The Analog Four has a huge range but I don’t think it’s particularly beginner friendly due to the large array of parameters accessed by just 10 knobs. Its flexibility also means it has fewer “sweet spots” than simpler synths - it’s not as easy to make something that sounds great by messing with a few knobs compared to e.g. the Roland SH01A.
I think for a beginner it’s more helpful to have as many controls as possible accessible hands on, rather than having to go to different pages and have different knobs do different things depending on context.
Analog Four is awesome as you get more experienced though as you can create a whole track on it if you are creative!
I’d personally probably go for a Korg Minilogue as a beginner these days…
I know $900-$1500 is "cheap" for most of the HN crowd, but for the rest of us there's hardware synth options that are much cheaper!
For example, the Korg Volca Keys [1] is a perfectly suitably synth to learn the basics of analog synthesis and can make some nice sounds to boot. YOu can get it for $150 new or even less used.
(And of course, there's plenty of free software synths, as others have linked in other posts here).
[1] https://www.korg.com/us/products/dj/volca_keys/
I appreciate that because it is the kind of thing I might say.
But I am not that committed. At least yet.
I try to avoid starting by shopping when I can. This seems like one of those. A browser is probably enough to gauge the stickiness of my current interests and avoids figuring about where to put “the damn thing.”
Or to put it another way, I give this kind of interest time. It might have been awesome to have lived circumstances that encouraged my interest of forty five years ago. But I don’t let that put me on a rush.
This is an interesting perspective. I would still argue that you need the hands on experience, and I cannot emphasise the immediacy and satisfaction of using physical controls enough.
In my other comment I suggested that you won't find a bargain in vintage gear. That's true. However, if you don't want to be financially committed, you might do well do buy a vintage synth because you should get your money back - or maybe more - if you decide you're not that interested after all and want to sell it. Whereas with a new piece of gear, it will depreciate.
As I say, the market for these things is pretty hot now. I'm weeping that I didn't pick more gear up 10 or 15 years ago before it all became so popular. Of course, I didn't have any spare cash back then so there's that.
I suppose you could argue so. But I am not arguing.
I know myself well enough to know what makes sense for me.
It’s not the spending money.
It’s that spending money can seem like progress. But not really. At least not at first. Doing the thing is progress and I can spend what time I spend that way without product research and bargain hunting and shipping and unboxing and making room for another hobby object.
And accessories.
If I find myself at the point where buying something is progress, then that’s the time, but that is statistically less likely.
I would second this general idea, but I don‘t know about the Analog 4 specifically? Out of all the analog synths it is the most like a little computer. It‘s awesome but doesn‘t feel like a learning tool. There are a lot of synths that kind of have the signal flow laid out on the front panel, like a Korg Monologue. That seems helpful.
^^^ Underrated comment. There really is no substitute here for hands on experience.
I got back into making music during the pandemic, partly as a deliberate choice where I turned my formerly chaotic and cluttered office/music room into something actually usable, but also through watching a lot of YouTube videos, researching, listening, and looking for a synth to buy.
The key is to get something with all physical controls so you get that immediacy of feedback in terms of the sound changing. You can hear the effect of switching between different wave forms, playing with the pulse width, maybe using an LFO to modulate pulse width, applying a filter and so on. Avoid anything that involves menu diving or relies heavily on a touch screen where you're not getting realtime feedback.
Analogue synthesis is super-popular at the moment so bargains are hard to come by - you are not going to get a used Prophet of any era for a couple of hundred quid, and basically forget anything vintage - but you can get some really good synths for not that much money, particular if you go the monosynth route. The Arturia MicroBrute is great, for example. They're about £260 new and I've seen them for £160 - 200 used on Reverb and eBay. If you're happy to spend a bit more, something like the Behringer Deepmind 6 packs a lot of punch for about £400, and the Deepmind 12 is available for around £600. (Behringer had a sketchy reputation for quality but their synth division seems to absolutely nail it - I have a TD-3, which is a clone of the original Roland TB-303, that costs about £100 new as opposed to £3-4000 for an OG 303 on the used market. Sounds spot on. Couldn't be happier.)
I'd also recommend easing yourself into it. One day I'll get into modular (it's inevitable) but I'm not there yet, and it would have been a mistake to start there as it would have been a bit overwhelming for me. You might be different but I'd say get something that, again, gives you results and immediacy - something that you can tinker around and learn and have fun with, and then take that knowledge and use it with other synths.
Sorry, not really a tutorial, but there are plenty on YouTube, which will help, but what you really needs is hands on time with synths, and lots of it. Try programming patches that you've heard on different tracks you like from scratch. For example, I really felt like I was getting somewhere when I managed to program a decently credible Tom Sawyer bass patch with a really dirty vintage-ised filter sweep. It's one of the few events during the last lockdown that brought me some proper joy.
And that's really the final piece of advice: have fun and don't be afraid to experiment. You will probably create some really awful sounds, along with some really interesting ones, but just embrace it all as part of the journey.
I think for a beginner it’s more helpful to have as many controls as possible accessible hands on, rather than having to go to different pages and have different knobs do different things depending on context.
Analog Four is awesome as you get more experienced though as you can create a whole track on it if you are creative!
I’d personally probably go for a Korg Minilogue as a beginner these days…