Book: Welsh's Synthesizer Cookbook

When I finally got the R3, there were dozens of buttons and knobs on the top and a giant manual that talked about how all these knobs could control things like "Resonance" and "Filter cutoff" and "LFO frequency." I had no idea what any of that was. So I went online to search for something that could teach me. I was a bit surprised that I couldn't easily find much on-line, but I was able to find several books on the subject.

I started with "Welsh's Synthesizer Cookbook" ordered from Amazon. It actually came signed directly from the author himself which was pretty cool. His specific site can be found here. With this book I was able to learn the basic fundamentals of what's called "subtractive synthesis" which is how most analog synthesizers from way back in the 60 & 70s (e.g. Moog synths) work.

It also has a large section of "recipes" for common sounds which you can use to create your own patches on most analog-style synthesizers. I've programmed in quite a few at this point, and it's been very helpful learning how to create and shape sounds. The only problem is that all synthesizers label and measure things slightly differently and there is no audio reference with the included CD to know if the sound you are creating has turned out correctly or not.

Still, it's a great reference and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how to get started in the world of analog synthesizers.