Options are good. But with all the great synth options out there—and all the options that come with those options—you could be forgiven for freaking out, having a synth-related meltdown and never actually getting to the point of making music.

Never fear, Sessionville to the rescue! To help get the ball rolling, we got the one and only Howie Gordon of Keybomb.com to do a series of videos that will help you get your synth on.

Today's episode takes a look at the basics of the almighty synth. Howie covers the various bits and pieces including the oscillator, filter, amplifier, amp and filter envelopes, low frequency oscillator (LFO), polyphony, portamento, mod wheel and pitch bend.