Synthesizer Flexibility

[[voodoopony]]

I've always been fascinated with synths and want to be able to control a synthesizer much like a sock puppet, but I'm clueless as to how certain people can have so much control over it.

Example 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9XxVdZLyp4

I mean it's possible with my DAW, just countless hours of automation, but something about them doesn't sound like it would be made that way. To me, there just has to be some way they do it that's convenient enough to let them go nuts with it.
Another way would just to have a ton of tracks with different synth sounds, but that brings little room for trying things out or improvising [i.e., you have to know exactly what you're going to make from the start].

Example 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIUgJ37wY7o
[Skip to 5:48]

But alas, I have no experience working with actual synthesizers. Would any of you shed some insight?

[I'll post some better examples eventually.]

[PinkiePieSwear]

Automating effects on synthesizers using automation events takes waaaay too long to do well, so I am also definitely interested in learning how to do this.

[Whitetail]

Aphex Twin pretty much always uses actual hardware when he's writing, either that or sampling vinyl and such - so that accounts for much of the "human" factor of his control over the synth sound, I honestly have no clue how he's able to pull that off so well.

Aside from that and putting automation on like a LFO, you're just going to have to automate it yourself. A serious album (normally) takes months and months of work, so I'm imagining most commercial artists spend tons of time perfecting their automation.

[Makkon]

Find stuff that fakes it. At least that's what I've been doing...

[sci]

just from my experience: there is no "one trick". in fact, it's the complete opposite.

to get that kind of sound and control, you just need to be clever.

some stuff I've done:
have multiple instances of the same synth, but change the filter attack/decay/etc for each.

rewire note velocity so that it modifies filter settings instead of volume

set an LFO to Saw wave and start on note trigger (whatever that's called), automate the lfo speed and amount.
great for stuttering sounds!
does a lot of the work for you!

etc etc.
wire things in weird ways
be clever.
that's the best advice I have. :)

[bartekko]

dood, it's mothafuckin' aphex twin, you'll never get as awesome as him

[JackleApp]

dood, it's mothafuckin' aphex twin, you'll never get as awesome as him

Wow.

You're an asshole.

[DerpyGrooves]

All the music question is acid-influenced, which is to say you should purchase a tb303 or likewise pattern based knobby boxy.

A good choice for a gentleman on a budget is a mc-303. I think you can get one for around 100$ anymore, and it's a very capable squelch machine.

Otherwise, I'd very much suggest looking into Propellerhead's Rebirth. It's FREE and likely one of the best emulations of that era of Roland hardware I know of. Map some knobs to filter and resonance and fuck around, my friend.

Feel free to watch the following video. it has a lot of really handy information regarding the performance culture and programming of said devices:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLQwwtjtiY4

[Ferrarity]

Yeah, fooling around with knobs and switches on a softsynth can only get you so far for so long. Although the fact that most notable electronic artists like Aphex, Squarepusher, and the rest use hardware makes a big difference. You become more personally involved with what you're making, not to mention hardware usually comes with an instruction manual as well.

Well let's use Aphex for an example. Many of his songs contain crazy snare rushes and insane sound effects, take 54 Cymru Beats for instance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMCYmJJLIXA

Even at the beginning, he has some high-pass filter effect being used over a weird, staticy synth or something. Now if he uses a hardware sampler to get the initial sounds, it's really easy to use a separate effects module to throw all kinds of effects on samples, and that's probably what he's doing. I doubt he's sitting at his computer, staring at Cubase and stressing out over the limitations of a softsynth's LFO capabilities. I mean, there's so many different VSTs and modules that it gets overwhelming. When you have it all consolidated on a foot-long square of metal with knobs, I'd imagine it might be more comprehensive to work with.

However, in learning how to get the most out of softsynths, I've found that once you get a few basic elements down pat, manipulating the rest becomes fairly easy. I've also heard good things about Rebirth, like DerpyGrooves said, but I've never played with it myself. I'll have to try it out.

[d.notive]

Hello everypony, I hope it's not a terrible faux pas for me to necro this thread a bit...

I've got a few friends who have asked me to create some tutorials/demos with regard to synthesizers, sequencing, and (what I'll call) "synth theory," and I'd be more than happy to create a little informational video (within the limitations of my knowledge) in keeping with the topic of this thread.

I used to work with ReBirth quite a bit, and while it is considered pretty "antique" by softsynth standards, it's still a fun and powerful little tool, and most importantly, it's totally free.

I might go ahead and do this anyway, but I'm curious, is anypony interested?

[Makkon]

d.notive: Definitely, man. This might be good to save for the "tutor of the week" that we're planning (a fantastic suggestion from PinkieGuy)

[bartekko]

words

are you looking for people that'd read your book, or are you looking for someone who can help you with writing this book, or are you looking for someone who knows a lot about synthesis?

either way, this calls for an all-new topic

[d.notive]

@Makk, Sounds like a neat idea. I'm down.

@Bartekko, While, I don't consider my knowledge by any means "extensive," I do have experience with automated filter sweeps, and analog synthesis, which are/were the two big talking points of this thread.

I'm not sure how much I can help the OP, but, more or less, I was just asking if individuals were interested in my sharing what knowledge I do possess in a video format; I feel like a demonstration/tutorial would be the most efficient way to communicate my thoughts on the subject.

If nothing else, it gives me a great reason to install/mess with Rebirth again.

either way, this calls for an all-new topic

Agreed.

[TheSunAndTheRainfall]

Hello everypony, I hope it's not a terrible faux pas for me to necro this thread a bit...

I've got a few friends who have asked me to create some tutorials/demos with regard to synthesizers, sequencing, and (what I'll call) "synth theory," and I'd be more than happy to create a little informational video (within the limitations of my knowledge) in keeping with the topic of this thread.

I used to work with ReBirth quite a bit, and while it is considered pretty "antique" by softsynth standards, it's still a fun and powerful little tool, and most importantly, it's totally free.

I might go ahead and do this anyway, but I'm curious, is anypony interested?

Oh yes, sign me up for this. I'd be super grateful if you took the time to put this together.

[Darktrot]

dood, it's mothafuckin' aphex twin, you'll never get as awesome as him

Wow.

You're an asshole.

Second That Notion.