Korg Forums

[charimito]

Hello!

After years of hesitation I finally pulled the plug and got myself a Synth. Now the thing is that I have no idea of electronic music (apart from liking it!) and the world of synthetic is completely new to me. So far in just 2 hours that I've played with it is that I've realized that it is a proper instrument and that there is a huge difference between a keyboard with cool sounds and a Synth. I have experience playing the piano but that's about it. I love the sounds it can create, everything is so atmospheric! So, I'm asking for some pointers, can you recommend any good tutorials? Eventually what type of gear would I need to buy? I get that I need some kind of looper so I can create different layers and put them all together in one place. Last thing, what kind of speaker set up do you recommend?

Thanks!

[J77]

I think the best advice is to 'jump in at the deep end' and just see what you can create, what you like, etc... I'd also recommend reading the user manual so you can get to grips with the basic functions of the synth. I also personally find YouTube videos of demos and tutorials really helpful, but I couldn't say which ones without knowing your synth model, plus it's really down to personal preference.

I think the gear you might buy is entirely up to you and depends on what you want to do or create with the synth, if you let met know what you have in mind for the future I could give you some pointers on equipment.

In terms of a looper, I think some sort of DAW software (could be something like gararegband or pro tools) should do the trick as long as you can record audio into it. If you do want a looper though, it depends on your price range but I'd highly recommend the Boss RC-30.

And for the speaker set up, it depends what outputs you've got (ie, L&R, mono, stereo and monitor, etc), but if you do an online search for 'best speakers for ... Synth' then I think you should get some helpful results.

Hope that helps!
_________________
MILK

https://soundcloud.com/milk-886283800

[J77]

I think the best advice is to 'jump in at the deep end' and just see what you can create, what you like, etc... I'd also recommend reading the user manual so you can get to grips with the basic functions of the synth. I also personally find YouTube videos of demos and tutorials really helpful, but I couldn't say which ones without knowing your synth model, plus it's really down to personal preference.

I think the gear you might buy is entirely up to you and depends on what you want to do or create with the synth, if you let met know what you have in mind for the future I could give you some pointers on equipment.

In terms of a looper, I think some sort of DAW software (could be something like gararegband or pro tools) should do the trick as long as you can record audio into it. If you do want a looper though, it depends on your price range but I'd highly recommend the Boss RC-30.

And for the speaker set up, it depends what outputs you've got (ie, L&R, mono, stereo and monitor, etc), but if you do an online search for 'best speakers for ... Synth' then I think you should get some helpful results.

Hope that helps!
_________________
MILK

https://soundcloud.com/milk-886283800

[atiredmachine]

I don't have any specific tutorials to recommend, but read up on the basic concepts of subtractive synthesis.

Basically you have your oscillators, which are what create a tone, and then you have everything else which modifies that tone -- filters subtract high frequencies or low frequencies or both, the amp modifies the volume of the sound, envelopes typically modify the filter or the amp, etc.

Then try out all the concepts.

shift + 3 I think is how you create a blank patch. See how all the different features chang that tone and see what you can do with it.
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Sincerely,
Thoracius Appotite

I have custom patch banks (retro, vintage, lo-fi) available for:
microKORG - microKORG XL - minilogue - minilogue xd - monologue - MicroFreak