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Comments
Just do what I do ... buy everything and lose yourself in everyone else's presets. Sometimes I can't believe what people can coax out of these synths!
But honestly, I like the Korg iDS-10 because 1) it sounds great and 2) I can "see" the path the patch is taking and 3) it's a full blown music box. Way too much fun.
Why do you want to design presets?
Are you unhappy with factory ones?
If you are, I suggest use that app to learn on.
You have a purpose then.
For a first synth and to learn the basics, stick with a subtractive synth. Model D is a classic as has been said, but another pretty straight-forward yet versatile and good sounding synth would be Poison-202. There’s no such thing as a standard synth, they all have their own little peculiarities, which is why people tend to have lots of synth apps. That is a luxury of course with them being so cheap - in the old days of just hardware, you probably had to make your choice and then stick to that and do all you can with it. At least you learned it inside out that way!
I just want to learn how these things work. I would like to make some drum presets though.
Interesting.
Well, I would get an app like SeekBeats then.
Start with percussive sounds.
Might be an approach.
You want to keep it simple at first.
If you know ADSR and filter differences and what and LFO is useful for, that is alot.
Many times if you take time to reverse engineer patches that you like on apps it can do wonders to learn.
I think do what you do
When you find an app that gives you a real drive to learn it, do it.
Don't stress of focus on a "goal" in choosing an app.
You may be surprised what cool things you discover exploring.
Just me thought.
You all know my opinion - MiniMoog is the way to go for learning. It's not perfect, but it set the standard that is still being followed today, despite it's faults.
@Antkn33 You can check out my video here about the MiniMoog:
I've got some others about the various parts of a synth:
Oscillator:
Filter:
It is at times like this that we really need a superb ARP 2600 app on the iOSes
Sweet thanks!
+1 for Cubasis
+1 for Poison-202. It is beautiful and powerful enough for a beginner. Works/blends well with Cubasis host.
Many of us old-timers first learned about synthesis on a Minimoog. Model D is a good place to start, but it's just a start. I'm not a sound designer. I just need to know enough to tweak the presets I acquire. In any case, you need to understand general concepts of the different types of synthesis. Then you can learn any synth quicker by playing around with it. Otherwise, it's going to take a lot of knob twiddling to figure things out. One of many sources of info, "Sound On Sound" through the years published a nice series of articles on synthesis. Still available online:
https://www.soundonsound.com/search/articles/"Synth Secrets"?solrsort=ds_created asc&f[0]=im_field_subject:8106
The other suggestion I can make is simply this:
TRIAL AND ERROR
Sometimes you just have to dive in and get what you get. Once you've decided on a synth you can start reverse-engineering/deconstructing other people's patches to get a better sense of direction.
Probably obvious, but do the five free levels in Syntorial. The first four can be whizzed through in a single sitting, but the fifth (bringing filter & amp envelopes together) takes you through one of the giant steps in patch design, and you can then go deeper into the rest of the free synth at leisure. (And of course you can always pony up for the paid remainder of the course if you find it helpful. The 25 bonus challenges at the end are a fantastic graduation present.)
I agree with @orand as Audulus is where I’ve also been able to learn the most about synthesis. You can combine all of the smaller and larger elements involved in synthesis, attach a virtual oscilloscope anywhere in the synth patch you’re making to see what’s happening and do the same with other patches people have made. The members on their forum are super helpful. You can do additive, subtractive, and FM synthesis with it.
You can start out with the most basic of synthesis elements and go from there. The sound on sound series was mentioned and going through that and trying to replicate those lessons in Audulus would be very educational.
Syntorial Synth tutorial app. THAT’S what u want
This is a very good suggestion.
I first studied synthesis at college over a decade ago, became a preset addict and never really progressed my understanding synthesis is until watching the hands on explanations of Automatic Gainsay last year.
Watching his series led me to buy a korg monologue, then a Korg Minilogue. I love them both and am still learning them slowly, but regularly refer to those videos for inspiration and as a reminder of how much I can get out of what's in front of me.
Having the hardware did not stop me searching for iOS portable studio options tho as in reality I spend 90% of my time on an iPad, so I sold an MPC live that lived in its case most of the time and bought iPad Pro 12.5 and all the good apps on sale on Black Friday ( plus various dongles, midi controllers and sound cards ) for about the same price as the MPC.
My iOS suggestion to learn synthesis on would be Zeon. It sounds great, the matrix gives you room to grow in to more advance techniques and the gui translates well to help understand other synths.
Model 15. It has some great real-time tutorials and while a modular synth can look overwhelming i find them still the best tools to understand which connection have which effect.
A mod-matrix f.e. has all that "hidden" but can be more easy to achieve same effects a lot faster.
Zeeon might the most powerful here in the iOS world for sure.
Another great thing in Zeeon is the little oscilloscope to see how the waveform change (but not sure if it really updates fast enough in real-time).
I also love Mitosynth for it´s endless number of LFO´s you can use and the visual feedback you have how an LFO on top on a LFO which is also modulated by an LFO change the shape etc.
Plectrum is pretty easy.
Kauldron. Learn what the Synth and Mod tabs do. Ignore the rest of the app for now. Straightforward. Or go with Syntorial. Many of the other synths mentioned here would be good after you feel comfortable with the basics. They may be a bit much to start out with.
Yeah thanks all for the great info.
Another vote for Syntorial. A great tutorial for substractive synthesis.
Another vote for Thor and the Propellerheads tutorials. I learned synthesis that way but on a PC not on iOs. The downside with the iOs version is that not everything is on one page what makes it a little bit difficult. But it is semimodular, comes with a heap of different oscillators, filters and routing possibilities.
The tutorials have been written by Gordon Reid, the guy who also wrote the SOS series.
There is a free book out there called "how to make noise" which covers all the basic stuff regarding synthesis. Highly recommended if you just wanna start patching synths.
Another vote for MiniSynth 2!
I can vote twice, right?
Here’s a great video on Audulus 3 about how to use a phaser and phase modulation (FM synthesis). It can give you a sense of how practical Audulus 3 can be for learning about and creating your own synths. Although the patch was done on a computer, the patches are exactly the same and can be used on the iOS app too.