Choosing a synth...

[Octopusbird]

Soo it's starting to get to this point-

How do I choose which synth to use? There are several and they all have the basic oscillators. I realize if I want a wave shaping sound I need to use a wavetable, but other than that how do I choose? Are newer ones just generally higher resolution and more control or something?

Like do they all have special qualities? What are they?
Thor?
Subtractor?
Maelstrom?
Expanse?
Parsec??

Thanks! You guys are awesome!

[jlgrimes]

Soo it's starting to get to this point-

How do I choose which synth to use? There are several and they all have the basic oscillators. I realize if I want a wave shaping sound I need to use a wavetable, but other than that how do I choose? Are newer ones generally higher resolution or something?

Like do they all have special qualities? What are they?
Thor?
Subtractor?
Maelstrom?
Expanse?

Thanks! You guys are awesome!

They all have special qualities, quirks and excel at certain tasks

Thor

One of the most deepest synths in Reason. Many types of oscillators types, filters and flexible modulation matrix, built-in step sequencer. One of the hardest synths to learn in Reason but the basics isn't that difficult. There isn't much you can't do with Thor. Biggest drawbacks is that it is not a stereo synth, so if you want huge Trance leads, you will need to layer this with a Combinator. It is a jack of all trade type of synth especially when it comes to the oscillators mixing and matching and modulation. Can do almost any type of sound.

Subtractor

Reason's most basic synth. Easiest to learn. Low CPU use. Great for Subbass, simple leads, and simple pads. Probably the fastest synth to program. Lots of presets. It has a phase modulation for its oscs to make the synth deeper than it appears, Its higher oscillators are mainly digital quality like tones. Comes alive when you layer it and stack effects on it. Probably has the widest variety of presets since it is Reason's oldest synths. Synth is perfect for layering since it has low CPU use.

Malstrom

The wildcard in Reason. It is a Graintable synth which is a mix of Granular and wavetable. Perfect for evolving sounds, special effects. It has unique modulators and is the only Reason native synth that can have a stereo oscillator spread, so it actually can do somewhat decent trance leads without stacking.

Expanse

Probably one of the deepest wavetable synths in Reason. Not native to Reason as you must buy separately. It is mainly a competitor to Serum and can load your own wavetables. Great for dubstep, evolving sounds and a lot of different things. One of the more modern sounding Reason synths.


Also look into

Antidote

Another modern Rack Extension in Reason. Stereo Oscillators. Great for Trance leads, basses. Not as flexible as Thor but is usually quicker to get that modern stacked sound without having to use a Combinator.

Parsec

An additive synth. Similar to NI Razor. Good for Dubstep pretty deep as well. A purely digital synth. This is a modern Additive synth that makes editing the oscs easier and behave more like an Analog synth.



There is a sound on sound article that explain the pros and cons of a lot of synths in Reason and some of the Rack extensions.

[esselfortium]

It's a question of what you feel most comfortable with, and what sorts of sounds you're wanting to create. I'd suggest just spending some time playing around with a bunch of different synths and trying to get a feel for how they work and what their capabilities are. Some people prefer to work with synths that provide endless options, others like to work with simpler synths so they're not as overwhelmed by choices.

Subtractor and Malstrom are pretty old and you'll generally need to apply some external effects in order for them to sound their best, but they have their own character and capabilities too.

I've found that often times you can push a synth beyond what its capabilities initially seem to be, if you take the time to get really familiar with it.

You'll find different synths to be easier to do different things with, either inherently or just based on how you tend to use them. You might find that you have a really easy time creating a certain type of bass sound in one synth, and so you'll instinctively go to that synth whenever you've got that sort of bass in mind.

Sometimes I'll intentionally open a different synth than I would usually use for something, just to mix things up and see what I come up with. It can be easy to fall into a rut when you're always using the same tools and getting so comfortable with them that you're not being experimental anymore.

Subtractor was my primary go-to synth for a long time. Nowadays it's mostly Thor and PG-8X. I'm pretty sure Europa is going to become my new default synth soon.

[Octopusbird]

Soo it's starting to get to this point-

How do I choose which synth to use? There are several and they all have the basic oscillators. I realize if I want a wave shaping sound I need to use a wavetable, but other than that how do I choose? Are newer ones generally higher resolution or something?

Like do they all have special qualities? What are they?
Thor?
Subtractor?
Maelstrom?
Expanse?

Thanks! You guys are awesome!

They all have special qualities, quirks and excel at certain tasks

Thor

One of the most deepest synths in Reason. Many types of oscillators types, filters and flexible modulation matrix, built-in step sequencer. One of the hardest synths to learn in Reason but the basics isn't that difficult. There isn't much you can't do with Thor. Biggest drawbacks is that it is not a stereo synth, so if you want huge Trance leads, you will need to layer this with a Combinator. It is a jack of all trade type of synth especially when it comes to the oscillators mixing and matching and modulation. Can do almost any type of sound.

Subtractor

Reason's most basic synth. Easiest to learn. Low CPU use. Great for Subbass, simple leads, and simple pads. Probably the fastest synth to program. Lots of presets. It has a phase modulation for its oscs to make the synth deeper than it appears, Its higher oscillators are mainly digital quality like tones. Comes alive when you layer it and stack effects on it. Probably has the widest variety of presets since it is Reason's oldest synths. Synth is perfect for layering since it has low CPU use.

Malstrom

The wildcard in Reason. It is a Graintable synth which is a mix of Granular and wavetable. Perfect for evolving sounds, special effects. It has unique modulators and is the only Reason native synth that can have a stereo oscillator spread, so it actually can do somewhat decent trance leads without stacking.

Expanse

Probably one of the deepest wavetable synths in Reason. Not native to Reason as you must buy separately. It is mainly a competitor to Serum and can load your own wavetables. Great for dubstep, evolving sounds and a lot of different things. One of the more modern sounding Reason synths.


Also look into

Antidote

Another modern Rack Extension in Reason. Stereo Oscillators. Great for Trance leads, basses. Not as flexible as Thor but is usually quicker to get that modern stacked sound without having to use a Combinator.

Parsec

An additive synth. Similar to NI Razor. Good for Dubstep pretty deep as well. A purely digital synth. This is a modern Additive synth that makes editing the oscs easier and behave more like an Analog synth.



There is a sound on sound article that explain the pros and cons of a lot of synths in Reason and some of the Rack extensions.

Thanks so much, that's awesome.

Is there a quality or resolution aspect of synthesizers that has been improving? Is that what makes subtractor sound "digital?"

Why is subtractor great for subbass?

[Loque]

IMO i wouldn't care about a resolution number on paper, i would care about how it sounds. You can get dirty sounds out of Subtractor that are great and impossible to get out of eXpanse or Zero at 196khz. To clearly hear the difference, you need a bit time for designing sounds in a synth. Than you get a good feeling for what you can use it best. If you are not the sound design dude, try a synth, check the patches, hear the sound and style, feel it... Make a decision.

A word to Subtractor: keep in mind it is only 1 oscilator in mono. Most synths have 3 or more, Zereo has 6 and they have voice spread and unison. From just the numbers you would need a bunch of Subtractors and still some of those synths cannot create Subtractors sound.

[TritoneAddiction]

I would wait and try out the new Europa synth in Reason 10. That's mainly a wavetabe synth that seems to have a lot of cool features. Looks like a versatile synth both for the basic and the weird stuff. And that's a native instrument which means there's likely gonna be a lot of information about it and tutorials for it. It also looks like it's easy to use which is awesome if you're just getting into synths.
And if you upgrade to Reason 10 you'll get Grains, a granular synth.

If you haven't, check out Propellerheads live stream video where they show and talk about the Europa synth.

As people have mentioned already, Expanse is a great, modern and deep synth and definitely a contender to Europa.

Later on you might want to make sure you have one go to synth for each syntesis type: subtractive, additive, FM, wavetable, granular.
But some synths cover more than one of them like Expanse. Whatever you do don't go on a shopping spree and buy everything people recommend. Pick one or two synths to start with so you get to know them fairly well. Then it's much easier to compare and know whether or not other synths are important to you.

[Abstrax]

If I asked this question to myself when I first started creating sounds beyond preset browsing, it's simple. Thor's mod matrix. Once you really master it, you've got the true jump off point for all other synthesis. Outside of just reason.

The way it's setup. What you can do with audio in, CV, routing, fm, envelopes, filtering, distortion, programming. You can work with it everyday for a year, and everyday probably find a new useful tool out of it.

It will change the way you think about sound design. That's more important than making a pluck or supersaw. Imo

[alex]

Among what the others have already said, I would suggest (if you are new to synthesizers in general) to get some good books/tutorial and focus on the basic structure of a synth, I mean to learn the concepts behind it and what each of its components really does in order to get "the big picture". For example:

what is an oscillator?
what is a filter?
what does the amplifier do?
what means modulation?
what happens when connecting/routing an envelope to the filter's cutoff parameter?
what happens when connecting/routing an LFO to the oscillator's pitch?

and so on...

I believe that once you are comfortable with those concepts, you'll start "connecting things" together and see that any terms like oscillator/amp/filter/env/lfo are basically building blocks of any synths and that they have (more or less) the same purpose regardless how complex or different a particular synth might seems.
At that point you can go deeper and start learning the differences among the various oscillators types, filters types, synthesis techniques and different aspects of modulations... and you'll start appreciating why some synths are better than others on particular tasks and why some features are more suited for specific sounds.

Hope it makes sense

[syncanonymous]

Loads of good advice here. From my own experience with Reason and real synths and real rack gear I found I learned much more in this past year delving deeply into each device one at a time. I made sounds and composed for years without a good grasp on synthesis basics, I just followed the sounds I heard in my head, tweaked and eventually found a recipe or settled for something else I found along the way.

Learning how to have control over which parameters to tweak to acheive the sounds you hear in your head or want to attempt to emulate should be the sound designers goal.

If I was going to restart from scratch, I'd start with the basics like spend 50 hrs learning Subtractor inside and out and then do the same for the rest of the native devices. After that, you should have a really good idea of what other non-native devices you require to continue upgrading your knowledge. A good reason to start with Subtractor or NN-19 is you will learn there is much cross-over in all synthesis parameter controls and different designers of instruments may or may not use the same lexicon.

On top of synthesis there is a lot to learn to make Reason sound great...like a real studio, it can be a bottomless money pit. Reason devices all by themselves are seldom the answer to great sounding audio; you need to layer / cleverly route devices to get the best out of Reason. Creating amazing ( & not amazing) sounding signal chains and getting them to deliver your mind's ear result is the challenge once you learn what each of the components do.

[EdGrip]

And remember, there's always resampling!

[jayhosking]

For what it's worth, I found that choosing a synth became much easier once I realized what kind of synths I like listening to. If you like things that sound like subtractive synthesis (warm, buzzy, "traditional"), you'll probably enjoy Subtractor or Thor or Europa (without its crazy new modulators in hyperdrive) from the stock devices, or many of the awesome synths in the Prop shop (e.g. Legend, eXpanse, Kraft, Red70). If you like that clean/cold/crystalline sound of additive synthesis, then something like Parsec will make a lot of sense for you. If you enjoy that mashed-up-samples sound, then Grain will likely be a good fit, or Proton from the Prop shop. If you enjoy that modern sound with evolving timbres and partials, then Europa or eXpanse will probably be what you're looking for. Knowing your sound preferences will make choosing a synth to play around with much easier.