Resource: How Synthesis Works
This week in my class at Montclair State University, I will be teaching my students the Basics of Music Synthesis - one of my all-time favorite topics. Back in 1984, my Mom bought me my very first synthesizer - a Roland Juno-106. The salesperson at Sam Ash also had her buy me an amazing set of books by Roland simply called “The Synthesizer”. I read them cover to cover. I didn’t necessarily understand what I was reading but I knew one thing - I wanted to know much, much more. I have had many synthesizers since then and I love the science behind how they make sound. I put together a LONG list of resources for my class tonight, and I thought I would share them with you.
The four books from The Synthesizer by Roland
My students REALLY seem to love when I show them YouTube videos on the subject at hand rather than a slide deck. Here are some of the videos and playlists that I will be sharing with them this evening:
And this is a FANTASTIC playlist of 6 videos that offer an Introduction to Synthesis from Reverb:
And just for fun, I had them watch a FUN video from Luke Millon who has a great YouTube channel where he recreates lots of songs using his vast collection of vintage synths. Here is Safety Dance by Men Without Hats:
In addition to these wonderful videos, I am sharing a bunch of websites that have virtual synthesizers that can be played, including:
Learning Synths by Ableton
Web Synths
Viktor NV-1
Cardboard Online Synth
I hope that you find these resources useful. The online synths are a LOT of fun to play with and it really helps you learn what an Oscillator does, filters, ADSR, etc. Learning by doing is the best way to learn music synthesis in my opinion. Enjoy!
Me back in 1989 with my synth setup. Roland D-70 on the bottom, Roland Juno 106 in the middle, Yamaha DX 100 on top, a Roland D-110 and the Korg M3R along with an Alesis Quadraverb and Peavey Mixer in the rack.