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Learning Synths
- ge96 2y agoThat's a neat browser permission prompt asking about MIDI, haven't seen that one before edit: side note making sound is one thing, making something actually worth listening to...
- throwaway314155 2y agoMIDI support in browsers has gotta be like at least a decade old at this point, right?
- ge96 2y agoI guess so I never got into making music, heard of the term but yeah cool to see.
- dang 2y agoRelated. Others? Getting Started Making Sounds - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31434208 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31434208 - May 2022 (3 comments) Abletone Learning Synth - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31279526 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31279526 - May 2022 (63 comments) Synth Playground - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26429207 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26429207 - March 2021 (21 comments) Learning Synths - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20272346 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20272346 - June 2019 (172 comments)
- richrichardsson 2y agoI'm glad I'm not going mad thinking I've seen this link 5 times before here; I had an off-by-one error by including this example in the tally.
- f1shy 2y agoFor those so inclined, that want to play with synth in some more programmatic way, there is a lisp dialect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist_(programming_language) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist_(programming_language)) for it.
- tosmatos 2y agoThere's also stuff like Sonic Pi (https://sonic-pi.net/ https://sonic-pi.net/) and most things live coding related, but I found that I don't really like that approach even though I love synths and programming. For some reason I don't think they go together well. But some people are really good with that and it's fascinating
- diggan 2y agoYes, I feel the same way, but then I started making music to get away from the computer, rather than finding even more things to spend time on with the computer, maybe that's why.
- kaoD 2y agoSimilar to this, a while ago I made this online playground (Lambda Musika) where you can program sound realtime in your browser (using JS) in a functional-ish way: https://lambda.cuesta.dev/ https://lambda.cuesta.dev/ (repo: https://github.com/alvaro-cuesta/lambda-musika https://github.com/alvaro-cuesta/lambda-musika) -- check out the examples on the bottom toolbar's blue button. The basic idea is you write a function `t => [l, r]` where `t` is time and `l`, `r` are output samples for the left and right channels in `[-1, 1]` range. You can think of it like ShaderToy but for sound synthesis. It includes a small utility library but it's meant to be just a few helper functions instead of a full-fledged framework like SuperCollider, Sonic Pi, et al. I.e. it's still sample-oriented instead of module-oriented. E.g. in Sonic Pi you script modules, their parameters, and how they connect with each other, while Lambda Musika is all about outputting samples of a waveform. It's very barebones -- I'd love to get some time to upgrade this to Monaco editor and add TS, intellisense, etc. -- and possibly buggy, but I still find myself coming from time to have some fun with it.
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- revskill 2y agoWhat's the best way to learn piano via keyboard like a professional ?
- criddell 2y agoWhen you say keyboard are you talking about a piano-type keyboard or a computer keyboard?
- revskill 2y agoComputer keyboard .
- rhizome31 2y agoOh OK my bad, I didn't get that. Seems like a strange idea to me. If money is the issue, you can probably find a decent second hand MIDI keyboard for a very reasonable price.
- f1shy 2y agoOh. Dismiss my message:)
- itishappy 2y agoDon't. Computer keyboards are inexpressive. You'll be giving up the ability to modulate note velocity/volume, for starters. Get a cheap MIDI keyboard for a few hundred bucks. If instead of playing you're more interested in making cool sounds, I'd skip the keyboard completely and download a free DAW like Reaper, Ableton, or FL Studio. Whichever route you take, the secret is practice. It always is...
- criddell 2y ago> Don't. Computer keyboards are inexpressive. Constraints can be a great thing.
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- chrisvalleybay 2y agoI've been playing synths and piano for a while, but I've been struggling to get some solid intuitions about what is going on when I tweak the synths. One thing that really helped on this site, is the «dot» that is bouncing back and forth on https://learningsynths.ableton.com/en/playground https://learningsynths.ableton.com/en/playground . Try tweaking the nobs and see how the dots movement changes. It helped me visualize something that I wasn't able to grasp before. Nice link!
- beAbU 2y agoSome VSTs animate the modulated controls, which is awesome because it immediately makes clear how one thing impacts another. I believe Serum does this?
- diggan 2y agoThe best way I found to understand a bit more about how synths work, was to give VCVRack a try. Basically "build your own synth" in a box, AKA " Modular synthesizer", which lets you build what a mainstream synth comes with, from scratch.
- actsasbuffoon 2y agoIt’s also pretty easy to create your own VCV Rack modules, assuming you don’t mind doing a little math.
- colkassad 2y agoThere is also Cardinal, a GPL fork that you can run as a plugin directly in your DAW of choice (I believe you need the paid VCV Rack to do that): https://github.com/DISTRHO/Cardinal https://github.com/DISTRHO/Cardinal
- jnovek 2y agoI tend to thing that non-modular is a better place to start. Modular is great, I've wasted untold shameful consumerist dollars on Eurorack, but I think it's better to get the core concepts from a well-known fixed-architecture synth (like a Minimoog clone/VST) before moving on to modular. Modular can be very overwhelming when you're new.
- anonzzzies 2y agoI like synths with movements instead of keys a lot better. They give me that old sci-fi vibe. It's something that should be nice with the Quest VR handtracking. (but no, really not like this; https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/synthvr/3748465338566486/ https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/synthvr/3748465338566... ; then I would just get a real synth)
- piltdownman 2y agoThat's mainly just the 'sweep' or portamento between notes that's indicative of things like the Theremin or 50s Sci-Fi sound. Check out the Ondes Martenot for a compromise between the two paradigms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ondes_Martenot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ondes_Martenot
- jnovek 2y agoThese days there are several tools that map hand tracking to MIDI CCs and notes, you might enjoy something like that. It's on my list to try sometime in 2025. :-) Here's an example, although I'm not sure if it's good or not because I haven't tried it yet. https://www.uwyn.com/geco/ https://www.uwyn.com/geco/
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- leetrout 2y agoSyntorial is also popular and posted here many times. https://www.syntorial.com/ https://www.syntorial.com/
- poulpy123 2y agoI was going to post it as well. And also from the same creator "building blocks" a similar tool for music creation instead of sound design
- jnovek 2y agoSyntorial was how I first learned and I was pretty happy with it.
- ElijahLynn 2y agoLooks like Syntorial is an app, whereas Ableton link is web based. Would be nice to see Syntorial converted to a web app.
- hoseja 2y agoOn older phone I had a fun touch-synth called Etherpad but it says it's not compatible with my newer phone.
- ssharp 2y agoThe "Playing different pitches" section plays "The Final Countdown", arguably the greatest synth riff of all time. If you know it, just click the rhythm on that section.
- chaosprint 2y agoThe quick tour of Glicol that I made is also a way to learn digital sound synthesis: https://glicol.org/tour https://glicol.org/tour Have fun
- weatherlight 2y agoIf you want to understand (Subtractive) synthesis. The best way is to get copy of VCV rack and follow a few tutorials. If you patch one subtractive mono synth voice once, you understand 80% of all subtractive synth architecture moving forward. https://vcvrack.com https://vcvrack.com (open source and wonderful) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V35OhojjqDs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V35OhojjqDs <- your first tutorial Happy patching :) There's a bunch of other really interesting types of synthesis and you can explore them using the above software - Frequency/phase modulation synthesis - Vector synthesis - physical modeling/Karplus strong - Additive synthesis - Eastcoast (subtractive) - Westcoast (waveshaping/LP gates)
- naltroc 2y agounpopular hot take: subtractive synthesis isn't synthesis. It's a transformation.
- skyyler 2y agoWell, "transformer" is already a kind of device. Do you have a suggested name to replace "synthesiser"?
- weatherlight 2y agoHold up, I'm going to send a email to every synth company that sells synths with filters and explain to them that they aren't selling synthesizers but transformers. I'm positive that it will be received well!
- fredoliveira 2y agoI mean, there's a fair amount of hype about transformers right now.
- racl101 2y agoThey are certainly more than meets the eye.
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- obayesshelton 2y agoActually posted about learning something new in 2025 and Synths came up. Quite like this site.
- _spduchamp 2y agoI recommend the re-issue of Allen Strange's Electronic Music: Systems, Techniques, and Controls. It was successfully launched on Kickstarter a while ago, and is now available through a few retailers.
- gwbas1c 2y agoMy browser put up a dialog asking for permission to control midi devices before the site showed anything. It's a good idea to show content before your page does anything that asks for scary permissions. (And, honestly, without knowing what the site does, its pretty scary to click on a link on hacker news and have a site ask for elevated permissions before it shows anything.)
- javier123454321 2y agoI mean, the link is to ableton.com, the most popular professional music production software. You're not the target audience if you haven't heard of it.
- an_aparallel 2y agoI'd recommend a simple subtractive synth as a first: >Behringer Model D >Novation Bass Station 2 Recommending VCV is horrible advice - unless your idea of learning synthesis is getting RSI...I think VCV is a great testing bed for trying modular ideas...once you understand synthesis...i think a huge draw back of VCV is the plethora of choice - it's just way way too much. I learnt modular on a real life Doepfer modular...it was frustrating as hell until things starting clicking - i cant imagine the feedback loop on software being that good.
- IAmGraydon 2y agoI would challenge what you’re saying. An integrated synthesizer like the Model D doesn’t make the normalled signal path apparent. On the other hand, modular forces you to see exactly what’s happening. You wire an oscillator to a filter. You wire the filter to the VCA. You trigger the VCA with a voltage envelope. You need a good teacher or tutorial, but if you have that, modular or virtual modular is a far better teaching tool IMO.
- IAmGraydon 2y agoThe presentation is cool but the order here is pretty bad. When teaching subtractive synthesis, you really should start with the oscillators and their waveforms (sine, tri, saw, square), then talk about filter, then amplitude. That’s really all there is to it - create a fundamental and a series of harmonics, carve it away with a filter and then give it an amplitude envelope. I love Ableton, but I think they may have been a bit too focused on making this look nice.
- aecorredor 2y agoAbleton is awesome for putting this type of stuff out. The learning music section is also great. And, it's a perfect post for a shameless plug: I built a u-he Diva (my favorite VST synth) tool for generating presets with AI. It's called Diva Copilot and it can be accessed at https://divacopilot.com https://divacopilot.com - I started out by offering a free trial with 10 free presets and then a monthly $20 plan with 50 presets. You can also buy on-demand credits. It works on top of a custom built RAG system that then uses GPT-4o for actually generating .h2p files. I'm mainly working on improving the knowledge base so that results get better and better. Still, you can already get some super good results. I put some examples in the landing page. Would love to get some feedback!
- gdsdfe 2y agothat's a nice wasm use case
- kennyloginz 2y agoThey are trying to distract you from supercollider.