With Learning Synths, Ableton are now providing two free online learning resources in various languages. Learning Music, which was released in 2017, is currently available in English, Chinese, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Russian, Thai and Vietnamese. Learning Synths, originally released in English in 2019, is now also provided in German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian and Dutch.
They’re both interactive websites that playfully teach you various important concepts in music making in easily digestible lessons. All you need for this to work is a computer, tablet or smart phone that is connected to the internet, and the internet browser of your choice, all thanks to the use of the web audio API. Due to the interactive nature of both resources, they’re even suitable for little children to play around with.
Learning Synths
The website teaches the basics of sound synthesis in an interactive manner with a monosynth with two oscillators that runs entirely in the web browser. This allows you to playfully discover the most important components of a synthesiser: oscillators, filters, envelopes and LFOs. Step by step you also learn how classic synth sounds are created. Anyone already familiar with synthesis can skip the tutorials and dive directly into the sound design on a separate website – with a large selection of presets and sequences. With the Chrome web browser, it is even possible to play the synth with a MIDI controller.
Learning Music
This interactive website helps you learn the basics of music making – beats, melodies, bass lines, chords, and song structure – right in your internet browser. If you want you can even export the music you make while going through the online lessons as an Ableton Live Set to develop it further.
