. I hope to do more plugin tutorials on this channel too.
Looking forward to your insight on this! I'll have a go at the one synth-one track challenge with my Microbrute (hope to eventually grab other synths, it is a slow path to walk, though). Meanwhile, Ableton Suite and Diva plus controllers are the way of the ninja. Cheers!
Please repeat the name of the person whose channel you suggested near the end of the video. Thank you.
It's Jexus.
@@Zaubrer488 Jexus is synth demon god, best demos and videos of all time. A lot of time invested in every video... Art
Oops, I forgot the link, I've added it to the description.
I have been neglecting manuals :)
Do you think that 5 years would be enough to wait my synth to arrive and meanwhile to learn something about it? Mine arrives in days and I'm just a bit excited... ;)
Tip 2 great
DSI Pro2 only sound source here, editing and mixing done in Bitwig 2 :
soundcloud.com/thisisprisma/prisma_p2b2_studio_mix_march_2018
Great content & advice has I'm totally guilty of many things here!!
I'm a beginner with multiple synths & don't read the manuals!🤦🏻♂️
I expect every synth to do what I want soon as I've plugged it in!
I don't concentrate on one synth at a time!
Your advice is brilliant buddy & thank you very much..I also think with myself included here that a lot of us new guys to synths think that they'll do magical things soon has there unboxed!! Wrong,I'm starting to realise that I've got to "unlock" & find what I want has the chances are strong that it's in there waiting to be found!!💯👌🏻
Thanks again
One caveat, on damage, don't plug outputs into outputs. Watch 10V peak signals into inputs wanting +/-5V peak-to-peak. Use your attenuverters.
I actually print out the manuals and make notes in them.
Jexus - th-cam.com/users/Jexus
I blew up my MacBook speaker, while playing with loud low noises in VCV rack :-P
Paper manuals are crap now but need to come back in the same fashion that old manuals did like step one touch this step two touch that etc. peace Christo
Jexus gives me GAS 🤤
lol same. But on the other hand he's so good that he inspires me to try the make most of what I have, in a way helping fight the GAS too
#5 is great advice! I did exactly that when I got my Korg Volca Keys. Here's the track: th-cam.com/video/mXLz_72S3Rw/w-d-xo.html Also enjoyed Jexus back in the day... It might be a good thing he's not making videos anymore, bought too many synths because of him, haha!
For more on that concept, worth checking out is the album Automat which was all made on the MCS70, of which there was only one made, since it never went into production. More info is in the video desc... th-cam.com/video/w7nQHBiv_u0/w-d-xo.html May not be everyone's thing, but I think it's great...
open youtube.
tip #1, use the manual.
close youtube
You should put the microphone not in front of your face. It doesn't look so nice… Like your videos :)
Thanks for the feedback! I need to find a better mic stand that isn't so high lol.
5 tips on how to learn a synth tip 1. READ THE MANUAL AND STOP WATCHING THIS VIDEO ROFLMAO