Published 25th January 2024

Welcome to the Music Producer’s Guide to Synthesisers, the complete guide to the exciting world of softsynths, brought to you by the experts at Computer Music magazine.

Thanks to the enormous processing power brought to us by the latest generations of Macs and PCs, software synthesisers are now capable of extraordinary sonic feats, and can now produce the kinds of sounds never dreamt of in the hardware realm. That said, much of the development of softsynths over the years has been to emulate classic synths, so we’ll be looking at both strands of synth in this special – classic emulations and all-new sonic explorers. On the first front we take the bull by the horns and dare to go where few have gone before, by actually comparing softsynths that emulate classic synths with the original hardware. We look at three such iconic synths – the Minimoog, ARP Odyssey and Roland SH-101 – and their software equivalents in our main feature on page 14. We also look at some of the ‘less classic’ hardware synths of days gone by (on page 92), and show you how to emulate these more curious synths in software. Onto the newer types of softsynths, and we have all sorts of hands-on workshops showing you some of the basics of synthesis, and lifting the lid on some of the more interesting features of modern classics like Serum and Massive