Exploring Retrosynth

So now I'm going to open up Retrosynth. Retrosynth is a cool synth. As you can tell, it's a retrosynth.

Overview

When you look at it, what you're seeing is a 16-voice synthesizer that can produce a wide variety of sounds. Here are the four different synth engines at work:

• Analog
• Sync
• Wavetable
• FM

Analog Engine

Looking at the analog engine, this was probably designed to mimic some of the early Moog synthesizers. You can see:

• Oscillator Section: This is where we shape and generate our tones.
• Filter: Adjusts the sound frequencies.
• Amplitude Envelope (ADSR): Controls the attack, decay, sustain, and release.
• Filter Envelope: Shapes the dynamics of the filter.
• LFO: Low-frequency oscillator for modulation effects.
• Glide Functionality: Smooth transitions between notes.
• Effects: Options like flanger or chorus can be applied for additional texture.

Retrosynth is really cool in terms of the analog engine because it allows us to achieve vintage, old-school sounds.

FM Engine

However, if you look at the FM engine and how FM synthesis works, you can achieve much more belly-type, digital sounds.

Working with Presets

One of the best ways to understand how sounds are constructed is to experiment with presets and play with some of the available parameters. For example, if I wanted a synth lead, I might choose Vintage Doppler.

• Initial Sound
  • Adjust the filter to make it sound a bit brighter.
  • Increase attack for a quicker response to make it more percussive.
  • Add more chorus to introduce a whistley tone.

As you can see, I'm starting to open up the world of synthesis using simple parameters.

Benefits of Using Retrosynth

Spending time playing around with something like Retrosynth can be very beneficial to your advancement in the world of synthesis. It allows you to gradually move up to more complicated synthesizers in Logic once you feel confident with the basics.

Example: Calming Bells

If you look at a preset like Calming Bells:

• Play around with it and think, "I want it to sound darker."
• You can bring the chorus rate down for a slower movement.
• Experiment with vibrato or LFO rates.

There's so much you can do when you use a sound as a preset or launch pad. You can learn a lot about how to make certain modules interact with each other.

In summary, embrace experimentation in Retrosynth to deepen your understanding and creativity in synthesis!