Having Fun with PSYNII
Guys, as you know, PSYNII was created initially for Project5. Back then PSYNII (Called PSYN simply) did not have an effects section. Cakewalk added the effects (Drive, Delay, Modulation) later. But they never took the time to upgrade the patches to take advantage of the effects. And to be honnest with you, i think that the default patches do not fully explore the sonic pallet of this cool little synth. PYSNII's complexity is at the right point so that it gives you a good set of tools yet does not get too complex as to discourage users to learn and experiment with it. It is not too difficult to wrap your head around the concept of it and to start experimenting and creating your own sounds. First read on it using the F1 fonction, to understand the basic archetecture, then get a hold of "PSYN-tology" and go through the tutorials. After this, simply loading an existing patch and playing around with it will, with time, enable you to intuitively learn the synth well enough to actually PREDICT what will happen if you do this or that on the synth.
PSYNII is at it's best when you modulate it's parameters in real time (Filters, Detune, FM carrier volume, envelopes etc) making very lively sounds that morph really well. To do this, one needs to assign midi controler knobs to the synth's UI knobs. Cakewalk, again, did not take the time to impliment the usual "Right click UI knob, then turn knob on controler" to assign controlers to the synths knob. But there is an easy way around it! If you float the synth rack, you will see that beneath each synth, there is a blank row of assignable knobs. Through these, you can assign you controler to any parameter on the synth just as easily.
I recentrly built a personal Harp/pluck library for use with the arpegiator. My aim was to build a bank of these sounds so I could flip quickly from one to the other as the sequence is playing in order to find the right sonic match. I was amazed by the degree of diversity that I manged to achieve using PSYNII as wel as the quality of the sounds. From creamy analogue, to shimering, to fm digi sounds to 8 bit trashy sounds, combinding this with the capacity to morph them in real time... wow
I am happy that for the first time in my life, I am able to PROGRAM sounds that fit my needs. Maybe one day I will learn a more complex synth, but for the moment, I am having lots of fun with PSYNII and i intend to squeeze the most juice possible out of it.
I honnestly think that this Synth is under exploited. Every Sonar user has one onboard but I suspect they do not dive into it.. I wouldn't be suprised if ever someone created a library of awsome sounds for PSYNII, using the effect section well, it would have great success, and it would show off the real potential of PSYNII
I wish Cakewalk would take the time to enable direct controler assignement to the UI. Please Cakewalk.