Synthesizers

Korg’s MS range contains some bona fide classics — and is much more extensive than you might imagine...

Here are some of our favourite function generators that will capably augment your patches, all weighing in at well under £200.

Paul White takes us through the history and evolution of guitar synths, from early attempts at creating onboard sounds and audio-to-MIDI pickups, through to using pedals and plug-ins to emulate synth effects.

This year marks the 30th birthday of one of the world’s leading manufacturers of synths, samplers and hardware controllers. In this podcast, Novation Product Specialist Chris Calcutt looks back over three decades of innovation.

MIDI is the universal language of the studio — and if you use hardware instruments, you need to understand it!

Is there a way to specify, to a DAW such as Pro Tools, how a note will glide to another note and over what duration of time?

Arturia President Frédéric Brun looks back over the French company's 20-year history from their Storm software to PolyBrute.

Filmed at SynthFest UK 2019. Everything you always wanted to know about building a Eurorack Modular but were too afraid to...

Ever wondered how plug-in companies recreate classic outboard gear in your DAW? We take a peek into Softube's modelling lab to find out.

I'm an ambient musician looking for an addition to my synth collection. I'm interested in the Quasimidi Polymorph, yet they...

I'm having trouble with a synth bass sound I've been using in a song. It sounds impressive on its own, but isn't working so...

I am trying to re-create the sound of old string synths like the ARP Solina or Elka Rhapsody on my Novation K-Station but I...

I keep reading about different types of synthesis like 'wavetable', 'S&S' and 'vector' but I don't know what they are....

I want to buy a 'knobby' synth because I am fed up of setting up sounds with a data wheel. I also want a very analogue sound...

I bought some CDs of new sound banks for my Korg Wavestation off eBay recently, only to find that most of them are in System Exclusive (SysEx) format rather than MIDI files. I have loaded sounds into my synths from MIDI files before using Cubase, but I don't know how to do it with a SysEx file. Can you help?

I'm considering buying a second-hand Roland D-series workstation to get those classic D50-type sounds. I recently borrowed an old D-series synth from a friend and was using it in multitimbral mode, hooked up to my computer sequencer, but I  experienced some problems with the sounds, so I'd like to get your advice before I shell out any cash.

I have just purchased the new Novation KS4 keyboard and want to have a complete drum kit playing in performance mode but there's nothing in the manual explaining how to do this! Can you program full kits to sound like the keyboard demo or must you use an external sequencer?

I'm having trouble getting my Roland JV1080 to work well with Emagic Logic Audio. When I change MIDI channel in Logic the sound disappears, or I can't get the sounds that I want to stay put. How can I get Logic and the JV to synchronise?

I thought I knew what a modular synth was from my days in the Moog lab at school, but now all kinds of software synths...

In the final part of our two-part Retrozone, Gordon Reid charts EMS's further achievements, the reasons for their decline in...

In the first part of a two-part series, Gordon Reid charts the rise of EMS and their creation of the world's first self-...