Resources for sound construction?

infuzion · 30 Nov 2005

*caugh cough* [old link] & welcome! But yea, you kinda have to dig around. Good news; all of us "gurus" (not really, but we pretend really good) learned the same way, so it's not impossible.

oddson · 30 Nov 2005

Welcome to the forum rlahalla. SynthMaker is a great program (or will be) but it's still in beta and its documentation is very limited. Do start with the 'docs' section of the main site. It's not very long and missing huge amounts of material but is enough to get you started.

The good news is that most of the components are pretty easy to figure out with trial and error -- the parse components would be a exception, there are others. Some of the others have threads on the forum to explain their features.

Surf the forum. Learn how the basic synth building works. Open up the guts of the example synth. Use the search feature on this form to look for answers but don't hesitate to ask for help, the community here is very good at providing help for newcomers.

Keep your early projects modest in scope.

What do you want to do with SM?

Tom7777 · 1 Dec 2005

Hi, welcome to the forum 🙂

rlahalla · 1 Dec 2005

Thanks for the quick replies!

Well, I have a software company that I'd like to move into the VSTi field. I am a producer/DJ for the outsiderz but the sad thing is, I've never dipped my programming knowledge into sound applications.

I'm glad you said to keep my projekts small in scope, as I do tend to think too big, too quick 🙂 I will try to keep that thought handy!

Well, my main goal is to start out with a nice little delay unit and then move onto a larger model. Once I have the hang of how the primitives fit together better, I will start trying to move towards doing a nice little synth, and so on.

I searched around and found some good stuff, but I just wasn't sure if there was any type of generic tutorial as to how these primitives relate to each other or if there were a reference guide of some sort that would explain the generic schematics/insides of synths and effects.

I very much enjoy reading this forum, as all the members seem to genuinely like to help out. . .not something you see much lately!

cheers -

infuzion · 1 Dec 2005

rlahalla wrote: I'm glad you said to keep my projekts small in scope, as I do tend to think too big, too quick

You can plan big, but I'm sure you know as a programmer it's best to chunk things up (OO et all). Easily done in SM; just group things together as a module!

So dream up that (well, not huge 😉 ) VST, & figure out the parts you need, then build each part 1 at a time.

I just wasn't sure if there was any type of generic tutorial as to how these primitives relate to each other or if there were a reference guide of some sort that would explain the generic schematics/insides of synths and effects.

Yea, best bet for that right now is to mouse-over the primitives, & look at skOre's mega-pack for how stuff is put together.

& do read the docs; 'cause we're not gonna read them to you 😉

rlahalla · 1 Dec 2005

Yea, I definitely got through the docs 🙂 studied them actually! I've drawn out a small plan, and dissected them nicely into little modules on paper (hopefully it comes out as nice as I've drawn it on paper! ). I'm going to do like you said and just pretty much mouse over the primitives and get a feel for how things are all related. Thanks for the advice! I'll keep digging till I get it correct 🙂

cheers -[/quote]

The Sound Scientist · 1 Dec 2005

Whats up rlahalla...? Big ups from Chicago... I just started messing around with SM not too long ago... I learned everything by reading the forums and just turning knobs for myself.... I turned the knob and was like, ok ,,, what numbers changed... And now I'm wiring up mods trying to make effects and ROMplers.... Just try to follow the signall...exe: start at the midi in and go thriough the mods as if you were the signal and try to understand what each mod is doing mathematically to your sound as the signal passes... This is all i did at first... I have no real previous coding experience or anything like that.... Dont be afraid to connect wires up to see what happens even if you feel like your doing something that may be wrong... Just save alot so if you do wire up something crazy and it crashes you'll be cool... SM is the best program!!! You'll figure it out , it's just kinda hard to make time alongside all the work in the studio.... After only a couple months of messin around with this program I allready took an Echo/Delay effect in the studio that I made for my guys overdubs .... It had our studio company logo on the plug and everybody loved it!!! 😀 😉 Just some words of encouragement.. If you have a question use the search feature....Man, the search feature helps sooo much! Or just post and ask,, these guys will be able to help you with just about anything..... Much Love 😍 .. Peace and Science

When's the Chicago tour?

Shifrin · 1 Dec 2005

Just thought I'd say hi rlahalla, as has already been said just ask away with any questions you have and I'm sure one of us can help you out 🙂

Enjoy SM!

Shif.

rlahalla · 1 Dec 2005

well, thanks everyone 😀

All of your suggestions are exacly how I'll start my venture into SM. I've been reading through these posts and picked up a bit already. Found that Wiki to be very useful - and that huge friggin pack by skOre? wow. thats insane (and very useful!) Thanks for all the comments, I'm sure I'm going to at the very least have a ton of fun with this and learn some stuff from very cool people. Thanks again everyone!

cheers -

posh · 4 Jan 2006

read all threads in the forums. seriously. youll be suprised of what kind of shit these cookballs whip up, mad skills i tell you. neat workarounds, custom hacks, the works. never ceases to amaze me, this program.

do that, check out other peoples work, and dont be afraid to dig deeper into the modules and do some trial/error techniques, and also stop by the IRC chat from time to time.

i dont know SM, im only at the smallest brink of understanding its power, but hell have i learned alot from these forums and the chat already.

ps, no offense for you guys who actually consider yourself a cookball. ds.

pps. cookball might be a pretty bad word for it, ill change it to maniacs :p dds.