The Complete Synthesizer Course for Schools & Teachers
Students learn to program patches by ear: hear a sound → identify what’s happening → recreate it.
That’s the missing bridge in traditional sound design teaching.
Bring Your Whole Class Up to Speed – Syntorial teaches the core synth concepts (64 common parameters) in a consistent, step-by-step way, so everyone builds the same foundation, fast.
Say Goodbye to the Tedious Task of Making Sure Your Students Practice – Game-like challenges + instant feedback keep students engaged and moving forward, without you having to chase them for “practice time.”
Super Rewarding For The Student – Our award-winning curriculum makes the learning process linear. This gives students a rewarding sense of progression and certainty that their practice will pay off.
Self-Paced, Classroom-Friendly – Use it as homework, a flipped-classroom backbone, or an in-class lab. Students can replay lessons as needed, and progress syncs across devices.
Simplify Grading with Real Progress Data – Track completion, lesson activity, and challenge results in a centralized teacher dashboard. So you can measure effort and mastery without subjective guesswork.
Completion You Can Trust – Students earn a certificate by completing the syllabus, with randomized challenges that make copy/paste “completion” extremely difficult.
“In all of my research, I haven’t found another piece of software that teaches synthesis as well as Syntorial. It moves at a great pace, and the logical sequence of the lessons truly trains the ears to hear the slight differences in tone when adjusting the various parameters. It is the perfect tool for anyone looking to increase their understanding of the complex world of sound design.’
Keith Hancock
2017 Grammy Music Educator of the Year
Trusted by Leading Schools and Institutions Internationally
Used at 50+ schools worldwide including universities, colleges, high schools, and online programs.
Complete Synthesizer Course Syllabus – Ready to Teach
Students learn by doing: they program patches to match target sounds using Syntorial’s built-in synth. Immediate feedback keeps them moving,and gives you objective signals of mastery.
Short multiple-choice quizzes reinforce vocabulary and concepts—useful for homework, review, or fast in-class assessment. Automatic grading and progress tracking.
Everything is taught through video demonstrations using the same synth that students will use in the challenges.
Program, program, program. After all, that’s what it’s all about, right? By the end your students will have programmed over 700 patches, from simple to complex, familiar to strange.
Syntorial focuses on the most common parameters students will see on most subtractive/wavetable synths. So the learning transfers to whatever instruments you use in class.
Periodic tasks push students to apply what they learned on a chosen hardware/software synths. Perfect for aligning Syntorial with your existing lessons and gear.
Get Syntorial on up to 3 platforms. Syntorial runs on home, school computers and iPads. Student progress is automatically synced between devices, so they can seamlessly learn in class, at home and on the go.
Students can choose English, French, Spanish, German or Japanese at startup and switch anytime.
Free add-on packs for synths like Serum, Massive, Sylenth1, etc. help students translate core skills to the tools they’ll actually use. And explore each synth’s extra features.. Learn more…
‘It’s just a very enjoyable experience to play and learn. I can’t imagine using other ways to get into synths now.’
Make Teaching Sound Design Intuitive
Synthesis is hard – and it’s even harder to teach.
Traditional Teaching Doesn’t Make Sound Design Intuitive
Even if your students understand everything about synths, can they use their knowledge to recreate any synth patch they hear? Without hours of structured and immersive practice, without exact and immediate feedback – probably not.
Ear training is required to create an intuitive understanding of synthesis. And it’s hard to get enough ear training without the right tools.
A Solid Synthesizer Programming Curriculum That Works
Syntorial is a video game-like, learn-by-doing training software that will teach your students to program synthesizer patches by ear so they can
Syntorial teaches 64 of the most common synth parameters that your students will find on most synths. This gives students the ability to create the most sought-after patch types like leads, basses, pads, keys, plucks, and more.
Syntorial’s nearly 200 lessons combine video demonstrations with interactive challenges to teach your students how to program synthesizer patches by ear. They’ll get hands-on experience programming patches on a built-in soft synth and learn everything they need to know to start making their own sounds with ease.
Syntorial trains your students’ ears to recognize how each control shapes and manipulates sound. They’ll be able to take the sounds they hear and re-create them on any subtractive or wavetable synthesizer on the market.
Concentrate On What You Do Best. Let Syntorial Do The Rest
1. Save hours of prep with a proven synthesis curriculum (that actually builds intuition)
Run a flipped classroom that works: let Syntorial’s short videos + interactive challenges teach your class. We’ll keep them engaged, while you help the students who need it most.
Reclaim your personal time – No need to spend your weekends designing intricate lessons plans and assignments. The entire synthesis course is laid out step-by-step for you. It builds upon itself in a logical way that feels natural, obvious, and rewarding.
Teach “sound design by ear,” not just vocabulary with our unique learn-by-doing, all-by-ear practice method. So you can focus on the best part: nurturing their creativity.
Make grading easier (and more objective): – We’ve already graded completion for you! All you have to do is check in on your students’ progress in your central dashboard.
“I integrated Syntorial into my curriculum with fantastic results. Syntorial is a game-changer for learning sound synthesis. The fact that it provides hands-on experience to each student, almost like personal lessons, really helped me move faster through the topics as a class. ‘
Lucas Schwyter
Music Recording and Technology Instructor, Chabot College
2. Skip the boring parts of teaching without burning class time or adding prep
Cut time creating assignments. If you’ve got class time covered, Syntorial can easily be used as supplemental homework. Students get the quantity of practice required to internalize the most important sound design basics. And you don’t have to spend hours creating assignments from scratch.
Self-paced practice with real feedback – Our courses are perfect for homework assignments, enabling students to progress at their own pace and on their own schedule. The combination of hands-on practice with clear and immediate feedback makes our programs significantly more effective than traditional online tutorials, ensuring students receive a comprehensive and engaging learning experience.
Stop wasting time trying to bring all Students to the same level. Use Syntorial as a pre-term foundation to bring students up to speed on core synthesis. Then you can teach advanced ideas with confidence that the basics are solid.
“Syntorial and Building Blocks have greatly helped me to entirely restructure my music tech course as a “flipped” classroom…allowing for class time to be a fully creative time, hands-on time with instructor support. The ear training focus of Syntorial and Building Blocks engages students’ minds and ears in a unique and powerful way. It is the tool that will break students free of endlessly scrolling presets and loop libraries and more deeply engage their brains in musical thinking.‘
Paul Kinsman
Director of Instrumental Music, Northampton Public Schools
A Proven, Award-Winning Method
“The most comprehensive and fun tool for learning synthesizer programming, hands down.”
“The best training in synth sound design we’ve come across. A unique and fun way to train your ears in re-creating synth sounds.”
“Syntorial is the most direct route between hearing a sound in your head and knowing how to bring it to life.”
All The Reasons Why Syntorial Is So Effective With Students
1. Engaging Synth Classroom Activities 🎮
Unlike passive video tutorials, Syntorial uses game-based learning:
- Students program patches to match target sounds
- Immediate feedback keeps students engaged
- Leveling system motivates continued progress
- Hands-on learning ensures retention
2. Develops Critical Listening Skills 👂
- Students learn to hear what synthesis parameters do
- Ear training built into every lesson
- Essential skill for producers, sound designers, and audio engineers
3. Self-Paced Learning
- Perfect for flipped classroom models
- Students can review difficult concepts as needed
- Frees up class time for creative projects and discussion
- Works for in-person, hybrid, or online courses
4. Works with Any Synthesizer
- Teaches universal synthesis concepts
- Includes Syntorial’s custom synth made specifically for learning
- Skills transfer to hardware and software synths
- No expensive equipment required
‘Syntorial is one of the best foundational courses for anyone looking to truly master synthesis. It breaks down complex tasks into a series of easy and fun steps, while combining theory, the learning and the practical side of synthesis.‘
Academic Pricing Options
Option 1: School Pays
Academic License. The institution pays a yearly fee for an unlimited number of students.
$129.99
Option 2: Student Pays
Students purchase individual licenses at a heavily discounted academic rate, like buying a textbook for class.
$35.99
Most Frequent Questions
We work with music schools, universities, independent teachers, polytechs, not-for-profits, and music academies, and are open to working with other types of educational institutions.
Most students complete it in 20~40 hours depending on pace. Perfect for a semester-long module or intensive workshop.
We offer two academic pricing models:
- “School Pays” (academic license): the institution pays a yearly fee for an unlimited number of students. When you reach out to us, we’ll be happy to discuss the details with you.
- “Student Pays” (textbook model): students purchase individual licenses at a heavily discounted academic rate, like buying a textbook for class.
Syntorial can be used offline once installed, but it requires an Internet connection to sync progress with the teacher dashboard.
Yes, Syntorial has native Ipad, Windows and Mac apps.
Absolutely! You can try out Syntorial by requesting a free demo. We can also provide a test license, and enable the teacher dashboard so you can see how tracking works. Contact us to access the teacher dashboard.
Absolutely. Syntorial teaches universal concepts that apply to all subtractive synths. Students can apply lessons to Serum, Vital, Pigments, Massive, hardware synths, and more.
Student Requirements:
- iPad, Mac or Windows computer
- Headphones or studio monitors
- Internet connection for download & progress sync
No Prior Experience Needed – Course starts from zero and builds to proficiency level