For the love of synth
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- Think of this as a love letter to synthesizers and the affect they’ve had on our lives (mine, and every synth lover out there) and various eras and genres of music. I hope you enjoy this video as I wax on a bit about synths, and invite you to share how your love for them first hit you!
MUSICIANS! Learn how to master music theory, mindset and emotions to become a more confident performer this year! Get a copy of my book, HOLISTIC MUSIC DEVELOPMENT HERE:
eBook:
artisanal-pain...
Physical copy on Amazon:
www.amazon.com...
As always, thanks for taking the time to listen in! We play with sound, we have some fun, and we learn some new stuff!
The goal of this podcast is to just explore sound and have fun while creating... No musical experience is required to enjoy!
I also welcome suggested topics for future episodes!
You can find new episodes here every Saturday.
Don't forget to subscribe to my channel!
Underlying music
"Low Tide At The Synth Shore"
by SoundPaint
Listen to the full version here: / low-tide-at-the-synth-...
Music Intro/Outro Credit
"End 2 End"
by SoundPaint
Listen to the full version here: / end-2-end
Video Production
Kewlacious Video Productions
www.kewlacious.com
Hardware I use in this video:
Keyboard:
Arturia KeyLab 88 MkII 88-key Weighted Keyboard Controller
www.sweetwater...
Moog DFAM
www.sweetwater...
Microphone:
AUDIX CX112B Large Diaphragm Microphone
www.cymbalfusi...
Software I use in this video
Ableton Live 11 Suite
www.sweetwater...
Arturia Analog Lab V
www.sweetwater...
Tags: #Music #musiceducation #electronicmusic #musicpodcast #musicschool #synthplay #synthesizer #musicacademy #synthbalance #workplaybalance #Synthlove #fortheloveofsynths 
Видеоклипы
It was John Chowning who first introduced me to synthesizers- literally, and in person. I grew up on the peninsula of the San Francisco Bay Area, and one day during 8th grade we took a class field trip over to Stanford CCRMA- the original location off in the hills, which is now a horse pasture. Dr. Chowning gave us a tour of the facility, demonstrated their music computer, played the synthesized sound of a train running around the room in spacial audio, and amazed us with the sound of a violin gradually morphing into a trumpet. I was hooked from that very moment!
Cool story ❤
We live in an incredible time for music. Today ONE person can compose a symphony, create the instruments from a synthesizer specifically for the song, create the environment from effects design and audio engineering and then record the song, and then master/publish it on the internet for the entire world to listen.
My love for synthesizers probably dates back to the time before my first awareness of it. All the soundtracks from the various movies shown on television and cinema in the late 60's and early 70's. The unexplored sound possibilities was discovered later and I think it was when I first heard the song called "Popcorn" in 1972.
Since then, it has been a dream to create music with these instruments and the contact with them has been through music stores. Not until the late 80s was there an opportunity to acquire them. Today I have the privilege of being able to play some different hard- and soft- synths at home and hope to be able to continue doing so in the future. That's wonderful❤
It is 2024.....my first synth love was Emerson Lake and Palmer..way back. Knew what I wanted musically. With today's options many of our studios are a combo of computer enhanced mixed with physical hardware. I evolved from a room full of synths and racks to a pc and 7 controllers..YOUR SYNTH topia is a personal and creative space...make it to your pleasure.
As an old composer/instrumentalist I only really understood acoustic instruments. Heck, I didn't even know what a DAW was until 5 years ago. A few years ago, I started to learn about digital sound design! And I fell hard into it, and then someone encouraged me to try digital synthesis and then analog hardware! Aaaah, there is sooooo much to love about all of it!!!!!!
I'm never going to live long enough to learn and use all of it!!!!!
My love for synthesizers started in the mid 80's when I took a trip to New York City to visit family and discovered hip hop music beginning in its infancy with many artists using synthesizers and drum machines.
I got my first hardware synth last year, The Arturia MiniBrute 2. It is absolutely a wonderful synthesizer. excellent for creating basses especially!
Their MicroFreak is a wonderful synth too.
Have fun 🎶
Over the past several months, I loaded up with hardware sequencers, groove boxes, and synthesizers. My two most recent purchases were a Novation Summit keyboard to go with my Novation Peak and yesterday, a Pittsburgh Modular Taiga. Regarding software vs hardware synths, as far as I am concerned, whatever you can do to make your own music is fair game. Personally, I have always preferred physical objects, so I tend to go "DAWless", but I do have equal respect for what can be done with a powerful computer and virtual instruments. It is a matter of preference and opportunity.
Great Video and love your enthusiasm for our Art with Synths...First time seeing your Channel, very refreshing take on it all. My passion for Synths was during the 70's, when I was a Kid and you'd hear these weird noises on Movie Soundtracks and even School TV Programmes. Of course, there was the whole Sci-Fi element with Doctor Who and other TV Series...I loved the Sounds of Synths, just didn't know what they were. 80's were better as they really took over Soundtracks and Popular Music...As a Teenager I was really into the Breakdancing Scene and Electro Music...Couldn't spin on my Back now if I wanted, I'd Snap, but back then the whole Scene with Dancing and Music really made a huge, lasting impression.
Like you, Bladerunner was THE Film, it's like the "Church" of Synths and have always been a huge fan of Vangelis, his mix of Synths with Instrumentation is pretty much unrivalled still. Anyway, I've been lucky enough (so far) to have Sound Design as my Full Time work and love exploring a new Synth, both Hardware and Software...just starting with a simple Oscillator or 2 and developing this moving, organic Sound over time and surprising myself with the result...I love it...Always will.
Damn i love Synthesizers! I was thinkin about getting that DFAM and i think i will add it to my MakeNoise Easel setup. The fascination never stops ❤
I have one, you will love it for sure. A very unique approach for a rhythm machine 😻
I got into Synthesis just before Christmas 2022 when I purchased an Hydrasynth Explorer. The Hydra made me fall in love with synths. Through 2023 I purchased a further 7 hardware synths and about the same with software synths. I also purchased a couple of sequencers as well. Hardware V Software, Digital V Analogue, Modular V Semi-Modular, all those have no place in my small studio I embrace it all because, to only embrace 1 or 2 means you miss out on so much.
Any preference is valid. But invalidating others preferences is never valid.
It's true that when you dive in to the world of synthesizers, you'll soon find out that you want to get them more and more, coz' every synth after all have its very unique soundscape, and even "the same" sounds in different keyboards sounds little different, so you'll never get enough. But when it comes to music production, too much is too much, and you'll in one point realize that less is actually more, just simply for the reason that if you have too many gears, you don't properly know how to use them all, so therefore it's better in music production, if you have a few proper synth you know how to use them properly in depth, so it actually makes you workflow much smoother...
Let's give the Hardware/Virtual debate a rest OK. It's been a long time since most hardware Synths had anything like discrete circuits inside to generate the sounds we hear. While there are exceptions most hardware synths are a computer with various knobs, sliders and switches to control the parameters set up in the software of the instrument. That's why your hardware instrument gets firmware updates that fix bugs, add features etc. Would I love to own all hardware synths. Yes. Can I afford the space required, the cost involved. As a retired health professional, NO. My studio is a mix of a few cherished older hardware synths and a bunch of great virtual instruments from Cherry Audio, Arturia and others. All are valid. All contribute to my music.
Agreed. Listen with your ears, not your eyes 👀, and most of all, have fun 🎶🤠🎶
Yep, me too.
Started with an ARP Odyssey, in 1976.....now I have all kinds of keyboard synths, my own home built synthesizers, iPad synths, and am fighting a serious EuroCrack monkey, on my back 🐒
For me, I love the iPad synths, some are way beyond any hardware synths, using the multi touch surface and display, in an almost magical way.
And there are many advantages to working in that ecosystem...saving and recalling complex setups, and having an entire studio on your lap, is a modern miracle.
But....there are tradeoffs, and it is not the same as having dedicated hands on, knob per function, immediacy.
So I have lots of hardware too, partially do to Uli at Behringer, for bringing back a lot of the classics, at a reasonable price.
When you ask which I would prefer, I give the same answer as in the end of the movie, Trading Places, when the waiter asked, "would you like steak, or lobster?", and Eddie Murphy says "lets have both" 😉
I never worry about what someone els likes, when choosing what is right for my taste.
Love your story, about how your dad's activities influenced your interest in electronic music.
I think that is partially true of my father, as he owned/ran a Hi Fi shop when I was small.
He had a custom wall of gear installed, in a false wall in our living room.
If you wanted to patch anything, you had to go through a closet door, to get behind the wall.
When older, I chose a career in electronics, repairing complex circuits to the component level.
So I guess I'm born to be an electronic musician, LOL. (ps also play rock-n-roll keyboards in a few bands).
This is my first time seeing your channel, and I like it. Subscribed.
Best wishes for your continued success/fun with music, and have a great day 🎶🌎☮
People usually love buying stuff, in this case synths. I believe that there's a small percentage of these that find comfort in the process of making sounds rather than adquiring stuff.
Granular, is my latest synth groove.
Amazing what you can do with little bits of chopped up sound 🔥
Good of you for self expression, especially about creative synthesis. While I personally have/use mostly vintage hardware synths, I have a couple of modern clones both analog and digital and it's all good. Only reason I haven't used VST and software stuff is because I haven't tried. You just keep doing you and have your own voice. Cheers to you..!! 🥂
I have been playing with software virtual analog when it came out on Dos system. It was very exciting to get it to work and play sounds. Vst's still have their place and sound good, but now if I am going to spent my time doing music I don't want to be stuck on computer all day. That's why I find owning hardware and vintage synth more satisfying experience.
I began playing the organ 56 years ago, it was a great instrument to start with because I learned to play music with both hands and both feet, plus the mixing of stops to create a sound. But I did not and still do not like the sound of organs and 10 years later moved on to the piano where with the expression of each finger independent of the others transformed my world and added passion and deep emotion to my music. Each finger controlled velocity and filter of the piano plus the added pedals of soft and sustain and half sustain; still to this day my number one instrument and played the most is piano. Added acoustic guitar at the same time as piano.
Then in the mid 80s bought my first synthesizer, a Juno Alpha2 analog 8 voice. The sounds were interesting but didn't know how to compose with them and continued to compose for solo piano and guitar. Then bought the first digital piano in the Roland U220 module and was amazed how much better this electronic piano was instead of my Juno made piano. Synthesizer have never come close to an acoustic piano until Roland's V-Piano. So, through the 90s I am buying up all the digital sampled synths attempting to play my composed symphony with the sampled trumpets, oboes, violins for example...but.....I hated the sound, missing all the modulations and tone that skilled musicians who practiced a lifetime produce. 10 years attempting to make music and it all stunk. :)
Each time a new synth came out I thought this will have more real, lifelike acoustic instruments, but that never happened, it still hasn't happened. Then the epiphany, design all new sounds never heard before that fit the composition perfectly and orchestrate those. The synthesizer was already in my house ready to do that. And the journey into deep sound and effects design began, creating a new sound from a blank program, no more just tweaking a preset, now I am designing from the egg, the first electron, the beginning of time and space.
This went well for a while, one-person multi-tracking on a DAW until a fully orchestrated song, but also hated the sound of this. The multi-tracking took all the live energy from the song, and made it sound like a project of brick laying, it wasn't alive, human, humane. Even though I am a practiced musician and I played it all in, over dubbing was destroying the passion.
Then I discovered the Vangelis method of recording, all at once, one take, play with all 4 limbs like I did on organ, lots of synths all programed and then lots of controllers, a floor full. So I took Vangelis's idea and added modern technology, a pattern sequencer and sampler to fill in the blanks when both hands and feet were too busy and build up a gigantic live orchestra. THAT WAS IT!!!! All the passion and emotion returned to the songs, all the emotion during the performance was there, and the completed song for the first time in my life, I said "that sounded good". (or at least better :) I was poor and using horrible instruments like Casio, the cheapest of everything. But that didn't stop me from creating over 70 albums of music over 15 years.
So, today in 2024, I have finally made a better studio with great instruments. 100% hardware studio of synths, digital pianos, sampler, groove box, pattern sequencer, and just added last year clip launch from a Roland Fantom. I have a long learning curve with all the new instruments and looking forward to new discoveries. For the first time I have a record quality digital piano, that is exciting. The only thing to add this year is mastering software, it will be on a new MAC running Logic. I have been pushing the limits of recording levels and getting occasional clipping, so now I am going to turn them all down to a safe level and have no fear while preforming/recording live, and let the mastering finish the job.
The studio uses a 32-channel analog mixer with effects aux loops, all music devices are going through this and then subbed out in 8 channels to the ZoomR24 SD recorders 8 inputs. Then mixdown to 2 track stereo. All levels, compression, effects, EQ, are set and printing wet. I will practice for up to a week the song and all the foot switching, and expression pedals, sustains, holds, clip launches, sample launches and obviously the keyboard skills for the song. Then press record, and at the end press stop and the song is finished. Hopefully people can hear the passion from the live performance, which comes from human play and minor shifts in timing for expression and enhancement. During the recording process I am in another world, totally and completely emersed in the moment that seems to last a just few minutes but is actually a half an hour.
Thanks for sharing your journey. I’m going to go check out your channel. I also enjoy having everything going live when I record something, to do all the changes and improvising in the moment.
Ah very nice video and philosophical pontification, thank you. My eldest son and I are both in love with synthesis (and synthesizers). Funny thing is that my interest is mostly in the "latest and greatest", new technologies and new ideas, new products. But he loves the "old" stuff.
He recently purchased a Sequential Prophet 5 and we had several discussions about that. My opinion is that the "old" stuff is very over priced and doesn't make sense as it harks back to the past. He totally disagrees. I am totally into MPE and even going that far as to use an Osmose to play my Eurorack system, using MPE MIDI, polyphonically.
Very funny we both love those discussions and disagreements. As you're saying, all a matter of taste. ;-)
I guess I liked synths since my childhood in the 70s because they were something new and unknown sonically, every artist used new original timbres and that was really exciting for me. By the 90s I owned my first synth that was a rompler, since then it has been a nostalgic search for timbres.
A DSP is just another digital synth, so use VSTs as much as you like it's still a synth and ignore those who criticise.
I’m pretty sure the demographic for comments here is men 40-60, so I find your viewpoint refreshing and fun! Thanks for sharing your story with us! See you around. ;)
H/ware vs S/ware, Analog vs Digital... if you can make it sound good, Who Cares! makes me wonder if similar "debates" went on 100`s of years ago about what kind of wood your recorder or flute was made of LOL
No doubt 👍
😂 I’m sure there were plenty of those debates, especially with stringed instruments.
The Yamaha Seqtrak (whatever Name) was presented a few days ago. Would you recommend it, to get in on the synths?
Lord.
Yes, I'm listening. How may I assist you 😇
I don't support people using synthesizers. The laws need to be changed.
I believe you are upset with COMPUTER DAWS...looked at your "SYNTH" page ...LOL. good comment...😂