I am a synth fan, and I agree with some of what's presented in the article. I think the author's approach overcomplicates things though. Subtractive synthesis

I am a synth fan, and I agree with some of what's presented in the article. I think the author's approach overcomplicates things though. Subtractive synthesis is pretty intuitive. I started with a Korg Poly 800. The onboard battery was dead which meant no patch storage and no sound because everything was zeroed out by default. The guy at the music store showed me how to create a quick patch and get some sound out of it. Other than this brief demo, I knew nothing about synthesis at the time and didn't even have a manual. Turns out, it wasn't really needed because the process was simple and the front panel clearly explained what everything did. My advice would be yes, start with subtractive synthesis but don't feel guilty about using a preset. Pretty soon you'll know your way around the basics. You can always go to the manual or other patches for reference. I think there is little value in front-loading a lot of knowledge that you will soon forget. Front panel of Poly 800: http://bristol.sourceforge.net/poly800.shtml http://bristol.sourceforge.net/poly800.shtml