I have very little experience with creating synths. I'm talking a nice pad, or interesting sounds that might go into a song to fill out space or create a little hook or fill a section in time etc. Pretty simple. Not too extravagant.

If you're working with synths, do you typically start by searching through presents till you find something that works well with your song, then tweak it from there? Or do you usually start from scratch? Do you have the one synth module that you'll always turn to, or use different ones for different sounds - eg one you find better for pads, another better for lead/hook type sounds etc.

I understand all the basic controls and how they work, but getting a great synth sound that fits with a musical piece, I have much more difficulty in achieving.

What SONAR bundled synths are typically a nice place to start with? I've mainly played with just Pentagon. I'm on X1 Producer.

Also any particularly good articles you may know of would be great too.

Cheers.

Check out Simon Cann's book. There is some downloadable extras and extracts at his site
http://noisesculpture.com/cakewalk-synthesizers

Highly recommended! His approach can be applied generally to synths but examples are all from Cakewalks synths, and he goes into a lot of detail if you want it. Nothing else comes close.

Also Sound on Sound publish back articles. There was a huge series some time ago about all types of synthesis and how to program different types.

Pentagon, Dimension Pro, Z3TA, Rapture, all have decent patches you can incorporate into your productions.

I've also used string patches from EWQLSO with great success

Some of these patches are great as they are, some need a little tweaking (VCO, VCF, VCA, LFO's etc) to get "just right"

Matt,

usually I start from a preset that is close to what I want.  Then chip away.

But be sure and test our program in the song to make sure it not only sounds good but isn't too "big" to work.  I should follow that advice more, since I often find myself low/high passing my new sound so it slides into the soundstage slot I've assigned it.

I'll usually search for a preset that's along the lines of what I'm looking for and then edit it to suit. As far a what synth to use & the bundled Sonar soft synths, I generally use hardware synths  as I have quite a few and prefer to work that way. It's whatever floats your boat when it comes to synths.

I have been working with synthesiers since 1980 and also right back in a time when you had to create a sound every time you wanted to use one. But I agree with people here in that presets are so great now it is just a matter of knowing what you want and being able to find it and then adjust it to suit your music.

There is also a case for spending some quality time just making a preset because when you do it becomes very original to you. When under pressure to get a job done it is quicker to find the sounds you are after and edit.

But there is importance to knowing what you have and being able to find it. You should audition all your synth patches and maybe even create some sort of word document or database that can record your findings. You can put thousands of synth sounds under a finite number of headings and simply make references as to what instruments, and where those sounds are inside each instrument's library.

Often several synths will cover a sound well eg a great pad sound so you need to know you have got great pads in three or more places and where in the libraries they are. Personally I enjoy auditioning synth patches. I am always learning about what I have and making new discoveries as well. It is easy to end up with a huge number of synth patches. The auditioning process is also very creative and inspirational. You have got to load and play every synth patch you own! I still have not heard every synth sound I have got!

With editing if you have some basic synth skills under your belt you can edit a sound massively. Things like the amplitude ADSR, and the filter settings are going to allow you some massive sound changes. ADSR is one of things you often need to edit to fit your music better. If the filter has its own ADSR as well that one is important too. Main filter cutoff and resonance settings are going to also give you some big sonic changes.  Some synths eg Wuskstation have 6 layered patches and a great mixer for fine tuning all these layers to one sound. Often sounds that are amazing on their own may not blend into a mix so well.

Make use of the effects processors in the instruments too. That all adds character. And don't forget the concept of maybe taking quite a still and lifeless synth pad sound and use something like Roland Dimension D (plugin of course) to make it come to life and move in a very interesting and slow liquid way.

Back to making new sounds. Fun and interesting. I think too if you spend quite a bit if time editing a patch and often an ordinary patch can be turned into something amazing and beautiful, make sure you create a new name for it and store it as a new sound. Spend quality time in the effects part of the sound. To make new patches you have to invest some time learning more deeply about the instrument at hand. There are great tutorials around on this sort of thing. (Groove 3) That link from cliffsp8 above is excellent. I am going to get that book just to learn more about getting the best out of Cakewalk instruments. There are some great synths out there too. The virtual ones are awesome, sounding better and becoming more interesting all the time. I think it is also great that you can buy specialised expansion packs for your fave instruments too.

As AT said, a good place is to run through the presets and see if there is something close to what you would like. With so many synths out there, its really just a matter of time before you will find a fit. If however, you want to go beyond and start into sound design of your own (which I encourage) then you will have a pretty big learning curve ahead of you as you need to know how oscillators work and combine, and that gets a bit daunting and "mathy" at times. Just try to have fun with it, and you will be rewarded.

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm an engineer so understanding the full technical details shouldn't be too hard given the time to learn it properly. I always like to understand in depth. I'm reading Sound on Sound's Synth School articles at the moment and probably just stick with SoS for a while cause there are some great ones on there.

I'll definitely have to go through all my patches one day and make that list, Jeff. Great idea.