Hello there!

I am a pianist and a modern "classical" composer. Recently electronic music has been drawing my attention more and more and what I'd like to ask you is what equipment should I use for sound synthesis. For the time being I am only interested in creating sonic backgrounds for my acoustic music, but eventually I'd like to compose music combining the electric with the acoustic element.

I am currently working on a piece for small orchestra and two solo instruments where the two solists are requested to play and move in cirular directions so that the sound becomes more spatial. I figured out that such a thing would be difficult for the performers (especially for a bassist and a contra-bassooninst who happen to be the solists) so I thought that instead of using some kind of moving mechanism, music technology would be more appropriate, effective and practical. That's roughly where my interest in electronic music really began.

Also, I must admit that I have no idea about all these stuff and the more I read the more confused I feel. Having searched the web for a period of time, I think synthesizers or workstations (I can't really understand what is their difference) is what I really need. However, I can't really understand all these technical details and the technology that surrounds these musical instruments as well as the utility of some other electronic devices like sound modules. So, I would be very grateful if you could help me...

Perhaps, I included too many details in my post, but unfortunately I won't be able to read or reply to your replies for the following week. I do thank you in advance for any advice you will offer and I hope I made myself clear concerning my question.

Peace & love,
Alexander

A synthesizer workstation is basically a synthesizer with built in recording and processing capabilities. It can simply be a synthesizer with built in sequencer or a synthesizer with built in sequencing and audio recording capabilities.

Sequencing is basically recording music by using MIDI (Google that) and Audio recording is just as it sounds. Recording an audio signal. Nowadays it is done by digitally recording audio onto a hard drive (like the hard drive on your computer).
In fact,both sequencing and audio recording are best done with computers as any software sequencer and digital audio programs are far mmore advanced than sequencers and digital audio recorders on synthesizer workstations.

Of course each and every synthesizer (lets call it "synth" now) is unique. So a lot of hardware synths are stil used quite heavily. I've got close to about wto dozen of them and the main reason is that each and every synth model has it's own unique character. Unique sound. This only matters to crazies like myself though.

So here you go. Food for thought. Either have yourself a computer based setup and choose a nice weighted action keyboard for a MIDi controller (here's that word MIDI again. You'll definitely need to look it up. You'll be seeing a lot of it) and a bunch of other hardware and software synths to make more noise.
.. OR you can just buy a synthesizer workstation like the Yamaha MOtif ES, Roland Phantom, Korg Triton etc and expand it with sampling and digital audio recording options etc. Won't be as convenient of a setup though.

-ED-

[This message has been edited by 3351 (edited 04-17-2006).]

Also, It is always a good idea to look up info on different types of synthesis to avoid confusion.

Basically there are few categories synths break up into.
Main are : Analog and Digital.

Analog synths work on voltages and gates and date back to late 1960's. Great for Star Trek noises and other cool synthetic stuff. There's also VIrtual Analog. Or Analog Modeling. Same sounds as analog but it is simulated digitally. So whenever you see the word "Subtractive analog" or "VA" or "Analog" don't expect to hear clean pianos and strings. It is only good for great phat synthetic stuff that today's music is plagued with.

Now. Digital.
There are many different types. main one is digital sample based subtractive synthesis. Based on samples. Samples are basically all kinds of digitally recorded sounds. So whenever you hear clean pianos, strings, guitars, drums and other acoustic stuf coming out of a keyboard you are hearing samples. Of course anything can be sampled...
So if you hear a phat analog bass out of a digital keyboard it might also be a sample.

That's why it is good to know what you are buying and how it makes sounds. I've just mentioned the basics. You may not ever need to know how sounds are made but now you at least know better than to expect nice grand piano out of a VIrtual analog or analog synth. You now know that that kind of stuff can only be done with samples and these things called ssamplers (that have now been virtually replaced with virtual software samplers and sample libraries).

Cheers.

-ED-




[This message has been edited by 3351 (edited 04-17-2006).]

Hello 3351!

Thanks a lot for your valuable information! I know several things about MIDI since I use the Sibelius music program to compose apart from my piano. For the time being I am not that interested in having a synth with very realistic sounds, though certainly it wouldn't be a problem if I bought one which had, lol! What I really need to know is whether I can create, or better, synthesize new sounds using a synth and then move further and create soundscapes, you know, like Steve Roach's music...

Love,
Alexander

You need a Kurzweil K 2600 S

Has it all IF you don't mind a steep learning curve.