Wavetable synthesizers are all the rage right now, and there’s no denying their versatility or sound quality. They are used very heavily in today’s music, from electronic genres all the way over to rock and more. What are the best wavetable synths? Well, this depends a lot on who you ask. Either way, though, we’ve…
If you are relatively new to synthesis, you might notice that many synthesizers have similar controls and designs, and assume that they all have the same characteristics. Do all synths sound the same? What actually determines the sound a synth makes? To understand this we need to look a little bit at how synthesizers work…
Are you wondering whether you are getting the most out of your synths? Compression is a concept that can be hard to wrap your head around as a musician or producer. So it is worth spending some time getting to grips with whether or not it can help with your mixing. In this guide we’re…
Analog vs digital? Hardware vs software/ VST? In an increasingly digital age of music production, these are questions I’m being asked more frequently. In the modern day home recording studio many people are increasingly turning towards software solutions over traditional analog hardware equivalents. The quality and availability of software now mean that a lot of music…
Contents Introduction What is a synthesizer? A brief history of the synthesizer How do synthesizers produce sound? Oscillators Synth waveforms explained Filter Amplifier ADSR envelopes Modulation Envelope modulation LFOs Arpeggiators What is the difference between additive and subtractive synthesis What is modular synthesis Buying your first synth Hardware vs software synth When…
Many people these days are asking the question analog vs digital synth which should I go for? In this article, I put forward my case for why I think every home studio should have at least one vintage analog synth. Even if you are fully in the digital camp. I am not a big collector of…
Wondering if you can use you synthesizer as a MIDI keyboard is a common question for beginners. For many of us. Space in the studio (at least to begin with) is at a premium. So having synthesizers, midi keyboards and controllers covering your entire desk is not necessarily what we want. When I first…
One day I noticed one of my synths was slightly out of tune. I was very confused…..can synths go out of tune? surely not? I assumed that because they were electronic instruments that they couldn’t, but I was wrong! Analog synths can go out of tune. However digital synths, virtual analogs and wavetable synths etc do…
When I bought my first Korg Volca synthesizer I couldn’t believe some of the weird sounds I managed to get from it. I wanted to record some of the weird sounds to my DAW because there is no way to save a patch on the synth itself. I noticed that the only audio output…
I know when I find some weird or interesting sound on my synthesizer. I want to record it to your computer as quickly as possible. The quickest and easiest way to connect most synthesizers to the computer for recording is by using an audio interface. The quick steps for connecting a synth to your computer…