> I think part of it is that you're conflating writing music with sound design.

That's a distinction I've totally missed until now, as you pointed out, I've mostly thought about synths like they are traditional music instruments, which ain't really the case and as such added a lot to my confusion about "How to make something other than noise with this?".

Thank you for, yet another, very helpful comment! I'm literally blown away by the sheer number, and quality, of useful resources and information being shared here. Kudos to the HN community!