INTRODUCTION TO SYNTHESIZERS - hol.gr

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Keyboards and synthesizers are usually not in the same need for an equalizer section as other instruments, and so on some other keyboard mixers the equalizer section may have been completely left out. This is often also done in order to keep the price down - and also the background noise level. Effects Quite often you may wish to do more with your sounds than just adjusting their relative volumes, filtering them and positioning them in the stereo field. For instance you may want to add some bouncy echo effects to some sounds and make other sounds appear to be playing in a huge cathedral. Sound processing is called effects in electronic music terms. Until quite recently, effects required a substantial amount of additional hardware to be plugged into the mixer. Roland SRV-330 Dimensional Space Reverb Today most of these effects are available as a piece of software which can be set to process a sound file in your computer or the sound input in real-time. The unprocessed sound is called the dry sound. The dry sound is sent into the effects unit which processes the sound and returns the result to the mixer. This is called the effects loop. The jacks on the mixer which we use for this are called aux send and aux return, and they are controlled by dials on the mixer panel. When we increase the amount of "aux send" on a certain channel, then more of the sound on the channel is sent to the effects unit. When we increase the amount of "aux return", we increase the amount of processed sound. There are hundreds of different sounding effects to choose from. It's impossible to describe every variant and it's usefulness for a certain situation, and often it is enough if you are familiar with a few of the most useful effects, such as reverb, delay and chorus. Here are few of the most commonly used effects in an electronic music studio. Every effect is illustrated with a four-bar sequence played on a simple synthesizer sound and a drum machine sound. The first two bars are completely "dry", and the other bars are processed with an effect box. Headphones are strongly recommended for these sound examples! Reverb Creates an ambience or a "space" around your sound, ranging from a middle sized shoebox to a gigantic cathedral. Reverb is definitely the most important effect you will ever find! This example simulates the characteristics of a large room. Just listen to the sound pattern become three-dimensional! Echo Sometimes called digital delay or just delay, this effect creates a repeating echo 26
pattern. The echoes can be set to either side of the stereo field, or they may bounce from one side to another. Chorus Generally used for creating a sense of wide stereophonic or "thick" sound or, as in this example, a slightly metallic, "bottled" sound. Flanger Creates a very interesting "moving" or "sliding" sound. Very hard to describe, so listen to the example file instead! Phaser Phasing also creates a very interesting sound, also hard to describe in words. You'd better try to figure out by yourself - this is stereo phasing at its best! Distortion Creates a clipped and rather unnatural sound. Most often used on electric guitars, but the effect works just as well on other sounds as well. Listen to how the rather weak-sounding bass drum turns into a brutal "hardcore" kick! Some effects boxes are designed for one specific purpose, like chorus. Others can create more than one effect. The most recent processors can even create more than one effect at the same time. These multi-effect processors can for instance add a combination of reverb and delay to the sound. I would recommend using a dedicated effect box for the most common effects, such as reverb, and use multieffect processors for other effects. This way you can get the best out of the reverb box and free up the multieffect box to do other things. Buyer's guide So, you've made up your mind about purchasing a synthesizer and pursuing a great career of composing and playing music. With a nice, fat wallet in your pocket you stroll away to your local keyboard shop, whistling a merry tune. What happens next? If you already know what you're looking for, you're lucky. You just point at the target of your desire and exclaim - loud enough to let all the other envious customers hear you - "I would like to have one of those, please - ah, by the way, make that two!" Does it sound like you? Really? I told you, you're lucky. If you're not so lucky, the very instant you step into the shop, a smiling salesdroid, immediately spotting your hesitation, will approach, muttering "come here little boy, have a cigar". Before you know it he will be talking about ROM and RAM, PCM and MIDI, Voices and Programs, Polyphony and Expandability, Tracks and Channels, confusing you totally. He might also start playing on a master keyboard or two, making some incredibly complex noises and musical phrases while he keeps on talking about some remote controller gadget and a touch sensitive screen. You're impressed, but you're not even certain about which instrument he is talking about. What's worse, he will inevitably tell you that the only synthesizer that you are vaguely familiar with is a helplessly outdated one, long time ago replaced by a new, improved - and of course significantly more expensive one. Define your needs First of all, you need to decide about your needs. Obviously this will depend on what you wish to achieve - the requirements of the keyboard player in a country band will be quite different from the ones of a professional movie soundtrack composer or the ones of a teenage bedroom techno wannabee. Make a list about what's 27
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INTRODUCTION TO SYNTHESIZERS - hol.gr

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