The first chapter starts from an empty rack. You add an oscillator, hear it, then add one by one the modules that make it an instrument: an envelope and an amplifier so notes start and stop, a filter to sculpt the tone, an LFO to make it move.
By the end, you have a bass you play on the keyboard, and you know what the VCO, VCA, ADSR, VCF and LFO do: the heart of subtractive synthesis. It is the right place to start if you have never touched a modular synth. Chapters 3 and 4 pick up this track where this one ends.
The exercises
- Your first sound
By the end: You made a sound and changed its pitch and its shape: the soft sine, the rich sawtooth, the hollow square. - Notes that start and stop
By the end: Your synth is now an instrument: the sound starts when you press a key and fades when you let go. - Shaping the tone
By the end: You have a real bass sound: the filter opens on every note, then closes again. - Making the sound move
By the end: Your bass has vibrato: an LFO gently wobbles the pitch of the notes.