I Have a Polar. Now What??

[fooloof]

I was hoping for a TI desktop and even emailed a guy about his C (but he never got back to me). found a deal on a Polar TI2 that I could not pass up. I am a total newbie at synthesis, which is why I considered getting a lower-priced model without all the bells and whistles. I do not know how to program synthesizers. What would you recommend as the best way to get to know this synth, short of just tooling around with it? Are there good books or ezine articles, etc? Synthesis seems like a pretty broad topic; are there baby steps I can take, etc? Basically, I want to get the most out of this unit and am looking for tips on how to do so. Many thanks.

[billythekid]

Now you give it some one who has invested their time to learn what to do with a.... PROFESIONAL piece of audio equipment. Someone who deserves it. people like you piss me off......ever heard this "RTFM" it stands for READ THE FUCKING MANUAL.

[Timo]

"Subtractive synthesis" is what you're looking at with the Virus. You start with a sound (an oscillator, or several), and then filter (similar to EQ) and shape and process it to get the sound you want.

At its most basic, synthesis has three elements: Oscillators, Filters, Amplifiers.

Oscillators are the sound generators. They generate waveforms that you can hear, and are controlled in pitch via the keyboard.
The Filters control the brightness or mellowness of the sound over time.
The Amplifier controls the changes of volume of the sound over time.

Here's a good overall explanation of subtractive synthesis and common synthesizer controls as a whole: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Underground/2288/2ansynth.htm

As soon as you get the TI you'll just want to play with the presets as they're excellent and comprehensive. Probably the most tweaked knob on any synthesiser is the "cutoff" knob. It controls the filter, making it bright or mellow. The "resonance" intensifies the frequency of the filters' cutoff at any given time, which makes for nice filter sweeps or sometimes acid-type dance sounds.

After a while it's good to load up an initialised sound and start tweaking to see what affects what. You'll be able to hear what each of the waveforms of the oscillator waveforms sound like (Sine = very dull and bassy, Triangle is dull and quite flute-like, Square sounds like woodwind, like an oboe, but is also great for drum-n-bass type basses, Sawtooth is the brightest sounding waveform and is the staple of trance sounds.)
You'll be able to see how the Amplifier controls can be used to control how fast or slow the attack or release is of a sound (if it fades in gently or immediately, or if it fades out gently or abruptly, etc.)

Check out Howard Scarr's Virus Programming tutorial, too: http://www.zorchmusic.com/hscarr/Virus_Tutorial_English.zip

May take you a year to pick up everything, but you should get the basics quickly if you just play around and use your ears. :) The manual is of course helpful.

[ShortBus]

Now you give it some one who has invested their time to learn what to do with a.... PROFESIONAL piece of audio equipment. Someone who deserves it. people like you piss me off......ever heard this "RTFM" it stands for READ THE FUCKING MANUAL.
Dont be angry, he earned the money and spent it how he chose to. If you could have afforded a Virus when you were learning you would probably have bought one.Beside the TI manual is pretty vague if your new to synthesis. And if it dosnt work out for him someone will get a good price on a fairly new TI.

And Timos right. Learn the basics Osc, Filters, Envelopes And Lfos, probably in that order. Use the VC plugin to pull up patches and disect them.

[Doc Jones]

"As soon as you get the TI you'll just want to play with the presets as they're excellent and comprehensive.
This is a very good suggestion. I have learned a lot about sound design and synthesis by "reverse engineering" presets.

[boborulz]

Now you give it some one who has invested their time to learn what to do with a.... PROFESIONAL piece of audio equipment. Someone who deserves it. people like you piss me off......ever heard this "RTFM" it stands for READ THE FUCKING MANUAL.

dude the manuel/documentation on the virus is shit...shortbus is right...i am/was a newbie learning with the virus. whats the point of getting a crap piece of equipment if you want to learn about music/synthesis properly...

[fooloof]

"Subtractive synthesis" is what you're looking at with the Virus. You start with a sound (an oscillator, or several), and then filter (similar to EQ) and shape and process it to get the sound you want.

At its most basic, synthesis has three elements: Oscillators, Filters, Amplifiers.

Oscillators are the sound generators. They generate waveforms that you can hear, and are controlled in pitch via the keyboard.
The Filters control the brightness or mellowness of the sound over time.
The Amplifier controls the changes of volume of the sound over time.

Here's a good overall explanation of subtractive synthesis and common synthesizer controls as a whole: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Underground/2288/2ansynth.htm

As soon as you get the TI you'll just want to play with the presets as they're excellent and comprehensive. Probably the most tweaked knob on any synthesiser is the "cutoff" knob. It controls the filter, making it bright or mellow. The "resonance" intensifies the frequency of the filters' cutoff at any given time, which makes for nice filter sweeps or sometimes acid-type dance sounds.

After a while it's good to load up an initialised sound and start tweaking to see what affects what. You'll be able to hear what each of the waveforms of the oscillator waveforms sound like (Sine = very dull and bassy, Triangle is dull and quite flute-like, Square sounds like woodwind, like an oboe, but is also great for drum-n-bass type basses, Sawtooth is the brightest sounding waveform and is the staple of trance sounds.)
You'll be able to see how the Amplifier controls can be used to control how fast or slow the attack or release is of a sound (if it fades in gently or immediately, or if it fades out gently or abruptly, etc.)

Check out Howard Scarr's Virus Programming tutorial, too: http://www.zorchmusic.com/hscarr/Virus_Tutorial_English.zip

May take you a year to pick up everything, but you should get the basics quickly if you just play around and use your ears. :) The manual is of course helpful.

very succinct and easily digestible. I'm going to copy and paste your reply into an email for myself. Many thanks!!

[billythekid]

You guys misunderstand my point here completely....read the topic... "I Have a Polar. Now What??"....... when i got my TI I was over the MOON! I couldnt stop playing with it, I crawled the net just to find anything on it, i read the manual 3 times. it was my BABY.....on the same note I had ATLEAST messed around with software synths BEFORE making such a purchase...this topic says....."I Have a synth...do my work...make me cool....make me famous...." Sorry man if it worked like that we'd all be Prodigy/Faithless

[feedingear]

Uh I think you misread his post tbh... He simply asked is there a better way to learn then via aimless experimentation. Valid question.

My personal opinion is, just go wild on it.. make songs... try to change patches to what suits the track or what you start to hear. The more you do, the more you learn. I've barely scratched the surface of the Virus or what it can do but I am learning more all the time.

[fooloof]

You guys misunderstand my point here completely....read the topic... "I Have a Polar. Now What??"....... when i got my TI I was over the MOON! I couldnt stop playing with it, I crawled the net just to find anything on it, i read the manual 3 times. it was my BABY.....on the same note I had ATLEAST messed around with software synths BEFORE making such a purchase...this topic says....."I Have a synth...do my work...make me cool....make me famous...." Sorry man if it worked like that we'd all be Prodigy/Faithless


LOL. I said none of that. You can look at my unedited original post if you doubt my words.

[boborulz]

This is a very good suggestion. I have learned a lot about sound design and synthesis by "reverse engineering" presets.

I recommend this! Trawl through the sound design section in these forums also. Have learnt some great things there too.

[fooloof]

some guy from another board just pm'd me offering a straight trade: my Polar for his desktop. What an amazing deal! I can trade a synth with keys for one without! I can't believe he's not asking for some cash to go with it.

[Celestry]

some guy from another board just pm'd me offering a straight trade: my Polar for his desktop. What an amazing deal! I can trade a synth with keys for one without! I can't believe he's not asking for some cash to go with it.

Indeed, this chap is quite a comedian! (^_^)

[Cutters1981]

I cut my teeth on the Roland MC-505 back in the late 90's. The sounds aren't real flash, but there was a lot of parameters to play with in the patch editing menus. If you wanna learn substractive synthesis, (and FM, granular, wavetable et al.) I think one of the best ways is playing with modular synthesis software. Most of my real experience/knowledge of synthesis comes from playing with Software Technology's 'Vaz Modular'. It's like the LEGO of synths.

Wanna hear what a saw/squarewave sounds like, patch it in, what does a comb filter do? patch it in. Envelope followers, LFOs all that good stuff

[djones]

some guy from another board just pm'd me offering a straight trade: my Polar for his desktop. What an amazing deal! I can trade a synth with keys for one without! I can't believe he's not asking for some cash to go with it.


How about a trade for my Virus TI Snow?
No keys either, and on top of that it saves you lots of space and it's mobile.

[Celestry]

How about a trade for my Virus TI Snow?
No keys either, and on top of that it saves you lots of space and it's mobile.

You're even funnier than the other guy that propositioned him! (^_^) Do you not realise, he was being sarcastic? (^_^)

[Paprika]

Do you not realise, he was being sarcastic? (^_^)

I believe he did realize it before proposing TI Snow :)

[Celestry]

I believe he did realize it before proposing TI Snow :)

Yep, and i realised that straight after posting! DOH! (^_^) Too many bluffs for my little brain! (<_>)