A Brief History of Synthesizers

About Soundfly

About the Course
Tired of presets? Need more complex and interesting-sounding patches in your productions? Or maybe you want to be able to figure out the sounds from other artists' tracks? Whether you're a producer looking to level up your sound design chops or just want to have some fun diving down a synth-fueled rabbit hole, this course is designed to help you craft better synth sounds.

Throughout this course, we’ll look at popular synths, sounds, and post-processing techniques to help you develop strategies for creating better sounds from the ground up. From epic house leads to snarling dubstep basses and vintage '80s keyboard sounds, we’ll show you how to create patches step by step. Along the way, we’ll explain concepts related to subtractive synthesis, wavetable synthesis, FM synthesis, and sampling. In the end, you'll have a better idea of what type of synth to reach for in a particular situation, understand the ins and outs of creating patches, how to program better parts, and make better sounds than you ever thought you could.

Ready to level-up your synth skills? Sign up now:

Citations:

Musical Excerpts from:
Switched on Bach - Wendy Carlos
Composition for Synthesizer - Milton Babbit

[richysgallery]

Wendy Carlos was also a huge contributor to the creation of the first moog synth and a pioneer of the way we use synths today, as well as being one of the first openly trans artists (an extremely successful artist at that)

[ruben]

This instrument is the reason why I love 60-80s funk music. R.I.P. Roger Troutman

[mcmike]

Synthesizers have been entertaining the music industry for over 70 years now, wow! It's been more than half a century.

[tomperry]

Such a wicked bit of kit- gave us the era of techno music, modern hip hop, EDM, Kanye, Daft Punk and many more

[jennw]

Wow. I studied electronic music in the 80s through 1990 and this was sure a trip down memory lane! I first learned on an ARP 2600, we also had a Synthi and a Buchla. I remember when the DX7 came out and all of a sudden, MIDI was a thing. My boyfriend bought an ESQ-1. I went on to do graduate study under the designer of the Synclavier. And now I'm a massage therapist LOL :-)

[myidentityisamystery]

Such a well produced video.
Thank you very much for making it.

[rooshiemusic]

I was mesmerized while watching the video, thank you! It's excellent!

[asiullopes]

what a wonderful video! thank you so much

[entropybentwhistle]

Nice subtle touch there of placing a sine wave version of Anchors Away in the background of the Teleharmonium vs. the navy radio coms segment.

[quinn]

This is brilliant, thanks for the work that went into this.

[cesarvidelac]

I wish Pythagoras was alive again, would like very much to know his reaction.

[Numocron]

I love synthesizers. They’re so cool.😃👍❤️🎹

[CoasterManOfficial]

If you're gonna make a brief video about the history of the synthesizer, you should've talked about the Rocksichord. The Beach Boys used one in some of their songs (i.e. All I Wanna Do, ) and it sounds fantastic.

[issiewizzie]

40 years ago ... people 40 years ago ...thats a long time . I grew up in that era

[Skraugher]

Elisha Gray actually created the first synthesized keyboard in the late 1800's

[DeepCrossing]

so, is the difference between analogue and digital synthesis, that analogue uses transistor operated oscillators, while digital uses microprocessors to generate an emulation of the analogue oscilator sound?

[adrianmardianto]

But what about the Yamaha DX7? That thing is important!

[eflatbflat]

N ext. time please mention the SYNKET by paolo Ketoff 1964

[Blake]

I bet the military thought it was alien music

[yourdad]

Moog wasn’t the first theremin inventor!