September 7 : 7-9pm - Fundamentals of Subtractive Synthesis - Sarah Feldman
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fundamentals-of-subtractive-synthesis-w-sarah-feldman-tickets-166861548383?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb
September 21 : 7-9pm - What's the Deal with MIDI? (MIDI for Dummies) - Ernie Dulanowsky
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/whats-the-deal-with-midi-midi-for-dummies-ernie-dulanowsky-tickets-146496879109?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS
How Do Synthesizers Really Work? Fundamentals of Subtractive Synthesis
This workshop will give you the tools to look at basically any subtractive synthesizer (the most common synthesis method), and know exactly what every control does to manipulate the sound.
We will do a deep dive into spectrum and the harmonic series, two concepts that are fundamental to sound waves in general. Lots of the information covered in the workshop will be transferrable to other forms of synthesis and sound creation.
The workshop is intended for any experience level, although it might be more challenging for absolute beginners.
Participants will need their own subtractive synthesizer that they can make sounds on and hear during the workshop. This could be a VST, or synth hosted within a DAW (like Analog hosted within ableton live), an outboard hardware synth (like a Korg Minilogue) or an online synth app (like Cardboard Online Synth). If you are unsure wether your synth is subtractive, look for parameters like “VCO”, “Saw Wave”, or “Low Pass Filter”. If you’re still not sure, you can probably just google “is x synthesizer subtractive”.
I recommend that participants take notes during the workshop. Fundamental concepts take a long time to internalize, so a written reference would likely be very useful during the following months (and years!!) of using synthesizers.
What's The Deal With MIDI? (MIDI for Dummies)
Have you ever wondered 'What's the deal with MIDI?' How can I use MIDI to control my keyboards? What else can MIDI do? What does MIDI even mean?
This workshop will try to demystify MIDI by showing how to control hardware and software synths from controllers and computers, and even mobile devices.
Attendees must have a computer, a audio/MIDI interface, and possibly a MIDI-capable hardware synth. Participants are requested to download Sunvox (https://warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/). It runs on literally every computing platform- Mac, Windows, Linux, IOS, Android. It can send and receive MIDI, and has soft synths built in. And it's free!
BIOS
Sarah Feldman is a composer, performer and educator living in Montreal, Canada. She co-leads a band called Watering and makes experimental electronic music under her own name. She runs a music education YouTube channel called Sounds Good, and teaches private lessons in electronic music. She studied electroacoustics and music composition at Concordia University in Montreal.
Ernie Dulanowsky is an electronic sound composer and performer using homemade and commercial non-keyboard electronics to create ambient drone and noise pieces. His work is informed by the sounds found at the intersection of office building ambience and broken media transmissions. Some of his compositions can be found at https://pulsewidth.bandcamp.com / https://soundcloud.com/ernst-pulsewidth
