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I searched the forum for this, but only could find tutorials for specific soft synths. How would one go about learning the technical aspect? I would assume just trial and error.

yup and hour of youtube vids.. thats what did it for me... sooner or later, it'll just click with you and then you'll get it...lke siddhartha becoming enlightened by the river...except your river is most likely massive am i correct?

The only way to really understand and get this is really sorry to say this but trial and error, pick a synth which seems comfortable for you to start out with and really just get stuck in, spend a whole day purely messing around with that by creating patches and weird sounds, hope that helps

PS. Don't underestimate the manual of the synth of your choice!

google search "how to make a noise" by Simon Cain. He's now got a few books on synthesis but the one I just said is a free download in PDF format. It starts off basic with explaining different waveforms and filters, and gets into more complex things like additive synthesis. I can't tell you how much I learned from this book. Get it and read the shit out of it.

Iv got a magazine called Synths the ultimate guide from the makers of computer music magazine
I got it from ebay for about 7 quid
Check it out

Books, tutorials and practice. Learn the difference between types such as subtractive, additive, wavetable, frequency modulation, phase modulation, amplitude modulation, ring modulation etc. Learn what they sound like and how they work, the advantages each have etc. Learn about effects chains, layering sounds, practice some more.

ha, a siddhartha reference on dsf, excellent

the 'how to make a noise' book -seconded. Also look at whatever synth you like eg Massive (use a subtractive synth first, FM is a headfuck), and reverse engineer some of your favourite patches. Helps a great deal. Look at the modulation is particular, and see how specific aspects are modulated by envelopes and LFOs. And learn to tell the difference between the simple waveforms (sine, saw, square, triangle etc), will help a lot. And simple things like how the amplitude envelope affects a sound (eg for string sounds, attack needs to be longer), and if the filter envelope attack is slightly quicker than the amplitude envelope on a sound, it gives the sound a 'bite'....

i.e. you can do a lot with very simple waveforms - it seems best to learn what all the other things on the synth do (filters, envelopes, LFOs etc etc) to a simple waveform, rather than get obsessed with really complex waveforms. Then you can apply what you found out to the more complicated ones/combinations of oscillators, a lot more easily. I'm still in that process....

Read this stuff.... start at the bottom dont be scared by the math it will make more sense the more you think about it.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/allsynthsecrets.htm

VirtualMark wrote:Books

Nbeare7 wrote:I searched the forum for this, but only could find tutorials for specific soft synths. How would one go about learning the technical aspect? I would assume just trial and error.

10% internet searching, 10% brainwaves away from the computer, 80% trial and error.

You can read as much as you want but in my opinion you will only really learn when getting your hands dirt and fiddling with your synth. Just be as creative as you can with your synth.

Like most things I try to figure out, reverse engineering! It is really great actually. I agree with B-Frank. You can read all the books you want and be book smart, but when it comes to music, being book smart can only take you so far. You have to get down and dirty and find the deepest secrets of your synth. Strip the layers off and make love to it until you know how to make a beautiful sound each and every time you open it up. That being said, I am not at that level yet, but we are all learning.

i don't know why people are knocking books. practice is great, but so is knowledge. understanding why something sounds the way it does only increases your abilities. generally most places of learning employ a mixture of theory and practice, there is a reason for this - it works. personally i like to use every tool at my disposal.

a lot of practice. learn to find out what each knob does, and learn how to decontsruct basic sounds ie reece etc... Nothing comes quick, over time ive learned how to hear the individual elements of a sound quite easily.

I do agree with virtualmark. Know what you are doing to some degree. Know why the sound is acting this way. Basic theory is key. The rest is experimentation.

Go to any synth you want to start on. If you're using FL I strongly suggest 3xOSC. It's a beast to learn on.

Look at every knob and read what it's name is. Then twist those knobs. Then go read the manual for all those knobs. Then do some dumbass shit. Then do some not dumbass shit.

VirtualMark wrote:i don't know why people are knocking books. practice is great, but so is knowledge. understanding why something sounds the way it does only increases your abilities. generally most places of learning employ a mixture of theory and practice, there is a reason for this - it works. personally i like to use every tool at my disposal.

I always felt this way. When I first got massive for instance, it was so intimidating to someone who had no knowledge of anything synthesis related that mindlessly twiddling knobs didn't do me much good. I spent weeks, nearly months just reading and learning everything I could about massive (with some occasional tweaking). To the point where when I had an idea in my head I knew before I even opened my DAW exactly what needed to be done to get in the general ballpark of the sound, then from there I'd do the experimenting. That being said, everyone learns their own way, see which works best for you

These are all really great suggestions, synth secrets especially.

I would actually recommend buying/borrowing (if you have cool friends lol) a synth with lots of knobs (you'd probably want to get analog or VA, b/c they're the simplest) , because that's the way I learned. I know the investment is daunting, because hardware isn't cheap. But, at least for me, it is just so much more fun and intuitive to sit down and twist knobs instead of staring at a computer screen, and the fact that it is so fun made learning a breeze. If you're still not convinced about the investment, I'd argue that, at least percentage wise, your hardware synth will hold more of its value than a softsynth. Yes, if you did end up changing your mind you would probably end up losing more money by buying hardware, but if you think you want to get serious with this stuff, I would strongly suggest you get a hardware synth.

*hardware rant over*

anyway, good luck on your synthesis journey