INTRODUCTION TO SYNTHESIZERS - hol.gr

Click on the icon to listen to a modern drum
machine loop! (93 kB)
(The drum machine you hear is the Korg ER-1
featured below.)
Korg ER-1 Rhythm Synthesizer
Mixers and effects
One good example of a modern drum machine is the Korg
ER-1 Electribe Rhythm Synthesizer, featuring excellent
and modern percussive sounds in combination with
superior real-time expressiveness.
The sounds can be tweaked and reshaped during
playback, allowing a much higher degree of
responsiveness than what's possible with music
workstations and samplers.
When using synthesizers in your music, you will sooner or later get involved with a certain amount of studio
technology, whether you like it or not. Even if this subject falls slightly outside the scope of these web pages, I
feel it to be necessary to include some basic information about home studio recording equipment and
techniques.
Since a synthesizer has no built-in speakers, to hear what you're playing you will either have to use
headphones, or you will need to plug it into some kind of sound reinforcement equipment.
Most synthesizers usually have two audio outputs - a left and a right output jack. These two has to be plugged
into the corresponding left and right input jacks of an amplifier, such as the regular home stereo amplifier. Its
really not that different from plugging a CD-player into your home stereo rack.
The same thing applies if you wish to record what you're playing - just plug the cords from the synthesizer into
the left and right input jacks of your tape deck or recording equipment.
But sooner or later you may face a problem: let's say that you buy a second synthesizer and want to be able to
play and record the sound of both of them simultaneously. What can you do?
The solution is of course very simple: you will need to use a mixer. A mixer in its most basic form is a device
that will take a number of inputs and mix these to a few outputs - often just a stereo output.
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