Mike Course at Udemy called “ How to use Synthesizers for Music Production”

Hi Everyone,
I was wondering the course that Mike has called “ How to use Synthesizers for Music Production

Can this be use with Alchemy or do I need to use another synth?

Hello Brian, yes because this course teaches what I consider “the fundamentals” of how synthesizers work, meaning: Waveforms (oscillators), Filters, ADSR envelopes, Filter Envelopes, Modulation, LFOs etc. :slight_smile:

I am using mainly Omnisphere to show the examples, but I would say 95% of the things I teach in this course can be used on most VST or hardware synthesizers.

The goal is to learn how to not rely on presets. So basically you can start from presets, but then learn “what to do to shape them”. Or, even more creative, start from nothing and create your own synth presets from scratch. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Btw, just for the record, Alchemy might be too advanced and “too many features” to start with when learning synthesizer fundamentals, and sound design on synths. I would say, since you use Logic, start with Retro Synth first. :slight_smile:

1 Like

Retro synth is perfect to start with synthesis - actually really deep synth once you start playing with it.

Once you start getting familiar with it watch some of the music tech guys tutorials on alchemy are excellent.

Thing with Achemy is it can do lots of different synthesis - wavetable, granular etc and also makes a good sampler so it’s not the best synth to start off with - it’s got some complex routing and effects as well.

2 Likes

Thanks everyone
I will look up tutorials on how to use Logic Retro Synth first.

And stop Alchemy for the time
but will come back to it was I get more of the basic and try to compare between the two

Also, even the most “simple” synthesizers can make amazing sounds. Think of the old classic Moog synths, still sound incredible and used today (mainly with software versions though) :slight_smile:

Your right I forgot those :+1:
Are any of those synths in Logic or is there any free plugins You know and might recommend just wondering ?

I would say, even though Retro synth is not a Minimoog, it is very close in its architecture. Which is why I recommend using it when you learn synthesizers fundamentals. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Oh, and another great aspect of retro synth is that you visually see the filter and envelope curves, HUGE for learning…and even when you are very experienced with synths I personally love being able to see the curves/shapes of various features I dial in :wink:

1 Like

Retro synth is very moog like - gets really good sounds out of it and you can use it as a wavetable synth as well as using traditional oscillators.

2 Likes

Indeed, even though I focus mainly on using it as a classic “analog” style synth, like Minimoog. I find the other synthesis parts not that great in it to be honest. There are way better wavetable synths out there, again, my opinion here. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

How do You load in an audio sample into retro synth in logic pro x?

You can not, only very few synthesizers can use audio samples as waveforms. Omnisphere and Alchemy are the only ones I have that can.

1 Like

Good to know-- I was thinking that course was just about Omnisphere, which I do not own. I would love to learn basics and more about how to create my own sounds with synthesizers. I have lots that come with Komplete, synthesizers like Massive, Massive X, FM, Absynth, Monark.

The foundations are actually the same with all synthesizers, even if there are various forms of synthesis. The basic modules are shared in practically all synths: waveform generator (oscillator), filters, LFO, envelopes etc.

PS. I highly recommend Omnisphere, it is simply the most powerful and versatile software synthesizer and sound design tool in the world imho. I owned it since version 1.0 in 2009, and still use it in practically every composition.

1 Like