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Welsh's Synthesizer Cookbook: Synthesizer Programming, Sound Analysis, and Universal Patch Book Paperback – January 1, 2006

by Fred Welsh (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 278 ratings
This book covers ground that is often left untouched by other synthesizer books and was written to fulfill the wishes voiced by synth programmers. Section one explains the parts of an analog synth in detail using harmonic and waveform analysis to make clear exactly what each synth parameter does. Section two is probably the most important section added to the new edition and it explains through examples how to use freely available harmonic and waveform analysis software to analyze and recreate patches from other synths, sounds found in songs, and the synthesis of acoustic instruments. Section three contains all 102 of the original 1st and 2nd edition universal patches for ALL dual-oscillator analog synths. The acoustic patches are based on harmonic analysis and are exceedingly close to the real instruments. An included CD contains the new SCB VSTi softsynth and audio samples for synthesizer calibration as well as a full album of electronica. For more info and to view a sample of the book please visit http://www.synthesizer-cookbook.com Also be sure to check out Welsh's Synthesizer Cookbook Vol 2: Harmonic Catalog
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  1. Print length
    128 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Fred Welsh
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2006
  5. Dimensions
    11 x 10 x 0.5 inches
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000ERHA4S
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fred Welsh; 3d edition (January 1, 2006)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 128 pages
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 11 x 10 x 0.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 278 ratings

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4.6 out of 5 stars
278 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this synthesizer cookbook instructive and well-written, with clear explanations of how synthesizers work. The book provides comprehensive coverage of sound waves and synth parameters, and customers appreciate its accuracy, particularly the discussion on calibrating synthesizers. They like the recipe content, with many patches listed, and one customer notes its compatibility with any 2-oscillator synth. Customers value the book's signature, with one mentioning an autograph on the front page.

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72 customers mention "Educational value"70 positive2 negative

Customers find the book very instructive and great at explaining synthesis concepts, with one customer noting how it guides through synthesizer development and creation in simple terms.

"...The invaluable first section explains, succintly but in detail, the basics of sound waves and synth parameters...." Read more

"...of course come with pre-sets, but also provide extremely informative product manuals (the MicroKORG, in particular) that can guide the amateur into..." Read more

"...It gives you fundamental theory for understanding basic synthesis that can give you the tools to get the most out of your prebuilt synth or simple..." Read more

"...It makes a ton of sense and isn't a terribly difficult concept if you take the time to understand it, but kudos to the author for discovering (?)..." Read more

19 customers mention "Sound quality"19 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's approach to sound quality, covering the basics of sound waves and synth parameters, and one customer mentions how LFO routing shapes sound.

"...first section explains, succintly but in detail, the basics of sound waves and synth parameters...." Read more

"...recipes, and they are exactly what I wanted for electronic sounding equivalents to real instruments." Read more

"...And what sound is in its rawest form. The breakdown of different sound waves and their harmonics are readily explained...." Read more

"...I feel this book is giving me a much better understanding of the physical nature of sound and it's synthesis than any other book short of a book on..." Read more

16 customers mention "Writing style"16 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well written and easy to read and understand, with one customer noting it reads like an adventure.

"...It reads like an adventure. Learning that my new instrument can, in theory, reproduce any sound has felt like anagnorisis...." Read more

"...Fred Welsh knows his stuff cold, and is a fabulously clear and engaging writer...." Read more

"If you are looking for a basic, well written introduction to subtractive synthesis and concise descriptions of the functions of its various..." Read more

"...Anyway the book is really useful, it's clearly written and I can recommend it for beginners...." Read more

8 customers mention "Accuracy"8 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the accuracy of the book, with multiple reviews highlighting its comprehensive parameter coverage and fantastic calibration discussions, and one customer noting its intelligent parameter adjustment capabilities.

"...It allowed me to intelligently adjust parameters and gave me the tools to craft my own tones and textures...." Read more

"...remember patch cords, this also has been a huge boon as it provides a lot of parameters in a portable package...." Read more

"...with basic waveforms (sine/tri/saw/variable width pulse), programmable envelopes and essential filtering capability you can easily duplicate his..." Read more

"...It comes with a CD which helps with the calibration of a synth allowing one to more closely achieve some of the patches provided...." Read more

7 customers mention "Recipe content"7 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the recipes in the cookbook, with one describing it as an outstanding synthesizer cookbook.

"...The recipes themselves are great, but keep in mind that a synth is going to sound synth-y, so if you want to mimic an analog instrument exactly then..." Read more

"...The second part of the book is an effective cookbook to reproduce many music instruments sounds, with the most important settings for your digital..." Read more

"...The best part is the "recipe" section in the back third of the book...." Read more

"...Absolutely awesome book and it is exactly what it claims to be, a cookbook, with clear concise examples of how to make sounds from scratch...." Read more

6 customers mention "Compatibility"6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's compatibility, as it can be adapted to any 2-oscillator synthesizer and works with various brands.

"...Primer is a simple 2 oscillator synth an easy to understand LFO, Filter, and AMP. Super easy to build the recipes...." Read more

"...The patches are generic and can be adapted to any 2 oscillator synth so the book works with any brand, I have not tried all the patches but those I..." Read more

"...The method works with any analog synth that has typical features like filters, LFO, and pulse width modulation...." Read more

"...This book discusses the physics of sound and how it applies to your synthesizer. Those people that said this had a bunch of fake patches..." Read more

6 customers mention "Patch quality"5 positive1 negative

Customers appreciate the patch quality of the cookbook, with many patches listed, and one customer noting that they are generic and useful.

"...The patches are generic and can be adapted to any 2 oscillator synth so the book works with any brand, I have not tried all the patches but those I..." Read more

"...Patches are useful and great for training your ear to identify the basic waveforms so when you hear a synth you go "oh, a detuned sawtooth lead...." Read more

"...This *is*, as far as I've found, the only place to get a decent collection of patches described generically enough that you can program them into..." Read more

"...by the hand from the very simple to understand how to create extremely effective patches. There's a good fifty patches examined in depth here...." Read more

4 customers mention "Signature"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate that the book is signed, with one mentioning an autograph on the front page.

"...Mine both surprisingly had Fred’s autograph on the front page! Such a nice added touch to a set of books I’ve wanted for a while. Thanks Fred!" Read more

"...I received it sooner than expected and it was signed, a nice touch. The book itself is well worth the money...." Read more

"Product arrived in perfect condition and signed by the Author as well!..." Read more

"I love books and this one is signed !" Read more

a book needed for synthesizer
5 out of 5 stars
a book needed for synthesizer
I brought booth book by welsh this is a book needed for synthesizer users when creating sounds to make music there is a science to making those patches. when I brought my Ensoniq esq-1 I really didn't know all that was needed in regards to the music my keyboard was making this books explains it all for the reader to create and understand it.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • STW
    5.0 out of 5 stars Must-Have For Any Synth Player
    Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Having played exclusively acoustic instruments my whole life, I needed a guide into understanding sound synthesis. This could not have been a better introduction to this world.
    The invaluable first section explains, succintly but in detail, the basics of sound waves and synth parameters. I loved learning how pipe organs were the first synthesizers. I thought the included graphs were very helpful in visualizing.
    I just bought my first synth, an analog dual-oscillator subtractive synth (Korg Minilogue). Having this book made me pay close attention to exactly what was being produced. It allowed me to intelligently adjust parameters and gave me the tools to craft my own tones and textures.
    Perhaps the best thing about this book is that it is geared towards active experimentation on your synth. Despite being technically-minded, it does not read like a dry textbook. It reads like an adventure. Learning that my new instrument can, in theory, reproduce any sound has felt like anagnorisis.

    I only have two small criticisms— the first is that, while the author structures the information in a comprehensive and meditated way, he seems to despise commas. This makes the content much harder to digest quickly, as much of the punctuation used or ommitted render the sentences ambiguous or awkward.
    The second is that the extra content is provided on a CD. This wasn’t a large issue for me, as I bought the product for the book, but I don’t have any way of accessing the extras, as my computer no longer has a disk drive. My suggestion would be to store the extras on a cloud service and include a download link with the book.

    To be clear, I HIGHLY recommend this book. My complaints are minuscule relative to how much I’ve learned from the author. THANK YOU FRED WELSH! I have already ‘sold’ this book to my musician friends.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • mjp
    5.0 out of 5 stars A necessary extension of the product manual
    Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    Young musicians have benefited greatly by the addition of affordable, small, digital "analog modeling" synthesizers, such as the MicroKORG or Alesis Micron. For those of us old enough to remember patch cords, this also has been a huge boon as it provides a lot of parameters in a portable package. These products of course come with pre-sets, but also provide extremely informative product manuals (the MicroKORG, in particular) that can guide the amateur into deliberate sound sculpting.
    If you imagine that you are going to explore sound design with your DSP analog modeling synths, please buy this book. The price is a bit steep for 124 (large format) pages, BUT, as the other reviewers have attested, a better course and instruction book for analog sound design would be hard to imagine. Fred Welsh knows his stuff cold, and is a fabulously clear and engaging writer. Fascinating bits of synthesizer trivia pop up from time to time (like the patch for Dalek voices in Dr. Who!), but this book is first and foremost a teaching manual for the hands-on auto-didactic creative musician. (Most musicians I deal with are both hands-on and self-teachers!) The first 30 pages take you through all the tools--oscillators, filters, envelopes, LFOs, etc.--and this is the best survey of all these features I've seen. The second major section might at first seem a bit arcane--"Synthesis through harmonic analysis and reverse engineering"--but it is chock full of specific remarks on how certain visually detectable sound characteristics can be generated by your "weapon of choice." More than half of the book is dedicated to "recipes," "Cookbook patches" as Mr. Welsh calls them. A reader more or less on top of the tools section will have no problem recreating these tasty acoustic treats. There are even alternate patches for those who have machines that may not have "pulse width," or simply have a hankering for a different patch. What Mr. Welsh ultimately achieves (especially in the second section) is whetting the musician's appetite for harmonic composition of timbres. Something like Arthur H. Benade's "Horns, Strings, and Harmony" may well be a decent companion book here, as all those lovely harmonic diagrams included in the cookbook will come to life with Benade's careful explanations of the harmonic properties of acoustic instruments.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Syndrome
    5.0 out of 5 stars Solid choice if you enjoy tastefully electronic sounding equivalents of real instruments.
    Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    This book contains everything you need to know about synthesizing voices using a synth setup with dual oscillators, LFO, filter, and both filter and amplifier envelopes. It gives you fundamental theory for understanding basic synthesis that can give you the tools to get the most out of your prebuilt synth or simple modular setup, which is a great foundation to branch out from. The recipes themselves are great, but keep in mind that a synth is going to sound synth-y, so if you want to mimic an analog instrument exactly then this isn't for you. You also need to understand the theory and context provided by the text in order to replicate the recipes in the back of the book, or you could end up with some really wonky stuff. I've put together a number of patches using very basic modules in VCV rack using these recipes, and they are exactly what I wanted for electronic sounding equivalents to real instruments.
    4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Laura
    5.0 out of 5 stars For learning the basics this is a go to book
    Reviewed in Australia on November 30, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I have been a musician/synth nerd for more years than I care to count.
    While this book is geared more toward the analogue synths, with adaption of thinking
    it can be used with any digital synth.
    For anyone wanting to understand the basics of making any sounds on a synth
    this shows you hands on. what each parameter does when you tweak the controls
    is heard and you learn the cause and effect. Also a great stepping stone to create your own
    custom patches.
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