Synthesizers

Paul White offers a tip for boosting gain when recording your synths.

Nick Magnus continues his quest to emulate analogue sounds on digital instruments. This month, he shows you how to recreate analogue strings.

Though sound synthesis has a relatively short history, its progress has been rapid, with the result that the basic concepts of synthesis are now becoming lost in the mists of time — yet to effectively programme current synths, it really helps to know them.

Julian Colbeck sizes up the new offering from the prolific Korg camp, the latest to use the company's long-running A12 synthesis system. Is it just the same old stuff in the new box, or does the X3R have enough Unique Selling Points to justify its existence?

Derek Johnson waxes lyrical about a synth he wouldn't part with but is the cheapest he owns — Roland's last monosynth, the 1982-vintage SH101.