I want to learn to make better sounds with abletons operator and analog synths and know how to use the audio effects better than I can now, is there a website that I can get better with this?
One of the first things I found over in the tutorials section after signing up here. I went from guestimating everything to actually knowing what the freaking tweaks did in one night, and there's a few good examples of how to do a lot with a little here too. I swear I've heard some of these sounds on major albums this decade, and you'll have an idea of how to make them on pretty much anything you can shake a stick at. I still like to re-watch it from time to time just for that soundtrack.
The key really is to experiment. Also narrow your focus: Synthesis is a diverse field, and whether you want to make trance/EDM sounds or Morton Subotnick-esque bleepbloops, the approach will differ. Try to choose what you want to learn first, and chances are you'll get experience that can be applied elsewhere as well. Beyond that, having a platform to test things, such as Max or Reaktor really helps to understand what goes on, and how to utilize it.
I personally don't really like the Analog synth from Ableton/AAS. It just.. Does not sound particularly good, and does not have a great feature set either. Operator is, for just about all purposes, better. Analog does decent enough supersaws, I guess.
Last edited by Jaded; 25-04-2016 at 07:25 AM..
Reason: Deleting quoted post which I deleted ;)
There are a few tutorials on youtube, but mainly it's playing around with the synth long enough to understand what's going on.
Put quick a beat to it, mess with the synth and have fun. It doesn't have to be a grind. If you're using a digital synth try linking them to midi knob controllers and mess with them that way.
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He lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived
Re the learning by doing part... I found plugins that visualize things very helpful. Serum is one of the best in this regard (aside from being a genuinely awesome synth), as it is very visual. You see ADSR curve progression on the curve, LFO shapes, frequency profiles of filters, and spectrum displays of wavetables. A picture says more than 1000 words. Play around with some basic stuff there and plug in an oscilloscope. Mentally link what you see to what you hear.
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Techno starts with a capital 'T', as in TB-303 and TR-808.
Operator is an FM synth which has a very different approach to subtractive synthesis, doing some research into what is the difference between the two will help you out as certain sounds are easier to achieve with one method over another. I like busyworksbeats tutorials but i agree with everyone else on this thread, learning by doing and experimenting will get you further than just watching a tutorial and copying what they are doing. once you have a basic understanding of synthesis you will start to find it easier to make the sounds that you hear in songs or in your head as you will understand how they are made
askvideo .com is an awesome website with video tutorials in every subject. You pay for a subscription either yearly or monthly but it is well worth it! Every DAW and technique, is represented. You have access to everything.
There is no one-way-only to learn synthesis. You just have to turn knobs, read, watch, experiment, make mistakes, happy accidents, study others, make music/noise, trial and error, etc. It's baby-steps (or bigger steps, depending on how talented and easy-lerner you are) until you reach one plateau, then another, then another.
I think learning is in the DAW. Just finished making a 3xosc gabber in FL today. Synthesis end wasn't too grueling, but audio processing. ....a game of compressing and distorting.
Always start from a subtractive synth to learn the basics about oscillators, noise, filters, envelope generators (ADSR), sync, modulation. The Minimoog is the best place to start from IMHO (also a virtual one like the Monark is Ok). PCM / Wavetable synthesis is very similar apart from the oscillator section. Most complex are FM and granular, get into these only after digesting subtractive.
