You can find a lot of lists out there on “Synthesis Techniques You Must Know!” These can be pretty compelling, but it can be helpful to take a broader look, and simplify synthesis into 5 big categories:
-Playback and Manipulation of Recorded Audio (Sampling and WT Synthesis)
-Additive Synthesis
-Subtractive Synthesis
-Distortion Synthesis and Modulation Synthesis, and
-Physical-Modeling Synthesis
By zooming out and thinking about these larger ideas, we make synthesis more accessible to people who are starting out, and we give a framework for people who are innovating new synthesis techniques.
0:00 Synthesis isn’t that complicated.
1:03 Five Categories for Synthesis Techniques
1:33 Playback and Manipulation of Recorded Audio
2:34 Additive Synthesis
2:52 Subtractive Synthesis
3:20 Distortion Synthesis (Modulation Synthesis)
4:08 Physical Modeling Synthesis
4:25 So What? / Hybrid Synthesis