I’m always on the lookout for good tutorials. A lot of folks get set up with software like Logic Pro or Cakewalk Sonar and twiddle around a bit, and even a moderately talented person can come up with some great sounds. But, to really get to know your instrument well (that’s really what a DAW like Logic Pro is, an instrument), you need to either read the manuals (Logic Pro comes with over a thousand pages worth of manual!) or use video tutorials.
Nothing beats a well done video tutorial in my book. When you can actually watch a person using the software, see where they click, watch the song unfold in front of you, and follow along, that’s where you really learn something.
Sonic Academy has a great series on making music with Logic Pro 8:
The modules, listed below, are very reasonably priced at US$6.55 (£3.99), or you can get the whole set for US$57.42 (£34.99).
Module 1: Creating a Drum Beat—make a dance drum beat using Logic’s Ultra Beat Module 2: Creating a Bassline—construct a bassline using the ES2 Synthesizer Module 3: Creating a Synth Lead Line—produce a synth lead line using the ES2 Synthesizer Module 4: Creating Synth Sweeps—create filtered synth sweeps with the ES2 Synthesizer Module 5: Time-Stretching & Stabs—how to time-stretch drum loops and & cutting up vocal samples Module 6: Mixing—mixing track levels and using effects Module 7: Arranging—arranging techniques used to assemble your loops into a full tune Module 8: Automation—using Automation to make a more dynamic arrangement Module 9: The Final Mix—final mixing, fills, effects and rendering
Now that I’ve gone and shown you how to spend almost $15,000 on a single synthesizer, how about I go in the other direction and give you a link to KVR, where they show you how to build a free software-based studio. Remember, free means the software, not the PC you already have, or will buy.:)
Got money to burn and an itching to make vintage noise? Love knobs and patch cords? Synthesizers.com has got brand new modular systems that look like the old Moog Modulars, but without the headache of used analog gear (are the oscillators in tune? are there mice in the cabinet??).
This beautiful beast, the Studio-110, is priced at a very reasonable $14,357.50 </sarcasm> Seriously, I would sell one of my arms to have one of these in my studio.
From Synthesizers: The Studio-110 is our largest pre-configured Studio system. The 6 oscillator base cabinet is topped by a 22-space cabinet, then an inverted 44-space cabinet, then a special crown piece. The system includes our 24-stage Q119 sequencer, plus 2 Moog-Style Q960 8-stage sequencers, sequential switches, and interfaces. The top row contains a complete 3 oscillator synthesizer with dual filters. A 5-octave keyboard controller, keyboard garage, foot pedals and patch cables finish out this incredible machine. You will not exhaust the possibilities of this system.
Don’t know what MIDI and synthesis is all about? Don’t know the difference between an oscillator and a filter, a ring modulator and a flanger? Then check out this very handy tutorial from Harmony Central.
Easy to read and understand, with illustrations, this is a great place to get the background technical info you need to build your illustrious electronic music career on.
It’s not all that often I run across a live synthesizer performance that warrants note. Here’s one that really deserves attention: Bach prelude in c minor played by Kjell Gierstae on his MiniMoog Yoyager.
From WikiPedia:
The Minimoog Voyager or Voyager is a monophonic analog synthesizer, designed by Robert Moog and released in 2002 by Moog Music. The Voyager was modeled after the classic Minimoog synthesizer that was popular in the 1970s.
Like the original Minimoog, the Voyager has six sound sources. Five of these (three voltage-controlled oscillators with switchable waveforms, a noise generator, and an external line input) pass to a mixer with independent level controls. The mixed output of the sources is then passed through the voltage-controlled filter and a voltage-controlled amplifier, each of which has its own ADSR envelope generator. The voltage-controlled filter can itself be made to oscillate, thus comprising the Voyager’s sixth sound source.
In addition to similar features of the original Minimoog, the Voyager was designed to have a memory bank capable of storing 128 presets, a touch pad modulation control, dedicated LFO, two modulation buses (one controllable via the modulation wheel and the other with a foot pedal), two ADSR envelopes for filter and amplifier control, a pressure-sensitive keyboard, 14 voltage-control inputs, and MIDI input/output.
Unlike the original Minimoog, the Voyager’s modulation buses can be set to affect almost any parameter of the sound, not just the filters. Although the synthesizer features MIDI control and advanced patch storage, all audio paths in the Voyager are analog with the sound originating from any of three oscillators designed for high tuning stability, as the original Minimoog oscillators tended to slightly shift out of tune while playing.
With the Voyager, certain parameters that were fixed on the original Minimoog can be programmed to suit the player’s preference. This includes selection between low-note, high-note or last-note priority. Also, the envelope generators can be set to retrigger with each pressed note or they can be set not to retrigger until all notes are lifted and the next note is played.
I’ve just joined Classitronic, A SoundCloud group for classical synthesizer music. You’ll notice to the right a SoundCloud drop-box. This is where you, dear reader, can send me your own synthesizer recordings.
Here is my first two postings to the group, a recording of Debussy’s Fetes, from Nocturnes, and Mars from The Planets:
Believe it or not, the Commodore 64′s SID chip was my first real synthesizer. An amazing little 4-voice digital synth packed into one amazing chip. Here’s a rendering of Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring on an emulated C-64.
From Wikipedia: The SID was devised by engineer Robert “Bob” Yannes, who later co-founded the Ensoniq digital synthesizer company. Yannes headed a team that included Yannes, two technicians and a CAD operator running Applicon (now a part of the UGS Corp.), who designed and completed the chip in five months’ time in the latter half of 1981. Yannes was inspired by previous work in the synthesizer industry and was not impressed by the current state of computer sound chips. Instead, he wanted a high-quality instrument chip, which is the reason why the SID has features like the envelope generator, previously not found in home computer sound chips.
The SID chip featured:
three separately programmable independent audio oscillators (8 octave range, approximately 16 – 4000 Hz)
four different waveforms per audio oscillator (sawtooth, triangle, pulse, noise)
one multi mode filter featuring low-pass, high-pass and band-pass outputs with 6 dB/oct (bandpass) or 12 dB/octave (lowpass/highpass) rolloff. The different filter-modes are sometimes combined to produce additional timbres, for instance a notch-reject filter.
three attack/decay/sustain/release (ADSR) volume controls, one for each audio oscillator.
three ring modulators.
oscillator sync for each audio oscillator.
two 8-bit A/D converters (typically used for game control paddles, but later also used for a mouse)
external audio input (for sound mixing with external signal sources)
random number/modulation generator
Interested in playing with the SID for your own recordings? Hop on over to Madame Blavatsy’s and get yourself a SID VSTi plugin for your favorite DAW.
As much as I dislike the use of the prefix “Switched-on” for any new synthesizer recording, I’d like to present this quaint little snippet of Handel’s Water Music played on the Yamaha SY1.
From the same performer, here’s the 4th movement from Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4.
From WikiPedia:
Johann Sebastian Bach (German pronunciation: [joˈhan] or [ˈjoːhan seˈbastjan ˈbax]) (31 March 1685 [O.S. 21 March] – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity.[1] Although he introduced no new forms, he enriched the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal technique, an unrivalled control of harmonic and motivic organisation in composition for diverse instrumentation, and the adaptation of rhythms and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France.
I don’t usually go for classical music with added drums, but Magic Lamp has got me dancing with this one, the Concerto No. 2 by Bach. It’s a clever arrangement, and the drums in this case are a mere groove enhancer.
Arturia is the company behind the amazing MiniMoog V, Moog Modular V, ARP 2600 V and many other software synths. They also now have a hardware synthesizer called the Origin.
From Arturia.com:
Origin is the first Arturia Hardware synthesizer. It is a modular system of a new generation opening innovative avenues in sound design. Loaded with modules extracted from the best synthesizers of all time (Moog Modular, ARP 2600, CS-80, minimoog and Prophet VS) Origin lets you combine these modules and benefit from the additional possibilities put onboard. The result: a new type of sound accessible through an extremely intuitive interface.
As of this posting, the Origin is priced at US$2,499 at Amazon.
