Syntorial 2 Beginner On Your Own Exercises Help (Synth: Tal Noisemaker)

Ankit Taneja wrote:
Jon, what do you think about PWM Malevolent as a beginner synth.

Looks like a cool synth. The modular capabilities are nice, allows for a lot of exploration.

It has less parameter overlap with Syntorial though. In particular, no effects, though you could use guitar pedals. And a few less parameter options here and there. But it would still work.

So it really boils down to whether you want the more-overlapping-parameters of the Minilogue for ~$150 more, or the modular capabilities of Malevolent.

Hello again,

Benedikt, your response got buried in my email inbox and I would have completely missed it if Jon hadn't responded. My bad! Too much happening in work life which leaves very less room for other stuff. But things will get less busy now and down to 30% by summer 😀 Thanks for such a detailed answer. Appreciate it.

Free synths: I am only using Noisemaker and Vital. Ableton just released Live 12 which has updated Wavetable synth and 2 new synths (Roar & Meld), so I am first going to focus on those 3 or 4. Odin 2 is also on my list, but I have limited time so I need to utilize it wisely and will keep it for a later day.

Paid soft synth: I wanna give Diva and Hive both from U-he a try. Haven't looked into any other paid synths yet.

Since I work in IT, I really wanna move away from my computer to make music. Therefore, I am more inclined to buy a (used) hardware synth and I think I found one I want 😄

Jon, what do you think about PWM Malevolent as a beginner synth. This one has exactly the sound (Dark Industrial Techno, very Berlin) I am after and a new one costs less than Korg Minilogue XD? My bday is mid-April and if I finish the entire Syntorial by then, I am thinking of gifting it to myself. Pair it with a Roland TR8S drum machine and I think I might be good for at least 1-2 years.

https://www.1pwm.com/malevolent

Have a nice weekend you two 😀

If you find a good offer for Minilogue why not…Pro-800 might also be an interesting choice, if you have a MIDI keyboard. And you pay equal or less for a new one than you would probably pay for a used Minilogue (yet I don’t know if it has all the features required to follow along the complete Syntorial content).

The Minilogue XD is one of the closest hardware synths to Syntorial, in terms of features. I have it myself and they are closely aligned in design (plus you get the expandability in the 3rd oscillator which gives room to grow).

Hey, don't worry, life happens I guess. Same goes for me, I try to work on my progress daily, but sometimes it is just not possible. As appealing as I find hardware synths, for practicing I prefer sitting in front of my PC, having the Primer plugin open along with the other synth plugins.

For paid synths I have Pigments, Synthmaster One/2, Spire and ANA2. They all speak to me GUI wise, but for a starter synth, Synthmaster One is my favorite right now and I will focus learning on that one.

For free synths I am trying out basically anything. The closest results for the first few On Your Owns I actually achieved with Noisemaker and socalabs Wavetable. But I am also evaluating other free ones such as Odin 2, Vital (powerful as you can read basically everywhere, but somehow I don't like the look and feel), Tyrell N6, Apricot, GR-8 and I will soon try the Ronan Fed Essence Plus and Pneuma Pro. I am sure there is a lot more out there. Concerning free synths I am open to almost anything.

After finishing maybe the first three or four On Your Owns I want to decide on maybe 1 or 2 paid synths and 1 or 2 free ones to finish the rest of Syntorial.

What are you using aside from Noisemaker? If you find a good offer for Minilogue why not...Pro-800 might also be an interesting choice, if you have a MIDI keyboard. And you pay equal or less for a new one than you would probably pay for a used Minilogue (yet I don't know if it has all the features required to follow along the complete Syntorial content).

Hey both,

Sorry, it took a while to get back.

Yes! You both were correct. I changed the octave in Ableton and now can achieve almost the same sound.

Finished Apprentice!

Benedikt, I liked your advice of doing all On your owns together and that's what I am starting today. You mentioned you are practicing on other Synths as well. Do you wanna share which one? I am very interested in Vital and also thinking of looking for a used Minilogue on Kleinanzeige.

I will answer you on the loom in German as well.

Thanks again.

Good call Benedikt. The pitch in Noisemaker is indeed one octave lower. A simple solution would be to turn NoiseMaker's "Transp" (short for Transpose) knob in the Master section up one octave. Then it should match pretty closely.

Also, one thing to keep in mind, is I wouldn't worry about getting a 100% perfect match. Get as close as you can of course, but due to the fact each synth's filter is like a fingerprint, there will sometimes be some very subtle differences even when you nail the settings.

Hello Ankit, it seems you play in higher octave in Syntorial than in Ableton. Complicated solution might be to configure Ableton to transpose your Midi input to a higher octave as well (I cannot help here since I use other DAWs) or to use the Primer VST within Ableton instead of the standalone synth in the Syntorial App. You find a more detailed answer in German below your Loom video.

Hey both,

Thank you so much for your response. I recorded a quick short video to demonstrate where I am. It's just 2 mins long.

Please have a look and let me know what you think:

Thanks again!

~Ankit

Benedikt Baumgarten wrote:
Without the resonance I could not achieve the right balance between dullness and the slight buzzing.

Good call. Yes, I too have to increase the resonance in TAL to get a match. And visually the Cutoffs won't look the same. I find I have to turn TAL's down further than Primer's.

Hello, total beginner here as well. I just finished Artisan level and now started doing the On Your Owns. I want to do them blockwise. Among other synths, I also try to replicate the patches on TAL NoiseMaker. I think from somewhere, that in most synths, the resonance is never actually zero, even if turned down completely. Maybe NoiseMaker does just that though. Selecting a saw wave and setting the cutoff did not get me the sound - it was either too dull or too buzzy.

Here is how I got pretty close for the first patch (Round Saw) I think:

OSC1: Saw wave

Master section:

• OSC1 1.0 (100%)
• OSC2 0
• Volume 0.4
• anything else off

Filter section:

• Cutoff: 0.315
• Reso: 0.15
  everything else 0 and I made the ADSR look like in Syntorial/Primer, but I guess it is not relevant.

Amp section:
I made that look like in Syntorial/Primer as well, mainly full S(ustain) and a bit of R(elease).

Without the resonance I could not achieve the right balance between dullness and the slight buzzing.