Loudon's awesome teacher. This is how teaching should be done. Straight to the point engineering sounds and not math & calculus equations to explain how things work. He demonstrates it all in practice, not in theory that people couldn't relate.

The course gave a well structured overview on sound synthesis and I found it a good idea to combine it with building a song-project. It is really an overview - and this could be better labeled in the course description (there are a lot of other synthesis types like fm, wavetable etc.) - however looks like trying it out is the best way to get into it. So this is a starting point into the wonderful and complex world of sound synthesis.

The right Step towards building basics after introduction to Synths. Some very good inputs like Manual control of the Filter cutoff etc.... Overall Extremely informative.

Nice course! The teaching is excellent (5 stars), and I have learned a lot in this course. It is short but intensive.

I initially planned to give only 2 or 3 stars because of several reasons, described below. But in the end I like the course a lot so I don't want to go too low.

Reasons are:

1) Strobe, the software synth required in the course, was hardly usable (crashing always in 64 bit mode, sometimes in 32 bit mode). Several applicants stopped the course because of this. However this was (at least for me) solved during the course (I can use it now without any problems). So that is great (but a bit late).

2) The course is (as of March 2016) new and still contains many errors. The videos, as said, are excellent. But the assignments are often wrong and not accurate (actually 4 out of 4 contain errors...). In the first assignment you are asked to list favorites in 14 categories, but there are only 13. So you can never get the full points, or the reviewers should be flexible. In many of the following assignments the naming of the to be uploaded files is unclear or erroneous. It is important to fix that because reviewers are explicitly asked if the names are correct. In the third assignment it is worse, there is no room for an upload of the MP3, the final product of your whole week work which should be judged. One error was fixed during the course but in a hasty way, the most important errors are still there. Anyway, that will hopefully be fixed before the next cycle starts.

3) The course is really targetted to House (or at least Dance) music. All assignments should follow a predescribed form, while I (as an amateur classical pianist) would like to create pieces not following that form, but still using synth sounds. But if you do that, you get less points or do not pass the assignments. So that is too strict (in my opinion).

4) Strobe2 is central in the course. It is mainly educating for Strobe2. I tried after the course to apply the knowlegde to other synth plugins, which is possible but only in a limited way. You really learn how to do it in Strobe2, and there is no education for other synth plugins. Many concepts cannot easily be transferred. That is different from Loudon's excellent course Music Production, which was designed to be software independent.

So I have several objections to the course. But some of them can be fixed, and it was still a great course, I learned a lot and I enjoyed it, and I give it 4 stars.

Hello Berklee, dear Loudon,

Well supported by video and syllabus. I have gained much more inside knowledge and a good format how to create my own patches and destruct or analyse my fav patches. Thanks to my fellow students / peers as they have contribute a lot in this process. It wasn't always easy peasy, quite hard but educational and lots of fun. An amazing journey indeed. Just loved the course.

Thanks Loudon!

Don

I audited this course, and learned a lot. I'm new to synthesizers, and this class gave me a toolkit of basic patching starting points that are a great way to leapfrog into extended musical ideas. It also covers a good amount of song construction and workflow in a way that is very helpful. I would absolutely recomend this course to someone interested in creating sounds and music.

This was a great course! I really enjoyed the time I spent on this. I build a draft for a song which was just an improvised idea at first, but at the end of the course it has a very nice evolution. Also, I learned how to create some sounds from scratch using a digital synth and this gives me enough confidence to design my own patches on a hardware synth. I'm very satisfied :)

Great course for understanding sound design in a project. I did the course on multiple DAWs so I would get the most out of it. The teacher is fantastic and makes the course easy for beginners or advanced future designers. I like that it was in an environment that most people would not already have as a plugin.

Lot of information, mostly on Strobe2. Was looking for more production information, i.e using a DAW, running a recording session, getting the best out of muscians, etc. Not really what this class is all about. If you want to make weird noises with a sythn then this class is for you.

Thanks so Much Berklee for make my knowledge complete.... increase my skills in everything that i get involved in music world.... What can i say: GUYS ... YOU REALLY ROCKS!!! Thanks so much and merry Christmas and a Happy New year 2017.... Love you Guys!!!!

For me it was amazing introduction to the world of sound design and many of the concepts and principles learned with the patches each week can be applied to other synths. But it would very helpful if we could have examples on different types of synths

Big thanks to Berklee Online and Loudon for this amazing sound creating and sound production journey. I am inspired and better music producer than before this course. I learn so much more than sound design.

I really like this course. It was very useful to me and allowed me to improve my music making.I have come to know a lot more about using a synthesizer.Thank you all teachers for creating this course.

I was pleased with this course. Loudon looked a lot Younger. At first I was critical of the synth (Strobe 2) and of the Course Style But I was impressed by Other Students. Thanks Loudon - Le

Este es un campo del cual desconocía mucho pero siempre me ha interesado, pude aprender sobre los fundamentos y aspectos básicos para empezar a aplicarlos en mis propios proyectos.

Thank you a lot for such a course! I felt so inspired thanks to Loudon Stearns. I learnt a lot but what is more important - I feel encouraged to learn more

One of the best courses I have taken (and I have taken many). Massive end excellent teaching material. Fantastic teacher. Highly recommended!

Awesome course for begginers like me for create from scratch my sounds in my virtual synthesizers.

Thanks so much Coursera and Berklee Online!

Very useful and interesting. Is recommended (but not required) to have some experience and knowledge about synths and this staff...

This course has helped me a lot, now i know how to make EDM and create my own patches, lots of things in this course, i love it.

Fantastic. I used it to create a LOT of patches and use them in my songs now. My favorite of the 4 courses in the specialization

Very interesting and useful course. Very important that this course contains a lot of practical meterials and exercises.

I enjoyed this course and even though I have owned and played synths since the 70s I still learned a lot.

Thanks Loudan!

Is incredible. All the info and all the wasted time that I spent on the internet. You got everything in order. LOVE IT

Thank you, this is a wonderful course, I learned a lot of new and useful things for myself, I wish you good luck !!!!