Questions tagged [synthesizer]

For questions about electronic keyboards and other synthesizing instruments and equipment.

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15 votes
6 answers
8k views

MIDI: How do I refer to (and search for) software that will play audio from a MIDI piano?

I have a MIDI digital piano that connects to a computer via USB (it also has a normal MIDI out port too) and I'd like to browse for software that lets me play music through my computer's speakers. I ...
Corey Knight's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
14k views

How to record Roland Juno DS sounds onto a computer

I've been able to connect my JUNO DS-88 to my computer and can play and record sounds that GarageBand gives me. But I want to record sounds that my JUNO gives me, so if someone could tell me how in a ...
Joey Peluka's user avatar
23 votes
10 answers
33k views

What are the practical advantages of keyboards with non-weighted keys vs. weighted hammer action?

This is not a question about what type toy keyboard a beginning piano student should learn on if a real piano is not an option. I am talking about professional quality keyboards in the above (to well ...
Rockin Cowboy's user avatar
15 votes
4 answers
12k views

How can I hear what a mathematical function sounds like?

I'm working on differential equations homework right now, and I just came across a solution to a problem that has the form: I graphed the function with my computer and it has an interesting waveform ...
Matt D's user avatar
  • 169
14 votes
6 answers
4k views

Synthesizer: why playing a second time the same note shut down the first one?

When playing on synthesizers, usually when playing a second time the same note, even if the release phase is very long or the sustain pedal is pressed, the first note is shut down. Put in another way, ...
Tom's user avatar
  • 5,052
13 votes
7 answers
12k views

What's the difference between two notes played on strings of different thickness?

I'm working on this piece of music on a sequencer, and I'm trying to emulate the effect of playing the same note on different strings of a guitar, say, an E3 on the 5th fret of the B string and an ...
bzrr's user avatar
  • 595
6 votes
3 answers
2k views

Very portable MIDI synth [closed]

I was planning to buy a very small MIDI keyboard (akai lpk25). Of course to make it produce sounds, I would need to connect it (via USB) to my laptop. Question: say one day I want to go to the park ...
Gfret's user avatar
  • 61
3 votes
2 answers
473 views

Driving a Novation UltraNova synth via a Yahama synth guitar (G10 ?)

Would it be possible to play on a Yahama syntheziser guitar, and get the sounds and instruments to actually come out of the sound bank of the Novation UltraNovation synthesizer ? (please feel free to ...
Skippy Fastol's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
688 views

What equipment do I need to listen to a synthesizer?

I was just given a used Arturia Mini Brute to mess around with. What basic equipment do I need to amplify/hear the sound produced? I have already purchased headphones. If it is not obvious, I have ...
bill's user avatar
  • 21
29 votes
4 answers
5k views

Do different synthesizers have different timbres and/or produce different harmonics for the same given waveform?

All basic synthesizers can produce the basic waveforms: sawtooth, square, triangle, and sometimes sine. Does each synthesizer "injects" its own character to the waveform? Are all sawtooths ...
Lolo's user avatar
  • 393
12 votes
4 answers
2k views

How could you make instrumental sounds come out of a computer?

I've been working on some music generating software, and have laid out the basic algorithms, now all I need are actual instrumental sounds. By instrumental sounds, I mean the sound that comes out of a ...
Russell's user avatar
  • 223
11 votes
2 answers
3k views

Learning to Patch Synthesizers - "Synth Theory"

I'm currently in the process of learning to produce music, and one thing I'm finding absent in any of the resources I come across is what I guess I'd call "synth theory". For someone who's very ...
user1002617's user avatar
8 votes
8 answers
3k views

What is needed for an electric woodwind?

My wife is a music teacher. She's a classically trained saxophonist, and has been playing almost all of her life. Recently she saw a video which included an electric woodwind, and she just about went ...
Matthew's user avatar
  • 293
7 votes
2 answers
2k views

How to create the "wubs" in dubstep?

One of the signature sounds of dubstep is the "wub-wub-wub" sound. How do I create this sound? I'm using Reaper as my DAW but if there's a way to create the sound with subtractive synthesis on a 3 ...
empty's user avatar
  • 12.2k
6 votes
2 answers
667 views

How to make a Shepard tone, shape frequency amplitude response in Reaktor

Here's a video demonstrating combining a Pitch LFO and an Amplitude LFO in Reaktor's Form ensemble to create "infinitely upward" glissando in Reaktor. I'd like to be able to play a scale or melodic ...
MikeiLL's user avatar
  • 847
6 votes
8 answers
19k views

Why does software-synthesized MIDI music sound so bad?

It seems like converting MIDI into sound should be simple enough: record all possible notes, and then just superimpose the individual sounds according to the MIDI data (offsets, duration and volume), ...
MWB's user avatar
  • 304
5 votes
1 answer
117 views

Do I need to be concerned with drum tuning when using drum samples?

I'm starting to get into writing and recording some music and am using synthesized drums for the time being. Do I need to be selecting samples based off drum tuning at all? For example, if I'm writing ...
tarun's user avatar
  • 2,259
5 votes
1 answer
942 views

Ableton Live: How to control a parameter using the amplitude of another track?

I haven't found much info on this from web searches... maybe I'm using the wrong terminology or something. It seems like a relatively basic thing considering the complexity of modern DAWs, and ...
Mentalist's user avatar
  • 271
3 votes
2 answers
652 views

Electronic Wind Instrument technique resources

I have an EWI (electronic wind instrument) that I use with a DAW, it's nothing professional; just for bedroom home recording. I have found my techniques to be terrible on the EWI, and was wondering ...
Dorian Mode's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
730 views

Transitioning from arranger keyboard to piano

(Apologies for any wrong terminology or ignorance - I'm relatively new to music!) I have been learning to play arranger workstation (using auto-accompaniment) for the past three years with a music ...
Reverse Psychologist's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
236 views

Tapping noise when using airship rising (Garage Band)

When using the following sound airship rising I hear a tapping noise, which I am sure is not part of the synth sound, at the audio peaks (I don't hear at lower volumes) and I think it's something to ...
Nikos's user avatar
  • 235
-2 votes
4 answers
384 views

Can software render music as well as a skilled human with a physical instrument and a microphone?

From a comment on Hacker News: [...] physical playing has been replaced by software quite a while ago. [...] almost nobody can distinguish a computer rendering from the real thing on a recording. ...
MWB's user avatar
  • 304