I would suggest using the approach made popular by some of the early synth-pioneers in the 70's:
Mess with the knobs to make funny noises until you get one you like.
A similar approach is nicely summarised in this exchange from Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker series:
TRILLIAN:Hey, that sounds better! Have you managed to make some sense of the controls?
FORD:No, we just stopped fiddling with them.
Frink.