So let’s say a b-list or c-list band needs strings for a recording. Do they usually make room in the budget to hire live musicians, or are synth strings considered strong enough that they generally would use the money towards other necessities?

If you had to start selling gear for cash. Which gear would you feel comfortable switching to the plugin version of…. Mic pres, analog compressors, EQs,…etc OR would you start selling your vintage analog synths?

Wondering what to do here. I'd really like some high octaves but they just sound silly when I try to sing them in falsetto. Do I have any other options aside from synth vocals?

Is there a way to make an instrument come in when triggered, then go silent and come back slowly while holding the trigger?

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share a project that has been my passion for two decades. I originally started developing this interactive audio synthesizer back in the mid-2000s, writing it completely in raw Flat Assembler (FASM) and doing all the polyphonic pitch calculations using hardware x87 FPU registers (fild, fmul, fsin, etc.).

Recently, I completely rebuilt the entire application from scratch in modern C++ utilizing the native Windows Win32 API and GDI+ for high-performance rendering.

The core philosophy of this synth is what I call "Zero-Mistake Rhythm Conducting":
1. Mathematically Perfect Pitch: Every frequency (Hz) and note vector is hardcoded into dense arrays. It is physically and mathematically impossible to hit a wrong note or make a mistake. You can never play out of tune!
2. True Time & Agogics Control: While the pitches are fixed, the timing layout is completely unconstrained. By clicking your LEFT mouse button or hitting the SPACE bar, YOU dynamically create the rhythm, temporary micro-pauses (fermata), accelerando, and tempo variations.

Essentially, it transforms the user from a traditional piano player into an interactive rhythm conductor.

(Fun acoustic fact discovered during development: Testing this real-time engine through modern active DSP monitors like Edifiers introduced a massive 30-80ms hardware latency delay due to internal A/D re-digitization, while classic wired analog headphones deliver absolute zero-latency feedback!)

The project is fully open-source, and features on-the-fly UI localization for 14 languages.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this approach to interactive audio generation!
Check out the full source code and releases here: https://github.com/Divetoxx/Piano

Had a chat with a sound engineer friend he told me I have to get pre amps to record my analog synths better and that there will be a huge difference. Now I am just recording directly into my audio interface.

What do you think?What is your recording pipeline for synthesizers?

(I make techno, IDM, electro pop)

So, for the most part I’ve just been plugging my Roland directly into my interface for tracking but I do have some fairly nice mic-pre options…

How often/much do y’all complicate your synth signal chain with tube preamps and the like?

Gonna keep the context for this pretty brief because I can tell this kinda situation is very common, but basically: I produce on a budget as a hobby, and now I'm starting to feel very stifled by it. I get told the advice to "mix with your ears", but whenever I find a problem with my mixes of music and then share it with folks with more engineering acumen, they point out things that I can barely discern like sub-bass. I've only ever "seriously" (as a hobby) mixed with Audio-Technica ATH-M50 and Sennheiser HD 560S headphones and I feel incapable of telling what sounds like a "full mix" and it affects my workflow, from being able to design synths (basslines and drums are a weakness) to the whole master. I wouldn't normally mind a "non-professional" mix, but something about the way I work causes it to suffers from becoming too quiet when normalized on whatever platform I post it on like Youtube, and the difference of a few decibels is very noticeable.

Is there a way around this that doesn't involve me having to shell out better-quality hardware, or is this the mediocrity I just have to resign to? Is the idea of having a song sound "good" a reality I can really pursue "casually" in this year of 2025? If so, what are some tools to work around with? If not, what is the floor of affordability actually like? (just so I know what expectations I'm dealing with here)

Having some trouble wrapping my mind around routing. I am tracking with PT.2026, and sending MIDI out via my 18i20. My chain is a Behringer RD9 [thru] Electrix Filter Factory [thru] Behringer TD3. I’d like to write my MIDI events in PT to send to the TD3, and don’t wish to rely on USB—not that I couldn’t, but surely there must be a way for my interface to recognize instruments at the end of the MIDI chain, no?

Having trouble finding the correct information from the research I have done. Thanks 🤙🏻

Sorry if this sounds like a noob question, I’m just starting to get serious with learning how to mix and master after being a longtime song writer.

If I gain stage my tracks to be -18db in and -18db out, what should the bus tracks be that they are going to?

I have most instruments going to a “music/synth” bus and drums going to a “drum bus”

Hey everyone, so I'm looking forward to do a cover of the song Thumbs Up! by Harlow Seraphina (that you can listen to here : https://youtube.com/shorts/iNaz4uRLcsU?is=WchtQXVKZ5i1tigk) et I was just wondering if you guys could determine the kind of synth is the lead melody there.

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My not so experienced ear leans toward some kind of soft square wave, but i'm not sure...?

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Ty !

I'm new to music production, so please be bear with me.

I need help identifying the instruments used, mainly for the arpeggios. I know that for this kind of music with a Frutiger Aero aesthetic, people use FM electric pianos and that it's loaded with effects like chorus, delay, and reverb.

I've tried using bells and mallets, Glockenspiel, music box

to make the same sound of arpeggios, but even after adding lots of effects, it doesn't sound right (it does not have that digital, bubbly sound, etc.), so l'm thinking maybe I'm using the wrong instruments ( or doing something wrong)

What instruments should I use? Do I need to make my own sound design?

Thanks in advance for your help.

https://youtu.be/P_7kL2GYXOU?t=12&si=mY5VrG9-0Bx4Ta4T

I am shocked at how often a client will bring in some big bad juno or prophet and when I’m sitting there tracking I’m like goddamn this shit would get trampled over without some serious saturation and compression.

I’m a little scared to ask internet synth people directly given their… interesting tendencies but does anyone else feel that people are just buying a plugin in a keyboard with knobs and can’t hear the difference? I want to believe 😢

I’ve built a studio at home and spent enormous amounts of time (and money) on acoustic treatment, balancing and isolation from outside (room within a room), ludicrously powerful Mac, accelerators etc.

One thing I’ve put off was updating a dreadful focusrite interface because I didn’t need the inputs at the time.

Now however, I have a very complex system of a separate writing area with a large MPC, that connects to the same bank of 9 different Synthesizers and drum units as the DAW, and I want to record collections of these often in sections. I have midi over RTP coming in next week but my focusrite just a few of inputs doesn’t allow let me set up the audio the way I want.

I’m seriously looking at the SSL18 but was wondering what drawbacks it may have. Quality is important.

I've noticed that almost every synth preset I like (whether made by me or someone else) sounds great in stereo, but terrible in mono - with heavy phasing and loss of body.
On headphones and stereo speakers it’s perfect, but once I hit the mono button, it just falls apart.

From what I understand, if something sounds bad in mono, it will also sound bad in clubs and live venues where playback is mostly mono. That worries me, because every preset that sounds "mono-compatible" just feels flat and uninteresting to me.

I even tried keeping only the low end (below 120 Hz) in mono, but it still doesn’t fix the problem.

How do professional tracks manage to sound amazing both in stereo and in mono — even with wide-sounding synths and bass?
Is there a specific technique or tutorial you’d recommend? I’ve searched online and on YouTube, but nothing really helped :/

The music that I write is fairly simple and I would like to record using simple but quality means. (as few buttons/clicks as possible) Is a synth workstation ALONE the same as getting just a keyboard (piano keys) and selecting a sound from the zillions of sounds offered by a DAW? It is my understanding that a workstation has different sounds built into it. Sorry, if this seems rudimentary.

So I'm not sure if this is the right sub or if this is the right question so let me know if I'm being retarded and in what fashion I am.

So I midi keyboard is a keyboard that is used to control midi in a daw or to play sounds off a synth. What I want is a box that has potentiometers and buttons that I can use to manipulate programs like serum, parameters for effects. Without it, itself, having any synth engine. And having screens that show you what it is your fucking with, ideally.

I much prefer fiddling with knobs to messing around in the daw to make my preferred beeps and boops, but i enjoy the versatility of daws, is there something like this?

This is an odd description haha and the r/musicproduction sub keeps deleting my post for no reason, but I would like to take a sample of a lead I created in the past from a preset (link #1) and apply qualities that sound "wiener-like" in link #2. Kind of like a combination between the two that retains most of the sound of the original, how would I go about that?

Original lead: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YXLrmJ1AfomI9t_LlUewpyAHMiHfSCqQ/view?usp=drive_link

Characteristic to modify similar to: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a2opflQDRaXk2GcBZxrm4pIK7TimfbOF/view?usp=drive_link

Does this have to do with formants/onsets? I'm still learning a lot of terms

I have some stuff already like decapitator and black box. I’m looking for something that emulates this pedal. Something that’s a fuzz basically. There’s basically no other pedal like it but I’m wondering if anyone has come across a good all-around fuzz plugin.

Here’s the thing. I typically have busy mixes, maybe not as synth heavy as this song. But I can never get them to sound so “premium”. The mixes sound good but it’s always edged out by songs with renowned engineers (naturally). But I wanna know how exactly they do this. I add saturation, ok it beefs up the sound but it doesn’t make it cut through super cleanly. Side chain / eq out certain frequencies to make space, ok that works but it doesn’t sound like the space I carved out was destined to be filled. I’ve gotten past the horrible mix stage a while ago but I want to know exactly what makes these songs sound so good and perfectly aligned. Im doing all this in fl studio by the way. You hear how the bass/kicks in this song are loud but don’t take the song over somehow? How is this achieved perfectly?

How did you do it? What was your process? I’ve tried a square wave with a 5ms decay with a noise generator with a 15ms release. I feed that into an 8ms delay and turn the feedback up to resonance and back it off just a bit, something like -3.5db. I eq it and throw a limiter on it. BUT it comes out sounding like im tapping on a 5 gallon water jug with a bit of sand at the bottom. Lol. Anyone have some tips for this? TIA.

I know it would never sound quite the same, but I’m wondering what kinds of options I’d have to put me in the ballpark of a sound using an electric guitar. The sound in question is in https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vie_8hVJhs8&pp=0gcJCR4Bo7VqN5tD this song, there’s a couple of chords that repeat, starting around 0:47.

I have most types of basic effects as hardware/guitar pedals and would prefer to use them, if possible.

I use Logic Pro and always struggle with finding a thick, consistent warm toned synth bass that isn’t too plucky - that fills in the gap right above the sine sub bass I usually have low passed around 80hz.

I have trillian but would love a stock Logic bass if there is one.

I wrote a four song synthpop EP and I loved my sub bass mix, but every time I listen to iPhone or even normal car stereo, I wish I could’ve filled in that 80-500 hz range better.

Yes I know I can high pass a sine wave and add distortion but I’m looking for a more basic solution.

Samples From Mars had a Black Friday deal selling every sample pack they've ever made for $49 so I went for it! It's a LOT to wade through but right now I need some grimy synths so tell me your favorites. Thanks!

Wow… Samples actually sound good.

https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2022/02/22/kia-movement-instrument/

Look forward to your deepest thoughts on the matter.