Greetings! Anyone have study suggestions...

[Kase Villand]

... for a pianist that's trying to move into the world of synth playing? As a kid I took many years of piano lessons before moving on to drums, then bass guitar, and now I find myself dusting off my old piano chops. The circle is nearly complete, I guess. But I'm trying to self-teach myself about synth programming and MIDI, and while there's a lot of info out on the web, a lot of it assumes you've got the basics.

So where's a good place for me to start? I've dug through the MIDI forum here a little, but haven't found quite what I'm looking for. Without a foundation, there's not much here that is helping me.

Thanks in advance!

Kase

 

[b3maniac]

I personally think best way to start learning about synthesis is to look for information on the basic principles used by early analog synths. The early early ones basically used an oscillator to generate a wave form, then other components of the synth allowed you to manipulate the signal. In those days you had to manually set-up a synth to get the sound you wanted to use, and the way you learned was by "hands on" adjustments of the controls to find the sound you wanted. There was no such thing as a "preset" on the earliest synths.
These days synths are digital based, but understanding ways used to manipulate the signal chain will give you a good foundation for further study on current day synthesis methods.
MIDI is it's own subject, and you might check out a book called "The MIDI Book" by Steve De Furia and Joe Scacciaferro.
MIDI is an accronym for "musical instrument digital interface" , which is a standardized protocol to allow keyboards and some other devices to communicate with each other, and with some computer software programs.

If you have a synth, dig into the owners manual and play around with modifying a few stock "Patches".
Don

 

[The Y_man]

Kase,

Try googling "MIDI Explained" or "MIDI basics" on google or Youtube.

Pages like this can help
http://www.yourhobby.nl/mainportal/index.php/computers-mainmenu-47/194-midi-explained



The Y-man

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forums Kase! You're in good hands with b3maniac and The Y_man.

 

[Travst]

I bought Fred Welsh's book and have been very happy with it. It gives an in-depth look into what's going on when you program a synth.

 

[Archie]

Kase: After reading yor replyz & imagining it'd been ME that had jenerated them, I got the impreshun that I'd be feeling nearly az lost az when I'd begun and thus, I sujest yoo addd TO yor remarks, an explisit example uv an END rezult yoo hope to acomplish in a given instans; that I think, iz more probable to jenerate thu kind uv respons yoo'll find more directly aplicable. In case it'd HELP any, MY understanding uv synthesis waz aided thu most when reading its definition, that being to syn-the-size OR to make by artifishal meanz that in myoozic, iz acomplished by transforming a sound into its ingredient parts and then reading thu code uv each such, off uv an osciliscope screen & rendering it cleaner than its orijinal, by deleting all seemingly detrimental side-bandz & fuzz linez, by carefuly altering thu code, iether by ear, which iz how "I" did it, or with a digital reader like az an instrument tooning devise OR re-inserting thu same code manualy, that rezults in a totally clean code that can be amplified without increasing detrimental noize. Then, re-asembly uv thu rezult and sampling it, can be so repeatedly intrigueing az to cauz yoo to misss lunch until yor stomach hurts. My most inpresiv memory thus, iz when 2 Yamaha grandz were side by side, fasilitating with eaze, thu striking uv an identical cord on each, thu manual first & the electronic secund, , , a moment UNNN-forgetable . . .
Az for myself, MY major problem on ANY such site az this, iz learning thu ropes, az for instans wanting to inquire if thair'z anywun that for whutever prise, would bild me an interfase for a standard floppy-drive that'd permit me to conect it directly to my PSR-SQ16 for which, replasement drivez are too costly, and althoh I noted on thu net, that it's simple, eazy, & IN-expensiv to do, I've yet to find a person whom for whutever prise would do it for me, and az yet haven't learned how to plase such advertisement on this forum and don't like to burden anyone with teling me how, after having menshuned it at least wunts, , , but DO hav a nise day, Kase. Archie

 

[b3maniac]

Replacement disk drive for the PSR-SQ16 on EBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/YAMAHA-PSR-...5125010?pt=Keyboards_MIDI&hash=item46049d3f92

 

[Kase Villand]

Thanks for the suggestions, all! I've got plenty to read!