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FM synths

spektralisk said:
Native Instruments Kontour

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Kind of lost track of this thread. Need to find ways to keep track of threads that I'm interested in. Maybe that's what the "Push notifications" that the forum keeps bugging me about is for.

Didn't know Kontour was an FM synth. I'll look into it. Man I have Komplete and use about .1% of it :)

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm still in the market having not yet found that one that I really love working with. I'm hoping f'em changes that.
 
I like waves flow motion -alwaays seem to get something useful from it. Also interested in OpZilla, and the wonderfully named F'em is eagerly awaited by me as well. Have fm8 but dont get on with the interface
 
pondinthestream said:
I like waves flow motion -alwaays seem to get something useful from it. Also interested in OpZilla, and the wonderfully named F'em is eagerly awaited by me as well. Have fm8 but dont get on with the interface
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Yes. I like Flow Motion too. And recently got OpZilla. 4 operator FM actually may be the sweetspot for that whole concept ;)

I kind of like how Falcon2 does “just” 4 OP FM whereas MSoundFactory has 8 OP. F’ Em is going to be awesome no doubt. 8 OP FM and sample based oscillators in tandem. Conjures up images of old SY99 ads, back when I was totally unable to afford one haha!
 
doctoremmet said:
Yes. I like Flow Motion too. And recently got OpZilla. 4 operator FM actually may be the sweetspot for that whole concept ;)

I kind of like how Falcon2 does “just” 4 OP FM whereas MSoundFactory has 8 OP. F’ Em is going to be awesome no doubt. 8 OP FM and sample based oscillators in tandem. Conjures up images of old SY99 ads, back when I was totally unable to afford one haha!
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Yeah, 4op gets me what I want pretty much. But of course if f em comes out at a good price it will be impossible to resist.
 
José Herring said:
Kind of lost track of this thread. Need to find ways to keep track of threads that I'm interested in. Maybe that's what the "Push notifications" that the forum keeps bugging me about is for.

Didn't know Kontour was an FM synth. I'll look into it. Man I have Komplete and use about .1% of it :)

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm still in the market having not yet found that one that I really love working with. I'm hoping f'em changes that.
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Definitely check it out. It's an amazing synth.
 
Having owned a DX7 for like 25 years, explored all the nooks and crannies of the synth engine and the hardware, installed extra wheels and chorus PCBs that I ripped off a BOSS pedal, memory and function extension, the whole shebang, I can say that I'm a certified FM-head. But then, I also had the TX802 which I found incredibly cumbersome and laborious to work with. Sold that one soon.

Then came FM7, now FM8, so that's covered and then some.

Then came Arturia's Synclavier V, later with he sample update. NED licensed FM from Yamaha back then and went on to create the Phased Gong preset (the Beat It Gong...) which to this day no other synth (including Yamaha's) can replicate in all its glory. I'm in love. I can dig and prod for hours on end and get the craziest sounds and still only use Partial 1 of 12...
 
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Yep, I'm spoiled by the FS1r. I sold mine a number of years ago as it wasn't gig-friendly, and that mattered a lot to me at the time. For instance, you couldn't really set up performance splits or master lists. Best FM synth engine ever, and lousiest interface. If only they'd done a keyboard version, with a full interface in knobs and sliders!
 
I totally believe 8-op could be great, but I don't have enough FM experience to know what situations that more ops would help. Any sound design example where many ops help?

I've been enjoying falcon FM. I wish it were possible to have something like an additive oscillator designer for each operator, but I also don't mind it's simplicity. The very special part about FM in falcon is the outside context - layering, modulation, and fx options to make really good use of all those additional harmonics and inharmonics that FM generates. So with that description of what I like, I'm wondering does anyone feel I'm missing some interesting sound generation features from other FM synths? Or is it mainly a preference of workflow?
 
shawnsingh said:
I totally believe 8-op could be great, but I don't have enough FM experience to know what situations that more ops would help. Any sound design example where many ops help?
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Typically, once you go above four the main advantage is you have more flexibility for using oscillators or stacks of them additively (things like organ sounds). Or for transient + sustain sounds where you need two or more unrelated oscillator stacks.
 
shawnsingh said:
I've been enjoying falcon FM. I wish it were possible to have something like an additive oscillator designer for each operator, but I also don't mind it's simplicity
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Honestly? I have Falcon2 and its FM implementation is awesome and just fine really. I grew up owning the DX7 so 6OP is what I’m used to, but sonically you can do most things with Ableton Operator, Opzilla, Falcon2 or any other 4OP synth.

So why are 8 operators cool? More modulation routings? Practically, you get in noise terrirory REAL quick. So maybe the honest answer is: spec wars baby!

Now F’ Em mainly has my interest because of its awesome multi-layered architecture and the modulation matrix which is like the one in Biotek2 and is just great from a workflow perspective (for me at least). But again... FM as implemented in Falcon2 is all one needs really. I have never actually thought: I wish Falcon2 had more operators...
 
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Working with Reason's Algo synth today. It's a great synth. Really fun and intuitive and sounds great. Still looking forward to F'em and also will check out MSoundfactory but boy it's taking me a while to get to know that synth.
 
José Herring said:
Working with Reason's Algo synth today. It's a great synth. Really fun and intuitive and sounds great. Still looking forward to F'em and also will check out MSoundfactory but boy it's taking me a while to get to know that synth.
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Algo looks very cool José! I have been playing with Biotek2 lately, and its modulation options are insane. F ‘Em has the same UI, more or less, so should be fun.

MSF: it is insane. I mainly got it because of an MPowerSynth mp3 you sent me once. It sounds very good and once you get the hang of it, the UI kind of grows on you. Also, having watched the majority of @Chandler ‘s videos really helped. Get it out on a lazy sunday afternoon and fool around a bit, you’ll love it!
 
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