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As a synth head that teaches synthesizers at university: While I think that is an interesting idea in itself, it is probably not the best idea for learning how
by atoav 3y ago
As a synth head that teaches synthesizers at university: While I think that is an interesting idea in itself, it is probably not the best idea for learning how FM synthesis works. Learning synths is both about gaining an intution what sounds emerge when you change a set of parameters, as well as having a mental model of the signal flow and how that shapes the sounds.
Both are things that are not helped by having something that creates presets for you — in fact it might even be more productive to look at human made presets if you need guidence.
Also: Synthesizers are also good for creating never before heard, totally out there sounds, and those are hard to reach when you feed it existing stuff. My own personal learning approach always was to use a simple init preset and then create everything manually from there. I called this my "No-presets rule" (meaning I don't use presets that I did not make myswlf for anything, unless ot is a commercial gig). If you then make your 10th preset from scratch you probably understood something already. And then at some point looking at other people's stuff starts to make sense because now you have a set of eyeballs that can actually peeceive the things they did.
- ducharmdev 3y agoRe: your experience teaching synths in university, do you feel there is certain knowledge/concepts that are difficult for those self-teaching sound design? I do the same "no presets rule", with most being the result of random experimentation and fiddling of parameters. This does a good job at "creating never before heard, totally out there sounds", but I imagine it's trickier the more specific your end goal is.
- atoav 3y agoI think the hardest part is getting the basics straight, and by that I mean things like understanding oscillation produces sound, amplitude influences the spund level while the speed of the oscillation influences the pitch. Understanding that by modulating pitch and amplitude you can already create a ton. The biggest challenge for students in my experience is grasping all these obscure words and acronyms, with VCOs, LFOs, keytracking, Envelopes, ADSR, Triggers, Gates, CVs, oscillations, overtones, frequency graphs, filter cutoff points, resonance, ... It is just a lot of concepts at once. Sometimes it can pay of to take a step back and limit one's arsenal and figure out how far you can get only using one or two of those.
- voidhorse 3y agoTotally. I'm self-taught in this area and I feel like the biggest obstacle for self-study is that the basic concepts are often passed over too quickly (like simply the idea of using phase/the unit circle to represent oscillations, and how all that relates to frequency and period). I recently sat down and tried to make sure I really understood the mathematical modeling part of the whole business and it brings a lot of clarity when tackling more advanced topics. This is kind of true for self-studying any mathematical domain generally. It's easy to pass over the "entry-level" or foundational stuff quickly because on the surface it seems straightforward, but getting those fundamental ideas crystal clear and burned into your brain is absolutely crucial if you're going to comprehend anything that follows.
- atoav 3y agoThis is exactly what I think. The basics need to be understood. That doesn't necessarily mean they need to be understood first tho. People that learn synthesizers are first and foremost interested in creating cool sounds, so the best strategy to teach them the (for some: boring) basics, is IMO to repeatedly overwhelm them a little and then step back and explain things throughly.