How to utilize your synthesizer

You've broken out the manual, twiddled some of the buttons and marveled at the ease of trying to reproduce basic sounds--like orchestral flourishes, for example. But what should you do with your new synthesizer once you're past the initial rush of button-pushing? Now comes the hard part, which requires a little programming savvy, electronic mastery and a willingness to experiment creatively.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Amplifier
• Analog or digital synthesizer
• Basic keyboard technique
• Headphones
• Instruction manual
• Programming savvy
• 1/4-inch cable
• Sustain pedal

Decide What Suits You Best

1. Start with two premises: first, a synthesizer only creates electric signals, which you'll generate by pressing down any key on the piano-style keyboard. Second, if you're only a beginner, you may want to start with an analog synthesizer, which allows far greater customization of sounds than its digital counterpart.
2. Once you've formed chords with your right hand, spend some time developing rhythmic bass lines with your left hand. Don't worry if your keyboard technique is basic to nonexistent. Try humming your melody line--whether it's someone else's song, or your own--and match that tone on the keyboard. Hit one note at a time, if necessary, until you've worked out the whole line.
3. Now review the different tone controls you'll use to manipulate your sound. In general, the most important are the attack, release and resonance controls, which determine how long a particular keyboard tone will sound. Depending on your preferences, abrupt cutoffs or lengthier tonal clusters can dramatically change a song's mood.
4. Introduce some greater variety to the proceedings by adding a sustain pedal to your sonic arsenal; why should guitarists have all the fun in this department?

Experiment--Then Make Some Decisions

5. Tweak preprogrammed sounds--of which you'll have anywhere from 50, to 60, 100 or more--by seeing how quickly you can toggle between them. This approach will help you build speed and dexterity, particularly for heavily syncopated or fast triplet rhythms (for further reference, see Dave Greenfield's approach on the Stranglers' "Tank").
6. Don't settle for the same tones on every song; look for different shades of expression in the same groups of settings, such as on orchestrations. Remember, too, that an analog synthesizer is monophonic, meaning that it only plays one sound at a time. To get the opposite effect, you'll need a polyphonic approach, which requires a digital synthesizer.
7. Consider whether you want to use the synthesizer as a non-melodic instrument--as the Band's Garth Hudson did in his brain-rattling concert workout, "Chest Fever"--or a melodic punctuation device of the kind featured extensively on the Who's epic double album, "Quadrophenia" (1973). Only your imagination can limit the possibilities--as horror director John Carpenter so memorably demonstrated with the cold, metallic textures of his scores for "Halloween" (1978), and "The Fog" (1980).

Tips & Warnings

• Build logically and methodically on what you've learned from previous practices to expand on what you'll learn next time around.
• If you don't have a case or a gig bag, make sure to cover your synthesizer with something, even if it's only a plastic sheet to protect against dust.
• Don't spend a lot on equipment because the music store salesperson encouraged it, or you saw your friends splurging on it--as a beginner, you should be able to make do with your first synthesizer, an amplifier, cable and sustain pedal. As you get more experienced, you'll expand on that arsenal quite naturally.
• Understand what's involved before you move up to a digital synthesizer, which offers a greater number of options--and a steeper learning curve to go along with them. Expect to spend a lot more time with your manual, and experimenting on your own.