Creating your own synth

Hello , I am deeply curious what one must learn to create synthesizers and effects . I have a good knowledge of reaktor and really think this would be the next step for me : creating freeware synths.

So , care to share what programming language have you used for Ana and care to help me with some guidelines? (where to learn from , links ) :stuck_out_tongue:

We used a very experienced developer to build the DSP etc. on ANA.



I know a lot of dudes use Synthmaker



you can only make PC plugins but thats where Sylenth started apparently

oh ok . Thank you!



Synthmaker seems kind of limited though . Maybe I’ll go crazy and buy Max so I can loose my social life for the next few years :smiley:

Synthmaker would be a step up from Max… you can build plugins with max but they arnt great.



A lot of pretty decent plugins have been built with synth maker

Synthmaker is great since it’s pretty simple to use. If you happen to be a subscriber to Computer Music Magazine, there’s a slightly limited version available free on the DVD (“SynthmakerCM”).



As far as Max/DSP goes, it has far more capabilities than Synthmaker and it has the potential to sound as good if not better. The difference is that Max is way more complicated than Synthmaker. Just like when choosing a programming language, more ease of use usually comes at the cost of “lower level” access, which limits you. So, imho, Max is superior in capabilities and sound to Synthmaker, but you really have to know what you’re doing to get those kind of results.



Another very popular alternative would be Native Instruments’ Reaktor. In my opinion, this is a happy medium between Max and Synthmaker - huge capabilities combined with ease of use.



If I were you, I’d grab demos for all three and just see what suits me best.



EDIT: Oops, sorry I missed that you were already familiar with Reaktor. If so, I’d recommend going up to Max - though this will be quite a bit more complicated!

max for live is a joke from what I’ve tested it really. Max programming on the other hand is something way more… interesting and complicated . I’ll might rethink this since it will take me at least 2-3 years until I’ll learn the full functionality of it.

I’ll stay with Reaktor at the moment since I already know about most of it although I am very sad every time i remember that i can not do a proper fu**ing export into a different format.

I crave for that level of control :smiley: thanks for the advice guys.

I don’t M4L is that bad, though it is a bit buggy. Still, full Max is much better and, in my experience, much more stable.