I'm new to synthesizers. I've played with a microkorg for 15 years! but never had an interest how anything worked until now. This week I learned how to use the microkorg, I figured out how to make some bell/gong timbres, and now I'm trying to model a string, which is difficult! Not a string ensemble but like a single violin. It's been fun
this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2023
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Synthesizers
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Fun! Feel free to share things. Maybe we have some tips π
I've been hit hard by the GAS. I have too many synths already, and I'm always tempted to buy more. It's an obsession - every single night I'm looking at synths on my iPad in bed. I spend way more time staring at synths I want than actually playing the synths I own.
Yeah, it's not good.
Part of the problem is every time I realize I've gone overboard, thinking about scaling back and selling synths gets me back into over-analytical comparison shopping mode. I'm trying to figure out what's the best possible combination of just a few synths to keep, and then I think "hey, this new thing could replace 3 of my other synths." Except in practice, usually the new thing isn't as great as I thought, and it becomes more difficult to decide what to keep and what to sell. I don't want to make that mistake again.
Maybe I'll sell some things later, but for now the important thing is I have everything I need to make the music I want to make. That's what I should be spending my time and energy on instead of making databases to compare and rank synthesizers. (Yes, I've actually done that.)
I feel you. I've spent more money on synths than would be healthy. I've bought and sold the same synth multiple times. The new and shiny thing is always so attractive...
I've yet to find a solution. What helped me temporarily is forcing myself to make music. I am ha hobbyist, not a professional. So I don't put a value on my time making music. Me making music IS the value.
So what I did for a while (until I got too busy to pick them up) was make music for people who needed it and release that music into the public domain. Kinda like open source music. I got a few people who were making documentaries, videogames, video stories, and the like. It was good to have someone you'd disappoint if you didn't make them a full track. I drove me to actually get the music done.
But when I got too busy, I shut down the website.
Well this probably won't help you at all then, but for me my solution was to buy "the one" instrument that I most enjoyed. Not that you can necessarily guarantee to know ahead of time which one that is. In my case I got a Waldorf Iridium, and that killed my GAS for synths. There's just something about that synth for me that feels "just right" but also deep enough to not lock itself into a corner. Now every time I hear a new synth demo, I think, "That's a cool idea! I bet I could get close to that sound with the Iridium." And instead of thinking about buying something new, I instead use what I have to accomplish something similar. Or more likely, I start with imitating, but end up going into a different creative direction that I preferred anyway.
A similar piece of gear in my guitar arsenal is the Empress Zoia. Instead of getting GAS over new pedals, I instead hear the cool sounds and immediately start thinking about how I could replicate it with the Zoia. No need to buy a new pedal. Multi-FX pedals can be this way too -- I hear similar experiences for owners of the Zoom MS-70CDR.
So partially its finding something that you mesh with personally, which no one but you can figure out, but it is also partially being sure it isn't something that is too niche into a specific sound but instead an instrument or module that is flexible enough to be used for multiple purposes.
Anyway that's been my experience. 'course my noobish opinion isn't worth much.
I bought a miniKORG 700FS a while ago and I've been having a lot of fun with it. This week I finished a track that uses it quite extensively. It's a unique sounding instrument and I find its limitations to be a spur for creativity as opposed to a hindrance.
I've been practicing piano and drums a lot. As a kid I used to be an instrumentalist (and played a bunch of different instruments in bands). Lately I haven't performed anything. To be fair, my current music is better, but I think I miss the pride in being able to perform something right then and there.
So I am now working on a routine practicing piano and drums almost daily. I'm considering getting lessons again, but not sure how much that would help a 29 year old.
Oh and I have been trying to sell some stuff. I've got a Drumbrute Impact and an MPC Live II left. Not getting much interest in those sadly.
I'm 46, and I'd say my keyboard skills have recently finally graduated from mediocre to less-than-mediocre. It's never too late.
Oh Iβm not doubting that Iβll improve from practice. Iβm wondering if thereβs any sense in getting regular lessons.
Definitely. For motivational and technical reasons, it's always good to learn from someone who knows what they're doing.
I recently started recording full takes instead of sequencing/sampling, and it was very humbling to learn how much I need to improve as a player.
If you find the right teacher and are willing to do the practice, lessons will go a long way.
I got a MicroFreak in June, it's my first hardware synth. It's been sitting on my desk and I've been noodling on it daily since I got it. This week I saw this video showing how you can utilize the sequencer in very fun ways, so that's what I've been playing with all week. The same guy has a tutorial on how to do some of the more advanced techniques.
Edit: Oh, this is where I posted that video this week, guess I'm repeating myself :)
Man! that little thing sounds huge
It's great on it's own but there's reverb on there too. I'm definitely buying a pedal to go with it. Anyone have any suggestions? Hopefully that's the end of my hardware acquisition, don't want it to turn into a syndrome :) I already bought some studio monitors and a m-audio interface for my PC to go with it.
If you're planning on running it through a PC, you can get reverb plugins for cheaper than hardware. Valhalla Supermassive is free, for example. Personally, I use Raum a lot - I got it during a promotion where it was also free, but it's normally $50 and sometimes goes on sale.
I've got some nice plugins but, in this case, I'm looking for hardware. I got the m-audio interface to be able to record it properly but more for the "Direct" out setting that passes right through to the monitors, so there's no latency. The latency through the PC isn't awful, I just don't want any of that while I'm experimenting, it's a big reason why I got a hardware synth in the first place :) I went with the MS-70CDR, seems to be highly recommended. That's the last thing I'm getting, I swear.
A drum machine would be nice though...
Just in case you aren't already aware, installing the drivers for your audio interface and making sure you're using ASIO can make a huge difference for latency. With everything set up right, it's low enough that I don't notice any difference between listening to synths directly via their headphone jack vs through my DAW.
I tried ASIO and had some really annoying problems. I don't remember all of them but, for one, I really don't like "exclusive" mode, I multitask way too much. I don't think that was a requirement of ASIO but seemed to be highly recommended to get the benefits. Maybe I'll take another look at it now that I understand better how this stuff works.
Also, it turned out the M-Auido drivers caused even more annoying problems. I'd get random audio cut outs, anything that was already making a sound would just stop. The fix was to just play a sound from a new source and everything would turn back on. The biggest issue was Rocket League, I had to play a random sound every single time I started the game but there was still a good chance it would randomly cut out mid-game and the framerate would drop drastically until I played another sound. I ended up finding the fix for all those problems on a Rocket League post which was to just install the generic Windows drivers. I haven't had any issues since.
It took some work but I got the latency with WASAPI down to 10ms, nothing I can really notice. It's more about the dependency on a DAW that I'd like to avoid when working with hardware.
Sounds annoying indeed. I don't have any firsthand experience with pedals, but I see Strymon Bigsky recommended a lot.
Edit: Oops, forgot you said you already picked something.
No problem, suggestions are still welcome :) Maybe I need 2 reverb pedals... π
I've spent the past 2 weeks designing a eurorack module (MIDI thru that can handle all the different connector "standards"). It's crazy how many details need to be considered and it's definitely given me a better appreciation for how that stuff is priced. While a lot of components are dirt cheap, some can be pretty expensive, and it really adds up once you use multiple of them. Plus prototyping, assembly, testing... It's way more work than I initially thought.
Beep blop! I am a bot. Doing routine tasks as usual :)
Also cooking spaghetty with synthesizer... I mean writing some low-quality javascript code involving web audio api.
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