Subtractive, Additive, FM, Modular SYNTHESIS! when which what?

[Caine123]

i watched some tutorials over the years and read some explanations on wiki etc. about the different synthesis, sure it is very physical what else, mostly my brain cannot follow without video tutorials with sounds of course cause it's a bit complicated. but still i dont know for when or which sounds i need which synthesis?
so more tutorials needed ahahhaa !

do you have some really good videotutorials (preferred!) which you can recommend to understand the difference of those synthesis methods in practical usage?
like, this Lead/pluck or whatever cannot be recreated with subtractive synthesis, cause.......

much appreciated and hope that i will learn it some time in my life

[chk071]

I don't think there's a rule on when to use what. I don't think you'll get along without experimenting with the different synthesis types to see what sounds they're able to create either, and go on from there. I think that's the better option contrary to watching tutorials, and seeing what other people have to say about it...

[thecontrolcentre]

For Trance always use additive synthesis, for Dubstep it has to be subtractive, for Rap & Hiphop FM is the norm ...

total bollocks really

[Mushy Mushy]

What you need is Alchemy, only....

[Caine123]

Got alchemy

Hahaha i guess you joke about trance needs additive synthesis? Why? :p

[foosnark]

Theoretically, any kind of synthesis can make any sound. But in some cases you'd need a ridiculous amount of hardware, computing power, and comprehension to be able to pull it off.

In the real world, some types of synthesis are better at certain sounds than others -- and to get a good feel for that you have to mess with them a lot. Get a really basic, one-osc subtractive synth (hardware or software, doesn't matter) and figure out what you can make it do. Then get a more complex one, but still subtractive, and see what else the extra featuers can add. Then do the same for other types of synthesis. You'll pick it up over time.


(BTW, "modular" isn't a kind of synthesis -- it just means there are different modules (maybe a wide variety of them by different manufacturers) that you connect in whatever way you like. Most synths aren't modular, so they have a fixed signal path with fixed connections... though somtimes the lines are blurred.)

[DJ Warmonger]

my brain cannot follow without video tutorials

How about books? People used these a lot in 1455-2005 period.

[recursive one]

You've got Sylenth, right? Try to deconstruct factory patches, there are many good ones and it's very easy to see how they are done - which waveforms are choosen, how the unison is set, how the oscillatrors are stacked, what's going on in the filter section, what about the envelopes, etc. Then you'll have a decent hands-on undertsnanding of subtractive synthesis, which may be applied to many other synths.

E.g., some wavetable synths, like Massive or Dune 2, have archeticture similar to Sylenth with the main difference that they use complex signals, which may be modulated in realtime, instead of basic waveforms in their oscillator section and also allow drawing complex envelopes to modulate things instead of basic ADSR.