Best soundesign (synth) forums?

[Axioma]

Hi, since here is full of geeks and nerds (like me but much more experienced)
im sure various of you know forums with a lot going on sounddesign wise!

im searchin for forums (also some regularwebsite suggestion is accepted)
where techniques are well described, even better if the average poster attachs examples patches and so on

in some days of net walkaround i found audiopioneers, very kool to read and hopefully one day to be part of, then i noticed that on isratrance forum there are also quite some topics describing wey well how to achive some type of results and of course there is this verry nice section of KVR. i heard once upon a time there was patcharena sadly i never saw.

p.s. no intention at all to direspect KVR wich is the most complete forum ive seen and the one i visit more often recently

[MaliceX]

Well from time to time, rather than staring at this particular section of KVR forums, you would come across some other interesting topics which most of the time is all synthesizer talk.

I do know progsounds.com forums have some articles there you may find interesting, in terms of sound design.

[Axioma]

tnx any other suggestion??

[aMUSEd]

This is a cool place - I hang out from time to time mainly in the Nord Modular section where there are some brilliant patch designers but the whole forum and site is fantastic - esp if you are into hardware and electronic music and sounds:

http://electro-music.com/forum/

[tar42]

Well I am somewhat a geek and nerd also (in other ways though). I think you should stay here for a while, and browse the other forums here. We are a very heterogeneous group .So you need to be more specific as to exactly what ur system/style of music/synths u r using and what type of sound you want. I'm sure there are loads of people who will gladly give decent advice. We have a lot of pro sound developers on these forums also , and from what I've experienced, the far majority of all members are not stingy competitors, but believe in improving the standard of today's music.

So you can either edit ur post and give us ur specific needs, or visit- instruments/modular synthesis etc forums also.
I myself have not found a more flexible set of forums, but I maybe wrong.
You can use the search facility, however i have not found this so useful.
Regards

[TotcProductions]

We have a lot of pro sound developers on these forums also , and from what I've experienced, the far majority of all members are not stingy competitors, but believe in improving the standard of today's music.

Now you've got it.

For the OP: There are many resources around. Frankly, I would first have to ask what your skill level is. Are you a complete novice (for example: What's an LFO?), an amateur/hobbyist, a musician that is more focused on the music making aspect of electronic music rather than the sound design and you'd like to dive deeper, etc? That will give a better idea of what direction to point you in.

Regardless of your skill level, I highly recommend ANYTHING written by Simon Cann (IIRC the website is Simoncann.com, could be wrong though). He has written an e-book called How to Make a Noise, and it covers all the basics, and some theory on various types of synthesis. He also wrote "Cakewalk Synthesizers: From Presets to Power User" which does only cover the cakewalk line of synths, but the books princibles/tips/etc can be applied to just about every synthesizer on the market...it also ships with links to tons of bonus material (including step by step walkthroughs of some factory and 3rd party presets, with each step included as a preset its self) and whatnot that will take you further.

Keyfax sells a book called "Sound Advice" that may aid you in your quest for synthesis knowledge. Plenty of books out there.

Finally, on the cakewalk instruments forum, even though it's largly for cakewalk instruments, there is a member there called "B-Rock" who has dedicated more than his fair share of time exploring the non-conventional areas of Dimension Pro, Rapture, and the sfz format, and painstakingly documented his explorations in the form of tutorials complete with pictures and everything. All valuble resources.

Finally, download all the presets you can from the various professional designers and literally take them apart. Play a key, inspect the synth settings for what you think is causing the sound and play with the controls...you'll get an experiential idea of what does what this way. The books are always great starting points, as is any reference material, but any concept can remain only that, a concept, until it is experienced.

Best of luck! Feel free to ask questions!

Peace

[Axioma]

thanks totc prod. for the reply

im a composer/producer i write some drum'n'bass had some releases, and, as many others, i noticed that there is some fu***ng amazingly skilled boys out there in the drumnbass and glitch/idm scene (actually too many times listeing to the most briliant records of this musical styles you ask yourself "how the holy s**t is possible to achieve a sound like that?) obviosuly also in other musical styles there are amazingly crafted sounds and sounddesigners...

my level is almost something like this: im trying to explore the depths of sound mangling, iv tried all the filters modulation combinations possible and want more
fm,am,pm,pwm,syncronization and so on tried em all, looked inside a lot of patches and learnt some wicked stuff (prolly best way ever to learn after have read the manual of the synth)

i would like to synthetize and rework result in a way to be able to get something like that cyber engines noise of Transformers movie but to be used like a synth (no SAMPLE-IT replies admitted ;D)

i think my prob is im not searchin a "starting point" but something a bit advanced, not too much of course, i dont consider myself anything near to an expert, but i was wandering where to find detailed infos on techniques [im not much of a "dsp coder" gets too time / math for me]

iv read gazilion threads about articulated synths sounds going like this: modulate everything, bounce your result, put some effects on the bounced sound and modulate everything of the effect, repeat infinite modulation till good. I find them pritty nonsense, i mean im sure lot of beatiful animated sounds are result of some trial, but taking it as the final answer would mean composition is not dictated by the ideas of the producer but from randomness ?!

thanks for taking into consideation
i surely will go for that B-Rock threads! speak soon

[maxhodges1]

mis post

[maxhodges1]

hey Axioma, yeah Rapture is a pretty amazing synth. If you're messing with samples you probably need something more like Kontakt. I hear Absynth is AMAZING, but haven't picked it up yet. Still cutting my teeth on Rapture.

>many times listeing to the most briliant records of this musical styles you ask yourself "how the holy s**t is possible to achieve a sound like that?

Sounds good! What are you listening too? care to post a playlist?

Max

[Axioma]

recent tracks by noisia (exodus..) , recent tracks by psidream, recent tracks by spor, recent tracks by pendulum (axle grinder ! ) well not every single track by them have extremely crafted sounds, but a lot have some rly wicked shit going on, check them out, i mentioned just the first i had in mind..

[TotcProductions]

Actually, I've always found most of the DnB sounds I've heard to be very un-crafted. More chaotic. Check out Noisia's Albino III presets for example...looks like a child got ahold of blender or something like that. Excellent sounds no-doubt, but not always much theory behind them. Experimentation is the key.

[Axioma]

maybe its "controlled chaos", have u ever heard "axle grinder" by pendulum ? thats the kind of chaos i prefer! or http://www.myspace.com/spor the tune called supernova not perfect qual, but clearly herable

[ouroboros]

One of the things that complicates sound design discussions for me is that they tend to be genre specific. People ask a lot of "how do I make this sound..." without providing a clip. For that reason, I think a lot of it happens on genre specific boards.

[maxhodges1]

I'm not familiar with those, but I'll check them out!

I'm not sure if Venetian Snares "Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits 1972-2006" fits this genre, but some amazing 'controlled chaos' and exquisitely crafted sample work in there. If you listen to just one track, make it "Make Ronnie Rocket". I'd give a kidney to make music like that!

[Axioma]

wicked, of course it fits!