Sound synthesis alternatives?

Question

I am new to sound design and production. It may be just me and/or the fact that I'm just a beginner, but I feel very limited when using conventional synthesizers to create sounds.

I am searching for a program that allows you to have complete control of creating the sound you want via drawing or graphing. I came across a pretty nice little program called "Draw The Sound" (http://victorx.eu/DrawTheSound.htm) which is an amazing concept, but the software itself is very clearly underdeveloped.

I was wondering if there are any programs similar to Draw The Sound with more robust features. If not, what would be a good way to start looking into how to code such a program (i.e. what programming languages, etc)? I am a software developer so if there are really no decent alternatives to traditional sound synthesis then I may plan on learning how to develop one myself.

Thank you.

Answer 1

You might be interested in Metasynth, DIN, Coagula (a poor man's Metasynth, for Windows).

As for programming, SuperCollider is a good choice, although not the only one.

Answer 2

Great question, I'm sure a lot of people have been here- I know I have!

Just to address the first sentence; The first thing that helped me was simply to learn more about synthesis. It's like when you learn play guitar and you can knock out a few songs and play a few solos then you get bored because because you're comfortable. When this happens you don't progress because you're always playing the same comfortable notes & tunes, just like reaching for the same comfortable controls on your favorite synth thus ending up with the same comfortable sounds.

If this doesn't work maybe try stepping away from synthesis altogether and move into the world of samplers and FX. I find that even the simplest sampler with a chain of effects & perhaps some creative midi mapping can create astonishing results and if you venture out to record you own source material (which I highly recommend!) you end up with something that is totally unique, personal & it gets you out of the studio!

A nice way to combine the two worlds of sampling and synthesis is Camel Audio's Alchemy- its not quite drawing wave forms but its a very inspiring tool! Hope this helps, obviously this is all my own experience but it worked for me.