http://www.syntorial.com/tour.php
 
Interesting concept.

This might be useful for me as I only scratch the surface on most synths.......might give the demo a try.
 
From the FAQ:
 
Well how can I trust that YOU, the makers of Syntorial, know what you're talking about?
 
You don't need to trust us, you can find out for yourself BEFORE you buy. Download the Syntorial Demo and try several lessons for free. You'll be able to get a feel for how the program works and truly understand the value of Syntorial's methods. If that's not enough, go to Syntorial's YouTube channel to watch a few video tutorials in which we re-create some popular synth patches from scratch, and you'll see just how knowledgable and skilled we truly are, both at designing sounds and instructing others on how to do it themselves. We know what we're doing, and we know how to teach it!

Glyn Barnes

Syntorial - Interactive Synthasis Tutorial

Perhaps lesson #1 includes how to spell "synthesis" 
 
It looks like a great concept, but $129.99 ($99 until tomorrow) is a little steep. Especially considering there are several decent beginner-level online tutorials for free, e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNgzUDA7eow and the aged and corny but still-relevant New York School of Synthesis. 
 
 
 
 

Has anyone tried this yet?  Considering taking a plunge.  Tired of presets.

I can get a year of groove 3 and have leftover for a cheap plugin. The course would need to be truly outstanding to outdo the combo of groove3 and all the free tutorials out there. Not to mention the fact it looks like they will have you working with synths most of us dont actually use. If this. Ourse used z3ta, rapture or even popular third party synths like Diva or Massive it might be more appealing. Even free or stripped down versions with same architecture would be more useful

curiosity got the better of me.  So far I am through about 7 lessons of the demo. So far, from a content perspective it is pretty much what I expected.  It goes over the basic components of a subtractive synth.  There is a built in synth in the program, a simple subtractive synth with two wav forms, pule and saw. I doubt there is any MORE info than what you would find in free videos or even low cost tutorials.  What it does have is a level of interaction these videos do not have. each lesson includes quizzes one must pass before going to the next.  Some are as simple as determining whether you are listening to a pulse or saw .  Others ask you to identify whether the attack/decay is long or short.  You are also challenged to match patches by adjusting settings in the virtual synth in the program.  At this stage they are simple and a total novice would figure it out by process of elimination. I suspect they get more challenging and the simple practice will build a foundation for recognizing what various controls do. Still not sure if it is worth the price, but I admit it is more impressive so far than it originally sounded.  some of us need a little more than simply watching and trying to emulate.  Otherwise we could get rid of schools and just give our kids self-help books and text books.  I'll finish the demo lessons and report back

Syntorial just won editor's choice for 2014 in electronic musician.
 
http://www.emusician.com/...s-choice-awards/153774

dubdisciple
curiosity got the better of me.  So far I am through about 7 lessons of the demo. So far, from a content perspective it is pretty much what I expected.  It goes over the basic components of a subtractive synth.  There is a built in synth in the program, a simple subtractive synth with two wav forms, pule and saw. I doubt there is any MORE info than what you would find in free videos or even low cost tutorials.  What it does have is a level of interaction these videos do not have. each lesson includes quizzes one must pass before going to the next.  Some are as simple as determining whether you are listening to a pulse or saw .  Others ask you to identify whether the attack/decay is long or short.  You are also challenged to match patches by adjusting settings in the virtual synth in the program.  At this stage they are simple and a total novice would figure it out by process of elimination. I suspect they get more challenging and the simple practice will build a foundation for recognizing what various controls do. Still not sure if it is worth the price, but I admit it is more impressive so far than it originally sounded.  some of us need a little more than simply watching and trying to emulate.  Otherwise we could get rid of schools and just give our kids self-help books and text books.  I'll finish the demo lessons and report back

Any further updates?

dubdisciple
I can get a year of groove 3 and have leftover for a cheap plugin. The course would need to be truly outstanding to outdo the combo of groove3 and all the free tutorials out there. Not to mention the fact it looks like they will have you working with synths most of us dont actually use. If this. Ourse used z3ta, rapture or even popular third party synths like Diva or Massive it might be more appealing. Even free or stripped down versions with same architecture would be more useful

I have a question regarding this.  Don't all synth's have the same modules that need to be programmed in the same way.  A bit like guitars.  Just because you learned on a Fender doesn't mean that you can't play a Gibson.

I got busy and have not progressed much further. Synths are very different from guitars. For starters synths often employ entirely different methods to create sounds. A person who learned on a subtractive synth might feel totally lost using an additive or frequency modulation synth. There are many similarities at the core but the places they deviate are far more varied and extreme (at least on the surface) than a guitar. The differences in layout alone can cause a lot of confusion even for the same type of synths. I feel lucky if two synths use the same terminology for the same function