Make – Analog Synthesizers: Make Electronic Sounds the Synth-DIY Way

Enthusiastically written and well explained. Perfect if you have some knowledge of op amp circuits.Circuit diagrams seemed to have been drawn to save space rather than for easy readability but are also well explained.I really enjoyed it, which is not something I often say about electronics text books, and I'm going to try some of the ideas out.

The book is excellent and the author explains the concepts well. The first few chapters go into detail about what tools are required as well as the theory behind analogue synthesisers before heading into a project. The book can be quite America-centric at times when referring to places to buy parts or how to save money on certain items but I didn't find this to be a problem as the tips are still useful and many of the websites mentioned have UK sites as well.The author has an enjoyable style of writing which I enjoyed and which helped me get through the book. Informative, well written and great value for money.

Outstanding package, excellent item, faster delivery.. I was expecting more important stuff in it. Not so deep about synthesiser.

First of all this book is very generously priced - you get a lot of good information for £11.50, I think I would happily pay double that.If you are a fan of Nicolas Collins book "Handmade Electronic Music" and are looking for something new and more advanced to get into, then this is the perfect book for you. If you want to get into circuits and building electronic music from the ground up then I would read Collins book first:Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware HackingI gave 4 stars because at times I thought the layout of the book was poor, it could have done with a little more editing in my opinion to make some concepts easier to grasp.My only other criticism is that I found Ray's language impenetrable at points, but you shouldn't let that put you off, build the circuits in the book, modify them and adapt them, you will find that they are very flexible!One more note, I noticed another review here that criticised the book for having a large section on the Noise Toaster instrument, but really, this section is great as Ray explains the instrument part by part, and I will let you in on a secret - you can pull each module out of the Noise Toaster and build it as a stand alone - I have made a standalone active low-pass filter from the notes that runs from a single 9v battery!(Edit: I decided to bump to 5 stars, there really is nothing else like this book on the market to my knowledge, my negative points don't detract from the useful content in this book)

Great book at a competitive price. Timely delivery.

Great read, even if you’re not going to make one

I have mixed feelings about this book after reading it for a week. On the positive side there is some good general advise and interesting areas covered.However, overall I think this book is a missed opportunity. Once past the first couple of chapters the author starts to cover building the one of the Synths from the website, but much of the detail you would want to know about how 'exactly' the modular parts of the synth work you are left wanting.In fact there is much more information on the website than what you get in the book, so in some ways buying the book is rather a waste. For example you don't even get a copy of the full schematic, for that you need to go an download it.Also the whole of the synth is built in one fell swoop, surely it would be better to have built this one module at a time to firstly simplify the process and also for the reader to really understand what is going on and to build on their knowledge.So not a terrible book but certainly not the "bible" on DIY synth building I had hoped for and I will have to continue looking. To any authors with a good knowledge of Synth building, there is a real gap in the market here that is crying out to be filled.

Great book, well written and witty, I was sad to hear the author is no longer with us but this is a great legacy. I intend to build at least one of his kits one day. One day...