New Feature Launch! How to Synth

After months of planning and work behind the scenes, I am finally ready to launch the latest feature of EtherDiver.com — a guide to programming synthesizers to take you from a beginner to an intermediate synth programmer (to become a master, you need all the knowledge plus a ton of practice). The series launched with an intro, detailing my philosophy toward synth programming, plus a guide to the most common (and several less common) synthesis methods in use today. Within a week I intend to have the first practical guide, covering the basics of subtractive synthesis, ready to go.

This series was initially inspired by my Fediverse friend Ordos Mk. 0 asking me for some help improving his skills with FM synthesis. I thought that sounded like a great idea for a blog post and started organizing my thoughts to put it together. Well, the more I thought about it, the bigger my plans grew — from one blog post, to several, to a whole series covering not just FM, but also subtractive and other popular methods (in part because the subtractive paradigm came up over and over in my attempts to explain FM and it seemed to make sense to ensure people reading it actually understood subtractive before using it to explain something else…). Once I started writing it it kept growing and I decided to move it to its own section on the site.

And that brings us to the launch! Now that I have the initial framing pages up, the actual lessons will be coming soon, hopefully at a rate of one every week or two. The main lessons will cover techniques that are broadly applicable across all synths that use a given method. I also intend to add occasional supplemental pieces covering specific synths (hardware and software), answering common questions (like “how do I buy a synth?” or “how do I program pads?”), and filling other gaps in synth programming knowledge. I may also do some streaming, video or podcast expansions. Oh, and I am definitely considering any requests, so leave a comment or find me on the socials and ask for what you want to see.

Until the, go over to the How to Synth index page and jump in!