synth crash course

ryansantos · Post by **ryansantos** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 8:15 pm

are there any good resources online or printed that would help someone with no prior synth knowledge to sit down to a synth physical or in ableton, and understand how to manipulate all the knobs and know what they do. basically a beginners intro to all the LFO, SUSTAIN / ATTACK / DELAY, etc that you'd find on most quality synths to build sounds.

thanks!

R.

Geezus · Post by **Geezus** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 8:39 pm

http://www.noisesculpture.com/htman.html

ryansantos · Post by **ryansantos** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:48 am

thanks that seems good but seems to jump in quite complexly initially assuming you already know all the stuff like what attack already is and how it effects a sound, etc.

anyone else have a from no knowlege guide?

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 3:01 am

ATTACK - How quickly the sound reaches full volume after the sound is activated (the key is pressed).

DECAY - How quickly the sound drops to the sustain level after the initial peak.

SUSTAIN - The "constant" volume that the sound takes after decay until the note is released.

RELEASE - How quickly the sound fades when a note ends (the key is released).

There's your basics. Now go back to the site Geezus recommended. The book is very good as well. It even gives you a list of softsynths you can use in their demo mode (purchase if you like) that explains step by step how the different kinds of synthesis work and how to make sounds from scratch.