Learn to program synthesizers

A friend of mine, who is a like-minded fan of electronic music, came over for a jam-session. It went pretty well, but we spent more then half our time trying to figure out how to get the MIDI stuff to play nice. We had two out of three manuals, so we got far enough to realize what we needed to learn.

After a while, we gave up and jammed with cheesy drum-tracks, which was also good. I’m starting to get the hang of the Juno-6, although I still have to try and interface it with the theremin eventually.

I just recently obtained Reason 4, so in addition to my hardware synths (Ensoniq Fizmo and Waldorf Microwave XT) I can now start learning to use software synths (it seems the basic principles are similar if not the same).

I’m going through the Synth Secrets articles over at Sound on Sound (all 62 of them!) which is serving as a good foundation for further learning.

I have arranged to purchase a Roland Juno 6, which is my dream synthesizer. It is from a friend, and it is a good deal, too. It was actually too good of a deal, but I talked him up a little. I didn’t want to feel like I was ripping him off. Analog synths are a little bit intimidating, especially since I was just starting to get the hang of Midi, but this one should be able to interface with my Theremin, hopefully. (not that I can play my theremin, mind you.)