Thanks to the Eurorack explosion and affordable products like the Korg Volca Modular and Make Noise 0-Coast, the term ‘West Coast Synthesis’ has become the hot new buzzword for both hardware and softsynths.
While this nomenclature often mortifies experienced sound designers, who feel that all techniques are simply tools for dynamically modifying waveforms before routing them to speakers, it’s still useful as cultural shorthand to differentiate between familiar subtractive synthesis and designing your waveforms from the ground up.
