Synthesizers: The Complete Guide for Musicians

In the market for a synth? You might be inspired by a particular sound, or you might be looking to broaden your musical horizons. With more variety than ever before, it can be difficult to know where to start when it comes to choosing a synthesizer. We’ll be asking all of the burning questions: analogue or digital? Monophonic or polyphonic? How about modular synthesis and what is FM and Wavetable?

Analogue synths are the bread and butter of any synth setup, and the majority follow a subtractive synthesis method; this is where an oscillator runs into a filter and then into an amplifier, this format was made famous by Moog and will often offer what we call a "one knob per function" style. These will offer you some of the easiest user experience for crafting sounds, with an initialised panel; even just turning up a Saw Wave and reducing the filter down by 50%, you're in for a good bass time. If you see virtual analogue around, this is a digital recreation or emulation of analogue synthesis, everything below will apply to synths such as the Roland Boutique series, which uses ACB technology, something that emulates analogue circuitry extremely well where to all but the most well-trained ears, will struggle to tell the difference.

Pros:
•   Warm - Analogue circuits can take about 15 minutes to warm up physically. Your sound will be a lot more hearty and thick just via the natural fact of relying on circuits. This gives analogue synths the reputation for amazing leads, powerful basses and gorgeous pads.
•   Simple - Whilst there might be quite a few controls, most analogue synths will be one knob per function. You won't usually need to hold shift to do something different with a control; this can be great for adjusting presets, or your own sounds, instantly and quickly.
• Rich Pads - Analogue pads are some of the richest sounds in music; a chord on the right analogue pad can send people to another dimension.

Cons:
•   Polyphony - Because analogue requires the circuitry, analogue synths above 4 voices tend to be on the larger size because of all the guts required. This can make more flagship units harder to move about and more expensive than their digital counterparts.

• Less flexibility - This can be a pro and a con; some analogue synths like the TD-3 have limited controls, whilst it's geared towards a style of sound and it does it really well. It lacks the flexibility. So, you need to work within the controls you have, which can breed great creativity.

• Dry - Analogue synths do sound beautiful on their own. However, they can be very dry; most work extremely well with effects pedals you find on guitarists' pedal boards to really help them mix well with a band. To be clear, analogue synths are already solid instruments, but just like a guitar, effects are well suited towards them and take them the extra mile.

If you need a good workhorse that will be easy to navigate quickly, sound great right out of the box and fit in well in a wide range of genres, analogue synths are a fantastic choice.

Digital synths offer a huge range of flavours, virtual analogue (basically see the analogue section above), FM, Wavetable, Granular, PCM and more. They are often also extremely good live instruments as they tend to be a lot more adaptable and versatile to cover a wider array of sounds.

Pros:
•   Cool - Digital synths have a reputation for sounding colder than their analogue counterparts. This can make them easier to mix and fit alongside other instruments without as much work, as they may not carry as much bottom end as their analogue cousins.
•   Expansive - Unlike their analogue brothers, a lot of digital synths' controls can control multiple things. This could be via a menu switching system, or by holding a shift key, this multi-use for controls allows for very small form factors that pack an enormous amount of parameters, allowing for greater control or expandability, without sacrificing space.
• Multi Engines - Digital synths aren't limited to the traditional analogue waveshapes of their partners. FM, Wavetable, Granular and PCM are some core examples of how you can have hundreds of sounds rather than about 4, just from the oscillator. The choice of range is the ultimate playground for any sound designer. This can also include built-in effects engines.

Cons:
•   Complicated - Because controls can pull double duty, this can make true digital synths harder to learn, as the control you may want to adjust might be behind several menus or button presses.

• Not warm - Again, a double-edged sword here. If you are looking for something that brings instant weight and soul, digital synths may need some extra help, as traditionally, they are cooler than their analogue counterparts.

• Aggressive - Not completely accurate; however, digital synthesis can easily sound aggressive, especially with FM and Wavetable synthesis. This isn't a bad thing per se, it just might not be the warm hug out of the box you might expect.

1 note or two? If you want chords, you're going to want a polyphonic synth, monophonic still has a full range of notes available, but you only get to play 1 at a time. This doesn't mean that monophonic is better than polyphonic, more notes doesn't always mean better. We'll go through that below.

Monophonic means you can only play 1 note at a time. Different synths react in different ways, but you'll usually find 1 of two things happening. If you hold a note and play a new note at the same time, the new note is the one you'll hear. Some synths may have the option of setting the priority; old synths will prioritise the lower or higher note depending on the instrument.

Mono synths have a character of their own; gliding becomes a lot more consistent because the previous note is cancelled by the new one. This makes elements such as bass and leads exceptionally good with a mono synth, making it very difficult to muddy your melody from the notes alone; highly complex sounds using a lot of modulation - we're looking at you Brostep bass. Some sounds like the iconic sound of Acid can work as a poly synth, but its routes is firmly within being monophonic.

Polyphonic is the ability to play more than 1 note at a time. True polyphony is when, for every note you play, you have a dedicated oscillator, filter and amplifier. It isn't common to have control over each individual filter; the legendary Roland Juno-106 has one filter fader that adjusts all of them. What this means is that you can play chords! A key point to note is that not all polyphonic synths are equal; for example, the Korg MiniLogue is a fantastic polysynth but can only play 4 notes, while the gorgeous U.D.O Super Gemini plays up to 20.

But what does this mean for the musician? Well, notes! Polysynths let you play chords, making them amazing for pads, electric-style piano sounds, and bells. Anything where you may not want your next note to cut off the previous one. It is important to note that you may run into something called voice stealing; this is just where, if you try to play more notes than you have voices, it'll stop the oldest played note.

If you think of a synth, most will picture a keyboard riddled with knobs and sliders. But there's another type made famous by the likes of Korg and Elektron. The Groovebox.

Grooveboxes, for the most part, tend to be digital at heart and usually act as the centre of a track, as they usually have a drum section and then multiple other synth sections. These will also usually be able to spit out MIDI to control other external instruments or sync them.

Lots are essentially multiple synths, a drum machine and a sequencer all rolled into one, but you won't be able to control every parameter at the same time due to the controls pulling a lot of duty depending on what part you have selected.

Modular synthesis is the ultimate in synth creation. With modular, you get to pick each component yourself from multiple brands and build your own bespoke instrument. Due to the size that these can become, they are usually geared towards being monophonic, but your limits are very much based on how much space you have and how big your budget is. Make sure to stack up on your patch leads: you're going to need them.

Modular synthesis is great for a lot of sounds; it can be especially good for effects and less musically conventional sounds, LFO's that go out of time, creating polyrhythmic effects. They can also generate powerful leads and very punchy bass too.

Guitar pedals? NO! They're effects pedals, and they are seriously underrated when it comes to pairing them with synthesizers. Not all synths have built-in effects. One of the most iconic sounds in music was the "Acid" sound, which was a Roland TB-303 being pushed through a distortion pedal.

Distortion, delay, chorus, reverb. They all work wonderfully with most synths and can provide that extra something to a sound. One of the most famous chorus sounds is originally from a Roland Juno-106.