10 ms·

Still, using a modular synth well, which seems to be an extremely demanding art in its own right, is really not the same art as designing a synthesizer.

bborud 6y ago
- Understanding how to design electronic circuits is necessary but not sufficient to design synthesizers. - Understanding how to combine various elements making up a synthesizer in a musically relevant way is necessary but not sufficient to design synthesizers. I think an experienced modular synth sound designer is closer to the needed skillset than someone who is able to design circuitry. Not least because an experienced sound designer will know how the thing is used and what artists want from it. The mid to late 80s is kind of a good illustration of what happens when engineers geek out (and product managers are tempted to skimp on user interfaces) and artists are not properly part of the process. Compare the many FM synths (and synths using FM combined with various technologies) to subtractive analog synths from 5-6 years earlier. Then look at the prevalence of presets recordings (Jean Michel Jarre's "Revolutions" is essentially a parade of Roland D-50 presets). This is very telling of how the design and technology changed how artists used synthesizers. Designing a synthesizer requires a combination of the two, but to me it seems that the latter is a more rare skillset than the former. There are a lot of synthesizers on the market, but relatively few that are seen as particularly good. If you dive into the universe that is Eurorack modules you will quickly realize just how much stuff there is. And not nearly all of it is very good. (There is, of course, some fetishising over famous originals that fetch a pretty penny today. For instance a 45+ year old ARP 2600 will easily set you back $10,000 - and the re-issue costs about $4,000). A good example is the Moog ladder filter. A mistake was made in the design so the circuit didn't work as intended. However, Robert Moog decided that the mistake was really a happy accident that made the filter more musically relevant and unique. This requires understanding both the electronics and what is musically important. It is also important to remember that there was no abundance of synthesizers at the time, so there were few expectations as to how a synth should sound or how the artist would use it.
- mcnamaratw 6y ago
  I'm not making any excuses for EEs who thought they could design a good synth without involving anyone who understood sound design. My eyes roll at the very idea. (I.e. I've fooled around with it myself, and the results were boring at best.) In your Deadmau5 example ... I think we might be saying roughly the same thing. Once you buy all those modules, who needs an EE? The circuit problems should hopefully be hidden at that point.
  - bborud 6y ago
    I think what Deadmau5 exemplifies is intuitive understanding to a degree where I think it wouldn't be very hard for him to learn how to design circuitry if he wanted to. You don't really need to be an electrical engineer in order to successfully build low frequency electronics. It is one of those fields where you can get a surprising amount of useful work done by roughly knowing what you are doing and accumulating experience. ...as long as you don't connect anything to mains power or irreplacable modular synths :-)

bborud 6y ago

- Understanding how to design electronic circuits is necessary but not sufficient to design synthesizers. - Understanding how to combine various elements making up a synthesizer in a musically relevant way is necessary but not sufficient to design synthesizers. I think an experienced modular synth sound designer is closer to the needed skillset than someone who is able to design circuitry. Not least because an experienced sound designer will know how the thing is used and what artists want from it. The mid to late 80s is kind of a good illustration of what happens when engineers geek out (and product managers are tempted to skimp on user interfaces) and artists are not properly part of the process. Compare the many FM synths (and synths using FM combined with various technologies) to subtractive analog synths from 5-6 years earlier. Then look at the prevalence of presets recordings (Jean Michel Jarre's "Revolutions" is essentially a parade of Roland D-50 presets). This is very telling of how the design and technology changed how artists used synthesizers. Designing a synthesizer requires a combination of the two, but to me it seems that the latter is a more rare skillset than the former. There are a lot of synthesizers on the market, but relatively few that are seen as particularly good. If you dive into the universe that is Eurorack modules you will quickly realize just how much stuff there is. And not nearly all of it is very good. (There is, of course, some fetishising over famous originals that fetch a pretty penny today. For instance a 45+ year old ARP 2600 will easily set you back $10,000 - and the re-issue costs about $4,000). A good example is the Moog ladder filter. A mistake was made in the design so the circuit didn't work as intended. However, Robert Moog decided that the mistake was really a happy accident that made the filter more musically relevant and unique. This requires understanding both the electronics and what is musically important. It is also important to remember that there was no abundance of synthesizers at the time, so there were few expectations as to how a synth should sound or how the artist would use it.

mcnamaratw 6y ago
I'm not making any excuses for EEs who thought they could design a good synth without involving anyone who understood sound design. My eyes roll at the very idea. (I.e. I've fooled around with it myself, and the results were boring at best.) In your Deadmau5 example ... I think we might be saying roughly the same thing. Once you buy all those modules, who needs an EE? The circuit problems should hopefully be hidden at that point.
- bborud 6y ago
  I think what Deadmau5 exemplifies is intuitive understanding to a degree where I think it wouldn't be very hard for him to learn how to design circuitry if he wanted to. You don't really need to be an electrical engineer in order to successfully build low frequency electronics. It is one of those fields where you can get a surprising amount of useful work done by roughly knowing what you are doing and accumulating experience. ...as long as you don't connect anything to mains power or irreplacable modular synths :-)