synthesiser

[frank1]

Hi All,
I am a self-taught musician, if I could call myself that.  I am around a level 3, maybe 4.  I have a nice (white) piano and a Yamaha 535 keyboard.  My main goal is to learn how to sing and play at the same time but am having great difficulty with that.  What are synths and at this stage would they be of any help to me?  I am far from the stage of trying to record my own music, etc.  I subscribe to Keyboard magazine but understand contents very little.  I also know I can hook my keyboard to my laptop and do various things but don't understand where to even start with all that.  Would that help me at this stage or is that for people much better than me?  I am old (62) and have a terrible memory so that doesn't help. ha  Shoould I just practice a lot and try to get better before I mess with synths and keyboard/laptop interface?
Thanks in advance and sign me a wanna be musician.
Frank

[jimbo320]

Hi Frank,
Hopefully you have the user manual for the keyboard. Your keyboard should have instructions that came with it on connecting to a computer. That's for recording to a computer where you can mess around with different sounds. The big difference is the recording software you use but then you enter a whole world of possibility.
As far as a synth goes that's just another way of creating sounds. I use an Alesis Micron for sound effects and eletro type music. Here's a sample page you can hear https://www.synthmania.com/micron.htm  (scroll to bottom of page for sound samples)
This is the one I have. Not needed but nice to have.
Look on YouTube for instructions on recording.
Good luck to ya...

[frank1]

Jimbo320,
Obliged for the info and some nice sounds as I played several of them.  But I guess I show my ignorance here:  what are the sounds for?  What are they useful for?  Is it anything to do with recording your own music, etc?  Is there a use for a novice like me?  Thanks again.
frank

[jimbo320]

Here's a sample of what you can do with sounds you can get...

These are more on the classical side:

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