Mark Nicholson 1 Posted January 6 Hey guys, Santa gave me a Native Instruments M32 and Komplete 13 bundle for Christmas so I could learn about synths and electronic music. I'm a bit overwhelmed by the choice and the power of what I now have. Komplete has 14 different synths! Where do I start? Any recommendations for which synth to start off with? The ideal starter synth would also have lots of YouTube or other training materials available. Thanks, - Mark Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John 374 Posted January 6 Read the first manual of the first synth. Then go on the the next one. If you are asking about how to use a software synth in Cakewalk that is a simple thing to answer. The M32 should also have a user manual with how to connect it to a DAW. We have a lot of very good and knowledgeable people here that can answer almost anything but your best bet is to narrow down the question/s to a reasonable size. Be more pointed in the question. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bitflipper 1,036 Posted January 6 Monark is probably the most broadly representative of classic synth architecture, and thus will give you a solid foundation for learning other, more sophisticated synths. In any case, John's advice is good for any VI or FX plugin, namely learning all you can about each one, one at a time. With that large a collection, you won't get bored for literally years. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Tubbs 38 Posted January 7 Monarch and massive both are good analog emulations to learn on. Many of the other NI synths use different synthesizer methods, FM, sampler etc. so you came to the right product. Massive X is a better synth in my mind but more complex, so wait for it. have fun! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GreenLight 89 Posted January 7 (edited) I was also just going to say Monark/Minimoog, like @bitflipper. I have never been a synth programing nerd myself, but have for a long time also felt the need to improve my synth programming skills. I actually did some Minimoog learning myself just a couple of days ago. The Minimoog seems ideal to learn on in that it has pretty limited modulation options and a straightforward routing. Read the manual for the synth and play with the controls. Also, why not check out Arturia's manual for their Minimoog-clone Mini-V. It's pretty good. Check out some YouTube videos, like the tutorial below how to program the bass sound from Michael Jackson's "Thriller". EDIT: Oh, and the obvious - check out how other patches were made! Take a screenshot, set an init patch and start fiddling! Edited January 7 by GreenLight 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark Nicholson 1 Posted January 8 Thanks guys. I have decided to focus on Monark. It has good documentation and lots of tutorials on YouTube. Plus it sounds great! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bruno de Souza Lino 283 Posted January 8 Either Monark or go for the modular blocks in Reaktor. Modular might seem a word choice at first, but it's the same thing as the others. The difference is that the others are pre connected or "normalized". 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark Nicholson 1 Posted January 9 Don't think I'm ready for Reaktor yet 😜 but just playing with the Monark front panel controls is giving me lots of think about. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tezza 345 Posted January 10 (edited) Don't worry, I've had Komplete 10 for years and still have not got around to learning Reaktor. I think the advice here is good, pick one and learn it. If your a manual person, there is always that. I'm a video person, I like to learn by sitting down with the VST on my DAW and then playing instructional videos on the TV while I go through it. As a result, I like to check what video instruction is available around the place before I decide which VST i'm going to learn next. Edited January 10 by Tezza 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
abacab 1,869 Posted January 10 1 hour ago, Tezza said: I like to check what video instruction is available around the place before I decide which VST i'm going to learn next. That's a very good point. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites