06-26-2019, 01:27 AM
(06-25-2019, 06:34 PM)Mattias Westlund Wrote:(06-23-2019, 01:12 AM)Nayrb Wrote: Synths are great fun, but some are not really designed very intuitively. I used FL studio and many of the native synths are ridiculously complicated, and for no good reason that I can think of. Such convoluted design can make learning hard. It helps to start simply.
I definitely agree with this. Synth-heads often say (or used to say?) you shouldn't use presets, you should learn the synth and make your own sounds. That becomes kind of a ridiculous notion if you look at some of the software synths around today. You can't realistically learn more than a handful of these more advanced instruments, at least not if you want to actually make music as well and not spend all your time programming synth patches.
Having said that, the complexity sometimes comes from bad GUI design. If the synth is laid out in some, uh... let's say creative way that doesn't make it clear how the signal flow works and how everything fits together, figuring it out quickly becomes a nightmare even if you have a manual handy (and many synths don't even come with that).
I mean, designing your own sounds is difficult. If you know what you're doing, sure, it can be productive and rewarding. But frankly it's easier for me to start with a pre-existing patch and modify that until I get the sound I want. More, it acts a better demonstration of what each knob does to the sound then starting from scratch would. And, more, it can be a lot of fun to fiddle around!