It is actually perfect that I had already planned to write up a blog on creative synthesis, as my time spent at the studio sparked a much deeper passion for this topic. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by an array of synthesisers and samplers, and much to my satisfaction, the Juno-106 happened to be amongst this collection. Instead of beginning my piece recording ordinary objects to use as percussion sounds as previously planned, I began creating sounds with the synthesisers. Emulating my favourite synth sounds from drum and bass and broken beat tracks, I very quickly realised what had been setting back my productions and compositions: not having used hardware. Sure, I understand how to use a subtractive synthesiser in Logic and Protools, but it just didn’t feel fun, and I feel like the sounds I was trying to create and emulate were just too hard to make. Now having touched and used hardware, I liken this experience to my experience of DJ’ing, where I couldn’t even grasp the concept of it until I was introduced to turntables. With this being said, I feel like I am sonically more pulled into the world of analog- and to immerse myself within it, I need to understand it.

There are four main types of synthesis: subtractive, additive, modular, and FM. I am going to explain how the foremost mentioned works, using annotated diagrams. The idea of subtractive synthesis is to filter sound once it is made to add harmonic complexity.

However, the types of synthesis, and whether you’re using software or hardware aren’t the only factors providing a diverse range of sound in the world of synthesis. Within hardware, there is the option to use either analog or digital synthesis. In the article written by Suresh Bist, there is a video included where the man speaking states that whilst unique sounds can be created using hardware synthesis, they may not align with the project tempo when using effects such as modulation- something which I personally experienced. In the same article, Bist says that analog may still be preferable to digital because of its hands on approach. I agree.