Synthesis Lesson

[Kenneth]

I work for a company for which I am currently teaching a music class, and for my lesson two weeks from now I am planning to teach analog synthesis to the class. I am planning on bringing in my Little Phatty to help teach, and have a general outline for how I plan on going about teaching the lesson. Out of curiosity, I wanted to bring it up here and see how other synth geeks like myself would go about teaching a synthesis lesson. Any input from anyone is welcome, and I look forward to hearing all of your opinions.

Kenny

[Brian G]

I would start by giving a brief introduction to each section. Then show what an oscillator does. With the filter wide open, play different waveforms, and octave settings on one osc only. Then add the second and show how you can have them in unison at he same octave setting then one at different settings. Next show the Envelope section for the VCA and how the attack, decay sustain and release affect the output of the VCA. Next introduce them to the filter section . Do some manual sweeps, then show how the envelope generator affects the filter output. Next introduce them to the LFO , then the glide.

Maybe have some come up to try the LP out. You could go into more detail of the menus and the features in there, but I think for an introduction,” this is what an analog synth is” the bare basics will be more than enough. Try and keep it as simple as possible, and have fun with it, try not to be too synth geeky about it . You may want to use a few photos of analog synths of the past and a brief history along with a few examples of commercially released recordings.

[anoteoftruth]

I've had a lot of times where people would ask me.. "well how does that work though?" or they would make some snark comment about how "synthesizers are'nt real instruments cause their not organic" or something stupid from people who don't know what their talking about.

Everytime I've ever explained it to me, I always go this route.

Oscillator first. Describe what it is. How electricity vibrates to create sound, and how the oscillator controls the voltage to control the sound. The different shapes of waveforms etc etc.

Then Filter. Describing how it limits frequencies etc, therefore becoming "subtractive synthesis" by "taking away elements, frequencies, etc from the source" and give sound examples of whats happening.

Then Envelope. Controlling the length, tightness, rise, decay, etc of the sound. Explain how it's a long stream of sound, that you are pretty much cutting away from, giving it a short or long release, a tight start or a rising start.. etc.

Then I would get into how multiple Oscillators working at the same time can shape the sound.

After that I'd get into LFO's and modulation, and how that can further sculpt the sound. It's too bad you don't have a Voyager with you so you could use the 3rd OSC to FM the 1st OSC, and show them how the low frequency of 1 OSC can effect the other when applied to modulation.

Basically I would just emphasize how, the sound is organic, because it is literally electricity vibrating to make sound, going through a series of analog (maybe explain what that means?) modules to further alter and sculpt the sound.

Despite *sounding* confusing at times, I think analog synthesis is not as complicated as people think, especially when they can see/hear/touch whats going on. Just takes someone to put everything into laymens terms for them.

Good luck on your lesson!

[MarbledMoog]

just get some of those ARP "teaching" modules, do the thing on the VCA to let the note sustain and have your students have a blast!

I recommend playing lots of cool sounds like random sample & hold, S&h w/ sine or tri wave staircase modulation like in Galaga. Maybe some nasty filter modulations on saw and pulse waves in the bass range. The more cool sounds the students hear, the more they will likely be interested if they weren't already. Either way, that would be an awesome class, and good luck with it!

[mysterycircuits]

I 'd also mention that there are different types of synthesis, and that a lot of the newer synths available in stores use different methods (samples, etc)This is very important because if they get interested and go out and buy a synth but not get the same sound as yours, they might get disappointed.

[anoteoftruth]

I 'd also mention that there are different types of synthesis, and that a lot of the newer synths available in stores use different methods (samples, etc)This is very important because if they get interested and go out and buy a synth but not get the same sound as yours, they might get disappointed.

Yeah, I agree that something he should touch on near the end of the lesson. Maybe a small "analog / digital" section to let people know the difference.. know that a lot of products are VA, or just completely digital, and sound different. At least with a Moog there you can pretty much say, "this is as analog as it gets." If he had a computer or laptop nearby, he could show them some examples of a softsynth.. and explain that most digital synths, are software like softsynths, in a pretty box.. not electrical vibrations physically making sound.

[Kenneth]

Thank you all for all of the awesome feedback, you have all been so helpful

I don't know where I would be without the Great Mooger Forums.

[analoghaze]

Direct them towards the free demo of the Nord Modula G2.

[jgirv]

I've taught this before (!)... one example that brings home the idea that we are in fact dealing with a "real" instrument:

Explain how an oscillator is a simply a sound source, then compare it to other instruments' sound sources: a violin works well as a demo, as they can actually see the string begin to vibrate as the bow is drawn. A trumpet mouthpiece is the source for brass, etc...

If you have time to have a friend very briefly demo those sound sources, it helps to show how we're all really starting out at the same point.

Perhaps the perceived bias against synths can be that some demos don't give the impression that anyone is actually playing the thing... imagine a violinist wonking on one note only, and only adjusting bow pressure... kinda like the newbie going nuts with the filter cutoff and res... in any case, make sure that at one point in the demo, you play something really beautiful on the LP, and at an "acoustic" volume, for lack of a better word. No need for electric guitar wannabe solos, just a clear melody. Of course, you'll want to demo the typical synth timbres as well, and explain how this is also "playing" the synth. As a contrast, try playing something wonderful without touching any keys at all... playing a melody with the resonance turned up is a sure-fire hit. But make it sound like a musician is playing it, not your kid brother, whatever you demo.

good luck, and hope your students know how lucky they are! -- best, jgirv

[peterkadar]

I also like to compare how the different modules are like parts of the human voice.

[DontBelievetheHype]

Here's a link that was posted in this forum recently, to a class at Georgia Tech- I've watched the first 4 so far and plan on watching the rest, you might get some good ideas there

http://blip.tv/file/652726