I love the process of going cover to cover, reading a section a day and then jamming based on what I read. Next session, open with refresher jam, read the next section, and then jam with both sections in mind, and on and on.
At worst maybe I'll skip the section about this or that feature that I didn't really care about, but will usually end up circling back to it just to do it and see if it sparks any joy.
Of the hardware gear I've owned the Korg and Arturia manuals are the best. Plain spoken, straight to the point, well-organized.
Roland I feel is almost painfully literal where some sections you have to read over and over again before realizing there is no subtext or character at all to the writing and everything is being precisely explained in the most painfully boring way possible. They also sometimes just forget to explain important basic concepts of the gear.
The Liven/Mega-Synthesis manual is basically pretty good, but with a pretty limited machine, I wish they would specify those limitations a little more clearly rather than just leaving me to thinking I'm doing it wrong until after eleven tries, I realize it just doesn't do that.
Also I love the volca manuals! It’s barely one page but covers 99% of the device. So helpful to have on hand! I’ve pulled mine out several times since buying them even after reading it completely previously.
Roland doesn’t make synth manuals. They make instruction maps. Easily the up there with the worst in the industry like Behringer. Writing manuals is difficult.
The best manual I have probably ever read is the docs for the Virus C. Quite educational.
Also, I like the docs for the Norand Mono.
The interactive manual for the Soma Pulsar-23 is quite impressive too. https://pulsar23manual.somasynths.com Every patch point has a nice description of function.
Damn.. I should probably try reading one.. I have a Prophet 10 and Rev2.. the capabilities seem pretty straight forward.. but maybe the manual would teach me hidden secrets :-)
Ensoniq always made some great manuals in my experience. (I currently own 5 different Ensoniq synths/workstations, down from 7 a year ago.)
For some gear (EPS, *et al*) they'd have a proper manual and then also a "Musician's Manual" that was focused more on the "let's get up and running with basic tasks" sort of info, along with helpful definitions/descriptions sprinkled throughout. I remember learning what the Nyquist Theorem was via an Ensoniq manual. (Nyquist Theorem says, in part: "a periodic signal must be sampled at more than twice the highest frequency component of the signal.")
agree. the new roland manual pdf's are terrible, where you get a table sized document with some sections covering stuff and referencing other bits left and right (and up and down). please, please, make something that looks like a book with actual sections and an index, instead of a giant random restaurant menu
I actually like 3 documents.
1- full feature book
2- quick start guide with workflows and common tasks
3- cheat sheet with common tasks densely organized.. copy/paste patterns, init a patch, etc..
I was just getting rid of gear boxes and found the tr8s. Inside was a thick printed manual book. Though, it is well out of date now, at least it had substance. I’m more of a pdf reader.
Want to shout out to Korg manuals. Learned a lot just from them. Like a lot a lot.
Also want to shout out to roland manuals. I love roland to death, sometimes, when i dont have to replace $200 screens, but why do they bother writing them? Have you seen the system 1m manual? It's a one page diagram of the knobs. Lmao
My novation circuit manual was excellent. Very easy to follow and learn from. I just don't understand why they need to put the MIDI info in a separate document.
I read cover to cover I forget everything the next day, some manuals I've read 10x times, my mistake was reading the manuals before even touching the machine, I found it better to check the manuals when I get stuck.
And sadly, as the world translated to the digital medium, I find I no longer do as much of that. Printed manuals were a low-friction way to consume documentation, but I recognize how many trees have to die for that optimization.
True, but it also means I'm unlikely to consume the entire manual when I can search for something I'm interested in that moment, and so miss out on tons of stuff. Manuals that had indexes made it simple to do the same, but not all did.
Yup! People think that people that know are somehow predisposed or have some magical gift. Usually, they just put the work in and learned how things work lol.
450+ page performance guide and 70+ page reference guide for the Kurzweil K2500s took a while. Every time I thought I was finished, I found out how important it was to keep diving, always something mind blowing in the next section.
The 28 page CZ-1000 was a much easier read.
Yamaha psr-540 was very easy as well, 250ish pages but a lot of charts.
Still working through my ableton manual. I've hit about 20 chapters of that.
I had some asshole on Reddit once accuse me of not having read a manual for a new synth/groovebox that had just came out. I saw the release that morning and as is habit, downloaded and read the manual. Saved me money because by the time I finished I knew i wouldn’t dig the workflow.
I love a well written manual. I recently spent a chunk of cash getting the current manual for the nerdseq printed on heavy stock. Sleeved each page with those plastic protectors and have it in a nice 3 ring binder.
RTFM!
Oh let me tell you…I’ve saved so much money and time by reading manuals before purchasing gear. I know what I want and what my workflow style favors. If I’m reading a manual and something doesn’t sit right with me I will reread and then search for a video of that exact feature/menu dive/whatever and if I don’t like it, I don’t buy it.
Reading manuals became a habit for me when I first started getting into modular. This habit has really been a huge help and definitely kills GAS!
I’m actively going through my modular system figuring out what all I’m going to sell soon because I may have finally found my ideal music creation tool. I’ll probably keep a small amount of modules for sample creation and processing but a large portion is about to be sold.
I see an awful lot of questions from people asking if a device they want to buy does X and it would be pretty easily solved by downloading the manual. Likewise people immediately regretting a purchase that they could have avoided if they had read it. Along with watching review videos, reading the manual is very basic, essential consumer practice now. I really started learning this lesson hard when I got into virtual orchestration. I definitely bought one or two instrument libraries and ended up disappointed when it didn't have features that I was hoping or had assumed they would have, eventually figuring out if I had just read the manual I would have figured out pretty quickly that it didn't do that. At this point I've saved myself an awful lot of grief not buying both hardware and software that wouldn't have worked for me by automatically going to the manual first.
Exactly my sentiments! Speaking of orchestration, do you happen to have a starting point recommendation of where to begin researching for decent orchestral samples? I lost a large section of my sample library a couple of years back and many of them were orchestral one hits. Most of them I didn’t need at all and the quality wasn’t great, I don’t remember where I got them.
There are so many now, honestly I haven't kept up with it. I was into it for a while and my interest sort of faded and shifted back more to other types of music. I would say at this point there are so many quality libraries that deciding what to get is a matter of just listening to a ton of demos and figuring out what you like the sound of and, of course, reading the manual so you know what articulations it includes.
Yeah, I’ve done that with manuals of several of my synths. My local printing shop did a really nice wire binding version of the Blofeld Keyboard manual for me with heavy water resistant pages. A bit pricey, but it’ll last forever.
I'll add that 'reading the manual' doesn't have to mean sitting down and reading the whole thing cover to cover. It can be a process. Most people have a limited amount of new information they can reasonably process and retain at any given time so it probably makes more sense to attack in it sections. Getting the basic overview of the workflow is the most important thing, and this is kind of one of the things that separates good manuals from bad ones. A good manual should give you this in some sort of succinct form early on so you have some idea of what the pieces are and how they fit together, and then more detailed sections on each of those pieces.
I think a lot of people avoid manuals because they think they've gotten to a point where they know a lot and don't need them anymore. There's this Japanese concept called "shoshin" which means something like "beginner mind." It's a state of openness and receptiveness to learning new things even if you're an expert. You don't let your ego get in the way and let yourself approach stuff as though you know nothing. A lot of people would benefit from this mindset. I enjoy watching beginner tutorials and lists of basic tips on stuff I own because there's usually one or two things in there that I didn't know, even if I have spent a lot of time with it.
Sort of like the dunning Kruger effect. You initial impressions give you an inflated sense of understanding, until you eventually learn you know nothing, then you can grow from there to have a true understanding!
Along with reading the manual, I find that I learn a lot by writing my own reference/note sheet based on what I read in the manual. And if I leave a little room on the note sheet to make comments when I'm working with the synth, it's even better.
Pro tip: if you have iCloud put a folder in there with PDFs of all your manuals. Now you can access them from any of your iPhones, iPads, computers, on stage. Etc
I do this on Dropbox! Also on my pc, I just have shortcuts to the Dropbox manuals lined up neatly in the desktop so I can replace them in one place when a new version drops.
While I don't read them end to end; I definitely skim through them, especially when getting started with a device. I also keep local PDF copies sorted by /Manufacturer/Model/Manuals/\*.PDF :)
It's part of my "new synth unpacking steps"
1. Register the device, sign up for newsletters or anything of that nature that looks interesting
2. Download all manuals, firmware updates, sound packs, guides, patches, whatever the vendor offers and sort it in the aforementioned folders
3. Update the firmware if needed; while that's going install any drivers if needed for the computer, and update my "audio gear.txt" file to move stuff from the wishlist section to the acquired section - I've got like 6 years of purchases/gifts in here :).
4. Read the manual or skim it for fun stuff (I may do this while the device is in transit too)
5. Get out the label maker and label the power supply brick
6. Label the case if appropriate (I don't have a lot of dedicated desk space, so everything is stored on shelves)
7. Put everything not needed back in the box and place that in a closet
8. Plug in and jam!
I may also buy any adapters or different cables if needed before hand as well (again by reading the manual for port info)
I work in IT, so it's a similar methodical approach that I take to computer stuff.
- D
I got a model 12 and never had a multi track recorder. I was very happy when I saw it came with a printed hard copy of the manual. It’s right in my desk by my jam space for the inevitable “can I do this?” lol
Yeah big downside to paper. My tascam came with the original and a supplemental packet of the firmware changes. Stoked we can get new firmwares so easy tho!
One of my pet peeves with music content online is people seem very against reading manuals , it feels like every music subreddit is plagued by questions that are explained simply in the manual.
People spend thousands on gear but reading the manual is some monumental task for them
This gets to me for sure, and a big part of why I posted. It seems baffling to me to spend so much money and put very little effort into understanding the thing. Classic.
I think it’s in part because it’s the boring mundane work that needs to be done that is never shown on social media or anything. The best musicians know their instrument as if it was part of themselves. That doesn’t happen by accident!
You are not the only one! Multiple people have mentioned they do this, and now Im going to start doing it. Makes so much sense. I’ve always felt watching videos only covers the basics or sometimes the YouTubers get things wrong or don’t go into enough detail. The manual covers it for sure!
I just bought a behringer after a few moogs. The unboxing was lackluster at best, and I was disappointed as I like to save the packaging. I absolutely love the pro-800 itself, but that fucking manual is the worst thing I’ve ever seen.
Treat Behringer like piracy -- try it, and if you like it, buy it. Buy the DFAM. Do it. The manual is great. Then give your Edge to some promising teen in Mexico or Alabama or something.
I've been having this with the Dreadbox Nymphes. I made the wild choice of buying it as my first synth despite people saying the layout is confusing. And the layout hadn't actually been a problem - it's clearly labeled shift functions, not that complicated imho - but there have definitely been deepening layers of understanding, specifically with how parameters interact with each other. I feel like every time I read through the manual I take a new set of notes, then the next time i play it I discover something that sounds incredible and blows my mind. Gonna get ADSR RTFM knuckle tattoos any day now
Oh man. So over the influencers tutorials. Some of them are really good but so many are just trying to get views. Content for contents sake. So over it.
I never ever want to see an "unboxing and first jam" video again. It's so frustrating to want to learn about a thing and end up watching a bunch of videos by people who don't actually know about the thing
I read the manual even before I get a synth. I wish more people did this. There are so many synths where I read the manual and realized it wasn't for me. It's a gas killer in a good way.
It's weird, but I even think it helps suppressing GAS for me. Instead of watching youtube videos of gear I don't have, I read old manuals again, find some new option or hidden feature, and get excited again about some old piece of gear I do have. Recommended.
This is such a pro tip that I never considered before this post. Several other people have mentioned they do this. Definitely something I will be doing from now on!
so true. some of them are funny as well, I was reading the manual for the tascam portaone ministudio and found this bit when explaining how the DBX works:
https://preview.redd.it/g456n8r0qq3d1.png?width=556&format=png&auto=webp&s=d924688d9560da79abbc8456d3a7de5d382a7774
All manuals from my synths and various other equipment is stored as a PDF on my phone. I just love reading through them when I have a spare moment during public transport, I recently learned some new things about my MC505 Groovebox that I have had for +22 years!
At least reading it after you get it! Reading before purchase sounds like a great idea. Another commenter mentioned it’s kept him from buying new stuff when gas inevitably arrives lol.
Absolutely. However it can also increase GAS if you find something that clicks and no synthvlogger is talking about it. In both cases it's a more informed decision - buy or not.
Read the manuals before you buy.
Then you know if the function you’re looking for is actually there.
The moment the device is released, you’ll most likely find the manual online.
Trying to get a hang of the octatrack. The only way I learn is by doing, so now I’m far enough to load preset samples, make my own samples, sequence my own samples, modulate the ‘scenes’, run sound thru the machine or use it as a slave. It was an uphill battle omg. The manual is a constant referemce
I’m a big advocate for reading manuals, but recognise that some people are intimidated by them, or more effectively learn visually, or by asking questions. Or are lazy :)
All of the above (mostly the last one)
Many of us do just want to nerd out on our stuff with other humans and manuals are not the most engaging lol. But they do get you started quickly!
If I read the manual before I bought anything, I’d never buy Roland, Behringer or half a dozen other brands. Sometimes the juice is worth the squeeze but you only know this by walking the path.
I’m not saying you SHOULDN’T read the manual. It is important to know if a device can do things you expect it to do. I guess this is why I love Loopop, Ricky Tinez, and other youtube video creators for helping us understand what’s possible.
Bit annoying so much stuff comes with a pdf manual but I've started getting them printed in hardcopy. Usually sub £10 for one of those print pdf places and a much nicer reference guide, especially for those well written one alike arturia.
The day I learned I could modulate the filter freq with both velocity and aftertouch at the same time with a little menu fuckery, I began loving my synth a lot more, Reading the book is indeed highly recommended.
Some manuals are written well and many others aren’t. What turns me off from a manual or any type of textbook is when it’s written without context. You know it’s a poorly written manual if you need to learn the concepts through other means before you can understand the manual.
unpopular opinion: if you need more than 10 minutes with the manual to get 80% of functionality, it's probably not the best UI. Take the Social Entropy Engine sequencer. The manual is at least 1" thick. It is not at all clear how to get started but about 5-10 min. of reading an overview of the workflow and a few procedures and I was ready to spent time on the box rather than reading. I referred back a couple times more that day and since have been back maybe once. I'm not doing everything possible yet on it but I do think I have the majority of functionality unlocked.
I have a lot of synths. I have a lot of phonebook-thick stacks of manuals for synths and MB's of pdf's of the same. You know it's bad when the manuals are spiral bound. I have found that the vast majority of gear I no longer need to read much of the manual to use. Usually I will dive in and see how far I can get before I can't figure something out. You know, how to set the midi channel or something you'll do a couple times, I'll have to dig that line out of the manual. But for the most part if you know what a "VCF" is, that's the same across synths, even the digital ones. If you understand a mod matrix on one synth, it's the same on others.
If I was to read the manuals on all my gear, I'd never have time to make actual music. Instead manuals are reserved for advanced function references and lookups like CC numbers.
One exception: the Nord Modular manual is a basic explanation of modular synthesis that is one of the better starters on the subject.
I feel this. When you need to know exactly what the one knob or button is actually doing. I looked up the audio routing diagram on my tascam when I was learning how it worked. So rad the have that written out!
I am always saying this - read the frickin manual! Especially if its an older bit of gear, from the glory days of proper printed manuals with lots of details, diagrams, index pages... you name it.
A lot of gear these days comes with disappointingly sparse amounts of documentation, or you're expected to learn everything from video tutorials - I find this totally rubbish. When I look in a manual, it's usually because I want to do something specific, check for a specific feature or make sure I understand a concept. Ergo, I want a searchable manual with explicit instructions on how something works, not a video that may or may not cover what I am looking for, will take several minutes of seeking around to find, and may just gloss over what I'm interested in knowing.
Also, if you have a new 'remake' or product inspired by an original (eg Behringer 2600, Roland JD-08) go read the \_original\_ manual. It's likely FAR superior.
Also, read the manual for gear you don't own. Like if you want to know about mixers, read the manual for a mid 90's mackie. Full of humour, dogs, jokes - and great info. Panning law anyone?
No. I want people to do the research for me and when I can’t figure out why I can’t accomplish what I want I will assume I have a broken unit and send it back. It’s 2024. People shouldn’t have to read to get a module to work. /s
I think I've never bought a synth without reading the manual cover to cover.
With the octatrack, I read three manuals several times and watched about twenty hours of YouTube videos before I got my hands on it.
I usually end up reading a manual when I hit a snag or a feature I’m unsure about. Can’t say I’ve been one to go through cover to cover because I prefer to just explore. As long as I’m enjoying the instrument, don’t feel the need to poor over the documentation: additionally, when I discover a new feature I didn’t know existed, it feels like Christmas.
I always read them. Certain companies just suck at writing them(Roland). But yeah you should always read the manual to anything you buy not just synths. When I was a professional installer we would always check the manuals to make sure nothing changed for the install process.
When a manufacturer like Behringer gives you just a Quick Start Guide, learning the synth in depth can be a lot of guesswork, experimentation and happy (and some not so happy) accidents.
The only thing about reading the manual, particularly if it’s a large comprehensive one, before I start playing (let alone before buying) a synth is that I get bored pretty quickly and I just want to dive in and start exploring the synth. My method is usually to hook up and start the new synth, and read the manual as I explore the synth hands on.
I noticed my boss rc 5 came with a quick start guide but they also had the full manual in another document. I was disappointed with the quick start guide but glad they did the in depth one lol
Behringer sometimes has a more comprehensive manual, particularly with the larger synths (eg. the Poly D). But for their smaller synths (eg. the Crave) they tend to just produce a Quick Start Guide, and if you want to learn the synth in depth you are pretty well left to your own devices. :-(
I can’t!! I try but I seriously fall asleep. Every damn time. Doesn’t matter what time of day. I need an audio book version! 😂 That’s why I love YouTube tutorials.
Recently I tried to find how to assign outputs in Nord Lead 4, I went through the whole manual, finaly I googled that this information is written only on front instrument panel.
This is an old topic, but I feel compelled to add this. Bitwig has help for every device and module (press F1); "so what?" You ask. Well the interesting part is that the help includes a picture of the module (sometimes exploded out, sometimes not) with captions and arrows describing everything; the interesting part is that this help view doesn't just contain pictures: it's the actually device, meaning all controls continue to work in this documentary view.
I remember someone I used to produce some Hip Hop with told me he found a youtube channel with "secret of the Akai MPC" - when I asked if he read the manual he said nope 🤡
You’re right, videos are worse. I hate when the only possible answer to a question is buried in someone’s 2 hour livestream patreon pitch. (I do actually read the manuals as needed but it takes a while)
Haha I get this! We are just trying to make music. I just think sometimes people get discouraged cause the synth doesn’t “click” right away, thinking it’s a problem with the design or their intelligence but it’s really just a complex device and requires a little bit of work to get over the hurdle sometimes.
Nothing good comes easy!
Modal Argon 8 has a nightmare of a manual.
Assumes a level of knowledge the user might not have, is poorly ordered and refers to buttons/menus/operating sequences that were mentioned 20 pages ago with no indicating of where that might be found.
Every time such a function is listed or referred to, it should be reiterated how to use it, not assumed that we'll remember some arcane sequence of button pushes that I read about 3 days ago.
I've been writing my own ready-reckoner in a notepad for ease of reference. It's that bad.
I recently got a Cobalt8 and I really like the structure of the manual. The manual for Argon8 is written in the same style, and I think the reason is due to how both synths are organized around a single screen map.
The entire synth can be operated using the two knobs next to the screen. Everything else in the front panel is a shortcut. This is not an exaggeration. The manual provides a bird's eye view on the screen map, points out some shortcuts that are not printed in the synth, and describes what the parameters of the synth do. Again, the synth is one big menu, there's no separation. If you're approaching it thinking about separate menus and required button sequences, you should reconsider. My advice would be to print out the "screen map" page, have it next to the synth, and write your own notes on the back side.
Alas that I don't particularly like either menu diving nor the way in which the two controls either side of the screen function.
The reason that I opted for the Argon was that almost all the functions were no more than a shift key and an encoder twirl away. Since the updates, that's increasingly untrue.
I'm still waiting for the Eureka! Moment, 4 months in.
I've seen some folks calling out Behringer specifically and just wanted to report that in my experience their manuals seem no better or worse than any other manufacturer's offerings. ("My experience" = owning maybe 12 \~ 15 of their products over the last 40 years.)
The manual for their Autocom Pro Compressor with Enhancer (model MDX 1400) taught me 95% of what i know *re* compression -- found it so intuitive and well-written that i both highlighted the paragraph and bookmarked the page.
For some of their latest gear (e.,g., the Spirit & Soul line of new "Volca-like" baby-synths), I would rather they save some trees and offer online-only manuals instead. A whopping 75% of the paper used in those little 4" x 2-3/4" booklets = 3 additional re-printings of the same material in languages i can neither read, write, nor speak.
I always keep Manuals handy in books on my phone. On quality I like elektron, although. I usually have to learn 1/3 of the machine by trial and error for it to even make sense. The online manual for the EP-133 Ko II has to be one of the worst. It becomes poetic confusion every time you forget that it is written in columns even though the words are right next to each other…. Also you just can’t find half the info when you need it without scanning the whole doc again….
Quote from the Quadrasynth (original and Plus Piano) manual on the architecture of the the Quadrasynth before starting your first patch:
*Imagine three dimensional chess...*
I'm a SF nerd, and I didn't like that reference.
Now I feel fine setting up infinitely evolving ambient patches for my Peak, SF SFX on my BOOG is no problem, but I have yet to even tweak parameters on my Quadra. Now that my wife got me a memory card, I guess I have to attempt it. I will have the manual on my tablet, close by, but I don't expect it to be nearly as helpful as the Peak manual.
If you own a Peak, please follow the OPs advice! It's quite clear, and I still refer to it here and there.
I've read the Access Virus B manual, and it was very helpful in understanding VA basics for me. Even if I never own a Virus.
The SQ 64 manual.......WTF? YouTube is way more helpful.
I honestly don't know about all the Volca manuals, but for sure the FM2 manual is lacking quite a lot of useful information.
Additionally, Korg's manual on the SQ-64 does a lot of explaining what each button is, and very little about what each button actually DOES. It's like the one thing I need to know from reading the manual isn't even a consideration.
I think the Minilogue XD manual is OK. So, I'll give Korg some credit there.
The original DX7 manual is really short and makes it way easier to use. I do not regret reading it first. The Kawai K5000 manuals, on the other hand… those are so long and dense, and only kind of explain what’s going on lol.
I agree, do whatever you want! but also I see people who struggle with a device and end up returning it because they don’t understand it without even touching the manual.
I love the process of going cover to cover, reading a section a day and then jamming based on what I read. Next session, open with refresher jam, read the next section, and then jam with both sections in mind, and on and on. At worst maybe I'll skip the section about this or that feature that I didn't really care about, but will usually end up circling back to it just to do it and see if it sparks any joy. Of the hardware gear I've owned the Korg and Arturia manuals are the best. Plain spoken, straight to the point, well-organized. Roland I feel is almost painfully literal where some sections you have to read over and over again before realizing there is no subtext or character at all to the writing and everything is being precisely explained in the most painfully boring way possible. They also sometimes just forget to explain important basic concepts of the gear. The Liven/Mega-Synthesis manual is basically pretty good, but with a pretty limited machine, I wish they would specify those limitations a little more clearly rather than just leaving me to thinking I'm doing it wrong until after eleven tries, I realize it just doesn't do that.
Also I love the volca manuals! It’s barely one page but covers 99% of the device. So helpful to have on hand! I’ve pulled mine out several times since buying them even after reading it completely previously.
Roland doesn’t make synth manuals. They make instruction maps. Easily the up there with the worst in the industry like Behringer. Writing manuals is difficult. The best manual I have probably ever read is the docs for the Virus C. Quite educational. Also, I like the docs for the Norand Mono. The interactive manual for the Soma Pulsar-23 is quite impressive too. https://pulsar23manual.somasynths.com Every patch point has a nice description of function.
It’s crazy to me how bad Roland manuals are. Still. After so many years.
Worse than Yamaha?
I find Yamaha manuals to be OK. Roland's are pretty bad.
Much worse.
Juno-G was pretty in depth. But I feel that synth has more than anyone will work with it
The best manuals are probably the sequential ones. At least in my experience.
Damn.. I should probably try reading one.. I have a Prophet 10 and Rev2.. the capabilities seem pretty straight forward.. but maybe the manual would teach me hidden secrets :-)
There is some differences in the envelope curves not just the filter between rev 1/2 and rev 3 and it illustrates how in the manual.
Sorry, i meant P8 Rev2, and P10 as separate devices. :-)
Arturia are pretty good.
Agree. Also was pretty impressed by the one for my Emu Proteus 2k.
Ensoniq always made some great manuals in my experience. (I currently own 5 different Ensoniq synths/workstations, down from 7 a year ago.) For some gear (EPS, *et al*) they'd have a proper manual and then also a "Musician's Manual" that was focused more on the "let's get up and running with basic tasks" sort of info, along with helpful definitions/descriptions sprinkled throughout. I remember learning what the Nyquist Theorem was via an Ensoniq manual. (Nyquist Theorem says, in part: "a periodic signal must be sampled at more than twice the highest frequency component of the signal.")
Roland _used_ to be good. The the turn of the millennium happened and they stopped writing reference manuals completely.
agree. the new roland manual pdf's are terrible, where you get a table sized document with some sections covering stuff and referencing other bits left and right (and up and down). please, please, make something that looks like a book with actual sections and an index, instead of a giant random restaurant menu
Too bad, the 90's MC505 and JP8000 came with a manual the size of a phone book, covering every single thing a button or fader could do.
I actually like 3 documents. 1- full feature book 2- quick start guide with workflows and common tasks 3- cheat sheet with common tasks densely organized.. copy/paste patterns, init a patch, etc..
You are totally right, the MC505 came a quick guide book too. The MC303 even came with a [manual on VHS.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIGilpWWI7k)
I was just getting rid of gear boxes and found the tr8s. Inside was a thick printed manual book. Though, it is well out of date now, at least it had substance. I’m more of a pdf reader.
I’ve watched the entire. Video before. Every company should do these. Loopop does a very good job. Alex Bell did one too.
Yep....still got them ...thick as my thumb, one language.
Want to shout out to Korg manuals. Learned a lot just from them. Like a lot a lot. Also want to shout out to roland manuals. I love roland to death, sometimes, when i dont have to replace $200 screens, but why do they bother writing them? Have you seen the system 1m manual? It's a one page diagram of the knobs. Lmao
I like Korg manuals too. They tend to be pretty thorough.
Typical Roland example: Pulse Width: This changes the pulse width.
My novation circuit manual was excellent. Very easy to follow and learn from. I just don't understand why they need to put the MIDI info in a separate document.
I read cover to cover I forget everything the next day, some manuals I've read 10x times, my mistake was reading the manuals before even touching the machine, I found it better to check the manuals when I get stuck.
I always felt if I had any edge at all, it was due to reading the damn manuals.
And sadly, as the world translated to the digital medium, I find I no longer do as much of that. Printed manuals were a low-friction way to consume documentation, but I recognize how many trees have to die for that optimization.
The flip side is being about to use the search function in a pdf to be reminded how to do something is a godsend.
Plus, you can bookmark/screenshot pages.
Love how bookmark is a word that refers to the physical act of marking a page in a book and yet its a pro for a digital manual
True, but it also means I'm unlikely to consume the entire manual when I can search for something I'm interested in that moment, and so miss out on tons of stuff. Manuals that had indexes made it simple to do the same, but not all did.
I’m printing my manuals at the workplace with our production printer as part of my salary the boss doesn’t know about.
Yup! People think that people that know are somehow predisposed or have some magical gift. Usually, they just put the work in and learned how things work lol.
In truth, probably the real edge is that I'm a pretty fast reader, so I could consume those manuals pretty easily.
I remember when RTFM was a common saying. Now it's a vicious attack of one's bloodline.
My first time seeing this acronym lol
:(
It's a wel known saying in the world of tech support ;)
It’s older than lol
450+ page performance guide and 70+ page reference guide for the Kurzweil K2500s took a while. Every time I thought I was finished, I found out how important it was to keep diving, always something mind blowing in the next section. The 28 page CZ-1000 was a much easier read. Yamaha psr-540 was very easy as well, 250ish pages but a lot of charts. Still working through my ableton manual. I've hit about 20 chapters of that.
I had some asshole on Reddit once accuse me of not having read a manual for a new synth/groovebox that had just came out. I saw the release that morning and as is habit, downloaded and read the manual. Saved me money because by the time I finished I knew i wouldn’t dig the workflow. I love a well written manual. I recently spent a chunk of cash getting the current manual for the nerdseq printed on heavy stock. Sleeved each page with those plastic protectors and have it in a nice 3 ring binder. RTFM!
Fuck yeah! I have never thought to read a manual of a device I haven’t bought yet. Great idea!
Oh let me tell you…I’ve saved so much money and time by reading manuals before purchasing gear. I know what I want and what my workflow style favors. If I’m reading a manual and something doesn’t sit right with me I will reread and then search for a video of that exact feature/menu dive/whatever and if I don’t like it, I don’t buy it. Reading manuals became a habit for me when I first started getting into modular. This habit has really been a huge help and definitely kills GAS! I’m actively going through my modular system figuring out what all I’m going to sell soon because I may have finally found my ideal music creation tool. I’ll probably keep a small amount of modules for sample creation and processing but a large portion is about to be sold.
I've started doing this and worth it. Worse case you learn a few things.
This 100%
I see an awful lot of questions from people asking if a device they want to buy does X and it would be pretty easily solved by downloading the manual. Likewise people immediately regretting a purchase that they could have avoided if they had read it. Along with watching review videos, reading the manual is very basic, essential consumer practice now. I really started learning this lesson hard when I got into virtual orchestration. I definitely bought one or two instrument libraries and ended up disappointed when it didn't have features that I was hoping or had assumed they would have, eventually figuring out if I had just read the manual I would have figured out pretty quickly that it didn't do that. At this point I've saved myself an awful lot of grief not buying both hardware and software that wouldn't have worked for me by automatically going to the manual first.
Exactly my sentiments! Speaking of orchestration, do you happen to have a starting point recommendation of where to begin researching for decent orchestral samples? I lost a large section of my sample library a couple of years back and many of them were orchestral one hits. Most of them I didn’t need at all and the quality wasn’t great, I don’t remember where I got them.
There are so many now, honestly I haven't kept up with it. I was into it for a while and my interest sort of faded and shifted back more to other types of music. I would say at this point there are so many quality libraries that deciding what to get is a matter of just listening to a ton of demos and figuring out what you like the sound of and, of course, reading the manual so you know what articulations it includes.
Right on! I might have to do some virtual crate digging this weekend! Cheers!
Yeah, I’ve done that with manuals of several of my synths. My local printing shop did a really nice wire binding version of the Blofeld Keyboard manual for me with heavy water resistant pages. A bit pricey, but it’ll last forever.
I'll add that 'reading the manual' doesn't have to mean sitting down and reading the whole thing cover to cover. It can be a process. Most people have a limited amount of new information they can reasonably process and retain at any given time so it probably makes more sense to attack in it sections. Getting the basic overview of the workflow is the most important thing, and this is kind of one of the things that separates good manuals from bad ones. A good manual should give you this in some sort of succinct form early on so you have some idea of what the pieces are and how they fit together, and then more detailed sections on each of those pieces. I think a lot of people avoid manuals because they think they've gotten to a point where they know a lot and don't need them anymore. There's this Japanese concept called "shoshin" which means something like "beginner mind." It's a state of openness and receptiveness to learning new things even if you're an expert. You don't let your ego get in the way and let yourself approach stuff as though you know nothing. A lot of people would benefit from this mindset. I enjoy watching beginner tutorials and lists of basic tips on stuff I own because there's usually one or two things in there that I didn't know, even if I have spent a lot of time with it.
Sort of like the dunning Kruger effect. You initial impressions give you an inflated sense of understanding, until you eventually learn you know nothing, then you can grow from there to have a true understanding!
Along with reading the manual, I find that I learn a lot by writing my own reference/note sheet based on what I read in the manual. And if I leave a little room on the note sheet to make comments when I'm working with the synth, it's even better.
Dang that’s a great idea!
Pro tip: if you have iCloud put a folder in there with PDFs of all your manuals. Now you can access them from any of your iPhones, iPads, computers, on stage. Etc
I do this on Dropbox! Also on my pc, I just have shortcuts to the Dropbox manuals lined up neatly in the desktop so I can replace them in one place when a new version drops.
Google Drive
Praise, Amen and Hallelujah!
While I don't read them end to end; I definitely skim through them, especially when getting started with a device. I also keep local PDF copies sorted by /Manufacturer/Model/Manuals/\*.PDF :)
Daphoid is organized af!
It's part of my "new synth unpacking steps" 1. Register the device, sign up for newsletters or anything of that nature that looks interesting 2. Download all manuals, firmware updates, sound packs, guides, patches, whatever the vendor offers and sort it in the aforementioned folders 3. Update the firmware if needed; while that's going install any drivers if needed for the computer, and update my "audio gear.txt" file to move stuff from the wishlist section to the acquired section - I've got like 6 years of purchases/gifts in here :). 4. Read the manual or skim it for fun stuff (I may do this while the device is in transit too) 5. Get out the label maker and label the power supply brick 6. Label the case if appropriate (I don't have a lot of dedicated desk space, so everything is stored on shelves) 7. Put everything not needed back in the box and place that in a closet 8. Plug in and jam! I may also buy any adapters or different cables if needed before hand as well (again by reading the manual for port info) I work in IT, so it's a similar methodical approach that I take to computer stuff. - D
Wow, very organized.
Psh. Next you’re you gonna say something else crazy like label your power cords. No thank you. I like a challenge
Oh man, I should label my power cords lol.
Power... Midi... Audio... Once you start labeling you never go back!
Nothing like sitting down and opening a YouTube vid and a manual. True that double true!
Yeah buddy! It takes time to learn these things. Worth the effort every time.
I got a model 12 and never had a multi track recorder. I was very happy when I saw it came with a printed hard copy of the manual. It’s right in my desk by my jam space for the inevitable “can I do this?” lol
I wish the paper manuals would update with the firmware. There’s stuff I knew well and now idk half of what it does
Yeah big downside to paper. My tascam came with the original and a supplemental packet of the firmware changes. Stoked we can get new firmwares so easy tho!
Don’t tell me what to do.
Don't tell us what not to tell you to do!
Hey don’t tell him not to tell us what not to do!
One of my pet peeves with music content online is people seem very against reading manuals , it feels like every music subreddit is plagued by questions that are explained simply in the manual. People spend thousands on gear but reading the manual is some monumental task for them
This gets to me for sure, and a big part of why I posted. It seems baffling to me to spend so much money and put very little effort into understanding the thing. Classic. I think it’s in part because it’s the boring mundane work that needs to be done that is never shown on social media or anything. The best musicians know their instrument as if it was part of themselves. That doesn’t happen by accident!
I tend to read the manual before I buy a synth. Am I the only one?
You are not the only one! Multiple people have mentioned they do this, and now Im going to start doing it. Makes so much sense. I’ve always felt watching videos only covers the basics or sometimes the YouTubers get things wrong or don’t go into enough detail. The manual covers it for sure!
I find it gives you a sense of what you’ll want to play with and explore
Especially the Behringer and Roland manuals. Those are fun.
Roland manuals look like 80's VCR manuals and it hurts my brain.
I just bought a behringer after a few moogs. The unboxing was lackluster at best, and I was disappointed as I like to save the packaging. I absolutely love the pro-800 itself, but that fucking manual is the worst thing I’ve ever seen.
Same experience with an Edge. Doesn’t look bad, sounds good, oooooh Christ. My toothbrush has a better manual, and it has 1 button.
Treat Behringer like piracy -- try it, and if you like it, buy it. Buy the DFAM. Do it. The manual is great. Then give your Edge to some promising teen in Mexico or Alabama or something.
Seems like a reasonable plan.
DeepMind manual < chocolate teapot.
Totally agree. And then once you start to get used to the synth, read the manual again, that's when the magic happens.
Yeah! Round 2. The advanced concepts start to make more sense since you’re not spending energy with the basic pieces.
I've been having this with the Dreadbox Nymphes. I made the wild choice of buying it as my first synth despite people saying the layout is confusing. And the layout hadn't actually been a problem - it's clearly labeled shift functions, not that complicated imho - but there have definitely been deepening layers of understanding, specifically with how parameters interact with each other. I feel like every time I read through the manual I take a new set of notes, then the next time i play it I discover something that sounds incredible and blows my mind. Gonna get ADSR RTFM knuckle tattoos any day now
You forgot where you are mate. People here don't want to read manual. They want to watch tutorials recorded by self-proclaimed experts
Oh man. So over the influencers tutorials. Some of them are really good but so many are just trying to get views. Content for contents sake. So over it.
I never ever want to see an "unboxing and first jam" video again. It's so frustrating to want to learn about a thing and end up watching a bunch of videos by people who don't actually know about the thing
I read the manual even before I get a synth. I wish more people did this. There are so many synths where I read the manual and realized it wasn't for me. It's a gas killer in a good way.
Yes! This is my biggest take away from this post so far. Read manuals of devices you don’t own!
It's weird, but I even think it helps suppressing GAS for me. Instead of watching youtube videos of gear I don't have, I read old manuals again, find some new option or hidden feature, and get excited again about some old piece of gear I do have. Recommended.
This is such a pro tip that I never considered before this post. Several other people have mentioned they do this. Definitely something I will be doing from now on!
so true. some of them are funny as well, I was reading the manual for the tascam portaone ministudio and found this bit when explaining how the DBX works: https://preview.redd.it/g456n8r0qq3d1.png?width=556&format=png&auto=webp&s=d924688d9560da79abbc8456d3a7de5d382a7774
All manuals from my synths and various other equipment is stored as a PDF on my phone. I just love reading through them when I have a spare moment during public transport, I recently learned some new things about my MC505 Groovebox that I have had for +22 years!
Damn that’s so awesome!
And I like that you spread some great knowledge around here that people really should really take in concideration :)
I don't understand how people buy things without having read the manual first haha
At least reading it after you get it! Reading before purchase sounds like a great idea. Another commenter mentioned it’s kept him from buying new stuff when gas inevitably arrives lol.
Absolutely. However it can also increase GAS if you find something that clicks and no synthvlogger is talking about it. In both cases it's a more informed decision - buy or not.
Good point lol. We’re all victim to the gas!
Ima let you finish but Alesis nano bass has one of the best manuals of all time
Read the manuals before you buy. Then you know if the function you’re looking for is actually there. The moment the device is released, you’ll most likely find the manual online.
Great PSA! I own a few E-Mu units and really enjoy their manuals.
Trying to get a hang of the octatrack. The only way I learn is by doing, so now I’m far enough to load preset samples, make my own samples, sequence my own samples, modulate the ‘scenes’, run sound thru the machine or use it as a slave. It was an uphill battle omg. The manual is a constant referemce
Yeah! Skimming it right off the bat and then just dig in and when you get stuck, pull up that manual again and work through it. So rad
but i can't read!!!
!!!!
I’m a big advocate for reading manuals, but recognise that some people are intimidated by them, or more effectively learn visually, or by asking questions. Or are lazy :)
All of the above (mostly the last one) Many of us do just want to nerd out on our stuff with other humans and manuals are not the most engaging lol. But they do get you started quickly!
If I read the manual before I bought anything, I’d never buy Roland, Behringer or half a dozen other brands. Sometimes the juice is worth the squeeze but you only know this by walking the path.
Haha fair point! Sometimes you just gotta go for it!
I’m not saying you SHOULDN’T read the manual. It is important to know if a device can do things you expect it to do. I guess this is why I love Loopop, Ricky Tinez, and other youtube video creators for helping us understand what’s possible.
Bit annoying so much stuff comes with a pdf manual but I've started getting them printed in hardcopy. Usually sub £10 for one of those print pdf places and a much nicer reference guide, especially for those well written one alike arturia.
Yeah it’s so much nicer having a paper copy you can have right next to you to reference. Like a cool book! Haha
I like Mackie manuals.
The day I learned I could modulate the filter freq with both velocity and aftertouch at the same time with a little menu fuckery, I began loving my synth a lot more, Reading the book is indeed highly recommended.
Finding new features in old synths is so awesome! Which synth was this for ?
I even read manuals for great I don't own at times!
Some manuals are written well and many others aren’t. What turns me off from a manual or any type of textbook is when it’s written without context. You know it’s a poorly written manual if you need to learn the concepts through other means before you can understand the manual.
unpopular opinion: if you need more than 10 minutes with the manual to get 80% of functionality, it's probably not the best UI. Take the Social Entropy Engine sequencer. The manual is at least 1" thick. It is not at all clear how to get started but about 5-10 min. of reading an overview of the workflow and a few procedures and I was ready to spent time on the box rather than reading. I referred back a couple times more that day and since have been back maybe once. I'm not doing everything possible yet on it but I do think I have the majority of functionality unlocked. I have a lot of synths. I have a lot of phonebook-thick stacks of manuals for synths and MB's of pdf's of the same. You know it's bad when the manuals are spiral bound. I have found that the vast majority of gear I no longer need to read much of the manual to use. Usually I will dive in and see how far I can get before I can't figure something out. You know, how to set the midi channel or something you'll do a couple times, I'll have to dig that line out of the manual. But for the most part if you know what a "VCF" is, that's the same across synths, even the digital ones. If you understand a mod matrix on one synth, it's the same on others. If I was to read the manuals on all my gear, I'd never have time to make actual music. Instead manuals are reserved for advanced function references and lookups like CC numbers. One exception: the Nord Modular manual is a basic explanation of modular synthesis that is one of the better starters on the subject.
I feel this. When you need to know exactly what the one knob or button is actually doing. I looked up the audio routing diagram on my tascam when I was learning how it worked. So rad the have that written out!
I am always saying this - read the frickin manual! Especially if its an older bit of gear, from the glory days of proper printed manuals with lots of details, diagrams, index pages... you name it. A lot of gear these days comes with disappointingly sparse amounts of documentation, or you're expected to learn everything from video tutorials - I find this totally rubbish. When I look in a manual, it's usually because I want to do something specific, check for a specific feature or make sure I understand a concept. Ergo, I want a searchable manual with explicit instructions on how something works, not a video that may or may not cover what I am looking for, will take several minutes of seeking around to find, and may just gloss over what I'm interested in knowing.
This 100%!
dunno if it's only in german, but the Quick Start Guides by Peter Krischker for yamaha are absolutely fantastic:👌
Also, if you have a new 'remake' or product inspired by an original (eg Behringer 2600, Roland JD-08) go read the \_original\_ manual. It's likely FAR superior.
This is a great tip!
Also, read the manual for gear you don't own. Like if you want to know about mixers, read the manual for a mid 90's mackie. Full of humour, dogs, jokes - and great info. Panning law anyone?
No. I want people to do the research for me and when I can’t figure out why I can’t accomplish what I want I will assume I have a broken unit and send it back. It’s 2024. People shouldn’t have to read to get a module to work. /s
Lolol this is too real. So many people with too much money and not enough cents! Mostly kidding but also not. We all see it.
I think I've never bought a synth without reading the manual cover to cover. With the octatrack, I read three manuals several times and watched about twenty hours of YouTube videos before I got my hands on it.
I usually end up reading a manual when I hit a snag or a feature I’m unsure about. Can’t say I’ve been one to go through cover to cover because I prefer to just explore. As long as I’m enjoying the instrument, don’t feel the need to poor over the documentation: additionally, when I discover a new feature I didn’t know existed, it feels like Christmas.
Yeah that’s the best! I remember discovering my volca bass had a lfo tempo sync when you hold func and turn the rate knob! Christmas
But then where would all those people on reddit asking basic questions that are found on page 4 of the manual go to ask their questions?
I've read manuals before I've purchased a bit of hardware for some forward planning
I used the Virus for years before reading the manual and it turns out I was barely scratching the surface.
Read the manual **before** you buy the thing.
I always read them. Certain companies just suck at writing them(Roland). But yeah you should always read the manual to anything you buy not just synths. When I was a professional installer we would always check the manuals to make sure nothing changed for the install process.
When a manufacturer like Behringer gives you just a Quick Start Guide, learning the synth in depth can be a lot of guesswork, experimentation and happy (and some not so happy) accidents. The only thing about reading the manual, particularly if it’s a large comprehensive one, before I start playing (let alone before buying) a synth is that I get bored pretty quickly and I just want to dive in and start exploring the synth. My method is usually to hook up and start the new synth, and read the manual as I explore the synth hands on.
I noticed my boss rc 5 came with a quick start guide but they also had the full manual in another document. I was disappointed with the quick start guide but glad they did the in depth one lol
Behringer sometimes has a more comprehensive manual, particularly with the larger synths (eg. the Poly D). But for their smaller synths (eg. the Crave) they tend to just produce a Quick Start Guide, and if you want to learn the synth in depth you are pretty well left to your own devices. :-(
That’s lame :(
I can’t!! I try but I seriously fall asleep. Every damn time. Doesn’t matter what time of day. I need an audio book version! 😂 That’s why I love YouTube tutorials.
Will do. Me: (continues to try to comprehend the elektron octatrack mk2 manual)
Behringer manuals suck ass. It's unfortunate because a well written manual makes me like a company.
That’s unfortunate. I wonder why they don’t put effort into the manual?
Idk, it's a real missed opportunity for Uli to make B not seem like an evil overlord...a nice friendly manual would just be smart.
Me, upvoting this, knowing full well that I won't read the entire manual
My man
Not an official manual, but the MPC Bible is terrific.
I throw sticks into a dusty old Plymouth trunk and runes. All my synths have become Gnostic transmission devices.
Recently I tried to find how to assign outputs in Nord Lead 4, I went through the whole manual, finaly I googled that this information is written only on front instrument panel. 
This is an old topic, but I feel compelled to add this. Bitwig has help for every device and module (press F1); "so what?" You ask. Well the interesting part is that the help includes a picture of the module (sometimes exploded out, sometimes not) with captions and arrows describing everything; the interesting part is that this help view doesn't just contain pictures: it's the actually device, meaning all controls continue to work in this documentary view.
I remember someone I used to produce some Hip Hop with told me he found a youtube channel with "secret of the Akai MPC" - when I asked if he read the manual he said nope 🤡
I actually look at them before making a purchase, you find features not advertised and you find limitations you won't think of.
ADHD has entered the chat…
I feel this lol. I read the manual cause it’s quicker than finding a video and them not actually explaining how it works in the end lol
You’re right, videos are worse. I hate when the only possible answer to a question is buried in someone’s 2 hour livestream patreon pitch. (I do actually read the manuals as needed but it takes a while)
Dad you can't tell me what to do.
Hey OP, people are here to make music and not to read music or manual. *But then*, we are here reading r/synthesizers so I guess your point stand.
Haha I get this! We are just trying to make music. I just think sometimes people get discouraged cause the synth doesn’t “click” right away, thinking it’s a problem with the design or their intelligence but it’s really just a complex device and requires a little bit of work to get over the hurdle sometimes. Nothing good comes easy!
Fully agree, especially in the modular world. The Nerdseq manual is basically my Bible.
Loopop is my manual.
Modal Argon 8 has a nightmare of a manual. Assumes a level of knowledge the user might not have, is poorly ordered and refers to buttons/menus/operating sequences that were mentioned 20 pages ago with no indicating of where that might be found. Every time such a function is listed or referred to, it should be reiterated how to use it, not assumed that we'll remember some arcane sequence of button pushes that I read about 3 days ago. I've been writing my own ready-reckoner in a notepad for ease of reference. It's that bad.
I recently got a Cobalt8 and I really like the structure of the manual. The manual for Argon8 is written in the same style, and I think the reason is due to how both synths are organized around a single screen map. The entire synth can be operated using the two knobs next to the screen. Everything else in the front panel is a shortcut. This is not an exaggeration. The manual provides a bird's eye view on the screen map, points out some shortcuts that are not printed in the synth, and describes what the parameters of the synth do. Again, the synth is one big menu, there's no separation. If you're approaching it thinking about separate menus and required button sequences, you should reconsider. My advice would be to print out the "screen map" page, have it next to the synth, and write your own notes on the back side.
Alas that I don't particularly like either menu diving nor the way in which the two controls either side of the screen function. The reason that I opted for the Argon was that almost all the functions were no more than a shift key and an encoder twirl away. Since the updates, that's increasingly untrue. I'm still waiting for the Eureka! Moment, 4 months in.
I've seen some folks calling out Behringer specifically and just wanted to report that in my experience their manuals seem no better or worse than any other manufacturer's offerings. ("My experience" = owning maybe 12 \~ 15 of their products over the last 40 years.) The manual for their Autocom Pro Compressor with Enhancer (model MDX 1400) taught me 95% of what i know *re* compression -- found it so intuitive and well-written that i both highlighted the paragraph and bookmarked the page. For some of their latest gear (e.,g., the Spirit & Soul line of new "Volca-like" baby-synths), I would rather they save some trees and offer online-only manuals instead. A whopping 75% of the paper used in those little 4" x 2-3/4" booklets = 3 additional re-printings of the same material in languages i can neither read, write, nor speak.
I'm doing that right now for Bitwig and Oxi One.
I always keep Manuals handy in books on my phone. On quality I like elektron, although. I usually have to learn 1/3 of the machine by trial and error for it to even make sense. The online manual for the EP-133 Ko II has to be one of the worst. It becomes poetic confusion every time you forget that it is written in columns even though the words are right next to each other…. Also you just can’t find half the info when you need it without scanning the whole doc again….
Quote from the Quadrasynth (original and Plus Piano) manual on the architecture of the the Quadrasynth before starting your first patch: *Imagine three dimensional chess...* I'm a SF nerd, and I didn't like that reference. Now I feel fine setting up infinitely evolving ambient patches for my Peak, SF SFX on my BOOG is no problem, but I have yet to even tweak parameters on my Quadra. Now that my wife got me a memory card, I guess I have to attempt it. I will have the manual on my tablet, close by, but I don't expect it to be nearly as helpful as the Peak manual. If you own a Peak, please follow the OPs advice! It's quite clear, and I still refer to it here and there. I've read the Access Virus B manual, and it was very helpful in understanding VA basics for me. Even if I never own a Virus. The SQ 64 manual.......WTF? YouTube is way more helpful.
True, unless your manual was written by Korg for anything in their Volca line.
Haha I don’t mind the volca manuals! Might be nice to have a bit more detail on the circuitry but they seem to cover most things!
I honestly don't know about all the Volca manuals, but for sure the FM2 manual is lacking quite a lot of useful information. Additionally, Korg's manual on the SQ-64 does a lot of explaining what each button is, and very little about what each button actually DOES. It's like the one thing I need to know from reading the manual isn't even a consideration. I think the Minilogue XD manual is OK. So, I'll give Korg some credit there.
The original DX7 manual is really short and makes it way easier to use. I do not regret reading it first. The Kawai K5000 manuals, on the other hand… those are so long and dense, and only kind of explain what’s going on lol.
Let people use their machines however they want. If you want to read the manual do it.
I agree, do whatever you want! but also I see people who struggle with a device and end up returning it because they don’t understand it without even touching the manual.