OT: Want to learn the synth...

[Spank]

so these past few months i've been pretty interested in synths and whatnot and would like to someday go out and buy one. problem is, i haven't touched a piano seriously since i was in 5th or 7th grade (it's been a looong time). i'm not really interested in doing those fast classical pieces or whatever fancy finger play out there but rather the quirky sounds and filters. would i really need to be experienced in playing the keyboards so i can properly utilize an expensive synth or would it just be ok with the basic knowledge of keys?

[chris allert]

so these past few months i've been pretty interested in synths and whatnot and would like to someday go out and buy one. problem is, i haven't touched a piano seriously since i was in 5th or 7th grade (it's been a looong time). i'm not really interested in doing those fast classical pieces or whatever fancy finger play out there but rather the quirky sounds and filters. would i really need to be experienced in playing the keyboards so i can properly utilize an expensive synth or would it just be ok with the basic knowledge of keys?

i think that whatever instrument you play, you'll get your money's worth out of it and get better at it as long as you practice regularly.

playing a monosynth is quite a bit different from playing the piano. i think that 90% of being a classical piano virtuoso has to do with developing the right touch, and since a minimoog's keyboard doesn't really respond at all like a piano keyboard, these techniques won't transfer over well anyway.

another skill that is important to a lot of pianists is being able to accompany various types of music, learning to play chords and knowing how to choose them, which is also completely inapplicable to playing a monosynth.

i think it's kind of unfortunate that keyboardists are expected to play any kind of keyboard well. it's certainly possible to become a minimoog virtuoso without being able to play the piano, though you may find a hard time finding instruction specific to playing a monosynth.

if you're interested mainly in creating interesting sounds, the best way to learn is by getting a synthesizer and experimenting. if you're on a really tight budget, it won't cost you anything to download and install csound and experiment with that.

you may also want to consider a modular system if you're hoping to focus mostly on getting the quirky sounds, as a modular is more flexible and better suited to this kind of experimentation. the other nice thing about a modular system is that you can build it up a little bit at a time.

there's a really interesting interview with brian eno from 1980 on the internet archive where he talks about his approach to creating music. he talks about how he never learned to play an instrument, but how he believes that it's possible for people without musical training to go into the studio and come out with something interesting. i really believe this as well. that anyone with a minimoog and the manual can produce something interesting with it given enough time.

here's a link to the interview:

http://www.archive.org/details/BrianEno

[hieronymous]

so these past few months i've been pretty interested in synths and whatnot and would like to someday go out and buy one. problem is, i haven't touched a piano seriously since i was in 5th or 7th grade (it's been a looong time). i'm not really interested in doing those fast classical pieces or whatever fancy finger play out there but rather the quirky sounds and filters. would i really need to be experienced in playing the keyboards so i can properly utilize an expensive synth or would it just be ok with the basic knowledge of keys?

Can you play any instrument at all? I'm mainly a bassist, and like you haven't played piano since elementary school. But when I got my first Moog a few years ago (2002?), it opened up new worlds. I found that I was able to utilize what limited keyboard knowledge I had, and combine it with the knoweldge of music I had gained on other instruments. And of course I had to learn about analog synthesis (which I had started with Moogerfoogers). Actually, I find myself wanting to go back to the piano now!