This is an attempt to write about by synth journey on SDF. As with most things, I seem to have approached it very differently than most here. There are a lot of synth enthusiasts here, which is great! I started out in middle school learning how to read sheet music for the clarinet and played with the school band up until high school. After that, I took some guitar lessons. None of this seemed to go anywhere, but I still enjoyed music anyway. Both listening, and creating.
Creating music and recording it quickly became apparent that it was it's own challenge. I wasn't really interested in just recording a guitar solo so much, as that wouldn't be a complete song. While attempting to record to a computer to lay a track, then play that track back while recording another track on top of it introduced latency.
This latency could be felt when I hit a string only to hear it ~15-20ms later. One way to deal with this was to listen to the "monitor" output, which was basically the same thing that the computer was hearing (no effects). Another way was with the "ASIO" driver, which only helped to minimize the latency down to about 11ms, but it was still there. This seemed to be independent of the operating system used, as I was told that Macs were supposed to be better at audio but with the same x86 arch used, there was effectively no difference in this aspect.
I've also been told that what I was experiencing was not a real problem, and for actual live bands that record all tracks with all instruments at the same time it wouldn't be. The latency was only an issue for me because I was attempting to layer tracks. An example of this would be laying down a rythm track with the guitar, and then playing it back to record a solo track. With latency keeping things out of time, it was very difficult to get it sounding correctly in time. I wasn't recording covers, so I didn't know what things sounded like until after I heard it.
Another way around this latency I found was with digital recorders, removing the computer from the equation entirely. This actually worked quite well, as I could hear and record the guitar with effects and without the latency. This made it possible to layer tracks and then bounce the tracks to a final mix. From there I could then copy it to the computer with a SD card or as a USB storage device.
In spite of all that effort, over time I felt like just using guitars was not the right approach. I eventually decided to get a keyboard and a drumset and learn both so perhaps I could have more variety than just guitars.
The drumming was a lot of fun, and tought me a whole new way to listen to music. I was already aware of measures from knowing sheet music. Learning drums tought me to use measures to understand phrasing. Once I learned phrasing, I was better able to understand other parts of music construction, like where do to guitar solos, or drum solos, or bass solos depending on what the song was trying to do.
I recorded one very amateurish song at that point, and went on to make this attempt at a local rehearsal studio. Another thing I was becoming aware of was that with working with bass and drums, it can be helpful to hear it without the use of headphones. Those lower frequencies really have to be pushed out in order to maintain the soundwave properly. With some of the other musicians around the studio, this would result in shaking the entire structure. This seems necessary in a large stadium where everyone needs to hear the audio without there being unintentional distortion. Some sound systems and speakers will have a hard time with this, and the sound becomes crunched by the limitations of the hardware. This is something I would never encounter with quality headphones.
During my time around other musicians, I quickly learned that I wouldn't go very far as a guitarist, drummer, or bassist. I became fascinated with the keyboard though, as I could perform drums, bass, and rythm for them to solo to. It was like having an entire band at the press of a few keys. The other keyboardists in the studio were far and few between, and with them there was no competition which means I did not have to compete with anybody just to play. Whereas if I was trying to play guitar, then I would have to prove that I was capable to other musicians. This added what I felt like was unncessary pressure. Musicians here were actually trying to make a living with this skill so for them to rehearse with amateurs was seen as a waste of time to them.
I was able to practice with a drummer that had his room quite equipped. He had it equipped with a massive drum set, a PA system, a collection of large speakers, as well as a couple of guitars. He also had a pair of keyboards set up and ready to go. These were decent keyboards, but I wasn't familiar enough with them to do much more than play with basic sounds. Proper setup for keyboards can take a while, and can be tough to do "last minute" style. I've tried bringing my keyboards into his room to play, but I still had the same problem without being able to save any settings between power cycles. There was also a persistent problem of volume control, or lack thereof. My sounds were going through the same PA system that his drums were being amplified through, resulting in it's own nuanced problems.
Somewhere along the way, I discovered SDF followed by "Synth Battle Royale". From what I understand, the idea being to play a synth or some instrument without setting anything up before hand. I made an attempt at SBR, but "unsetting" a lot of the defaults on the keyboard I was using took just as much time and resulted in a lot of dead air time. I may have taken the approach a bit too far? I want to make another attempt, but this time setting up the keyboard in a similar way that I did while playing with a band. I would set up various instruments on their own tracks and then change between them by changing their volumes. This would allow me to mix them together if needed.
This keyboard also has a drum machine, and two arppagiators that I have so far been mostly unable to explore. While playing with musicians in the studio, "electronic" music was a completely foreign concept as it can be done with using headphones and no acoustic or amplified instruments. There's no need for a rehearsal studio for that, so I've since moved out of my studio and can focus on music at home. This is what's allowing me to even make an attempt at aNONradio's Synth Battle Royale. After my first attempt, I can learn from my mistakes and inefficiancies to fill in the 10 minute slot with more music, and better narration.
