Some Ideas to get deeper into Synths

[Fckthwrld91]

Hello!

I bought Ableton Suite 9 a year ago, and since then i work with Analog/Operator. No matter what i do, the sounds never really satisfie me, so im thinking about buying a new Synth - i dont want to spend more than 500$.

Im not quite sure how to go on. I could buy something like Sylenth, Zebra or Diva. On the other side there is Omnisphere and then i could purchase NI Komplete 9. Komplete 9 seems to be the best Deal, because of the wide variety of Sounds, Synths and Effects i could get my head around.

What do you think is the best way to get deeper into Synthesis/Sound Design? Would like to hear some opinions with argumentation

Thank you in advance.

Fckthwrld

[manducator]

http://www.syntorial.com/

and

http://www.robpapen.com/dvd-sound-design.html

are great ways to go deeper into synthesis. Is not only about the synth, it's also about the knowledge.

[Fckthwrld91]

Im fully aware of that, thanks. I watched and read dozens of tutorials... About Synthesis and about Analog and Operator. I think i really want some upgrade of my Synth-Lineup.

[ImNotDedYet]

I'd recommend Komplete, but wait until 10 comes out. (likely in the next month or two) It will give you all kinds of synth options to learn about as well as some solid effects and sampler/sounds.

[recursive one]

Komplete can be a good choice. You get Massive (wavetable synth), Monark (classic monophonic VA), FM8 (FM synthesis) and Absynth (its own thing, pretty unique). There are lots of sound designing tutorials in the web, especially for Massive and FM8.

As a bonus, you also get some decent real-world instruments (pianos, strings etc) and mixing/creative FX (Guitar Rig is not just for guitar, it's very flexible multi FX unit that can be used with any type of sound).

[robogone]

What is it about the sounds that don't satisfy you, and what do you think a different synth would bring to the table?

The reason I ask this is that sometimes there is an underlying reason such as obsessive tweaking of a very narrow range of sounds, or playing in a single sub-genre. It's come up lots of times before, so perhaps you could do a search for similar threads and see how they were resolved.

Search the forum and see what you can find.

[Phorous]

Komplete can be a good choice. You get Massive (wavetable synth), Monark (classic monophonic VA), FM8 (FM synthesis) and Absynth (its own thing, pretty unique). There are lots of sound designing tutorials in the web, especially for Massive and FM8.

As a bonus, you also get some decent real-world instruments (pianos, strings etc) and mixing/creative FX (Guitar Rig is not just for guitar, it's very flexible multi FX unit that can be used with any type of sound).

The biggest synth that comes with Komplete by far is Reaktor. Tons of good stuff in the user library and if you ever want to make your own stuff its the easiest way

+1 for the Komplete recommendation, though I would maybe try and learn Massive first as it has the most simple and modern GUI. FM8 and Absyth both have fairly dated user interfaces for better or worse...

[rod_zero]

Well "deeper" means to dig in to it, not to expand far and wide. I am sure than getting many more synths is not going to get you deeper.

To go deeper you must like the sound of the synth you use, if you are unsatisfied with analog and operator maybe you first need to find a synth which sound you like and then go deeper with it.

[BBFG#]

Well "deeper" means to dig in to it, not to expand far and wide. I am sure than getting many more synths is not going to get you deeper.

To go deeper you must like the sound of the synth you use, if you are unsatisfied with analog and operator maybe you first need to find a synth which sound you like and then go deeper with it.

+1
But if you simply need to spend the $500.00 - Out of the ones you mentioned, Komplete is going to be your best bet and a trove to keep you busy for a very long time.

[mridlen]

I ended up going with synthmaster and I am very happy with my decision. It covers most synthesis types and it has a very logical layout. I have also been using Oatmeal and that synth is pretty amazing and covers a large amount of sonic territory although not as much as Synthmaster. From your standpoint Zebra might be a better one to start with since it is modular with an easy to use interface. Don't underestimate the value of a good interface. My Kurzweil PC3 is more amazing than any VST (there may be exceptions) but the menu driven interface is not very fast to work with.

[DJMashbot]

Linplug's spectral should also be mentioned, as it can do quite a bit, but it isn't as step a learning curve as something modular like reaktor or zebra. Komplete is a great deal, though, and with Massive there are many sound sets and tutorials you can find/buy, so there's a lot of resources to help you find a sound that you can tweak until it's just right.

[BBFG#]

I ended up going with synthmaster and I am very happy with my decision. It covers most synthesis types and it has a very logical layout.

And you can pick it up used at a good price!

[cryophonik]

Find the the best deal you can find on a secondhand Nord Lead, then turn off your computer and gets your hands dirty.

[ontrackp]

If you go the software route, Zebra could be a textbook on synthesis -- the interface is very instructive and the range of sounds is fantastic. You can start with super simple sounds and graduate to much more complex as you add modules. Synthmaster sounds great but the interface is really clunky and it's hard to see what's going on.

[pdxindy]

Hello!

I bought Ableton Suite 9 a year ago, and since then i work with Analog/Operator. No matter what i do, the sounds never really satisfie me, so im thinking about buying a new Synth - i dont want to spend more than 500$.

Im not quite sure how to go on. I could buy something like Sylenth, Zebra or Diva. On the other side there is Omnisphere and then i could purchase NI Komplete 9. Komplete 9 seems to be the best Deal, because of the wide variety of Sounds, Synths and Effects i could get my head around.

What do you think is the best way to get deeper into Synthesis/Sound Design? Would like to hear some opinions with argumentation

Thank you in advance.

Fckthwrld

Zebra was my doorway to greater synthesis understanding. The grid layout makes it very easy to see the structure of existing presets. It also makes it easy to explore different configurations and you only have the active modules visible.

Zebra has a variety of synthesis methods. Each one is fairly simple compared to a synth based on that synthesis method. So I found it relatively easy to explore some Additive synthesis, FM synthesis, Physical Modeling, Wavetable and user drawn waveforms.

Zebra is relatively inexpensive and is a good long term investment. It continues to be developed has a wide variety of soundsets (both commercial and free)... great user community here and it only uses a serial number and you are allowed to have it installed on multiple computers (as long as you are the one using them)