What synth to start with...

[Killamike49]

Firstly NI Razor is nothing like Massive. Razor is an additive synth and sounds very different.

Secondly, fuck learning the synths in your DAW. That's bad advice imo as they're usually pretty crap. Choose a decent synth that's popular among pro's rather than a lame one nobody uses. There is a reason these synths are popular, no need to fly in the face of common sense.

Some have suggested Massive, i can't disagree. It has a wide range of modulation options and a very easy inteface, and is capable of a wide range of sounds. FM8 is also a very capable synth, but is probably a bit harder to learn as it's not as intuitive as Massive.

Anyhow, you have the right idea, choose one and learn it really well. Personally i love to use Massive, FM8, U-He Diva and Ace, NI Razor, Camel Alchemy. Best thing to do is try a few out and see which you'd like to put some time into learning.

Sytrus is beyond powerful.

[VirtualMark]

Sytrus is beyond powerful.

Sorry, did you have a point you was trying to make? I don't understand why you quoted my post.

[Killamike49]

Oh wait.

Secondly, fuck learning the synths in your DAW. That's bad advice imo as they're usually pretty crap. Choose a decent synth that's popular among pro's rather than a lame one nobody uses.

Claiming that the synths that come with your daw are usually pretty crap, is really shitty advice man. Especially to someone who hasn't been producing long. If you can't make a good patch in your stock synth, what makes you think you can make one in some really expensive synth? Unless they have a specific feature that you're looking for it's not. Alot of synths produce the same waveforms, modulations, lfos, and envolopes. I'm not saying their the easiest to learn on, which is what op is talking about, but calling them shit is a bit ignorant.

[Electric_Head]

If you want easy get synth1 and Tal noisemaker/elek7ro

free and good

They`ll help you to understand subtractive synthesis at the most basic to more advanced levels.
Simple synths will give you the knowledge you need to understand sound from a more fundamental level.
Everything else will be easier once you understand synthesis.

[deadly_habit]

exactly you don't learn to drive with a benz, that and you need to learn how to work stick before going full speed or fancy
too much of a car analogy
learn basic subtractive synthesis in your in built daw synths once you have the CONCEPTS down and feel limited like i said, move to say a new synthesis style, processing, and if limited or you feel something else will suit your workflow then look, otherwise you'll just be wasting money

[Ongelegen]

If you want easy get synth1 and Tal noisemaker/elek7ro

free and good

They`ll help you to understand subtractive synthesis at the most basic to more advanced levels.
Simple synths will give you the knowledge you need to understand sound from a more fundamental level.
Everything else will be easier once you understand synthesis.

This!

Along with http://www.amazon.com/Power-Tools-Synth ... 0879307730

[Climax]

what DAW are you using?

if ableton, the built in Operator is pretty powerful, very easy to get the hang of automating since its built in, and you can do FM with it as well

[VirtualMark]

Oh wait.

Secondly, fuck learning the synths in your DAW. That's bad advice imo as they're usually pretty crap. Choose a decent synth that's popular among pro's rather than a lame one nobody uses.

Claiming that the synths that come with your daw are usually pretty crap, is really shitty advice man. Especially to someone who hasn't been producing long. If you can't make a good patch in your stock synth, what makes you think you can make one in some really expensive synth? Unless they have a specific feature that you're looking for it's not. Alot of synths produce the same waveforms, modulations, lfos, and envolopes. I'm not saying their the easiest to learn on, which is what op is talking about, but calling them shit is a bit ignorant.

You see, that's a bit better than a smiley face and a line about sytrus. Now i see what point you were trying to make. Although you're pretty much wrong - as i say most daw synths are pretty rubbish imo. Not all of them, ableton's operator is ok, logics es2 looks nice. I think sytrus only comes with the top version of fl studio, and tbh the interface looks pretty horrible, not the sort of thing i'd like to try to learn.

Whereas a decent third party synth makes better sounds out of the box. There is a reason pro's use these synths - they're better. I'm not going to argue with you as to why, i'll let you do some reading and learn some more.

[VirtualMark]

exactly you don't learn to drive with a benz, that and you need to learn how to work stick before going full speed or fancy
too much of a car analogy
learn basic subtractive synthesis in your in built daw synths once you have the CONCEPTS down and feel limited like i said, move to say a new synthesis style, processing, and if limited or you feel something else will suit your workflow then look, otherwise you'll just be wasting money

This isn't driving, this is music. The reason people don't learn to drive in a nice car is due to the fact that they're much more likely to have a crash in their first couple of years. And insurance is much higher for new drivers. So generally people buy a cheap car to learn in.

There is no danger of crashing into anything by using a decent synth. The only danger is making some really cool sounds. So you don't need a crappy synth with learner plates on if you are a beginner.

Lets face it, the basic concepts of synthesis are stupidly easy to understand. Oscillators, envelopes, filters, modulation sources, fx. That's about it. The rest just comes down to practice. Having a decent synth to start with will just speed things up. More support, tons of tutorials on youtube, lots of good presets to reverse engineer.

[nowaysj]

Let's also remember that sytrus only comes with the fl crack, it is not a stock synth, but purchasable separately.

[Killamike49]

Oh wait.

Secondly, fuck learning the synths in your DAW. That's bad advice imo as they're usually pretty crap. Choose a decent synth that's popular among pro's rather than a lame one nobody uses.

Claiming that the synths that come with your daw are usually pretty crap, is really shitty advice man. Especially to someone who hasn't been producing long. If you can't make a good patch in your stock synth, what makes you think you can make one in some really expensive synth? Unless they have a specific feature that you're looking for it's not. Alot of synths produce the same waveforms, modulations, lfos, and envolopes. I'm not saying their the easiest to learn on, which is what op is talking about, but calling them shit is a bit ignorant.

You see, that's a bit better than a smiley face and a line about sytrus. Now i see what point you were trying to make. Although you're pretty much wrong - as i say most daw synths are pretty rubbish imo. Not all of them, ableton's operator is ok, logics es2 looks nice. I think sytrus only comes with the top version of fl studio, and tbh the interface looks pretty horrible, not the sort of thing i'd like to try to learn.

Whereas a decent third party synth makes better sounds out of the box. There is a reason pro's use these synths - they're better. I'm not going to argue with you as to why, i'll let you do some reading and learn some more.

I have komplete 8 (it's actually my friends, but we produce together) and i still use a lot of the stock plugins that come with Fruity loops. I totally didn't see the imo in that first post , I thought you were calling most if not all stock plugins shitty.

[deadly_habit]

honestly i'd love to see some of the people venomant about paid plugs actually talk synthesis sometime
not youtube tutorials but actual techniques that are synthesis based not omg massive tutoriual but hey theis the the synthesis concept

[VirtualMark]

killamike - no i'm not saying that all daw plugins are bad, just that i'm not keen on a lot of the standard synths. this is an opinion based thread after all , and the op was asking for just one really good synth for him to learn inside out. which is why i'd suggest one of the popular more capable ones, as he could learn it with the confidence that its very capable of making almost any sound. also i know a lot of people like to stick to stock plugins such as reverbs, compressors etc. i don't, i'm a cubase user and the stock plugins aren't great so i prefer fabfilter for most things.

deadly - i'm not entirely sure what you're saying? venomant? is this a typo?

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

deadly - i'm not entirely sure what you're saying? venonat? is this a typo?

Im a reason user and I learnt how to work thor first which is arguably the most complex reason synth. This meant I could then use all the other synths.

[ehbes]

deadly - i'm not entirely sure what you're saying? venonat? is this a typo?

Im a reason user and I learnt how to work thor first which is arguably the most complex reason synth. This meant I could then use all the other synths.

really? i think the hardest is Malstrom, Thor just kinda came naturally to me

[sn0wday]

To everyone saying start with basic, built in synths, I get the logic their, but then again i don't.

I chose to jump right into ableton, because my worst fear in anything, is having to re-learn something. I have two friends who began with FL (Taking no shots at FL!!) but said it was HELL getting into Ableton because they felt it offered more for whatever reason.

And here i am, it was sort of frustrating at first, but I'm glad I took that path, because now i'm a little more on my feet.

I would hate to learn a synth, decide I don't like it, or find out it's generally regarded as crap and it would be in my best interest to move on.

What I am afraid of, is with the likes of FM8 there are a SCARCE amount of tutorials on it. And the way i see it is as long as you have a good teacher, you can really learn anything.

[ehbes]

so buy fm8 and lock yourself in your room until you know it like the back of your hand... honestly the only way your gonna be able to master a synth is practice, and no amount of youtube tutorials is going to be an adequate substitute

[Huts]

The difference here is what you learn in one synth (if we're talking subtractive synthesis) will carry over into the next. You aren't relearning synthesis like you're relearning your way around a DAW, you just have to get familiar with a certain synths layout. Also, the manual is a great tutorial people should read it

[Yeshua]

MASSIVE!!!! virtualmark is spot on. sub focus uses massive. and vengeance. copy the best and rise above their level!!!!!!

[e-motion]

I would say Massive, not because it's overused, but mostly because it's a tool that has a lot of power with a lot of simplicity. Perfect to start. You can even get away as a producer using only Massive (yes, there are more synths like this, but Massive is the easiest of them).

FM8 for starters is completly impossible. I've produced for a lot of years and I still hate it (the only buy I regret).