Books on Synthesis

Anyone know of any really detailed tomes on synthesis? Subtractive and FM would be most helpful. I learned about sequencing via programming an EMX-1 and the piano rolls in DAW's. I feel can work with most step sequencers pretty well. I know a fair deal about wavetable/subtractive and putting together some stuff on that end, but really want to dive a little deeper with programming... well, that and to buy a new synth - I have a matrix 6r but it needs repair that I can't do personally. I get frustrated with a lot of VST 'pretendalog' synths as the interface isn't instantly accessible - i.e. I cant turn two knobs in real time without programming around it and taking away from the spontaneous/hands on aspect I rely on to make my music... and I'm sure I'm not the only one to feel that way.

But, I digress, I would like to start just making fun patches in my spare time with a little more depth of knowledge besides just what the modules do to the signal. Anyone got any books to recommend?

This one is the defacto book, though is a little too dry for me -

But I'm getting quite a bit from this (especially as it's also teaching me Max). It's split into two sections: the theory side about sound synthesis in general, and then you put the theory to use with the practical Max section -

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2694279

oscillator: waveform generator with controls that change what type, and how notes (midi events) are managed.

envelope: value changes in time according to settings, can be assigned to any parameter (control)

effects: filter, chorus, etc

fm synth is a package of generator/oscillators where one syntheziser's waveform changes the phase of another synthesizer's waveform <----this way----> in time.

Excellent book that I used in my intro to computer music course at college. It is written well and has lots of picture examples of oscillators, filters, physical modelling, etc., shown with signal flow.

http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Music-Synthesis-Composition-Performance/dp/0028646827

used for 22$. not bad.

Theory and Techniques of Electronic Music by Miller Puckette( father of Max&PD)

Miller Puckette’s UCSD class MUS171 (Computer Music 1), from the Spring of 2011.

http://pd-la.info/pd-media/miller-puckette-mus171-videos/

I would strongly advise to have a look at the Sound on Sound "Synth Secrets" series of articles. It's online, it's free and it covers an extensive part of the topic. Every article has a precise subject and when the subject is more complex it's covered by a couple of articles. I like how it's written, you feel that the guy knows what he's talking about. I also like the fact he's bringing some "history" in the articles, which helps placing the given information into a context.

I second the Synth Secrets series. I bought the Sound On Sound back issues on CDs and DVDs mostly for this series.

The four Roland books are also pretty neat, if you can find them. Wendy Carlos's Secrets of Synthesis is pretty cool, but more as a way of reinforcing the importance of putting in lots of effort. David Crombie's The New Complete Synthesizer, Eric Turkel's Arranging Techniques for Synthesists (less about patching, more about writing music, also very useful) and Welsh's Synthesizer Cookbook are all worth getting your hands on. Finding the time to read them all, let alone try out all the ideas, that's trickier. Little tips like simply making use of the velocitivity sensitivity we now all take for granted, even if you're just drawing on notes like I usually do, can add a whole new dimension to your sound. (Yes, I know, I should have been doing this anyway, but it's easy to overlook the importance of it.)

There are also a few good websites with such guides for free, including one about one of the Nord keyboards, if memory serves. But it's easier to grab a few books off the shelf than go traipsing through my web browser's bookmarks right now...

Sensations of Tone by Hermann L. F. Helmholtz is another good book, way ahead of its time. It even has a useful table for formant filtering, amongst many, many other useful titbits. It's about as in depth a guide to the science behind sound and music as most people would wish to go, possibly much further.