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Synthesis: Learning the Language of Sound

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Can You Play What You Hear?

By Professor Loudon Stearns, Berklee College of Music 
Teaching and studying synthesis builds sonic awareness and essential skills

Teaching and studying synthesis builds sonic awareness and essential skills for players and producers.

As a professor who teaches music production at Berklee College of Music and Berklee Online, I have grown more and more sure that an understanding of synthesis is essential for keyboardists and producers alike. Synthesizers are a constant presence in contemporary music, and even when we hear organic or acoustic sounds, they’re often performed within software that uses synthesizer parameters to control or modify them. Most importantly, though, learning synthesis gives us a language for timbre and a way to understand sound.

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Synth Bass for Bass Players, Part 1

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Increase Your Versatility and Get More Gigs

Bassist Robert "Bubby" Lewis with the Roland GAIA SH-01

Bassist Robert “Bubby” Lewis with the Roland GAIA SH-01 synth.

In today’s music world, the vast influence of EDM and other electronic styles has crept into the fabric of nearly every popular genre. The core of EDM is a driving rhythm groove, with the low end held down by synthesizer bass. To cover this essential sound, traditional bass players are now called upon more and more to double on keyboard both live and in the studio. If you’re a bassist who’s looking to increase your musical versatility and gigging opportunities, read on to find out the things you should know when getting into synth bass.

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I, Frankenstein Remix Contest

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Have Your Remix Commercially Released

I, Frankenstein remix contest header image

Five winners will have their remixes of the song ‘Misgiving’ from BY MAKER (Featuring Geno Lenardo and Daniel Davies) chosen to be part of an upcoming I, Frankenstein remix E.P. to be released on Lakeshore Records. Register for the contest at Loopport and get full details on how to submit a remix and all the tools you’ll need to get started. Submissions end Tuesday, February 4 at 12:00 PM PST.

Enter Loopport’s I, Frankenstein Remix Contest

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Getting Started with Sound Design

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Two Basic Approaches to Synth Programming

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Image: V-Synth GT sound design parameters

Do you experiment with sound design? One common misconception about programming synthesizers is that it’s easier to modify an existing patch (tone) than to start from scratch. You’ve probably sat with your favorite synth, found a patch that you like, and went to town tweaking the parameters. Suddenly, you begin to find that your knob and slider adjustments are getting you further and further away from the original sound. This is the main problem with modifying existing patches. You often have to search for and remove unwanted parameters (which may be affecting the tone quite drastically) only to end up with something far from the original and a lot of frustration. More

Win Kern Brantley’s Custom Gaia SH-01

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The “Menacing” Black Finish

The custom synth you see here was constructed for Kern Brantley, a multi-talented music director who has spent years working with chart-topping icons. Kern’s tour schedule left no time to re-program some crucial Gaia SH-01 sounds into his Roland AX-Synth last year, and necessity bred invention, as the saying goes. His only option was to transform one of his Gaia SH-01 synths into a keytar. With the help of his keyboard tech and a stage hand, they used the handle of a paint roller to create a neck on one end, attached a guitar strap pin to the other end, and then painted it a “menacing” black color.

Roland Debuts Official Synth Tone Libraries – Axial

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The Portal to New Sounds for Your Music

Axial - Roland Synthesizer Sound Libraries

Axial – Roland Synthesizer Sound Libraries

Today is the debut of Axial, our official sound library for Roland synthesizers. Now, more than ever, musical styles and tastes seem to change by the minute, and it was only yesterday that Dubstep and Electro were on every TV commercial and hot remix (only to be replaced by Moombahton and Trap). Roland’s top programmers are now giving you access to this fresh new stream of creative tools that will keep you ahead of the curve!

Visit Axial – Roland’s Sound Libraries More

Classic Roland Synths

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ClassicSynths_Marquee

Roland’s new JUPITER-50 was unveiled at the Frankfurt Musikmesse last year, and though it sits at the cutting-edge of new technology, it’s a synth that sits firmly in line with Roland’s synth philosophy and history.

JUPITER-50 Roland Synthesizer

The JUPITER-50 is a streamlined version of the flagship JUPITER-80, and both instruments fit neatly into Roland’s 40-year story of pioneering synthesizer development. As the JUPITER name suggests, these new synths are related to one of the most iconic synth lines ever created—the genre-defining JUPITER-8.

Using the most innovative analog technologies of the time, the JUPITER-8 was released in 1981 and provided musicians with a rich palette of synth textures. Its reliability and ease of use on stage made it a go-to instrument for the electro crowd of the time. Its built-in arpeggiator and deep sonic potential satisfied the synth elite and awed countless Duran Duran fans. More

Synth Basics with Ed: Making a Synth Bass

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synth basics - bass

In this edition of Synth Basics with Ed, Ed describes how to program a bass tone on the GAIA SH-01. This knowledge could be applied to any synthesizer regardless of make or model by using the basic synth components of oscillators, filters, and low-frequency oscillators. Aside from making a simple bass tone, Ed goes further by showing us how to fatten up the tone by layering another bass tone over it. Finally, making bass wobbles for Dubstep and Electro music couldn’t be easier. According to Ed, you don’t have to be a synth ninja to follow along.

 

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Synth Basics with Ed – Creating Strings

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synth basics strings
In this Synth Basics with Ed video, Ed explains how to create synth strings on a GAIA SH-01. Although this video is demonstrated on a GAIA, the fundamentals could be applied to any keyboard synthesizer regardless of make and model. According to Ed, these video tutorials are designed to strengthen your understanding of sound design via oscillators, wave forms, filters, and arpeggios.

Do you have a synth related topic that you would like Ed to demonstrate? Leave us a comment!

try-it

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