An excellent explanation of how a synthesizer works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SBDH5uhs4Q
http://themusicsover.com/tag/wendy-carlos/

It is a good explanation. I have 2 or 3 soft-synths that I’ve played with. Still looking for that in-depth “synths for dummies” that will step me through the process. What I would love is a tutorial or book that discusses the sound qualities of instruments I’m already familiar with, and showing how those attributes can be recreated using the oscillators, envelopes, filters, LFO’s etc. The goal isn’t to actually duplicate the instrument, but to use the familiarity with actual instruments to understand all the different parameters of sound and thereby an understanding of how to use the available tools to shape the sound.

I posted a kind of "synth for beginners" article several years ago and have been slowly working on a semi-rewrite of it. You can see the last posted one (June 2011) below though.

http://www.121normal.com/resources/articles/synthesizers/

I'm re-writing it be a bit more of a primer for people curious about Eurorack but that project has been stalled for a while.

Thank you.That was a fun, & interesting, read.

That's very good, Glenn. Thanks.

FWIW, these are the synths I've been goofing around with. If there are better (free) ones out there well suited to learning, would appreciate any suggestions.

Two of these are VST plugins only, but I didn't want to have to fire up my DAW every time I wanted to goof around with them, and found a product (NanoHost) which hosts VST plugins. Very handy. I have shortcuts to each of these, plus an organ and piano VST on my start menu.

NanoHost:
https://www.tone2.com/nanohost.html

Brainstormer Synth:
https://www.kvraudio.com/product/brainstormer-by-roazhon-dsp

Tal Noize M4K3R:
https://tal-software.com/products/tal-noisemaker

Helm (stand-alone app, but also as a VST plugin):
https://tytel.org/helm/downloads/

A few months ago I saw something about a software Eurorack simulator that looked interesting because using virtual "patch cords" it was obvious how the signal is being routed which isn't real clear in the synths above. However, sadly, I didn't bookmark it or make note of where I saw it mentioned.

Almost certainly it was VCV Rack.

https://vcvrack.com/

VCV Rack has a massive following. People trade rack layouts. 3rd parties create modules that you can plug-in. Really cool stuff.

Hah! Just managed to find it. I also discovered a series of 13 tutorials on YouTube for it!!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWpmLizToRThK0Do6eY1zwDU-zdInkAPA

There's a Tal NoiseMaker plugin for the Mod Duo-X pedal board too (so you can twiddle 'real' knobs - not that I have yet, still too busy trying to get my head & hands around just getting nice sounds from a Stick).

On the subject of twiddling real physical knobs, who here remembers the Wasp synth of the late 70's. A revolution in its day; way cheaper than anything comparable at the time. Behringer have a very reasonably priced Wasp clone (without the original plastic membrane keyboard!).

https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DN6

I wonder if anyone here has tried it?

Yeah you can get lost in it really easy.

I've always had one or two hardware synths in the house but started to dabble in some of Moog's semi-modular stuff a while back so the collection is growing. Right now it's all sitting idle as I don't have the time but I'll get back to it for sure. It's so easy to go down the Eurorack rabbit hole. Once in a conversation I was having with Claire Steger, she referred to it as "Euro-crack". That made me laugh because ... well ... because it's true

Art Durkee has some serious expertise in the Eurorack department. He's been into it for years.

Thanks for all the info, one and all.

I watched that You Tube video with Wendy Carlos before, and it really helped with understanding what goes on inside my Boss SY-1000 synthesizer. I used some of Wendy's information to tweak and design a couple custom SY-1000 synth sounds.

Good stuff in this thread...thanks!