How did you become good at/decent at programming synths?

[DannyLifted]

I had been using Reason for about 13 years now so I just learned overtime. I must say the dubstep sounding synths aren't easy to pull off well in reason/record. Both the soundcloud tracks in my sig are done entirely in reason but it's not a quick process to get those sounds like that

[darkartois]

Good old subtractive synthesis with my LP, breaking down preset patches, and learning all I can from the old school heads on the moog forum.

[dj nation]

'How did you become good at/decent at programming synths?' - i didnt, heh nah but its just practise tho, keep learning new things all the time

[JemGrover]

just keep your eye on the goal that it's in no way impossible to do and that given enough time, you'll be able to achieve the results you want. (I often feel some people need a friendly reminder that it's not QUITE as complex as rocket science, heh)

[Johnst]

(I often feel some people need a friendly reminder that it's not QUITE as complex as rocket science, heh)

i often feel that it does, but then all of a sudden i have something that sounds good to me.

i'm definitely not good at it yet, but i've improved immensely by just mucking with things and reading about what different effects/filters/stuff that changes the sound do.

[thedefinition]

I started producing music with a friend of mine about 12 years ago and I was always under the impression that he knew how to program them. He was a great pianist so he came up with melodies with ease and would spend the extra time "programming" synths. I'd often see him twiddling knobs and adjusting envelopes...ya know, doin' the damn thing!

So I aspired to be on the same level as him, figuring it would make it easier for us to work together. He moved to New York sometime later and after I got in touch with him to ask about a few patches I made, he admitted that he was just messing around and didn't actually know what he was doing.

The things that have helped me the most are the following:

• Working with someone more skilled than yourself: We all take notes from the people who have mastered certain genres of production and put our own spin on it. If you study those who have all ready done all the homework, you can save a lot of time on guess work. This also includes watching tutorial videos of the sounds you'd like to make and taking advice from those on forums with a proven track record. I've got thousands of documents and videos covering everything A-Z music related.
• Keep it simple!: Start off with simple synthesizers and basic techniques, then gradually move your way up to the more complicated synths. This is pretty much common sense, think of it as you would a class in school. Start at remedial and then work your way up to advanced.
• RTFM: Read the frakkin' manual! Experimenting is fun....but come on! Let's be serious, the synths of today have as many knobs as a military aircraft. Would you fly one of those without reading the manual? Maybe.... Successfully? I doubt it.

So yeah...that and practice practice practice.

[axolotl-dubstep]

3 parts Experimentation
2 parts reading/watching tutorials posted online
1 part RTFM

I kept seeing this guy and the fear he instilled in me got me googling for pdfs:

Besides I'm still learning everyday, too much to know, too little time as a mere mortal...

Thank you this method is working very efficiently for me, besides 'RTFM might I ask what does this stand for, sorry I am rather new at production. cheers man.

EDIT: Thanks for the helpful advice I found out what that means already when I read further down

[brettheaslewood]

collaboration is a an excellent way to learn new ways of writing or new techniques.

[Gewze]

dont know if its been posted only read page 1 and 2 but http://noisesculpture.com/how-to-make-a ... gn=widget1

[drake89]

playing with reason, then watching tutorials, then getting ableton and playing with the NI VSTs, learned some music theory in between so now I'm not just like derpity derp derp

[MikkiFunk]

Firstly how long have you been 'producing' for? You never stop learning, but after doing something and experimenting with it after about 5 years all the time, you tend to get a bit more 'decent' at it. If you have HAVE been doing this for less than 5 years, or even 3 years, please go away and come back when you've been at it for a few more years and actually put some work in e.g the 'P' word!!

Seriously. If you know how it works, all the terminology etc, then, sorry excuse my language, but what THE F*** else do you think is going to help you progress with something?!

The P word: Practice. Start off small and work your way up, experiment, explore. Simple. Honestly people ask some silly questions on here. Do you think someone is just going to present you with some magic answer that is the illusive, be all and end all solution to 'being good at programming synths'?!

[bassinine]

i learned by turning dials and seeing what they sound like - in operator is where i learned (made it easy switching to sub/add/va synths when i wanted to). youtube helped phenomenally with learning how to use ableton and all the terminology used in production though.

[-[2]DAY_-]

+1 for learning from Reason's Subtractor.
It was the first one that i could wrap my mind around all the features. then i flipped over the rack and realized i could do some stuff i didn't think i could.. because on the front panel you can really only asign one parameter to the mod envelope, and only use the filter env. on the filter..
but even without bringing more devices into the picture, by flipping it over i saw i could drag the filter env CV out into another parameter's CV in and get it to hit more than one parameter at the same time

altho it isn't "truly" CV, the reason layout clarified to me what's possible in the world of CV-routing by letting me bring those cables from one place to another . the fact that it wont let you drag an output to an output, or an audio to a CV really helped me differentiate whats possible/useful and what wouldnt be.

once i got going with Thor's mod matrix, and using CV routing with multiple devices, i think then i became "decent" at programming.

Then i got Komplete, Massive became a sort of playground to try things out, and FM8 became the new goal.


for me, Reason was like training camp, Massive like a big skate park, and FM8 is a double black diamond

[symmetricalsounds]

same as most really, read loads, watch vids, break down sounds you hear. layering well seemed to be a big stepforward for me.

[GothamHero]

So many people recommending RTFM, I never knew it would be so beneficial

I thought it would go along the lines of "This is the envelope, which allows you to manipulate incoming sound waves using various parameter: attack, decay, sustain, release, and glide. The attack controls the blah blah blah blah blah blah." If that's the rough gist, then I've read enough applicable books on analogue synthesis to assume they're all roughly the same (the manual information that is, not the synths themselves.). I might have a skim through Massive, Albino, and FM8, just to see the subjects explored.

[-[2]DAY_-]

big difference btwn rtfm and reading a synthesis book/article

a good manual should address the reader as though they already know the prerequisite info, as not to waste time or be redundant

Just tell you where to find the buttons and knobs that you're already looking for, as well as informing you of the intricacies of the particular synth

[Genevieve]

This thread is 2 years old...... >.>

[Ldizzy]

^s'all bout dat necro!!

curious about the op's amelioration tho !!! did u become better!?

[Genevieve]

Hah, kind of I suppose. Dunno, I still suck at it, but I'm a bit better at knowing what I'm doing. Which, I mean, is sucking, but it's better than nothing I suppose.

[CG7]

Read the book how to make a sound by Simon Cann, you can download it for free from his website. It covers just about everything you need to know about synths.