Looking for recommendations for synth forums

December 2, 2016 8:50 AM

i recently started exploring Synthesizers and in trying to get educated I looking for some forums to communicate questions and gain insight. Do you have a fave or are aware of some great forums?
posted by citybuddha to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

The two main active forums I'm aware of are GearSlutz, and Muffwiggler. The former is fairly generalized, while the latter tends to lean toward more of a modular synth / esoteric crowd. Both can be a bit intimidating and unfriendly to new people just starting out, so I'd advise lurking a bit before posting. There's a good chance that any question you might have has already been asked in some capacity, so search those sites.

Not a forum per se, but I've always found Create Digital Music to be a friendly, well-written resource on synth developments, and SonicState has excellent reviews of synths and general discussions among experts that are worth hearing.
posted by naju at 9:40 AM on December 2, 2016

(We've also got some knowledgeable synth folks around AskMe and are friendly to people just starting out, so asking here is another option!)
posted by naju at 10:29 AM on December 2, 2016

Gearslutz and Muff Wiggler, like naju says, but I personally find meetups and YouTube demos from SonicState and various instrument retailers to be far more useful than forums. Perfect Circuit Audio here in Los Angeles has product demos from the manufacturers and puts them on YouTube and Vimeo fairly quickly after the actual event.

Marc Doty aka Automatic Gainsay on YouTube demos new and vintage synthesizers on a fairly regular basis. He starts off with basics for beginners and quickly shows how to go from creating basic sounds to complicated multi-timbral patches, as well as what is unique about each instrument.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:54 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

I can't stand gearslutz. It mostly lives up the maturity that the name would suggest. The reddit r/synthesizers is much better IMO, but its still reddit.

the main things not to do are post pics of your gear for no reason and if you want shopping advice, don't post to the front page, use the dedicated weekly thread.

There are a few other mefites there too, though I don't know if any of the usernames are shared, and I know mine is different, but if you want to talk a little shop hit me up and I can share my Reddit uid too.
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:57 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

On a slightly different note, I've been delving into creating patches from scratch, and Syntorial has been a big boon. I've got a few books but those did not help as much.

I'm also a big fan of u-he synths, and their forum on kvr is quite responsive.
posted by TrinsicWS at 11:57 AM on December 2, 2016

Seconding Syntorial - it's the best resource for understanding synthesis from the absolute beginning that I'm aware of!
posted by naju at 12:04 PM on December 2, 2016

I find muffwiggler pretty good (high traffic, knowledgeable people) and relatively welcoming (I tend to search & read rather than post questions) and it's sub-forums are pretty extensive. It's pretty modular-centric but I think by the time folks get that deep, they've already owned and used alot of other synth equipment... sigh. If you search for a particular product or technique, for example, there probably is a thread or eight about it. I also frequent Electro-music.com's forums but they can be hit or miss, traffic wise. I found gearslutz to be terrible. Plus the name. I find the reddit forums are pretty meh.

The best thing ever, tho, is the Sound on Sound "synth secrets" article series. Dive in.
posted by gyusan at 1:27 PM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]