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Your Minimoog can be used to process sounds as well as create its own.

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6. Use samples when you have to
While creating sounds entirely within your synthesizer might be rewarding and challenging, it can be easy to forget that it's the music that counts. When you're on a roll and you need a great acoustic snare sound, it'd be foolish to interrupt the flow of creativity by digging through synthesis parameters when you have a perfectly good sample lying around. Just use it!

7. Know your gear
There's no substitute for knowledge and skill. The shortest possible path between your brain and your ears is achievable only by gaining an intimate knowledge of your gear. The fact is that a deft programmer can design exactly the right sound in far less time than it takes to search through a collection of presets for something 'close enough', so keep practising.

8. Use fewer synths
How about a shocking suggestion? Trim the fat! If you want to learn how to wring the best patches out of your synths, you might be better off shedding some of the soundalikes. Grab one instrument that exemplifies each synthesis technique and focus on these few until you know them inside and out. There's no need to have, say, three FM synthesisers and ten ROMplers if you can wring nearly every possible timbre from each one.

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Now read 23 old-school synth tips

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