A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding, Programming, Playing, and Recording the Ultimate Electronic Music Instrument.

Veteran music technology journalist, educator, and performer Mark Vail tells the complete story of the synthesizer: the origins of the many forms the instrument takes; crucial advancements in sound generation, musical control, and composition made with instruments that may have become best sellers or gone entirely unnoticed; and the basics and intricacies of acoustics and synthesized sound.

Vail also describes how to successfully select, program, and play a synthesizer; what alternative controllers exist for creating electronic music; and how to stay focused and productive when faced with a room full of instruments. This one-stop reference guide on all things synthesizer also offers tips on encouraging creativity, layering sounds, performance, composing and recording for film and television, and much more.

Published in 2014, 432 pages, over 371 illustrations, 279 x 216 mm

Includes a companion website.

Table of Contents:

Foreword by Michelle Moog-Koussa

1. Trendsetting All-Stars
2. Acoustics & Synthesis Basics
   Real-World Acoustics
   Types of Synthesis
   Audio Sources: Oscillators, Noise, & More
   VCAs, Envelopes, & LFOs
   Envelope Followers & Pitch-to-Voltage Converters
   Filters
   EQs & Filter Banks
   Analog Sequencers
   Arpeggiators
   Reverb
   Analog Delay
   Digital Delay
   Loopers
   Other Effects
3. Choosing Your Synthesizer(s)
   What’s Your Budget?
   Musical Tastes & Goals
   Hardware vs. Software
   Portability & Power
   Programmability: Pros & Cons
   Expandability
   As Others Have Done
   Perspective
   Modular Synthesizers in the 21st Century
   An Overview
   Modular Synth Shopping
   More on Eurorack Modular
   More on FracRak Modular
   More on Serge Modular
   Connectivity
   Convincing Analog & MIDI Synths to Coexist
   MIDI-to-CV Conversion
   CV-to-MIDI Conversion
   Controllers
   Synths & Controllers with Keyboards
   Alternative Controllers
   Wind Controllers
   Touch Controllers
   Hand-Held Controllers
   Struck Controllers
   Controllers for Microtonal Tunings
4. Composition, Programming, & Performance Techniques
   Composition
   Scoring to Picture
   Composing for Living Art
   Following Through on a Thought
   Sage Advice from a Master
   Scoring with Intent, Even When Intimidated
   Patching, a.k.a. Programming
   Encouraging Synthesists’ Creativity
   When & How to Experiment with Sounds
   The Good & Bad of Non-Programmability
   Programming for Progress
   Fun with Modular Synths
   Layering Synth Sounds
   Programming for Expression
   Performance
   Tools of the Trade
   Dependence on the Tried & True, but Moving Forward
   Modular Apparitions
   Defying the Dependence on Visuals
5. Recording the Synthesizer
   As It Was & How It’s Become for the Switched-On Innovator
   Serial vs. Random-Access Media
   Strategies for Recording Film & TV Scores
   Harnessing the Power of Modular Synths with Ableton Live
   Automated Mixing
   Outboard Processing: Preparing Audio for Recording
   Recording Direct & Expanding for Surround-Sound
   Appendix: Selected Bibliography, Museums & Films, Manufacturers, Blogs, Dealers & Stores
6. Index